Dear Aardvark Al

The rabbit is not a pet, she is wild, or feral. Which is a weird word because it always makes me think of an animal with its teeth bared and foamy saliva dripping onto the ground, which doesn't really apply to a rabbit. Or a tortoise! I met a feral orange box tortoise once, well several times actually, when I lived in Maryland USA. I called her Sally and we would visit in the morning as I was walking through the National Park to my office. She disappeared later in the summer, and I was worried that the lawn mowing Mexicans might have run her down. I didn't think about it too much though. But back to the feral rabbit. She has been nibbling on the cabbage leaves quite happily I think, quite a lot of it has gone now.

As to your other question. I am going to assume that you have never actually driven the TransCanada from Ontario going west, because if you have you would know that you come to a HUGE sign that says Welcome To Friendly Manitoba! You then drive for two or three days, depending on how fast you dare go, before you reach Saskatchewan. Winnipeg is about half way across the Province, you can't miss it because you will literally drive into it, unless you take a wrong turn. Which is difficult, but I guess if you think you are in Saskatchewan you could very well mistake one of the farm roads for a continuation of TransCanada. Alternatively, you could take a map of North America (including the US) measure from side to side and top to bottom, then work out where the center of the map is, and there is Winnipeg :-D I would invite you to visit, but the fewer people who find out how wonderful this place is, the better IMHO. The city is about as big as it can afford to be without causing problems for the infrastructure. Well I guess you can come and spend your tourist dollars here. We do a great line in ice sculptures.

Hope your Christmas is fun and entertaining! And thanks for your email.