Cottage Culture and Calm Canadians: a half-hearted hypothesis

I've developed a new theory of Canadian composure.  I think it might fly.

Canadians are noted worldwide for being a polite and relatively mellow people (with exceptions, of course; RIP, Rob Ford). I've heard a not-very-convincing theory that the northerly cold temperatures slow reaction times, reducing social friction, but if that were true, I should by now be a much mellower person, and my family will attest that I am not. A recent holiday weekend suggested to me an alternative hypothesis: Canadians are calm because of The Cottage.

There is a vast array of non-urban domestic structures that fit under the umbrella term of 'cottage' in Canada. They run the gamut from yurts to two-room cabins to suburban houses, to architectural marvels, to swollen mansions. There's a magazine Cottage Life,  with associated television and shopping sites:  http://cottagelife.com/. In some parts of the country people use the term 'camp'. I noticed this when I interviewed people in Thunder Bay last year (about health, not vacations, but it cropped up).

A couple of weeks ago, here in Toronto, my family received a very welcome invitation to join some new friends at their cottage for the end of March Break. We had planned on staying home during this week-long school holiday and letting the kids do a whole lot of nothing much, but the eldest, on the Monday, asked 'So, where are we going?" It is true that in previous years we have had some fun trips: New York City, the West Coast, a Niagara Falls water-park. Luckily the cottage invitation arrived the very next day.

There was a small chorus of juvenile grousing when we learned that internet access would be minimal (accompanied by an equal amount of adult rejoicing). Middle child stamped his foot over missing Newcastle play their derby rivals, Sunderland. We discovered that the dog was not welcome due to someone's allergy. Husband developed a dental emergency, got an appointment followed by a referral to a specialist, and then saw the same oral surgeon pictured on the front page of the newspaper under the headline 'arrested for fraud'.

All the difficulties ironed themselves out. Lovely tenant agreed to look after the pets. The accused surgeon was still allowed to see patients (but we'll be keeping a close eye on our credit card statement. Not really).  We packed clothes and linens, shopped for the ingredients for our night of dinner prep, picked up a couple of bottles of wine, and headed east to the Grey Highlands. The 'cottage' proved to be one of those on the grand side of the spectrum, a former country retreat nestled amid low rolling hills (very low, despite the hopeful 'Highlands'), three ponds, and some fields. Bucolic and blissful. The fourteen of us present had ample space to be together or to spread out. Children ranged in age from three to eighteen. Collectively, we played soccer, walked in the woods, played hide-and-seek, went running, did yoga, flew kites, played chess, cooked, read, wrote, slept. There was a steam-room.

My theory about why Canadians have a reputation for calmness turns on the fact that so many of them get out of the cities and into the countryside on a regular basis. It's just a thing that they do. (They sometimes call it, in all innocence, 'cottaging'.) I've commented in a previous blog that when people refer to 'the cottage', as in 'We're going to the cottage this weekend,' they may not be referring to a specific cottage. It's like saying 'We're going to the beach." It doesn't have to be your own cottage. It could be one that you rent or that belongs to your great-aunt or that happened to be empty when you drove past last year, so you deployed squatter's rights. (Not really.) It's part of the national or at least provincial psyche to get out of the city, away from home, and into  the great outdoors. To unwind, as we did that weekend. I was going to look up some research demonstrating the physical and mental health benefits accruing to those who spend time relaxing, and especially time outdoors huntin' and fishin' and hikin' and boatin' (boatin'?) but I can't be bothered right now. The data are there, and we all know it. Canadians certainly do.

See you outside.

Slow down: a Mennonite's horse and buggy on the highway near The Cottage