Canada Holiday 2004 - Hobnobbing in Music Shops

 The first thing that I noticed about music shops in Canada is not the size of them, but just how much better than their UK counterparts they are. This is in terms of just about everything - price - for instance, take the Neil Peart Paragon 20" Crash - UK Price typically over £200, Canada price (after some negotiation) $170. At the current exchange rate that is about £82 - we are being hammered over here - OK - so I will concede that there is a bit of tax to go on top of that - and our distance from Canada, but one feels that we in the UK are being made to smell the glove a bit! I could add that the amount and quality of stuff on show is a bit overwhelming - for some of the chains in the UK (no names) an Aria drum kit and a couple of Sabian B8 cymbals is what they consider a drum department. Reference must be made to the guys who work there - talk about helpful.....