Writing the blog about contests got me thinking about lists – lists of the best, the prettiest, the most precious … is there anything that can get us more irrationally irate than a list of superlatives as defined by somebody else? Let’s see how spitting mad these ones get you:

• MoneySense‘s 2012 top 5 best places to live: Ottawa ON, Burlington ON, Kingston ON, Halifax NS, Regina SK
• Comfort Life’s 7 best places to retire: Kingston ON, Vancouver BC, Victoriaville QC, Halifax NS, Toronto ON, Bragg Creek AB, White Rock BC
• Reader’s Digest’s most beautiful cottage retreats: Sunshine Coast, BC; Muskoka, ON; Bay of Fundy NS; Acadian Coast, NB; Banff AB; Prince Albert National Park, SK; Whiteshell Provincial Park, MB; Prince Edward Island (yes, the entire province); The Laurentians, QC; Salt Spring Island, BC.
• Rick Mercer’s favourite small towns: Rossland, BC; Bay Bulls, NL; Churchill, MB; Lunenberg, NS; Tofino, BC.

So seemingly random. So easy to disagree with! And trying so hard to be inclusive – Reader’s Digest, good job spreading your choices right across the country, but don’t think we didn’t notice that Newfoundland didn’t get a mention. Rick Mercer, you seem to be unfairly favouring BC. And how wealthy would you have to be to retire to Vancouver or Toronto? In my opinion … well, I’d better stop before I start spitting like Sylvester the Cat.