i got to practice my french today. the driver of the cab we took was a blonde, 40 something woman from quebec. she said, "no english" when i flagged her down and said, "may we join in?" arguably a stupid question.

a cab ride in iqaluit is $5, no matter the destination. children ride free. there are no sitbelts. passengers are picked up on the way. most cab drivers are french. one italian.

"must. be. errrrrrrrrrr. difficult. for you. errrrrrrrrrr. to work. in english," i said in french. (i won't even try to write it in french, though).

she said, carefully articulating each word, that it was not difficult to drive the cab, but it was difficult psychologically, because she had been trying to learn english for 6 years now.

"grab a book," i sad. "sit down and study."

she said she was trying, but just could not.

i didn't know i could speak that much french. i must be a genious.

oh, did i mention, tee-shirt weather again? lovely, lovely, lovely.