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The new Jason Bourne film is in the theaters so we watched the first three from DVD to get "up to speed' before seeing it, probably this afternoon. We normally travel with a tub of DVDs in the RV for viewing when there is no TV - our situation here.
This close to the U.S. border we could access U.S. satellite TV if we had a clear view of the southern sky. We don't, between towerning Mt. Rundle and the trees around our campsite no "clear view" is possible. In Jasper we'll be too far north to pick up DirecTV. It is not a problem.
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One member of the party-of-four we arranged to meet here sells life and health insurance. I asked her about the latter as Americans view Canadians as having "socialized medicine." They do, for the basics, but have to pay for other aspects much as we do with Medicare. So what she sells is the equivalent of our Medicare supplement insurance, and employers here provide it to employees as a benefit. It would be appreciated. I expect the same applies in the U.K., although that's only a guess.
Some day in the U.S. we'll get socialized medicine, and then everyone who can afford it will buy into some form of concierge medicine in order to avoid the sqallor of the government clinics. Public K-12 education has very nearly deteriorated to that level now, at least in some urbanized regions. And I fear public higher education is headed down the same destructive rathole.
The pattern is drearily predictable. Affluent Brits avoid the NHS, and Canadians who can afford it come to the States for care in real-time, to avoid waiting many months for a slot in rationed-by-scarcity government operating rooms when their ailment is merely painful but not life-threatening, like a knee or hip replacement.
