O CANADIAN TIRE

I don't really know how to explain Canadian Tire to Americans. It's kind of like K-Mart I guess, except with a much bigger emphasis on automotive stuff. Or maybe a more upscale version of Farm and Fleet or Fleet Farm. The stores I've been in have the same disorganized, slightly dirty feel as Wal-Mart, but the scope is a lot different. Anyway, Canadian Tire is the Canadian Tire of Canada.

I've purchased three items at Canadian Tire (that I remember), to varying degrees of satisfaction:

1) Crazy Sling Shot Football Thing - This was bought by Maymard three or four years ago, while in Thunder Bay and staying at Kakabeka Falls. The sling thing was great fun. It would go super far and, with the addition of beer, made a trip to Thunder Bay very memorable.

2) Blow Up Twin Mattress - This was bought when we had two very special guests in town, and they needed to sleep in our teeny tiny apartment. I got the Twin because it was a lot cheaper than the Queen, and I thought they would be be able to fit. Except it turns out that twin mattress means space for one. To me twin should mean for two, because when a woman has twins she has two of them. I guess this purchase was not Canada Tire's fault, but I blame them because their intimidating stores prevented me from returning the mattress for a bigger one. Now, we have to be creative when we have guests.

3) Windshield Wipers - I just bought these the other day. They have some expensive wipers at Canadian Tire! I would be really complaining right now, except for the lady at the register only charged me for one . . . and the cheaper one too. Hooray for the cashier and her co-worker's distracting conversation about "all this snow, eh."

Canadian Tire is most famous for its Canadian Tire Money, which you get every time you buy stuff. I think it's pretty fun, and you can redeem it anytime you want. Plus, it teaches children the joys of capitalism. People even collect it and sell it on eBay. Crazy!

Canadian Tire gets 3.3333333333333333 Hortons. The prices are way too high for some of the cheap crap they sell there, but you gotta love the CT Money.