^^ Agree. Foreigners, and even some Canadians, have this bizarre notion that Quebec doesn't get a proper summer. Any one who's lived in Quebec knows it's very similar to a southern Ontario summer. It's hot, humid, and lasts a solid 3 months. You get a month of decently warm weather on each end of that. So up to 5 months of swimming pool weather.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GreaterMontréal
There are about 4M private dwellings in the province, so about 1 out of 8 has a swimming pool.
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Technically, every Quebecker could be in a pool at the same time and they'd still be space in the water for more people. It's surely cultural as the prevalence of swimming pools is MUCH higher in Quebec than in the rest of Canada. Interestingly, its the same in Europe. The prevalence of swimming pools in France is MUCH higher than in the rest of Europe.
Canadians do embrace the seasons with more zeal than other countries though. In winter people go skiing, snowmobiling, snowboarding, skating, etc. en masse. When spring hits, people hit nurseries en masse to plant flowers and vegetables. When summer arrives, people are boating, at the lake, cottage, barbecues, beaches, and pools en masse. The enthusiasm in which people approach the seasons is one of the things I've always liked about Canada. People know that these seasons only last 3-4 months so they make the best of it.
In places where summer lasts an eternity people don't seem to have that same sense of urgency. On my last trip to Australia people suggested we not go to the beach because it was overcast. Another day our hosts warned us not to go to the corner store because it might rain later on. They were alarmed when we went any way. It was shocking to me how hesitant people were about a little bit of weather.
It speaks volumes that Quebeckers are willing to shell out $5,000-15,000 on a pool that they can only use for maybe 4-5 months (May - September) of the year. Having lived in Canada for this long I totally understand why but I bet it's a head scratcher to foreigners.