6 Things About The Fall Season In Canada That Are Surprisingly Different From The UK
Why is there so much pumpkin spice here?!🍂
Someone in London in fall. Right: Fall colours in Banff.
The views expressed in this Opinion article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.
Before moving from the U.K. to the Great White North, I was full of questions like what do I need to know before moving to Canada? Or where to move in Canada?
My brain was full of different possibilities, but one thing I really didn't expect when I moved to Calgary was how different each season would be.
I knew winter would be pretty brutal compared to what I was used to in the U.K., but I wasn't prepared for how the fall season would go down here, compared to back at home.
Despite the obvious difference — that people in the U.K. call it "Autumn," while Canada calls it "Fall" — there are some other pretty big differences between the two places.
Fall is actually super short
In Alberta, one of the biggest things I noticed is that fall goes by so quickly. There are a couple of weeks where the trees change colour but it's over in the blink of an eye.
So many people will head out to the Rockies specifically to see the larches change colour which is pretty wild to me.
Once the leaves drop here, it's basically winter and snow is just around the corner at this point. Fall in my opinion barely counts as a season in Canada.
The U.K., in comparison, gets a pretty long fall season but let's be honest, it basically just rains.
Halloween is a big deal here
In the last few years, there have definitely been more decorations popping up in stores in the U.K. but Halloween just isn't a big deal.
You might get the occasional trick or treater and then there's a scramble to find something edible in your cupboard to give them or you just turn all the lights off and pretend no one's home.
In Canada, it seems like so many homes get decorated and stores will make an effort too. Kids going door to door in search of candy is also so common.
There's pumpkin spice everything
Don't get me wrong, there's definitely some pumpkin spice stuff in the U.K. like a latte, but it's a whole different level in Canada.
There are donuts, cookies, cakes, tea, and coffee whitener just to name a few but I'm pretty sure you could put together an entire meal just from pumpkin spice flavoured goods if you really wanted to.
People run with the seasonal theme
As there's no Thanksgiving holiday in the U.K., fall decorations aren't really a thing but in Canada, you can't so much as step into a homeware store without seeing thousands of pumpkin decorations, garlands of bright orange leaves and huge wreaths.
It's very cute to look at and all, but I'm not sure I have the mental stamina to decorate my apartment for all only to strip it all down and put new decorations up at Christmas time.
There's so much to do during fall
Despite not having a long fall season, Canada definitely makes up for it with a ton of different things to do.
From huge corn mazes to pumpkin patches and apple cider donuts, Canadians really go for it with the fall activities.
In the U.K. you'll see the trees changing colour but there isn't a lot else happening around that. It's just a long, cold, wet couple of months.
Apple cider is a very different thing
Speaking of apple cider, the stuff you get in Canada in the fall is so different from what you'd get in the U.K.
The U.K. only has the alcoholic kind and a lot of it is pretty rough. I'd much rather have the mulled apple cider I've tried in Canada.
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