I have lots of interesting news and trivia to share from June!
- The Calgary Public Library has a new musical instrument lending library.
2. Almost half the motels in the U.S. are owned by people who immigrated from one small part of India. (Have you heard of the “Patel motel” phenomenon?)
3. Halifax has the oldest continuously running farmer’s market in North America (founded in 1750).
4. John Grisham’s latest novel, Camino Island (released June 6), is a thriller that doesn’t feature lawyers, but rather rare book dealers. Sounds up my alley! (I just checked my library and there are 460 holds on 78 copies… guess I’ll be waiting a while.)
5. Michael Bond, author of the famous Paddington books, also wrote a series of adult mysteries featuring Monsieur Pamplemousse, a retired detective turned restaurant critic. Would you check them out?
6. Window screens are made out of fiberglass. I associate fiberglass with things like fishing poles and boats, and I guess I never thought about what screens are made of before I had to repair one.
7. Hawaiian pizza and donairs were both invented by Greek immigrants to Canada.
8. You can burn yourself on ice cream. I made an ice cream pie and apparently spent too long nudging scoops into place because the tip of my index finger definitely felt burned for a few days afterwards.
9. Do you like thunderstorms? Windsor, Ontario is the Canadian city with the most storm days per year (33) and Nanaimo, BC is the city with the least (2.33).
10. Saudi Arabia has no law against women driving but it is strictly forbidden. Learn more from this book. (I haven’t read it but heard the author interviewed on the CBC and was absolutely fascinated. I mean, she said that in Saudi Arabia an ambulance will not pick up a woman unless a male relative is with her!)
11. Armenia was possibly the first country to institute a national Christian church (early 300s AD).
These are all very interesting! I guess I thought window screens were made out of wire (is wire even a thing, or just a category?).
Interesting facts on Saudi Arabia…when Jeff went to Kuwait years ago, on the plane Muslims drank alcohol and women removed their coverings, because apparently at that altitude Allah doesn’t see or know what you are doing.
I’ve just ordered Michael Bond’s Olga da Polga book; that was new to me until I saw that Usborne Books has reprinted it. Motivated by your post, I just looked up the M. Pamplemousse books in our library system, and found three. Have requested them all on Brian’s account; should make good bedtime reading for him, and maybe for me (if I wade through the existing stack on my side of the bed.) Seems appropriate to binge on Bond for a while, in commemoration of his death and in appreciation of his work.