This New England

With the imposition of much tighter border controls with Canada -- Americans must now have a passport to get back into America -- perhaps a new sense of adventure about Canada being a foreign country will arise in New England.

That's especially true on our border with Quebec, where you hear another language! Romance, intrigue, less of this business about Canada being boring and/or the 51st State! More sense of the international. And within driving distance.

Derby Line, Vt. --- a border town filled with forgers and terrorists; Stanstead, Quebec, a nest of spies and smugglers.

And the inevitable slowdowns at border checkpoints will probably cause the building of more inns and motels on each side of the border as people decide to rest a while before trying to get through the border crossings. Venues for one-night stands for desperate people whose "papers are not in order.''

Everyone will smoke.

The difficulty of crossing the border will make it far more evocative. Don't just think of it as inconvenient.Think of it as a Graham Greene novel.

 Tags  border crossings Canada Derby Line Graham Greene Quebec Vt. Stanstead

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