More Canadian quirks ....

The confusing 4-way stop sign

Several things cause me confusion here in Canada.  Whilst I have adjusted to driving on the 'wrong' side of the road, I am still puzzled by road rules.  The most baffling road rules relates to the odd intersection rules.  Firstly, you can turn right on a red light.  I'm onto that rule.  The second is slightly more confusing and it relates to the 4-way stop signs that pop up frequently.  When I first arrived, I didn't know who to give way to, so I just waited until the entire intersection was clear before continuing on my way.  I finally asked someone about it and was given the response, "The first person to stop has right of way".  This seems logical but in reality it is likely to cause some confusion, accidents and possibly a few cases of road rage.  Why not just put traffic lights in?  The actual Canadian road rules (yes, I am a nerd, I looked them up) seem set out to confuse drivers as well.  You can read their ruling on 4-way stop signs here.

Who goes first?

The second puzzling thing is the size of the paper.  Since I have been here, I have been throughly annoyed each time I print a document and it comes out with the top chopped off.  For a while, I thought my computer's settings were wrong, but no, it's just another Canadian quirk .... A4 paper is not actually A4 paper at all, it's a couple of centimetres shorter (US letter size).  Now that I have figured this out, I have to go through the incredibly frustrating process of adjusting the printing settings each time I want to print.  Thank you Canada for your mystifying quirks.

That extra couple of centimetres is incredibly frustrating!