Some of you might be wondering what we are doing during our last few days in England. Are we going to fade away or go out with a bang? We’ve been preparing for our return to Canada for a while now so several events have been a part of our process of saying goodbye to England. We had our final trip to London, we’ve been out for our last curry dinner, we’ve both purchased the quintessential English item to take home with us, we’ve taken lots of pictures, we’ve said goodbye to our local pubs and we’ve had our leaving-dos with our co-workers. Of course, the preparations have also included cleaning our flat, packing our suitcases and shipping all of our boxes. So what is left to do?
There is one small thing that will be the grand finale….
On my last day in the country I have the pleasure of meeting HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Pause for gasps of shock and delirium to set in.
The university where I teach has been selected for a royal visit while HRH is in Sheffield. I have been selected to represent the midwifery lecturers while he tours our school's clinical teaching area. Along with a few other lecturers and some students, I will give a demonstration of some of the simulated teaching equipment we use.
Not a bad way to spend my last day, I guess. I am working on my curtsy as we speak!
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Friday, November 30, 2007
St. Andrew's Day
Today is St. Andrew's Day. Or, more particularly, the National Day of Scotland. How did St. Andrew come to be linked with Scotland I hear you ask? Wikipedia knows:
About the middle of the tenth century, Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland. Several legends state that the relics of Andrew were brought under supernatural guidance from Constantinople to the place where the modern town of St. Andrews stands today (Pictish, Muckross; Gaelic, Cill Rìmhinn).
The Saltire (or "St. Andrew's Cross") is the national flag of Scotland.
The oldest surviving manuscripts linking St. Andrew to Scotland are two: one is among the manuscripts collected by Jean-Baptiste Colbert and willed to Louis XIV, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; the other is the Harleian Mss in the British Library, London. They state that the relics of Andrew were brought by one Regulus to the Pictish king Óengus mac Fergusa (729–761). The only historical Regulus (Riagail or Rule) — the name is preserved by the tower of St. Rule — was an Irish monk expelled from Ireland with Saint Columba.
There are good reasons for supposing that the relics were originally in the collection of Acca, bishop of Hexham, who took them into Pictish country when he was driven from Hexham (c. 732), and founded a see, not, according to tradition, in Galloway, but on the site of St. Andrews.
Another legend says that in the late eighth century, during a joint battle with the English, King Ungus (either the Óengus mac Fergusa mentioned previously or Óengus II of the Picts (820–834)) saw a cloud shaped like a saltire, and declared Andrew was watching over them, and if they won by his grace, then he would be their patron saint. However, there is evidence Andrew was venerated in Scotland before this.
Andrew's connection with Scotland may have been reinforced following the Synod of Whitby, when the Celtic Church felt that Columba had been "outranked" by Peter and that Peter's older brother would make a higher ranking patron. The 1320 Declaration of Arbroath cites Scotland's conversion to Christianity by Saint Andrew, "the first to be an Apostle".
Of all these stories, the most likely is the St. Columba version. As you are all no doubt aware, I have spent some considerable time both at Iona and researching its links to St. Andrew. Modestly, I can say that I am Hamilton's foremost authority on St. Andrew's links to Iona.
I have never told this story to anyone, but it seems fitting to share it now. When last on Iona, I was admiring the lovely scenery on the western shore while Beth was practicing her best person speech. As I moved further away, I began to pick up flat stones to skip across the water. As I tripped over a branch, skinned my knee and was angrily shaking my fist at the ground, I noticed a strange shape resting there. As I approached, it appeared to be metallic. I picked it up and it was indeed rusted metal in the shape of a cross. The front had designs carved into it, the back had one word - Aindreas - Gaelic for Andrew.
When Beth and I were last in London, I took the cross to be carbon dated at the British Museum. It takes approximately six weeks for the results to come back. They came back today - the cross was manufactured between 560 and 600 AD. These dates coincide nicely with the life of ... you guessed it ... St. Columba. You can see the cross now on display in Room 22 of the British Museum in the same room as those Sutton Hoo thingys.
About the middle of the tenth century, Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland. Several legends state that the relics of Andrew were brought under supernatural guidance from Constantinople to the place where the modern town of St. Andrews stands today (Pictish, Muckross; Gaelic, Cill Rìmhinn).
The Saltire (or "St. Andrew's Cross") is the national flag of Scotland.
The oldest surviving manuscripts linking St. Andrew to Scotland are two: one is among the manuscripts collected by Jean-Baptiste Colbert and willed to Louis XIV, now in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; the other is the Harleian Mss in the British Library, London. They state that the relics of Andrew were brought by one Regulus to the Pictish king Óengus mac Fergusa (729–761). The only historical Regulus (Riagail or Rule) — the name is preserved by the tower of St. Rule — was an Irish monk expelled from Ireland with Saint Columba.
There are good reasons for supposing that the relics were originally in the collection of Acca, bishop of Hexham, who took them into Pictish country when he was driven from Hexham (c. 732), and founded a see, not, according to tradition, in Galloway, but on the site of St. Andrews.
Another legend says that in the late eighth century, during a joint battle with the English, King Ungus (either the Óengus mac Fergusa mentioned previously or Óengus II of the Picts (820–834)) saw a cloud shaped like a saltire, and declared Andrew was watching over them, and if they won by his grace, then he would be their patron saint. However, there is evidence Andrew was venerated in Scotland before this.
Andrew's connection with Scotland may have been reinforced following the Synod of Whitby, when the Celtic Church felt that Columba had been "outranked" by Peter and that Peter's older brother would make a higher ranking patron. The 1320 Declaration of Arbroath cites Scotland's conversion to Christianity by Saint Andrew, "the first to be an Apostle".
Of all these stories, the most likely is the St. Columba version. As you are all no doubt aware, I have spent some considerable time both at Iona and researching its links to St. Andrew. Modestly, I can say that I am Hamilton's foremost authority on St. Andrew's links to Iona.
I have never told this story to anyone, but it seems fitting to share it now. When last on Iona, I was admiring the lovely scenery on the western shore while Beth was practicing her best person speech. As I moved further away, I began to pick up flat stones to skip across the water. As I tripped over a branch, skinned my knee and was angrily shaking my fist at the ground, I noticed a strange shape resting there. As I approached, it appeared to be metallic. I picked it up and it was indeed rusted metal in the shape of a cross. The front had designs carved into it, the back had one word - Aindreas - Gaelic for Andrew.
When Beth and I were last in London, I took the cross to be carbon dated at the British Museum. It takes approximately six weeks for the results to come back. They came back today - the cross was manufactured between 560 and 600 AD. These dates coincide nicely with the life of ... you guessed it ... St. Columba. You can see the cross now on display in Room 22 of the British Museum in the same room as those Sutton Hoo thingys.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
The End-ish
We started this blog - I know, I checked - so that we could remain in contact with those of you who will be missed by us. I think the blog did a good job. Along with Facebook and Flickr we were able to let you know about us as well as hear about you. Of course, it's not the same as being in the same country, but we did what we could.
This blog has also just had its 100th post. This will be the 102nd. Although there were long stretches where we didn't update the blog as much as we wanted, we feel pretty good about the 100+ posts we were able to make.
As most of you will know, we are heading home very soon to take up new jobs and start new things. We'll live at Brent's parent's house for a few days and then move all our stuff back to the townhouse. It will be our fourth move in 16 months. That's too many. We'll start shopping to replace some of the things lost in the move and set up house. We'll go shopping in a well-stocked grocery store, buy a car and a Christmas tree. These weekly, annual or less frequent events may seem pedestrian to some, but we missed out on them for quite some time.
It will probably only take a few weeks to be fully back in the swing of Canadian things. It will be nice to be in Canada for reasons other than job interviews. Certain friends who will remain nameless have kindly provided a reacclimatization course for us. We are looking forward to seeing our family and friends in a non-jet-lagged state and starting a new life in our old country.
We don't know what will happen to the blog. It appears to have served its purpose and we will likely just stop posting one day. We will certainly print out our 100+ posts and keep it as a memento of our time here.
We have been asking ourselves whether it was worth it to come here. There is no doubt that it was and we would recommend it to anyone. The new directions in our jobs have everything to do with our trip here and if we had it to do all over again, we surely would. Our lives needed some shaking up and we shook them for all we were worth. It wasn't easy, but it has gotten us (or hopefully will get us) to where we want to be. The future is brighter now than it was when we left and the excitement this has brought to our lives is invaluable.
We left a life which was too busy, chaotic, crazy, stressful and maddening for us. England has shown us a different way to live life and we hope to bring parts of this life home with us. The choices we have made in going home and starting a new life have reflected our desire not to take up with the old ways.
A recent Toronto Life article discussed the problems that lawyers now have with their busy and stressful lives. One lawyer lamented the fact that, although he was surmounting the hurdles placed in front of him and succeeding (articling, junior associate, senior associate, junior partner, etc.) he had very little outside of his job to show for his life. In his words, he was working too hard and had nothing in his photo album.
I'm glad I'm not him and hope I never will be.
This blog has also just had its 100th post. This will be the 102nd. Although there were long stretches where we didn't update the blog as much as we wanted, we feel pretty good about the 100+ posts we were able to make.
As most of you will know, we are heading home very soon to take up new jobs and start new things. We'll live at Brent's parent's house for a few days and then move all our stuff back to the townhouse. It will be our fourth move in 16 months. That's too many. We'll start shopping to replace some of the things lost in the move and set up house. We'll go shopping in a well-stocked grocery store, buy a car and a Christmas tree. These weekly, annual or less frequent events may seem pedestrian to some, but we missed out on them for quite some time.
It will probably only take a few weeks to be fully back in the swing of Canadian things. It will be nice to be in Canada for reasons other than job interviews. Certain friends who will remain nameless have kindly provided a reacclimatization course for us. We are looking forward to seeing our family and friends in a non-jet-lagged state and starting a new life in our old country.
We don't know what will happen to the blog. It appears to have served its purpose and we will likely just stop posting one day. We will certainly print out our 100+ posts and keep it as a memento of our time here.
We have been asking ourselves whether it was worth it to come here. There is no doubt that it was and we would recommend it to anyone. The new directions in our jobs have everything to do with our trip here and if we had it to do all over again, we surely would. Our lives needed some shaking up and we shook them for all we were worth. It wasn't easy, but it has gotten us (or hopefully will get us) to where we want to be. The future is brighter now than it was when we left and the excitement this has brought to our lives is invaluable.
We left a life which was too busy, chaotic, crazy, stressful and maddening for us. England has shown us a different way to live life and we hope to bring parts of this life home with us. The choices we have made in going home and starting a new life have reflected our desire not to take up with the old ways.
A recent Toronto Life article discussed the problems that lawyers now have with their busy and stressful lives. One lawyer lamented the fact that, although he was surmounting the hurdles placed in front of him and succeeding (articling, junior associate, senior associate, junior partner, etc.) he had very little outside of his job to show for his life. In his words, he was working too hard and had nothing in his photo album.
I'm glad I'm not him and hope I never will be.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
The Odyssey
It has been hard over the time that we have lived in England to articulate how we feel about the experience. Some people have the impression that we do not like it here. Some people have the impression that we have the perfect life with never ending vacations and fabulous job opportunities. What we have found is that it is not that simple. It is not black and white. It is true that on paper England has some pretty good things going for it. Both of us have excellent jobs which we have really enjoyed. At the same time there are things about life in England that drive us crazy and that are the source of many jokes. Our decision about how long to live here – to stay or to go cannot be made solely on factors such as this. The best way to describe how we’ve decided where we want to be is our search for balance and wholeness. We want to be in the place where we can have the most balance in our lives and where we feel whole.
In Canada, we have wonderful family and friends, but potentially crazy jobs typical of the Southern Ontario rat race, which can be draining and stressful. In England, we have wonderful jobs, but no family and only acquaintances, not old friends. In a perfect world we would transport our English jobs to Canada and life would be dreamy. But, in reality, this is not possible.
We feel that life in Canada gives us the greatest chance for feeling like we have lives full of that which is most important to us. Yes, we are giving up some promising opportunities, but life far from home does tend to make you examine your priorities differently and we feel this is still a wise choice. So, for all those who think we are down on England or too negative about our experience here, it is not that we dislike life in old Blighty, it is that we are seeking wholeness.
Beth’s metaphor for this comes from the computer game Sim City. The bar graph that tells you the growth of the residential, commercial and industrial sectors in your city need to be in balance for the city to survive. In England, the bar graph shows the industrial sector thriving, but the residential and commercial sectors barely above 0.
Brent’s metaphor for this search for balance comes from his grandparents’ old house. When he was a kid, his grandfather would shut off certain rooms in the house to save on heating costs in the winter. In England, we’ve sort of had to shut off the rooms where our families and old friends live for however long the winter of our trip to England lasts.
So our search for balance and wholeness finds us on the brink of another transition as we prepare to uproot our lives in England and return to Hamilton.
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved heaven and earth, that which we are, we are;
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
In Canada, we have wonderful family and friends, but potentially crazy jobs typical of the Southern Ontario rat race, which can be draining and stressful. In England, we have wonderful jobs, but no family and only acquaintances, not old friends. In a perfect world we would transport our English jobs to Canada and life would be dreamy. But, in reality, this is not possible.
We feel that life in Canada gives us the greatest chance for feeling like we have lives full of that which is most important to us. Yes, we are giving up some promising opportunities, but life far from home does tend to make you examine your priorities differently and we feel this is still a wise choice. So, for all those who think we are down on England or too negative about our experience here, it is not that we dislike life in old Blighty, it is that we are seeking wholeness.
Beth’s metaphor for this comes from the computer game Sim City. The bar graph that tells you the growth of the residential, commercial and industrial sectors in your city need to be in balance for the city to survive. In England, the bar graph shows the industrial sector thriving, but the residential and commercial sectors barely above 0.
Brent’s metaphor for this search for balance comes from his grandparents’ old house. When he was a kid, his grandfather would shut off certain rooms in the house to save on heating costs in the winter. In England, we’ve sort of had to shut off the rooms where our families and old friends live for however long the winter of our trip to England lasts.
So our search for balance and wholeness finds us on the brink of another transition as we prepare to uproot our lives in England and return to Hamilton.
Tho’ much is taken, much abides; and tho’
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved heaven and earth, that which we are, we are;
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
As the Crow Flies
The month of travelling has finally drawn to a close. Over the last five weeks I have travelled all over England for my research. We also had our trip to London, and I attended the conference in Plymouth. Of course there were also 12 trips to Sheffield for my job as a Lecturer.
I’ve done the math (no small accomplishment for those who know my mathematical prowess) and here are the totals:
I went to Sheffield 12 times. This adds up to 498 miles (stupid UK uses miles) or 802 kilometres.
The rest of the travel, the conference, the London trip and all my research interviews, adds up to 2468 miles or 3972 kilometres.
That makes for a grand total of 2966 miles or 4774 kilometres.
Just to put this in perspective, if you travelled in a straight line, as the crow flies, from Hamilton, Ontario to Los Angeles, you would need to keep going for 1300 more kilometres to reach this total. Or you could head in the other direction and choose to arrive just outside of Dublin Ireland. Alternatively, for those who would like to remain faithful to the True North Strong and Free, you could travel between Antigonish, Nova Scotia to Victoria, British Columbia, but you would still need to go 241 kilometres further.
All of this took place between September 23rd and October 26th. Its five weeks I’m not soon to forget.
Now as if this travel was not enough, we will be travelling another 5548 kilometres on Wednesday. We are making the trip from Manchester to Hamilton for a week to get things sorted in preparation for coming home. This brings us to the grand total of 10,322 kilometres travelled. That’s a quarter of the way around the world. Plus, this was the final component I needed to successfully include planes, trains and automobiles in my methods of transportation over this period of travel.
I feel like this has been quite the accomplishment. This was the big hurdle of time I knew I had to get through before we could prepare to move back to Canada. My interviews went well, the conference was great, London was a blast. If only there was some kind of Girl Guide badge or something that I could have to outwardly show my accomplishment. Maybe the lines on my face and the dark circles under my eyes are all I have to show for it!
I’ve done the math (no small accomplishment for those who know my mathematical prowess) and here are the totals:
I went to Sheffield 12 times. This adds up to 498 miles (stupid UK uses miles) or 802 kilometres.
The rest of the travel, the conference, the London trip and all my research interviews, adds up to 2468 miles or 3972 kilometres.
That makes for a grand total of 2966 miles or 4774 kilometres.
Just to put this in perspective, if you travelled in a straight line, as the crow flies, from Hamilton, Ontario to Los Angeles, you would need to keep going for 1300 more kilometres to reach this total. Or you could head in the other direction and choose to arrive just outside of Dublin Ireland. Alternatively, for those who would like to remain faithful to the True North Strong and Free, you could travel between Antigonish, Nova Scotia to Victoria, British Columbia, but you would still need to go 241 kilometres further.
All of this took place between September 23rd and October 26th. Its five weeks I’m not soon to forget.
Now as if this travel was not enough, we will be travelling another 5548 kilometres on Wednesday. We are making the trip from Manchester to Hamilton for a week to get things sorted in preparation for coming home. This brings us to the grand total of 10,322 kilometres travelled. That’s a quarter of the way around the world. Plus, this was the final component I needed to successfully include planes, trains and automobiles in my methods of transportation over this period of travel.
I feel like this has been quite the accomplishment. This was the big hurdle of time I knew I had to get through before we could prepare to move back to Canada. My interviews went well, the conference was great, London was a blast. If only there was some kind of Girl Guide badge or something that I could have to outwardly show my accomplishment. Maybe the lines on my face and the dark circles under my eyes are all I have to show for it!
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Tired of London?
‘When a man is tired of London, he’s tired of Life, for there is in London all that Life can afford.’ Samuel Johnson
The good news is we are not tired of London, nor tired of Life. We spent 48 hours in London to say our goodbyes to a city that we have come to love. This trip was intended as a chance to see the last few must-see spots we had not yet visited and to go back to some of our favourite haunts.
Both Brent and I were able to cross a couple of must-see items off our list during this trip. For me, it was Kensington Palace. For someone who as a little girl was so obsessed with Princess Diana that I had commemorative china, photo books, paper dolls with all her dresses, her wedding ceremony recording on record, and even at one stage a ‘Princess Diana haircut’ it was great to see where she had lived. A special exhibit to mark the 10th anniversary of her death was on at the Palace so it was full Diana overload! I was in heaven!!
For Brent, the must-see location was the Churchill Museum and War Rooms. This place was fantastic. We were able to walk through the bunker rooms used by Churchill during WWII. We saw the War Cabinet meeting room, the map room, and many private accommodations for the important big-wigs. The Churchill Museum was excellent as well. We would recommend this stop to anyone going to London. After two and a half hours I had to drag Brent out of there kicking and screaming!
Speaking of Brent kicking and screaming, I also had to drag him unwillingly out of the British Museum on our last day so we could catch our train home. And sadly for Brent, I usually hit the point of cultural and historical overload well before he does. But now, thanks to his two visits to the museum, I think he has had his fill for a little while and his happy museum memories will last him until we are able to come back in a few years.
We were happy to spend a few hours walking in both Hyde Park and St James park during our visit. Hard to believe we have to go to the big city of London to see trees, rivers and wildlife. We also made it a priority to eat dinner at our favourite spot, Bodean’s BBQ, and eat breakfast at our favourite café. It is nice that we have been to London enough times to feel like we have favourite spots, almost like locals.Of course there are many, many, many sights, sounds, activities, and experiences in London that we have not seen. London is like Nintendo for adults: it is stimulating, challenging, and never the same way twice. We have really just scratched the surface. It is the kind of city where you could live there your whole life and still only scratch the surface. We are so thankful that we have been able to explore London and experience it at a leisurely pace. We’ve been there four times now. It is nice to be able to have small, frequent visits rather than a mega 10 day holiday, which includes a few days in a jet-lagged zombie state. I guess we are spoiled. It is nice memories of our travels and excursions here in the UK that will bring a smile to our face and warm our hearts on cold Ontario winter nights.
Saturday, October 13, 2007
The Wedding Day!
It was a beautiful wedding. The words, the music, and the people had all been selected by Stephen and Pleuntje as a reflection of them and their new life together. The service was in the Iona Abbey, a 13th Century Abbey - the site of where St. Columba brought Christianity to Scotland and where generations of Scottish Kings are buried. Not too shabby.The reception started with tea and scones in the Village Hall with Irish folk musicians filling the air with lovely sounds. A delicious meal was enjoyed by all and a few speeches were shared. In an attempt to work off our dinner, everyone helped clear the tables and chairs to make room for the dance floor. We were then led through a traditional Scottish Ceilidh. The dances were interspersed with skits, songs, and movies. The creativity and thought that went into what people shared was really incredible. After we were all tuckered out from the Ceilidh a disco began and those who still had the legs and the stamina for more dancing carried on until they collapsed.
The wedding and the reception blended the Canadian, Dutch and African traditions seamlessly. All those in attendance seemed to be caught up in the magic of the day. It was really a wedding like no other. It really felt like a community was formed by all those in attendance. Instead of spending a few hours with the other wedding guests as you would at any other wedding, we spent a weekend with the other guests. We had a chance to make new friends, to rekindle old friendships and to enjoy the warmth of family. I had joked prior to the wedding that I always knew my brother would find a way to make gortex the official clothing of his wedding and the Scottish climate was perfect for that. Yet, I had never really considered that he would also create a wedding based on the principles and ideas of community building that we learned all those years ago in YLTP and camp and which he has never stopped using. Just further evidence that this was the perfect wedding for Stephen, which is as exactly as it should be – gortex, community and sheep poop. The holy trinity of Stephen!
Is this Dundas?
One of the classic statements leading up to the wedding came from our friend David Linn, who was quoted as saying, ‘why do we have to go all the way to Scotland to hang out with people from Dundas?’ For us, hanging out with people from Canada was definitely one of the highlights of the wedding.It was really fun when we started bumping into people from Dundas in strange locations in Scotland. We bumped into Matthew and Leslie in the Glasgow Queen Street train station. It was so unexpected to see them, at first we didn’t recognize who they were. We then rode the train with them to Oban. We had a nice time wandering around Oban with Matthew, Leslie, Margaret and Greg. Although it was funny, if you put your back to the sea, and just looked up and down the main street of Oban you could easily mistake it for Dundas. Had we really travelled all this way to end up in the same spot?
The next morning we woke up and made our way to the ferry terminal. However, while wheeling our suitcases along the streets of Oban we were almost run over by David and Susan Linn. What a small world! What are you doing here? We waved and exchanged brief pleasantries and continued on our way. Shortly after arriving at the ferry terminal we ran into Jim and Susan. And, who’s that over there? It’s Bregje, Pleun’s friend who we met in Amsterdam! The excitement about the wedding was reaching a new level. With each new person we ran into we kept getting more and more excited!
We had a fun ferry ride across from Oban to Craignure on the isle of Mull. And then a very picturesque bus ride from Craignure to Fionnphort. Our gaggle of Jim, Susan, Bregje, Margaret, Greg, Brent and I were just about to embark on the ferry across to Iona when we spotted the bride and groom!
So this was it, the wedding weekend had begun. People were arriving, the festive mode was beginning. Over the next day or so the ferry kept bringing over new groups of wedding guests. We attended a service at the Abbey, we strolled around the island and got acquainted with the sheep. Brent and I also spent Saturday with our gang of fellow decorators at the village hall and helped turn it into a magical spot.
Wedding stories
We've been a little tardy in posting about the great Iona Wedding. Since some people are still asking for more details about the wedding, we thought it time to get on with it. Also, as usual we write the blog just as much for us and for our own memory as we do for others, so it would seem odd not to blog about such an eventful time. So without further delay here are a couple of posts about the wedding in Iona.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
A little piece of Ontario in the heart of Devon
We were in Ontario recently. Sorry that we weren't able to stop by and visit anyone, but we were only there for ten minutes. How is this possible, you may ask? Here's the story....
We were recently in Plymouth for me to attend and present a poster at a conference. Being the naive Canadian that I am, I also scheduled a research interview in Southampton for the day the conference ended. Those of you not familiar with the geography of England, may like me, think that Plymouth and Southampton are both somewhere down along the south coast, so how far apart can they really be? Well, they are actually about 3.5hrs apart, mostly on account of the winding, one lane roads, not simply the mileage. Not exactly close by. Not a horrific drive though, unless you were also naive (read stupid) enough to plan to return to Leeds the same day. We left the conference at 11am and finally returned to Leeds at 9:30pm. That's a long day in the car. We did stop in Southampton for me to do my interview and stretch our legs, but no matter how you do the math, it was a long trip.
Moaning and whinging (classic Brit words!) about the drive aside, there were some fun moments on this trip. Our drive took us through Glastonbury and Oxford. We can cross those off the list of places we need to visit now. There were some nice sea views from the road along the south coast which also made the drive quite enjoyable. Also, we had some time to wander around Plymouth. We saw the Mayflower memorial which, in all honesty, may be the only thing worth seeing in Plymouth! I suggested to Brent that perhaps they made Plymouth dodgy on purpose so that when the Pilgrims were leaving on the Mayflower, if they were having any second thoughts about wanting to leave their home land they would look back, see how bad it looked and decide that their decision to move to the new world was the right one. Brent tells me that Plymouth was very badly bombed in WWII and that most of what is visible today has been built since the war, so likely it wasn't as dodgy when the Pilgrims where departing. I think he was being polite.
The highlight of the trip was our stop in Ontario. Somewhere along the A30 just outside of Exeter we saw a sign with a Canadian flag on it. I thought this was a worthwhile detour along the way so we wandered a little off the road to follow the sign. The signs led us deep into the middle of nowhere, on a tiny road with 20 foot high hedgerows. But, at the end of the road we spotted the Canadian flag flying over Wolford Chapel (we forgot our camera on this trip, so check out the picture at this website: http://www.heritagefdn.on.ca/scripts/index_.asp?action=31&U_ID=0&N_ID=1&P_ID=8802). The chapel was built in 1802 by General John Graves Simcoe - first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. The Simcoe family is buried on the grounds and a the tiny Chapel building holds antiques from the Simcoe family. In 1966 the deed for the land was given to the Premier of Ontario, John Robarts, so it is actually a piece of Ontario in the middle of Devon. It was definitely worth the detour. Perhaps our stop at Wolford Chapel was a bit of foreshadowing?
It is interesting to think that our trip to Plymouth will likely be our last before we return home at Christmas. Our last views of England are remarkably similar to the Pilgrims leaving on the Mayflower. I think we will fly home though rather than take a boat across the Atlantic, but this is just a matter of taste. Hopefully this will prevent us from contracting scurvy, TB and pneumonia like the Pilgrims. New World here we come!
We were recently in Plymouth for me to attend and present a poster at a conference. Being the naive Canadian that I am, I also scheduled a research interview in Southampton for the day the conference ended. Those of you not familiar with the geography of England, may like me, think that Plymouth and Southampton are both somewhere down along the south coast, so how far apart can they really be? Well, they are actually about 3.5hrs apart, mostly on account of the winding, one lane roads, not simply the mileage. Not exactly close by. Not a horrific drive though, unless you were also naive (read stupid) enough to plan to return to Leeds the same day. We left the conference at 11am and finally returned to Leeds at 9:30pm. That's a long day in the car. We did stop in Southampton for me to do my interview and stretch our legs, but no matter how you do the math, it was a long trip.
Moaning and whinging (classic Brit words!) about the drive aside, there were some fun moments on this trip. Our drive took us through Glastonbury and Oxford. We can cross those off the list of places we need to visit now. There were some nice sea views from the road along the south coast which also made the drive quite enjoyable. Also, we had some time to wander around Plymouth. We saw the Mayflower memorial which, in all honesty, may be the only thing worth seeing in Plymouth! I suggested to Brent that perhaps they made Plymouth dodgy on purpose so that when the Pilgrims were leaving on the Mayflower, if they were having any second thoughts about wanting to leave their home land they would look back, see how bad it looked and decide that their decision to move to the new world was the right one. Brent tells me that Plymouth was very badly bombed in WWII and that most of what is visible today has been built since the war, so likely it wasn't as dodgy when the Pilgrims where departing. I think he was being polite.
The highlight of the trip was our stop in Ontario. Somewhere along the A30 just outside of Exeter we saw a sign with a Canadian flag on it. I thought this was a worthwhile detour along the way so we wandered a little off the road to follow the sign. The signs led us deep into the middle of nowhere, on a tiny road with 20 foot high hedgerows. But, at the end of the road we spotted the Canadian flag flying over Wolford Chapel (we forgot our camera on this trip, so check out the picture at this website: http://www.heritagefdn.on.ca/scripts/index_.asp?action=31&U_ID=0&N_ID=1&P_ID=8802). The chapel was built in 1802 by General John Graves Simcoe - first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. The Simcoe family is buried on the grounds and a the tiny Chapel building holds antiques from the Simcoe family. In 1966 the deed for the land was given to the Premier of Ontario, John Robarts, so it is actually a piece of Ontario in the middle of Devon. It was definitely worth the detour. Perhaps our stop at Wolford Chapel was a bit of foreshadowing?
It is interesting to think that our trip to Plymouth will likely be our last before we return home at Christmas. Our last views of England are remarkably similar to the Pilgrims leaving on the Mayflower. I think we will fly home though rather than take a boat across the Atlantic, but this is just a matter of taste. Hopefully this will prevent us from contracting scurvy, TB and pneumonia like the Pilgrims. New World here we come!
Thursday, October 04, 2007
34
I am 34 today. On first impression, being 34 is worse than being 22 but better than being 40. At least I assume it is ... I've been 22 but can't say that I have been 40. I'm not even half-way to 40 (if you count from 30). See how great math is. It is alarming that, after Beth's birthday extravaganza and some M&M cookies that appeared out of nowhere, my waistline also appears to be 34.
If this keeps up, I'm not really going to enjoy 60 ... if I make it that far.
Postscript: I've adopted a strict constructionist approach to my earlier no beer vow (it is, like the Constitution, a living document). Accordingly, to give effect to the pith and substance of the vow, the vow is construed to mean no English or European beer allowed. However, North American beer, specifically including American beer, is allowed.
Hello Anchor Steam. Where have you been all my life?
If this keeps up, I'm not really going to enjoy 60 ... if I make it that far.
Postscript: I've adopted a strict constructionist approach to my earlier no beer vow (it is, like the Constitution, a living document). Accordingly, to give effect to the pith and substance of the vow, the vow is construed to mean no English or European beer allowed. However, North American beer, specifically including American beer, is allowed.
Hello Anchor Steam. Where have you been all my life?
Monday, October 01, 2007
The Canada Gang - S&P
Looking back, it was a pretty incredible stretch of time from the end of August to the middle of September. It seems like a lot happened but it was really only three weeks. The fun started with Stephen and Pleun’s arrival in Leeds. Their flight was not punctual in the slightest so, instead of arriving at 6pm, they didn’t arrive until 10pm. By the time they arrived, Beth was so excited she made us wait outside the building for their taxi to arrive.
Apart from how great it was to see S&P and how much we missed them, I was curious to see what it would be like to spend time together after so long. Stephen saw us off at the airport on September 3, 2006 and we hadn’t seen him since. Although there were regular phone calls, the phone can’t replace hanging out with family. As for Pleun, we met her in February 2006 and got to spend a good amount of time with her on her first trip to Canada. A few weeks after we arrived in England, Stephen announced their engagement and Pleun moved to Canada in December.
The net result of all this moving about is that Beth and I were meeting our new sister-in-law (if you count the visit in February as 1 visit) for the second time 5 days before the wedding. The rest of the Canada Gang has been able to spend plenty of time with the new couple and S&P were old news by the time the wedding rolled around. But for us, in our little, far-removed world, S&P-the-couple remained new.
On our trip to Amsterdam, when we met two of Pleun’s friends, we learned that we weren’t the only ones who had been missing out on seeing S&P start their new life together on the same continent. Stephen had visited a few times, but then Pleun moved to Canada and their great friend was suddenly very far away. But, being the extremely wise souls that the four of us are, we concluded that when you find The One, bold, ocean-spanning actions are necessary. If only we could figure out how they could be in Hamilton and Amsterdam at the same time.
From the first time I met Stephen and Beth at Canterbury Hills, it was easy to see that they were close. Our busy professional lives and our extended absence from Canada has been a challenge for all of our friendships. Trying to stay in touch across the ocean takes some work and it is easy to feel that we are missing out on big moments in the lives of those close to us. I am happy to report that, as with all of our visitors this summer, everything was the same as it ever was. Stephen was the same guy who would come over to our house to do his laundry and watch the Blue Jay game. Unfortunately, he now has his own washer/dryer and no longer needs to come over to our house in Hamilton for laundry. Hopefully, he will anyway. Beth was the same little sister that tries to please her big brother. As for Pleun, she is our new sister and we couldn’t possibly be happier about that.
So today, we wish them a happy one month-iversary.
Apart from how great it was to see S&P and how much we missed them, I was curious to see what it would be like to spend time together after so long. Stephen saw us off at the airport on September 3, 2006 and we hadn’t seen him since. Although there were regular phone calls, the phone can’t replace hanging out with family. As for Pleun, we met her in February 2006 and got to spend a good amount of time with her on her first trip to Canada. A few weeks after we arrived in England, Stephen announced their engagement and Pleun moved to Canada in December.
The net result of all this moving about is that Beth and I were meeting our new sister-in-law (if you count the visit in February as 1 visit) for the second time 5 days before the wedding. The rest of the Canada Gang has been able to spend plenty of time with the new couple and S&P were old news by the time the wedding rolled around. But for us, in our little, far-removed world, S&P-the-couple remained new.
On our trip to Amsterdam, when we met two of Pleun’s friends, we learned that we weren’t the only ones who had been missing out on seeing S&P start their new life together on the same continent. Stephen had visited a few times, but then Pleun moved to Canada and their great friend was suddenly very far away. But, being the extremely wise souls that the four of us are, we concluded that when you find The One, bold, ocean-spanning actions are necessary. If only we could figure out how they could be in Hamilton and Amsterdam at the same time.
From the first time I met Stephen and Beth at Canterbury Hills, it was easy to see that they were close. Our busy professional lives and our extended absence from Canada has been a challenge for all of our friendships. Trying to stay in touch across the ocean takes some work and it is easy to feel that we are missing out on big moments in the lives of those close to us. I am happy to report that, as with all of our visitors this summer, everything was the same as it ever was. Stephen was the same guy who would come over to our house to do his laundry and watch the Blue Jay game. Unfortunately, he now has his own washer/dryer and no longer needs to come over to our house in Hamilton for laundry. Hopefully, he will anyway. Beth was the same little sister that tries to please her big brother. As for Pleun, she is our new sister and we couldn’t possibly be happier about that.
So today, we wish them a happy one month-iversary.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
The Curse of '82
That’s right. It’s mine. You see here a picture of the vintage 1982 World Cup jersey worn by Scotland. It is the single best and most powerful sporting jersey known to man. Merely wearing it causes supernatural events. Sure, there are other jerseys that are powerful. My vintage 1987 Team Canada jersey with Gretzky on the back is undefeated. But the level of talent of Canada’s hockey team is not quite the same as Scotland’s football team. Canada should always win. Scotland, by rights, should never win. Canada should win every single game it plays in any tournament ever. (If the top 10 footballing nations gave their best players to a superteam, that team’s talent would be just enough to be comparable to an AHL All-Star team.) Scotland has 6 million people and is the fattest, most unhealthy country in Europe. Any game they win is to be cherished. But I digress. We were talking about supernatural events.
My parents-in-law purchased the jersey for me just before the Euro ’08 qualifier between Scotland and the hated French, to be played in Paris. Note the v-neck, decorative striping and oversized crest. Also note the blue. Scottish Blue. Aye, nice. I donned the jersey for the game with France. Those of you following the qualifying will know that Scotland is doing quite well. They even beat France once. But that was in Scotland. This was different. To make a long story short, Scotland beat France 1-nil. It was the first French home defeat in 7 years. This was a supernatural event.
So, now that we’ve established that my jersey has supernatural powers, you’ll be wondering why. Where did these supernatural powers come from? Simple. Not only is it a particularly rare piece of sporting memorabilia, it is also a symbol of sporting tragedy; of great promise dashed by administrative procedure. Those of you with a passing interest in the World Cup will already know that Scotland qualified for the 1982 World Cup[1]. It was in a group with Brazil, the USSR and New Zealand. Scotland lost to Brazil, tied the USSR and beat New Zealand. The same record as that of the USSR. Unfortunately, the USSR had a better goal differential and Scotland was out. Scotland was denied by the fact that the Evil Empire let in 2 less goals than wee Scotland. The greatest Scottish footballing generation of the Century was denied. And so the Curse of the ’82 was born. The current crop of Scottish footballers is the greatest Scottish footballing generation EVER and the reason is there are possessed with the spirits of the ‘82’s, and play with the drive, ambition and talent of their forefathers, in addition to their own. That is why, when France comes to play, they lose. Think France will win at home? Nope, wrong. The Curse Lives. It can only be broken by beating the successor to the USSR (Russia) in a major tournament.
France has been victimized twice now. The rest of the Scotland group will follow. Scotland is going to be at Euro ’08, I’m going to be wearing the jersey and woe be to anyone who gets in our way.
[1] This edition of the World Cup was particularly offensive given that Italy won for the 3rd time.
Hockey Night in London et al.
Woo-hoo. Hockey Night in Canada is on this side of the pond to kick of the 2007-2008 NHL Season. This will be the first NHL game I’ve seen in 13 months. I wonder if I’ll be able to follow the puck. I wonder if I’ll remember what the offside rule is. What other rules did they slip in while I was away? Anyway, given our tentative albeit impending return to Canada, it’s probably about time that I re-Canadianized myself (you’ll note that I used the “z” there and not the “s”). I’ll have to say elevator, not lift; apartment, not flat; truck, not lorry; cold, not parky; wanker, not wanka … you get the idea.
To help me along, I am going to start acclimatizing myself to the pillars of Canadian culture. First, I have quit drinking English/imported beer – only Canadian beer from now on. Now, this turned into a bit of a blunder since at the time I made the vow, my local pub had Sleeman on tap. To my horror, on my last visit to the pub there was no Sleeman. It’s been 2 weeks and so far, so good. Luckily, I’ve got enough Scotch to last until Christmas. Next, I am going to watch Season 5 of the Trailer Park Boys. If I remember correctly, Canada is exactly like the Trailer Park Boys, except some people live in houses, not trailers. Otherwise, identical.
Hopefully, after 12 weeks of this, I’ll be as Canadian as I was before I left.
To help me along, I am going to start acclimatizing myself to the pillars of Canadian culture. First, I have quit drinking English/imported beer – only Canadian beer from now on. Now, this turned into a bit of a blunder since at the time I made the vow, my local pub had Sleeman on tap. To my horror, on my last visit to the pub there was no Sleeman. It’s been 2 weeks and so far, so good. Luckily, I’ve got enough Scotch to last until Christmas. Next, I am going to watch Season 5 of the Trailer Park Boys. If I remember correctly, Canada is exactly like the Trailer Park Boys, except some people live in houses, not trailers. Otherwise, identical.
Hopefully, after 12 weeks of this, I’ll be as Canadian as I was before I left.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Visitors
Visitor Season has now closed. It began on June 19 when Brent’s parents arrived in England and ends today with Beth’s parents flying home from Glasgow. In between we hosted Julie, the Millers and S&P. In that time we saw York, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Moffat, Dublin, County Mayo, Ballina, Amsterdam, York, Derbyshire, York, Glasgow, Oban, Mull, Iona, every inch of Perthshire, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Today, we’ll try to gather our bearings, do our laundry, talk to some people, get ready for work tomorrow and prepare for the stretch drive. Oh, and we’ll try to tell you about what’s happened the last few weeks. Although, given the tendency of our bartender to overserve us, our memories may be a bit fuzzy.
Today, we’ll try to gather our bearings, do our laundry, talk to some people, get ready for work tomorrow and prepare for the stretch drive. Oh, and we’ll try to tell you about what’s happened the last few weeks. Although, given the tendency of our bartender to overserve us, our memories may be a bit fuzzy.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
S&P
So what is this wedding we keep talking about? Well, my brother and Pleuntje will be getting married on Sept. 1st in Iona, Scotland. They met there two years ago and have returned to tie the knot!
Stephen and Pleun will arrive in Leeds tomorrow to stay with us for a couple of days. We will then begin the marathon trip to Iona. This will involve a train trip to Glasgow, then another train, a ferry, a bus and another ferry. Brent has pleaded for a helicopter, but his request has fallen on deaf ears. We will be stopping along the way to Iona to meet up with my parents. It will have been almost exactly 51 weeks since I last saw them when we said good-bye at Pearson airport.
The wedding will be a great opportunity to catch up with friends and family. It will also be nice to get to know more of Pleun’s family and friends. We are looking forward to hanging out, drinking scotch, walking with the sheep, making fun of Stephen and celebrating! It will be quite the wedding! We are also looking forward to being part of the small number of people who are not jet-lagged over the weekend. Finally, living in the UK has paid off. That means just one thing….more scotch!
After the wedding festivities, my parents will be staying with us for a couple of weeks. We will spend some time in Leeds and a week in the Scottish highlands visiting some of the Murray homeland! That will be a nice treat before getting back down to work in September.
I know, I know, it seems like one never ending holiday over here. And frankly, this summer has been all about holiday. (Believe it or not, I have five days of holiday that will go unused and will need to be rolled over until the following year because I didn’t take them. I’ve already been scolded by my co-workers never to let that happen again!). It has been a great way to spend the summer. We are very lucky. It has been nice to have some breaks from work/phd things and to visit with family and friends. The wedding will be the icing on the cake!
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Miller Time!
The first wedding guests arrived at the B&B Inn on Sunday, August 19th. The Millers are Beth’s “Aunt and Uncle” generally and her Godparents specifically. A little background on the Millers – Pauline Miller and Beth’s Mom have been friends since grade 3. David and Beth’s Dad became friends one summer at University when they worked at, what they used to refer to as, “retarded” kids camp. (Please don’t take offence, it was the politically incorrect 70’s.) Pauline and Beth’s Dad were taking a course together at University and that’s how Pauline and David met. One weekend, when Beth’s Mom was visiting Windsor from University of Toronto and Pauline and David wanted some “alone” time, Pauline introduced Beth’s Mom to Beth’s Dad. And the rest, as they say, is history. The four have been friends ever since and have been together through it all (“all” meaning drunken bridge sessions leading to heroic hangovers the next day).
Back to the present day. The Millers arrived Sunday lunchtime and we fed them and put them to bed since they’d flown through the night and driven to Leeds from Manchester. Upon waking, Beth had made us all a wonderful dinner of Chicken Parm. Afterwards, we introduced the Millers to the local pub. Some members of our party were bad influences on others or, alternatively, the willpower of some members of our party left much to be desired. Suffice it to say, Brent was feeling like he did Thursday mornings in law school. While Brent was suffering at work Monday morning, Beth accompanied the Millers to York and had fun in the pubs, along the walls and in the Minster (you know the drill). Brent, upon returning home Monday evening, was horrified to see that the Millers had returned from York with a bottle of Pimms. An interesting cultural moment took place as we pondered exactly the best way to drink this classic English beverage. The Millers, in true Miller fashion, preferred theirs “on the rocks”. No mixer. The Murray-Davis’s followed the directions on the bottle (in true Murray-Davis fashion) and had theirs with Lemonade (Sprite to you colonials). (Note: follow-ups with genuine English persons the next day confirmed that only the hugest of heathens would ever drink Pimms without a mixer of Lemonade. Perhaps Brent and Beth are true Brits after all?). The Millers then took us out for dinner at our favourite place. It was a nice treat. The feeling the next day was not as nice however, as dinner consisted of three bottles of wine, glasses of scotch and then retiring to our flat for yet more scotch, wine and beer. It got ugly and Brent ended up feeling like he used to feel on Sunday mornings at law school. Unfortunately for him, it was Tuesday morning and he was expected to work. Despite the fuzzy heads, which seem to accompany every morning after an evening spent with the Millers, a good time was had by all. There was much laughter, story telling and fun. Another nice taste of home and friends who at one time felt rather far away.
Back to the present day. The Millers arrived Sunday lunchtime and we fed them and put them to bed since they’d flown through the night and driven to Leeds from Manchester. Upon waking, Beth had made us all a wonderful dinner of Chicken Parm. Afterwards, we introduced the Millers to the local pub. Some members of our party were bad influences on others or, alternatively, the willpower of some members of our party left much to be desired. Suffice it to say, Brent was feeling like he did Thursday mornings in law school. While Brent was suffering at work Monday morning, Beth accompanied the Millers to York and had fun in the pubs, along the walls and in the Minster (you know the drill). Brent, upon returning home Monday evening, was horrified to see that the Millers had returned from York with a bottle of Pimms. An interesting cultural moment took place as we pondered exactly the best way to drink this classic English beverage. The Millers, in true Miller fashion, preferred theirs “on the rocks”. No mixer. The Murray-Davis’s followed the directions on the bottle (in true Murray-Davis fashion) and had theirs with Lemonade (Sprite to you colonials). (Note: follow-ups with genuine English persons the next day confirmed that only the hugest of heathens would ever drink Pimms without a mixer of Lemonade. Perhaps Brent and Beth are true Brits after all?). The Millers then took us out for dinner at our favourite place. It was a nice treat. The feeling the next day was not as nice however, as dinner consisted of three bottles of wine, glasses of scotch and then retiring to our flat for yet more scotch, wine and beer. It got ugly and Brent ended up feeling like he used to feel on Sunday mornings at law school. Unfortunately for him, it was Tuesday morning and he was expected to work. Despite the fuzzy heads, which seem to accompany every morning after an evening spent with the Millers, a good time was had by all. There was much laughter, story telling and fun. Another nice taste of home and friends who at one time felt rather far away.
JULIE! The Return of the Sister.
After our return from Amsterdam, Julie stayed with us for 10 days. Brent and Beth returned to work for a few days and let Julie have the flat to herself so she could sleep late, stay in her pyjamas all day, eat junk food and recover from her marathon trip. On the Wednesday, Beth and Julie hit the Leeds shopping areas and bought some nice things to take home to Canada, in Julie’s case, an on to the wedding on Iona, in Beth’s case. Brent and Julie went to York on Thursday and enjoyed a nice day at Betty’s Tea Room, wandering the streets and walls of the cittie and touring the York Minster. On Friday, Brent and Julie enjoyed a viewing of the Simpson’s Movie. Once Beth returned from work, we enjoyed a boozy night in. On Saturday, we rented a car and drove down to Chatsworth House, outside of Sheffield. We enjoyed a brilliant day of sun and fun and then stopped at an old pub on the way home for tea. Or dinner. Or supper. Depending on what class you’re from. (Julie and I being from the highest class, of course … Beth, too, now by marriage.) On Sunday, we stayed in and enjoyed The Times, cookies fresh out of the oven and dinner made by Julie, and stupid ManU drawing against Sunderland (Roy Keane, you magnificent and devious bastard). Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday saw the three of us just hanging out in Leeds and Harrogate enjoying each other’s company and the shopping, sun, patios, gourmet hamburgers and dinner at Nick’s (thanks Julie!). It was really great having Julie here to visit. She, and the rest of the family, did seem very far away before they started visiting. It was very relaxed and fun to have everyone here. However, it did make us think about all the fun we could have with them whenever we do eventually make it home. Oh well, all in good time. Julie flew home easy-peasy on Thursday morning and, hopefully, is over her jet lag.
I Amsterdam Continued
Julie, Brent and I hit Amsterdam pretty hard on Saturday. We had an excellent letter from Pleun with a list of her favourite spots in the city as our guide. The guide did not lead us astray. We saw all of the major tourist haunts and many lovely places that are not known to too many tourists. Amsterdam seems like a bit of a dream really. It is relaxing and beautiful, yet it has a unique quality that gives it some zing (and I’m not talking about the odour from the coffee shops)! The sun shone the whole time we were there and, even though those of us who live in the UK did not think it was possible, the temperature reached 28 degrees. It was a little taste of summer for Brent and I who have grown accustom to grey and rain. Perhaps all the vitamin D clouded our judgement of the city, but we loved every minute of Amsterdam. Some of our highlights included the Van Gogh Museum, the Museumplein, strolling along the canals, the Anne Frank Museum, and Vondelpark. We didn’t get to take a canal boat ride because of the Pride Day festivities taking over the canal, and we didn’t get to visit the Rijksmuseum as it was closed for renovations, but this just gives us reason to go back again. In the waning hours of Sunday, before we had to travel to the airport to return to Leeds, we did some wandering around the shops. It was during this wander that I stumbled upon my dress for Stephen & Pleun’s wedding. It seemed quite fitting that I should find it in Amsterdam during a trip inspired by Pleun’s list of places to see. It was easy to find the right dress in a city where we felt that Pleun was all around. The trip was a great way to get to know more about her - through her friends and through the city she called home. Time well spent.
P.S. Brent and I almost didn’t make it home from Amsterdam. Our flight had been over booked and when we checked in they did not have seats for us. Julie was flying home at the same time, but on a different airline (since ours was full at the time of booking her flight). We had given her our only house key in case we got in at different times. It’s a good thing we did considering we almost ended up spending another night in the Netherlands and taking a flight the next day. In the end, it all worked out. There were empty seats in business class so we got bumped up and arrived in the Leeds airport at the same time as Julie.
P.S. Brent and I almost didn’t make it home from Amsterdam. Our flight had been over booked and when we checked in they did not have seats for us. Julie was flying home at the same time, but on a different airline (since ours was full at the time of booking her flight). We had given her our only house key in case we got in at different times. It’s a good thing we did considering we almost ended up spending another night in the Netherlands and taking a flight the next day. In the end, it all worked out. There were empty seats in business class so we got bumped up and arrived in the Leeds airport at the same time as Julie.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Billie Jean is Not My Lover...
Brent: Why are so many people of the same sex holding hands?
Beth: It must be a European thing.
Brent: Possibly. Although, there do seem to be an inordinately high number of, er, what Wodehouse referred to as ‘confirmed bachelors’ marching about today.
Beth: Hmm, true.
Brent: Now there seem to be a lot of people wearing pink. And holding balloons.
[the unmistakeable, base-heavy sounds of Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean played on an extremely large and expensive sound kit on a canal boat starts just behind us…]
Brent: Strange. The music seems to be played at a very high volume for just cruising around.
Beth: They seem to be dancing on the boat. Now they’re throwing soothers at us.
[the boat playing Billie Jean moves off to be replaced by another sound … growing slowly … on a boat approaching … …]
Brent: Is that…?
[a very large canal boat approaches to the sounds of Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood …]
Brent: Where am I?
Beth: It’s the Gay Pride Parade!!!
I Amsterdam
Julie’s tour of Europe finished in Amsterdam and we thought it a good idea to meet her there and explore the city. There were two outstanding reasons why this trip to Amsterdam was a good idea. The first being that before leaving Canada, I read a brilliant biography of John Adams which had many details of his time in Amsterdam as the American envoy to France, in particular, and Europe in general. As the anxiety of the impending trip to England began to take hold last summer, it was the Adams biography which served as a moderating influence. Instead of a 6 hour plane ride over, Adams faced a ship’s journey measured in weeks with no guarantee of safe arrival. So, I was very curious to walk the same streets he did. Perhaps re-reading the book when we get home may give new insight.
The second outstanding reason to go to Amsterdam is that Beth’s new sister-to-be is from Amsterdam. Well, as I understand it, her family is from Friesland and she has spent time in Africa, Ireland and Amsterdam as well as other points far and wide. But as far as I can tell, Amsterdam has been her home, on and off, for the last little while before she moved to Canada to shack up with Stephen.
So we headed out on our KLM flight to Amsterdam which took all of 55 minutes from the Leeds airport. Nice. On arrival, Amsterdam immediately shunned us. Well, not us per se, but the train station wouldn’t accept payment for our tickets by debit or credit card. Cash only please. But from that point onwards, Amsterdam was a joy.
The trains which took us from the airport to the city centre were a joy to behold after enduring the smelly jalopies in England. On arrival in Amsterdam proper we made our way with our bags down the main drag towards our hotel. The first thing we noticed were the parking garages, not for cars, but for bikes. Thousands of bikes neatly parked outside. We made our way to an outdoor patio that featured Belgian Fries for Beth and a club sandwich for Brent. Living in England, we hadn’t had the opportunity to eat outside on a patio much. In fact, we had eaten outside exactly once in 357 days. Blimey.
After lunch, we leisurely headed in the general direction of our hotel seeing the canals for the first time, the flower market and other general points of interest along the way. Our hotel, the Hotel Fita, was in the Museum district exactly one block away from the Van Gogh Museum. We would strongly recommend this hotel to all and sundry. It was great and in a great location. Close enough to everything but quiet when you wanted it to be.
After exploring a little more of the city, we left to meet Pleuntje’s friends Ebisse and Bregje for what ended up being a wonderful dinner and gained many insights into both Amsterdam and Beth’s new sister. The dining spot was called Bazaar and was certainly off the normal tourist track and for that experience, plus all the translation help, we must heartily thank Ebisse and Bregje. We had a long leisurely dinner with them which led to gelato and a near picture of Beth riding on the back of Ebisse’s bike. Alas, it was not to be.
The next day I woke up early and met Julie. After settling in and getting our presents from Julie, we headed out on the town. [More later]
In the Interim
While Julie was away on her whirlwind trip we busied ourselves with the usual. Brent weathered the post-marking contract crunch and had a bit of a lull in July and set about putting the boots to his LLM thesis. Working both at home and at work he managed to get a sizeable portion of it done and all that is really left now is the data analysis and the writing up of the last part (some may think this is the entire thesis but, really, those who have done one will know that the long introduction and secondary source analysis/literature review is the really time consuming stuff – the data is the fun stuff).
Beth has been working away like never before. She’s been visiting her students on placement, co-ordinating a service user’s group, course planning for next year, marking papers, grading oral presentations, organizing interviews, meeting with her advisors, finishing her upgrade documents, co-ordinating ethical approval at still more sites, writing and editing articles for publication, writing an article review, writing an interprofessional education mini-course proposal for McMaster and planning for all our visitors and the trip for her brother’s upcoming wedding at Iona, Scotland. Where does she find the time? No one knows.
Beth has been working away like never before. She’s been visiting her students on placement, co-ordinating a service user’s group, course planning for next year, marking papers, grading oral presentations, organizing interviews, meeting with her advisors, finishing her upgrade documents, co-ordinating ethical approval at still more sites, writing and editing articles for publication, writing an article review, writing an interprofessional education mini-course proposal for McMaster and planning for all our visitors and the trip for her brother’s upcoming wedding at Iona, Scotland. Where does she find the time? No one knows.
JULIE!
Brent’s sister Julie is in England. That is, as they say in Wakefield, ace. She was here for a few days to recover from jet lag before beginning her 20 day bus trip around Europe. We showed her all the sights of Leeds during her weekend here and then put her on the train to London. Once again, it is good for our perspective to get another person’s view of England in general and Leeds in particular because, after the bad weather, floods and everything else that can get anyone down about Leeds, sometimes we need help seeing the good stuff.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
PhD progress
It’s official…..I am in the data collection phase!! Yippee! I have two interviews under my belt and a few more in the works. It feels good to be a little bit ahead of schedule with this aspect of the project. I had originally thought that I would start data collection in July or August, but my first interview was on June 27th. Not too shabby. The momentum is still building and hopefully it will continue to build. There is always something a little anxiety provoking at this stage in the game where you worry that you won’t get enough participants or that the whole stage will take much longer than anticipated. Only time will tell and sadly, I don’t really have any control over this, I will just have to wait and see.
The next big hurdle is my upgrade viva/oral comprehensive. In England, when you begin a PhD you are actually registered as a Masters student (MPhil). You have to upgrade to a PhD after the first year. My legendary presentation to all the other medical students, submission of a 70 page thesis and an oral comprehensive to two examiners are the steps required to upgrade. Sounds like a lot of work. Why did I think this was a good idea? All that is left to do for me is book the upgrade viva/oral comprehensive. Hopefully this will happen sometime in August. Then by September I will have achieved ABD status – All But Defended.
In professional circles, I’ll be known as:
RM, B.A., B.H.Sc., M.A. PhD(c)
How obnoxious.
The next big hurdle is my upgrade viva/oral comprehensive. In England, when you begin a PhD you are actually registered as a Masters student (MPhil). You have to upgrade to a PhD after the first year. My legendary presentation to all the other medical students, submission of a 70 page thesis and an oral comprehensive to two examiners are the steps required to upgrade. Sounds like a lot of work. Why did I think this was a good idea? All that is left to do for me is book the upgrade viva/oral comprehensive. Hopefully this will happen sometime in August. Then by September I will have achieved ABD status – All But Defended.
In professional circles, I’ll be known as:
RM, B.A., B.H.Sc., M.A. PhD(c)
How obnoxious.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Summer Cold
I started feeling the effects of a summer cold today. Or it would be a summer cold, if England were experiencing summer. Sore throat,light-headedness, sweats and chills, fatigue. I am disgusted. I have never, ever had a cold between the months of May and October. But I spend one summer in England and bam! Summer cold. There was an item on the news last night that there is a summer cold going around and the number infected is higher than normal. People have been blaming the cold weather. Others the nasty germs spread around by the flooding. But that's not the reason. It's got to be the terrorists.
Anyway, since University employees on my level get 10 sick days a year and we're told if you "don't use them, you lose them", I came home at lunch today. On my way out, my colleagues told me "don't feel like you have to come in tomorrow - the sick day count only starts with your first FULL day off sick".
Ah, England.
Anyway, since University employees on my level get 10 sick days a year and we're told if you "don't use them, you lose them", I came home at lunch today. On my way out, my colleagues told me "don't feel like you have to come in tomorrow - the sick day count only starts with your first FULL day off sick".
Ah, England.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Agent Zigzag
The book I'm currently reading is really quite excellent. It's about counter-espionage and the double-cross agents the British operated in World War II. It got me thinking. I've noticed that rain, other bad weather, terrorists, delays, cancellations, crowds, floods and other assorted bad luck don't seem to get the Brits down at all. I mean, after 23 straight days of rain in the middle of the summer, the average Brit will say something like, "Bit wet out, wot?" It leaves a foreigner wondering. Well, there's a jolly good passage in the book that captures this quite well, I think. Here it is:
He watched his fellow men at war and reflected on their stoicism. One night the Carlton Club was hit by a bomb. The members of the surrounding clubs, in pyjamas and slippers, formed long lines to save the library from the flames, passing books from hand to hand and discussing the merits of each as they passed.
Blimey. I can just hear them now. "H.G Wells or Dickens?". "By God, they were both tossers, weren't they?" "Indeed."
If being bombed out of bed and drafted into a work detail in the middle of the night while bits of your chums are scattered in the street doesn't get a rise out of them, nothing will.
He watched his fellow men at war and reflected on their stoicism. One night the Carlton Club was hit by a bomb. The members of the surrounding clubs, in pyjamas and slippers, formed long lines to save the library from the flames, passing books from hand to hand and discussing the merits of each as they passed.
Blimey. I can just hear them now. "H.G Wells or Dickens?". "By God, they were both tossers, weren't they?" "Indeed."
If being bombed out of bed and drafted into a work detail in the middle of the night while bits of your chums are scattered in the street doesn't get a rise out of them, nothing will.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
County Mayo
With a few pints of the black stuff (as an aside, they seem to have better tasting Guinness in Ireland. Not sure what the reason, but it was enjoyed by many during our stay, even those who don’t usually enjoy it. Maybe the secret recipe remains in Ireland?!) in our tummies and some happy memories we bid farewell to Dublin. We left the next morning and drove across the country to County Mayo. Brent’s Dad’s grandmother grew up in Ballina so we headed in that direction. About two hours outside of Dublin the roads change from highways to one lane winding country roads. This made for a long journey. Distances that looked on the map as if they should be travelled in under an hour ended up taking over two hours! We stayed at an amazing B&B (the Bervie!) on Achill Island just off the western coast. What a place. We had the waves crashing outside our room and sheep grazing outside our door. It is the closest we’ve been to Canada since we left last September. I had to use all my strength to hold Brent back from getting in the water and swimming home!
Ballina was interesting to see. It is a small town in essentially the middle of no where. It is famous for fly fishing wild salmon and we saw many fisherman when we were there. We toured around and had lunch in a local establishment. In our touring around we were the recipients of many stares as we were clearly not local! I guess they couldn’t detect the Ballina blood running through the veins of Clint and Brent.
Ballina was interesting to see. It is a small town in essentially the middle of no where. It is famous for fly fishing wild salmon and we saw many fisherman when we were there. We toured around and had lunch in a local establishment. In our touring around we were the recipients of many stares as we were clearly not local! I guess they couldn’t detect the Ballina blood running through the veins of Clint and Brent.
After a couple of relaxing days on Achill Island, we made the long drive back to Dublin and flew back to Leeds. It was such a great experience to see a fair bit of Ireland, from the big city of Dublin to the rural and remote western coast. Plus there is still enough we haven't seen of Ireland to warrant another trip!
Dublin
Yes! Another of Brent’s life dreams achieved. Along with watching the England team play one of his life’s dreams was to make it to Ireland. Done and done. We arrived at Dublin Airport and nearly needed to carry Brent’s Mom off the plane. Calling her a “bad flyer” doesn’t even begin to cover the territory. She managed the flight reasonably well, but took a few more pills than the 50 minute flight required. She was in a drug induced haze for most of our first day. Days later she had no recollection of where we ate dinner our first night in Dublin!We spent two days in Dublin and managed to make it to most of the big highlights. It was really fascinating to see the differences between Dublin and some of the other cities we’ve now been to such as Edinburgh and London. You can tell the Irish have had a hard life. Yet there is a warmth about Dublin that cannot be denied. It feels like your favourite drunken uncle who tells the most funny and interesting stories. Brent probably could have spent another whole week there touring around all the James Joyce sights, but we had to leave him with some reasons to return.
Trinity College
Brent & James Joyce
Terror Attacks
The less said about this the better. When the going gets tough, the tough write a haiku.
There were three attacks
Security was heightened
We flew to Ireland
There were three attacks
Security was heightened
We flew to Ireland
Floods....again
It may be old news now, but the North of England has taken a frightful beating the last month or so. Three weeks ago, a “Storm of the Century” dropped 10cm of rain on the North of England in 18 hours causing the most widespread flooding the area had ever seen. A week before that, the same thing happened. Luckily for Brent’s parents, they missed the first of these storms … however, they caught the brunt of the second. This second storm struck just as Brent’s parents were for heading for London. There was a walk to the train station with full luggage in a driving gale, a cancelled train, a diversion to York and a 5 hour train ride where Brent’s Dad stood for the duration. Beth also dodged a crisis in Sheffield that day, where flooding caused evacuation of the train station and closures of many roads. For a grim while it looked as though she may have to spend the night in the Sheffield bus station. Luckily, a bus eventually appeared which was prepared to make the journey to Leeds. After leaving work at 3pm Beth finally made it home at 9pm.
All in all, we had it lucky. It seems a lot of people have family or friends who were devastated by the flooding. A good portion of the homes were without insurance and won’t be inhabitable for up to a year. There have been recent pictures on the news from Hull where the flooding still hasn’t subsided.
Even though we’ve been lucky, we still reserve the right to complain about the rain on a regular basis. Brent’s parent’s visit consisted of rain every single day for 21 days straight. Needless to say, they were not impressed with the weather. If they thought they had it bad, imagine how we feel…21 days of rain, try 45 weeks! Our first English summer has consisted of a steady diet of rain and temperatures never greater than 20C. We are well on our way to cultivating our stiff upper lip about it and the pictures on the news tell us that it could be much, much worse.
p.s. it is still raining! Apparently we will get another 50mm of rain today!
All in all, we had it lucky. It seems a lot of people have family or friends who were devastated by the flooding. A good portion of the homes were without insurance and won’t be inhabitable for up to a year. There have been recent pictures on the news from Hull where the flooding still hasn’t subsided.
Even though we’ve been lucky, we still reserve the right to complain about the rain on a regular basis. Brent’s parent’s visit consisted of rain every single day for 21 days straight. Needless to say, they were not impressed with the weather. If they thought they had it bad, imagine how we feel…21 days of rain, try 45 weeks! Our first English summer has consisted of a steady diet of rain and temperatures never greater than 20C. We are well on our way to cultivating our stiff upper lip about it and the pictures on the news tell us that it could be much, much worse.
p.s. it is still raining! Apparently we will get another 50mm of rain today!
Scotland Forever!
On June 20th we clambered into a rental car and headed for Scotland. Although we got the car upgraded to a fancy Saab 9-3, Brent managed to get the wheel clamped as soon as he got it back to the flat for parking in a no parking zone. After paying the £80 fine, we were on our way! First stop, Edinburgh.
The drive to Edinburgh was relatively uneventful even if it was rather long. It took about 4 hours to get there. Oddly, it seems in England we are willing to drive great distances while in Canada, we rarely drive 45 minutes to visit friends or family. Not sure why that is, but hope to rectify that if we ever get home. We checked into the Novotel Edinburgh which is in the Old Town and quite a nice place to stay for a large chain hotel.
We had been working in cahoots with Brent’s Aunt, Uncle and cousins (the Ancaster connection we’ll call them) since the 20th was Brent’s parent’s anniversary. We took them to The Grain Store in the Old Town which we had discovered on our last trip to Edinburgh and it is fast becoming a Davis family favourite. Brent’s Aunt and Uncle had arranged for the drinks to be provided and they had chosen wisely. It was probably an anniversary that Brent’s parents won’t soon forget and it was nice to be able to share it with them.
The drive to Edinburgh was relatively uneventful even if it was rather long. It took about 4 hours to get there. Oddly, it seems in England we are willing to drive great distances while in Canada, we rarely drive 45 minutes to visit friends or family. Not sure why that is, but hope to rectify that if we ever get home. We checked into the Novotel Edinburgh which is in the Old Town and quite a nice place to stay for a large chain hotel.
We had been working in cahoots with Brent’s Aunt, Uncle and cousins (the Ancaster connection we’ll call them) since the 20th was Brent’s parent’s anniversary. We took them to The Grain Store in the Old Town which we had discovered on our last trip to Edinburgh and it is fast becoming a Davis family favourite. Brent’s Aunt and Uncle had arranged for the drinks to be provided and they had chosen wisely. It was probably an anniversary that Brent’s parents won’t soon forget and it was nice to be able to share it with them.
Clint & Jennifer on their Anniversary, enjoying some lovely wine from Ron & Martha
The four of us enjoying a pint at a pub.
The next day was our anniversary! Four years of marriage is a long time, by any measure but it has gone by pretty quickly. (Thanks to all who sent us their well-wishes that day!) Beth has finished school, started more school, finished that and started still more school while working as a midwife. Brent has put in many, many years as a lawyer in private practice. Then we moved to England. It was sometimes pretty hard, but never dull. Strangely enough we have now spent 50% of our wedding anniversaries in the UK. We would never have predicted that four years ago. To celebrate our day, we toured Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile finally stopping for dinner once again in the Old Town to which Brent’s parents graciously treated us. Unfortunately, there was one casualty that day. Brent dropped our beloved Sony camera at Edinburgh Castle and, despite being able to capture a few more photos with it, the camera finally succumbed to its injuries at approximately 11:05am.
The next day we had our Scottish breakfast and drove for an hour to our hotel in Glasgow. This was really quite a momentous occasion and one Brent’s Dad had been looking forward to for some time. His family is from Glasgow and we were trodding some of the same streets that his Grandfather, Great-Grandfathers, etc. trod many years ago. We had lunch at a Glasgow pub, saw the Cathedral, wandered the streets, shopped a bit and generally enjoyed ourselves to a high degree.
The next day we headed back to Leeds via Moffat, which is where Brent’s Mom’s grandmother was from. (Insert lovely diagram of family tree here…..!) Brent recalls that, as a boy, he watched his Grandfather’s slideshow of a trip to Scotland which included a trip to Moffat. There is a famous family picture of Brent’s Grandmother sitting on the bench at the statue of the Golden Ram in the centre of Moffat. After some twists and turns, we found Moffat and were surprised at what a nice little Scottish town it is. After completing some sightseeing, the men bought some Moffat tartan ties and the ladies got Moffat tartan scarves.
On the way back to Leeds, there was some considerable reminiscing as well as thoughts of ancestors we scarcely knew. Although Glasgow and Moffat were nice to visit, some of us couldn’t help thinking we would be eternally grateful to the ancestors who were crazy enough to leave everything behind, get on a ship and make the trip to Canada.
They're Here!!!
Brent’s parents arrived on June 17th at the Manchester Airport. We went to meet them and took a hired car back to Leeds. It was interesting to see England through the eyes of others as it marks for us how far we’ve come since we’ve been here. They were really interested in the scenery and the architecture. Apparently, they are both quite different from home. We had forgotten this since, frankly, it’s been awhile since we were home. It was also quite funny that, notwithstanding that everyone here speaks English, my parents couldn’t understand what some people were saying. Fast-talking Brits with heavy accents that work in the service industry are a disaster. But for us, the gibberish seems to get through – no interpreter required.
We fed them when they arrived and they napped for about three hours and Beth made us all a great dinner. All in all a pretty good first day for them in England. For the next couple of days we showed them Leeds and York (which is probably the big highlight in this area of England).
We fed them when they arrived and they napped for about three hours and Beth made us all a great dinner. All in all a pretty good first day for them in England. For the next couple of days we showed them Leeds and York (which is probably the big highlight in this area of England).
Monday, July 09, 2007
Hiatus
We’ve been MIA for a little while. Visiting season has officially begun for us and we’ve been too busy catching up with family and travelling all around the UK to blog. During the last three weeks while Brent’s parents have been visiting us there has been torrential rain and floods, 21 days of rain, a fourth wedding anniversary and a 37th wedding anniversary, a broken down rental car, a broken camera, terrorist attacks, Canada Day!, two airplane flights, several train rides, two research interviews, too many pubs and delicious meals to count, two nights in Edinburgh, one night in Glasgow, two nights in Dublin, and two nights on the shores of the North Atlantic on an island in Ireland….and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! The good news is that all this carrying on has provided us with some fun stories, pictures and reflections which will hopefully spill onto the blog over the next little while.
Sunday, June 17, 2007
A wee bit of rain
We had a wee bit of rain fall two days ago. Apparently, the amount of rain that fell in 24hrs was the same as what normally falls in a month! Our usual walk home along the canal was completely flooded. Guess we should have paid more attention when we received those notices in the mail saying 'you live in a flood zone...'
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
The Hate Team
Turn your back for one second and the NHL goes to hell in a handbasket. One of the worst, if not the worst, thing about being in England is no hockey. Oh, you can order a specialty satellite channel that will show you games in the wee hours of the morning or the next day, but it costs more than all the other channels on regular satellite combined. So, one is left with checking scores and highlights on TSN, Sportsnet, etc. It’s not the same.
One of the great joys of being Canadian is getting home from work, cracking open the paper and putting the hockey game on in the background. Or, slipping away from the table at a dinner party to check the score and watch for so long that no one could possibly think you were in the bathroom the whole time. Truthfully, hockey makes the long, dark, cold winter bearable and has for as long as I can remember.
I suppose the worst thing that could have happened while I was away would have been the Leafs making a run for the Cup. That didn’t happen nor is it likely to happen soon. The next worst thing that could have happened is the Senators making a run for the Cup. As we all know only too well, that did happen. Why is this the second worst thing that could happen? I Hate the Senators. Capital ‘H’ Hate the Senators. Ottawa stole Hamilton’s NHL team during the last round of expansion to Canada and, until Hamilton gets its own team (you go Jim Balsillie), I will always hate the Senators. Senators fans are smug, self-satisfied, band-wagon jumpers. Getting taunted by Senators ‘fans’ who were no where to be seen in their lean years is more than I can bear.
That is why being away during the Senators Cup run was so dangerous. Having this massive distance between myself and the Senators made it more difficult to hate them. If I couldn’t see the games, watch the highlights and hear their fans, there was going to be some difficulty in hating them. But, these were the times that try men’s souls. When the Senators get winning, the tough get hating. So I did. I cursed, hexed, jinxed and hated the Senators. I hated them more than any person has any team ever. If I didn’t hate them with everything I had, they would win and I wouldn’t be able to go home. Ever.
It was at this precise point that I encountered the ‘Canada’s Team’ argument. That is, the theory that, at the point in the Stanley Cup playoffs that a sole Canadian team remains, it becomes the obligation of every Canadian to cheer for that team since it is ‘Canada’s Team’.
I, of course, never subscribed to this theory. It is the most misguided and laughable theory of fandom there is. To prove my point, I waited until the point in the Champions League season when there was but one English team left. In this case, Liverpool emerged from the final four but Manchester United did not. My conversation with a ManU fan follows:
Me: Now that Liverpool is the only English team left in the Champions League, are you going to cheer for them?
ManU Fan: Wot?
Me: You know, because they’re ‘England’s Team’
ManU Fan: Oi’s Eh.
Me: Aren’t English fans obligated to cheer for the last English team left?
ManU Fan: Yu naff? S’at’s the barmiest fing I eva ‘erd. I’da soona suppor da Reds as have you pish inma mouf. I’ma gunna give yu a right bollockin…
Me: [Runs]
Man U Fan: Oi!
As you can plainly see from my research, the ‘Canada’s Team’ theory is ludicrous.
There really is no way that I could live in Canada after the Senators had won the Cup. It would be unthinkable. So I did the only thing I could - I gathered together the finest minds who also hated the Senators and we did what we did best. We hated them. Our hate for the Senators could move mountains - the results of efforts exceeded even my wildest expectations. In a nutshell, the Senators were destroyed by a far superior team to such a degree that certain persons on the Senators would rather score the Cup winning goal themselves on their own net than prolong the series any longer.
So, everything has come up Brent. The Senators are still chokers and I can go home again. Although the Senators close brush with the Cup is over, my story will live on …
In 2007, a crack hate unit was shunned by Ottawa Senators fans for failing to acknowledge them as “Canada’s Team” in the Stanley Cup Finals. These men promptly jinxed the Ottawa Senators causing them the most embarrassing defeat in Stanley Cup Finals history. Today, still wanted by Senators fans, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a team to curse, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... The Hate Team
One of the great joys of being Canadian is getting home from work, cracking open the paper and putting the hockey game on in the background. Or, slipping away from the table at a dinner party to check the score and watch for so long that no one could possibly think you were in the bathroom the whole time. Truthfully, hockey makes the long, dark, cold winter bearable and has for as long as I can remember.
I suppose the worst thing that could have happened while I was away would have been the Leafs making a run for the Cup. That didn’t happen nor is it likely to happen soon. The next worst thing that could have happened is the Senators making a run for the Cup. As we all know only too well, that did happen. Why is this the second worst thing that could happen? I Hate the Senators. Capital ‘H’ Hate the Senators. Ottawa stole Hamilton’s NHL team during the last round of expansion to Canada and, until Hamilton gets its own team (you go Jim Balsillie), I will always hate the Senators. Senators fans are smug, self-satisfied, band-wagon jumpers. Getting taunted by Senators ‘fans’ who were no where to be seen in their lean years is more than I can bear.
That is why being away during the Senators Cup run was so dangerous. Having this massive distance between myself and the Senators made it more difficult to hate them. If I couldn’t see the games, watch the highlights and hear their fans, there was going to be some difficulty in hating them. But, these were the times that try men’s souls. When the Senators get winning, the tough get hating. So I did. I cursed, hexed, jinxed and hated the Senators. I hated them more than any person has any team ever. If I didn’t hate them with everything I had, they would win and I wouldn’t be able to go home. Ever.
It was at this precise point that I encountered the ‘Canada’s Team’ argument. That is, the theory that, at the point in the Stanley Cup playoffs that a sole Canadian team remains, it becomes the obligation of every Canadian to cheer for that team since it is ‘Canada’s Team’.
I, of course, never subscribed to this theory. It is the most misguided and laughable theory of fandom there is. To prove my point, I waited until the point in the Champions League season when there was but one English team left. In this case, Liverpool emerged from the final four but Manchester United did not. My conversation with a ManU fan follows:
Me: Now that Liverpool is the only English team left in the Champions League, are you going to cheer for them?
ManU Fan: Wot?
Me: You know, because they’re ‘England’s Team’
ManU Fan: Oi’s Eh.
Me: Aren’t English fans obligated to cheer for the last English team left?
ManU Fan: Yu naff? S’at’s the barmiest fing I eva ‘erd. I’da soona suppor da Reds as have you pish inma mouf. I’ma gunna give yu a right bollockin…
Me: [Runs]
Man U Fan: Oi!
As you can plainly see from my research, the ‘Canada’s Team’ theory is ludicrous.
There really is no way that I could live in Canada after the Senators had won the Cup. It would be unthinkable. So I did the only thing I could - I gathered together the finest minds who also hated the Senators and we did what we did best. We hated them. Our hate for the Senators could move mountains - the results of efforts exceeded even my wildest expectations. In a nutshell, the Senators were destroyed by a far superior team to such a degree that certain persons on the Senators would rather score the Cup winning goal themselves on their own net than prolong the series any longer.
So, everything has come up Brent. The Senators are still chokers and I can go home again. Although the Senators close brush with the Cup is over, my story will live on …
In 2007, a crack hate unit was shunned by Ottawa Senators fans for failing to acknowledge them as “Canada’s Team” in the Stanley Cup Finals. These men promptly jinxed the Ottawa Senators causing them the most embarrassing defeat in Stanley Cup Finals history. Today, still wanted by Senators fans, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a team to curse, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... The Hate Team
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Whitsun Weekend
We recently found ourselves in the midst of another holiday weekend. Whitsunday is an annual holiday in England. It is the feast of Pentecost, and falls 7 weeks after Easter. In true English fashion, the weather was dismal. It was cold and rainy the entire weekend. We had rented a car for the weekend and had big plans for a wee day trip into the countryside. We were not about to let the weather stand in our way. We packed the car first thing Saturday morning with raincoats, a change of dry clothes and maps. All of these things came in handy during our road trip except for the maps! We managed to get lost on our way out of Leeds (again!) and on our way to our first destination. We have decided that when driving in England it is best not to follow the mapquest directions, but just to follow the sporadic road signs marked with town names. It was definitely an adventure.We arrived at Fountains Abbey after our slight detour (http://www.fountainsabbey.org.uk/). It was a great place to visit. It is England’s largest Abbey ruins and dates to 1139. The Abbey ruins are stunning, as are the extensive grounds and gardens. We could have easily spent the entire day there, but we still had the rest of the day ahead of us.
We got back on the open road and made our way over the winding roads to our next destination. We are getting quite adept at driving on the left side of the road. Our little Nissan Micra was a great car for scooting around between the hedge rows.
We carried on to Castle Howard (http://www.castlehoward.co.uk/). When we arrived we were excited to hear that they were hosting a food festival and my favorite English chef, James Martin (http://www.jamesmartinchef.co.uk/), was in attendance! Castle Howard itself was a bit disappointing. The tour included only 6 rooms despite the expensive entry fee! I guess we’ve been spoiled by Chatsworth House which is significantly more enjoyable. We are becoming quite the country estate snobs! The highlight of the visit was when Brent got in trouble from the tour guide after only a few minutes inside. The guide informed us that pictures were not permitted of the house. As he shook his scolding finger Brent snapped a picture. Nothing like taking a picture of the person telling you not to take pictures! 
After our brief tour of the house we ventured outside to see the food festival. However, by this point it was pouring rain and was 5 degrees and windy. The queue to see James Martin was miles long. He may be cute, but I wasn’t about to stand in the cold and rain for an hour just to get a glimpse of him and to sample some revolting British cuisine!
We decided it was time to change into some dry clothes and make our way to our dining location. We spent the rest of the evening at The Star Inn in Harome (http://www.thestaratharome.co.uk/). This pub has been in existence since the early 19th century. In recent times, it has been awarded Gastropub of the year and a Michelin Star. The food was outstanding and the ambiance was incredible. The low ceilings and thatched roof remind you of the many generations who have enjoyed a pint within its walls. As for us, we enjoyed the best dinner we’ve had in England. We are already dreaming of our next trip to enjoy a delectable feast.
It was a great day. We really enjoyed getting out to see more of the Yorkshire countryside. Even though we've travelled around quite a bit, it still seems that we haven't seen very much at all. We are looking forward to seeing the sites with our upcoming visitors. With any luck the summer should see us travelling to Edinburgh (again), Glasgow, Durham, a Well-Dressing Festival in Derbyshire, Dublin, the middle of Ireland and the West Coast of Ireland - in particular Ballina where one set of Brent's Irish great-grandparents are from, Oban, the Isles of Mull and Iona, Stirling, Amsterdam and Perthshire.
After all that, I think for the foreseeable future, any vacation we go on will be on a beach somewhere where the longest trip is from the hammock to the bar.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
