So Christmas is fast approaching. It doesn't feel very Christmas-y though, I'm not sure why. Maybe now that we have snow again I'll feel a bit more of the holiday spirit.

Yesterday I went on a shopping trip to the Charlottetown Mall yesterday for the first time in probably two years. I have been there twice since I've been home but both times just kind of to run in quickly or waiting for my mum, who had run in quickly. Oh, and to The Spa once. Quite the mall. "My" mall in Florida, i.e., the one closest to my home, was fantastic and I miss it. I didn't go there that much, (except to walk through on the way to the grocery store,) but it was lovely. Good deals on, well, everything, and they HAD everything, minus a department store. The mall was almost like a strip mall in the way the stores were connected by their walls, but you had to walk outside to get store to store. There was a fountain, an outdoor coffee/beer place, seating, etc. So nice!

It's been two-and-a-half months since I have worked. By the time I start my job it will have easily been three months. I was thinking to myself, "What have I done with my time?! Nothing," but that's not true. I spent almost five weeks on vacation!

When shopping on PEI, in the back of my mind I wonder if the cost of living on PEI really is that cheap. Our wages are lower than those of many provinces/cities and that argument is that our cost of living is lower. Perhaps my problem is that I generally shop only at the liquor store and grocery store, but I really don't notice things being excessively cheaper here. Rent/housing and gas are the big things, and it is quite cheaper here than many places. But with so many stores being chain stores where the price tag is put on a garmet before it's decided where it will be sold, lots of things are the same price as they would be in, for example, Toronto. I think a bit of it has to do with options. In big cities, you have the choice of going to a restaurant where you spend $35 on an entree. On the top of my head, we don't have restaurants in that price range in Charlottetown.

I know my mind is a little skewed from having spent almost fourteen months in the States, as it was skewed when I returned to Canada after being in Edinburgh. I thought Edinburgh was so expensive. However, a lot of that was due to the miserable exchange rate when we first arrived there. It improved a lot over the course of sixteen months, but by that time I didn't want it to improve as I wanted to get more dollars when I exchanged my pounds. Rent was definitely more expensive there, but the pay was higher to compensate. In retrospect, it was not as expensive as I initially thought. You could get a good meal in a restaurant for about $12CAD including tax, and no tip as tipping was not the norm there. I don't remember the price of milk, but it was normal. You could get a loaf of bread for 20p, (about 48 cents,). I remember cereal could go both ways... The sugary, American-inspired stuff was a bit pricey. The healthier or store-brand stuff was a pretty good deal though, perhaps $2.50 a box. The price of alcohol was pretty decent, you could get a pint for about 2.00GBP depending on the bar. I don't remember ever getting beer from a bottle in a bar... Except at Belushi's where Foster's Ice was buy one, get one free.

Random: any fellow deported Canucks remember Reef coolers? Ooooh, they were GOOD. They had great flavours! I like the red one and the tourquoise one. The purple, (black currant and grape, I believe,) was, umm, different. Definitely British ;) i don't remember what the red one was, but I believe the tourquoise was Green Apple and Pear. Different, but delicious. The red one makes me think of The Standing Order on George Street.

Oooh, or WKD Blue! That was like drinking a blue, melted popsicle.

You know what? I should really get into the import business. Introduce Islanders to the great things they are missing in other parts of the world. Sure we already import lots, and lots, and lots of stuff... but what's wrong with adding a little WKD Blue to our lives? Or Chomp bars. Or Tesco Fruit and Fiber cereal!

Keri is in Scotland right now. Hmm, kind of jealous.

Well, this was intended to be an educationed post about economics, but as usual, it ended with me rambling about Disney or Scotland.

Word.