The Big Idea

So, you may be wondering what this is all about. I know, it makes no sense whatsoever. But, please, bear with me. My name is Jonas Lewis-Anthony. I was born in England but I've been fascinated with Canada for as long as I can remember. I remember going to get my Canadian citizenship when I was eight years old, my mother was born in Toronto which made me eligible for dual nationality. From then on my fascination about Canada increased. I had always been interested since my mum used to tell me stories of her childhood growing up in Toronto and I also loved it when she baked chocolate chip cookies with "Presidents Choice" chocolate chips which were rationed in my household as they were only ever brought over by my Canadian aunt. In retrospect, I have always considered myself Canadian.

I first went to Canada in early 2005 when I was ten years old. In short, I loved it. I declared it "better than England" I think on the first morning I was there. I woke up, pulled on my snow gear and went ice skating on a frozen irrigation channel in the middle of a snow storm. I tried beaver tails, went skating on the Rideau Canal, Tim Bits at Tim Horton's (I didn't discover the double double for another two years). It was truly amazing, and as a ten year old, the snow, the cold, the beaver tails and the big cars made it all seem like a wonderland. I spent the final few days of my stay that winter in Toronto, somehow, in the Royal York Hotel right by the CN Tower. Being ten years old and being so close to the worlds tallest building (at the time) was just too good to be true. 

                                                                                                                                                                 
I became a follower of the Toronto Maple Leafs and pretty much all things Canadian. Very, very quickly. Leaving was a real shame for me and on my return to England I found myself missing Canada a lot. No one in my year six class had even heard of Toronto or Ottawa. It frustrated me how so many people knew all about America but so little was known about the country I loved.

The CN Tower