The Town of Quebeck in New-France

We took a bit of a last minute decision to go and visit Quebec City this week, so I went and looked out the travel books I have for the city:

The first of these dates back to my original trip to this Belle Province, and is well thumbed, if not out of date (not that the museums or fortresses have moved much since 2000). I'll stick them both in my bag to take with me, but even though I have just finished my last book, I doubt I'll actually get through reading HPL's travelogue of Quebec City, which is apparently the longest written work he ever produced, and the trip to Quebec was the only time he ever came to Canada, but it's heavy going by today's standards (Rough Guide it ain't). However, there are some nice little observations in there, and some great drawings the man himself drew to accompany the work, so I will at least skim through it, and compare my trip to his (not that he went to the aquarium, which is his loss really)

Mark's Wedding

Trips to Scotland are like buses. Nothing for 5 years, then three come along in quick succession. The latest was a return to Scotland for the wedding of Mark and Hannah (making the trips for teraly three weddings and a funeral). As I had caught up with pretty much all my family in one go in February, this trip was always going to be one where I tried to get in touch with as many friends as possible.

First stop Edinburgh:
Gamers and fencers, or at least those who are still in town and wanted to come out. Really great to see everyone. A shame I was only on town for 1 night, and thanks ever so much to Gav and Sabrina for letting me crash at theirs.

 

 

Then up to Fife for the wedding. The Balbirnie House Hotel to be exact. Meeting up with so many fencers that were all in Strathclyde Fencing Club back when I started was a bit like getting into a time machine and going back 20 years.

 

 

Then back to Edinburgh, to meet and catch up with Hazel, then a pint with my old boss Rory. I also found out that they've opened a Gaming Cafe right next door to my old flat. Maybe for the best that that wasn't there at the same time as me, as I took long enough to write up my thesis as it was.Then it was time to head back to Airdrie for the night, seeing Pamela and Roy for a cuppa after tea. Meanwhile, I took a wee trip out Falkirk way to see the Kelpies.

Then over to Glasgow for some shopping, a little sight seeing, and to meet up with Susan for a pub lunch in Auctioneers (Jamie Oliver's new restaurant on George Square was closed on Mondays), and a good catch up (as well as vicariously finding out about others we went to Uni with).

The next day was flying back to the girls in Montreal. A short and hectic visit, but I think I made the best use of my time there, and touched base with as many people as possible.

I'm a Canadian, eh!

We took the final step in becoming Canadian Citizens this week, and went along to our Citizenship Ceremony, where we swore allegiance to the Queen (in both languages) and sung O'Canada (in either language). So that's it, we're Canadian now, just like the girls.

One wrinkle that we didn't quite foresee was that they took our permanent resident cards off us at the door, so we're stuck here. "That's it, you're citizens, now you stay here!" This means we will have to get our passports sooner rather than later, as we can leave on our UK passports, but have no formal proof that'll let us back in the country on anything other than a visitors visa. They do give us a lovely Citizenship Certificate, but it's not a travel document.

We should also be on the voting register just in time for the upcoming provincial elections.

So that's it, we can now stay as long as we like, or indeed up and leave, but return when we wish. Nice.

Photos Of Montreal Embody The Essence Of The City

K has an eagle eye, and spotted me and the girls in one of these pics by photographer Sylvain Quidot.

Quote of the Week

"When the train of history hits a curve, the intellectuals fall off.” 

Karl Marx.

Summer Camp

As a kid in the UK, I was fully aware of the American phenomenon that is summer camp. Through the media as well as knowing it as something my Canadian cousins did. I wrongly assumed it to be a form of boarding camp where children were sent so spend their summers away from their family, evacuee style. Probably in the back-woods. Kind of what Boy's Brigade camp but for longer, and with bears.  

Needless to say, as a kid, I was abhorred that North American parents felt so little for their kids that they would thoughtlessly send them away for the whole summer!

Skip forward a few years, and I'm a parent in North America, faced with a kid starting school, and therefore having her first summer holiday. Summer holidays are looooong. We only have so many holidays we can take. Enter the Summer Camp. Day camp of course which was obviously the same kind of camp that the bulk of kids were going to, including my cousins, back in the day, when I had falsely assumed they were being carted away to boarding camp for months on end. Far from it. In fact, if I had access to something like this as a kid, I would have loved it, and so far LP does too.

She's being exposed to new sports (tennis and basketball so far) as well as swimming and doing art and drama (learning songs) every day, some of her favourite things to do. Every day I go to pick her up, she's excited to tell me what she's been doing, and her swimming seems to be advancing at a great rate.

If there's a downside, it's that the camp is anglophone. Don't get me wrong, it's great that she's being exposed to an anglo environment that is not her closest family and friends, but she's coming home with this funny accent. Ts are being dropped all over the place, especially in water and mosquito, and there us upspeak! I don't know which is worse, this, or the fact she's learning all the words and the moves to One Direction songs (which she is teaching to her little sister)! The Horror!

New Addition to the Family

LP said to  the other week:

"I have a hypothesis. It is that our family needs a cat. A hypothesis means I have an idea and that we need to test it..."

Thank you Dinosaur Train, for educating my child. But as hypotheses go, it's not one I want to test. However, on a visit to the pet shop at the weekend, just as a way of entertaining the kids for 5 minutes, we found a suitable replacement for a cat. So, may I now present to you, Don (the hypothesis).

He's a Netherland Dwarf, born on the 8th of Feb (so a little over 1 month old), and he weighs in at a miniscule 220grams. I was opting for Don the Dutch, or Don the Dwarf, but Don Hypothesis seems to have stuck.

I'll post some better pics with the kids soon.