Canada Day!

Today was Canada Day. That's right, 139 years of being benign; let's celebrate! In fact, I saw a surprising number of celebrants today, easily identified by their red and white outfits, flags, and Tim Horton's doughtnut boxes. (Yes, Timmy's doughnuts and coffee are available here; I discovered them at one of the convenience/food stores in the city centre and indulged in a honey cruller which was okay.) Silly, sure, but nice to see. Although they weren't present in large numbers, the groups of Canadians that I saw were well recieved, getting plenty of cheers and honks as they paraded around.
All of this made me wonder if Americans would be doing the same thing in a few days, and what kind of reception they would get.
Predictably, Americans aren't very popular here, at least with the people with whom I've spoken. Celia was deeply offended by Bush's offer to help Australia with hurricaine relief which was well under control while rescue workers are still fishing bodies out of Louisiana. The staff at Starbucks are frustrated by American tourists who expect everything to be exactly the same as in the states. Service workers are frustrated by the fact that they don't tip (as instructed, somewhat incorrectly, by their guidebooks). People in pubs have sneered at my accent, until I tell them I'm Canadian.
I too have endured numerous American annoyances, but knowing how things are in the US, I can often understand where the issues are coming from. The sense of entitlement, for example, that so many people find grating, is largely a cultural issue. I find ketchup a perfect representation of this; in the US (and Canada) ketchup is readily available. There are great big pumps of it, and you can have as much as you want, as often as you want--you can have fries with your ketchup if you so desire! Here, there is an extra charge for ketchup, and you are given a limited amount. Americans are taken aback by this; some even view ketchup as their right (the 12th Amendment, or something) and are upset by this deprivation. But that's just the way it is. These little differences are what cause the problems; people expect, look for, are prepared for big differences, but no guidebook is going to warn you about ketchup charges (at least, none that I've seen).
Some of these differences (like different charges for "eat in" and "take away" in restaurants) are actually the result of EU legislation (that particular difference is as a result of taxes, in fact). I'm finding that EU regulations are many and mysterious, and can affect anything from the price of food to how many hours one works. I wonder if some tourists might be less distraught about surprising charges and such if they knew why they were being made to pay, say, an extra 50 cents to have their latte in a mug.
Hmmm. Anyway, Happy Canada Day!