Border run

It's been at least 6 years since I've been south of the border (and no, that doesn't mean Mexico). You'd think, given the fact that I live in a border town, I'd make it State side more often. But, I've been slacking. For the first 20 years of my life, I was in the US a lot. Vacations, shopping trips, basketball camps, wheaties runs because Michael Jordan was on the box, there were no shortages of reasons for going.

Tomorrow I will be going back to the US. Only for the morning and only for a shopping trip. It is the first time in my life that I will be using my passport to cross "the world's longest unguarded border." I still can't get my head around that. It's the first time that I'll be crossing and actually worrying about getting in. My passport was issued in Prague (the old one expired during my time there), which means it's not machine readable. I don't really know if it's going to be a problem, but from what I've been observing and hearing about boarder crossings, these days you want to be sure that you don't stand out. After dealing with the Czech police for being a Canadian, I don't think I can handle much more grumpy guard behaviour.

I'm only going to Watertown, so I don't know if I'll be able to tell if there's really a difference between pre and post 911 northern New York. I still expect it to be a hole, but what remains to be seen is how paranoid the inhabitants of said hole are. Oh, I just realized I get to hear American accents again. Weeee. Wish me luck getting across. They shouldn't have a problem with me. I'm coming to shop and bolster the fledgling American economy.

Today's sing-a-long song: "Banditos" by The Refreshments

HRH