Jesper, I'm sure my wife would consider it too
technical (or rather trivial) as well, but this is the kind of fun stuff I
enjoy. Fortunately I have the answers to your
questions.
If a house is located directly on the border, the
people living there and their visitors are allowed to go anywhere within the
building without passing through inspection procedures. This also goes for
walking around the house in the yard. However, once a person leaves the
house and yard (i.e. private and personal space) he/she must pass through
immigration and customs, even to visit a neighbor. I'll give you an
example. In Rock Island, Quebec and Derby Line, Vermont, the US and
Canadian border stations (not the highway ones) are located about 500-600 meters
apart. The US post is over a hill, and the Canadian post at the bottom of
the hill--neither one is visible from the other. Between the two border
stations are several houses, and the famous Haskell Library and Opera
House. I was wandering around in this 'neutral zone' when I saw an older
woman in her garden. I walked up to her and asked which country we were
in, because I couldn't fine any border markers. She laughed and said that
we were standing in the United States, but the car parking spot about four
meters away from me was in Canada. She explained that her and her
husband's apartment is right on the line--the garden in the US, but the kitchen
in Canada. So, she has to import her tomatoes from the US to Canada--she
laughed and said, not really. They don't really care what goes on in the
home or yard. Just as we were talking, her husband drove by but went past
the house. I asked why he didn't just drive into the driveway. Well,
he had been in the US side of the village singing in a funeral choir and was
just coming home, but in order to drive into the driveway he had to drive the
extra 300 meters or so through customs and backtrack to his driveway. So,
living on the border means that they have to report at immigration/customs every
time they leave their own property--to Canadian customs if they're going north
to eat out or to US customs of they're going south to the grocery store!
I'll
share another story about the Haskell building later, unless I've already shared
it with everyone.
In
terms of roads, in the next town over, Beebe Plain, Vermont/Quebec (I posted
pictures a while back) the border does run down the middle of the main road, but
it's probably best if I draw a diagram to show how it works than if I try to
explain it in words, so when I get some time, maybe on the weekend I'll site
down and draw it up. Remind me if I forget.
By the
way, I noticed on my latest trip to Canada, that the county borders in Idaho are
well marked!
Dallen