Happy Birthday Canada!
Trip Start
Jan 30, 2011
1
151
262
Trip End
Nov 16, 2011
Port Credit, Ontario, Canada
Friday, July 1, 2011
We each had an ice-cream as we watched the many varied citizens of Canada celebrating in their coordinated tops and interesting headwear, an umbrella hat and hat made of ties made a particular impact. After seeing a heavily-tanned, and dare I say it leathery, lady with no qualms about dancing in front of a crowd watching a blues band, though a lady may not be the right word considering her short skirt and long teeth, I was glad to see some more interesting characters in the form of tall Canadian police patrolling and posing all in one fell swoop.
Mum, Margaret, and I headed into a vintage shop, or ‘gently used’ as the sign said, to try on some bargain clothing, but when there weren’t any changing cubicles available I was offered the staff room where there wasn’t a mirror; I’m not sure if she was saying that would be a better way to view it or just trying to help. As I changed whilst avoiding standing too close to the door I managed to get my arm stuck in a dress and have the shopkeeper walk in when I was trying a skirt on, luckily I was still wearing my trousers and top so she had no need to apologise as much as she did about forgetting I was in there. I decided to leave the two items as I wasn’t bowled over by them, and we all walked to a restaurant down the road where a red-headed woman was singing a song about Newfoundland whilst playing her keyboard alongside an accordionist. The restaurant was Transylvanian, but fortunately Dracula was otherwise engaged and left us to look at the menu uninterrupted, although one look at the tripe soup and I was right off my food. I opted for the cabbage rolls, a traditional meal containing minced pork and rice, as did Daniel, whilst Mum and Dad had the Transylvanian platters and Margaret opted for a good ol’ bacon cheeseburger.
Serenaded by the Transylvanian lyricist we enjoyed our meals alongside some Millers pale and dark ale, before a wrestle for the bill resulted in glass of water being tipped over Mum’s trousers and bag; ironically the waitress had been delayed in bringing the jug and we’d had to ask for it a second time just before the accident. Whilst Mum walked out looking like she’d not quite made it to the bathroom on time we made our way back down the main street to hear the blues singers still singing and the partiers still partying, unfortunately there weren’t any more Mounties, but the local fire-fighters took over the posing role by doing a few circuits of the street.
With two hours still to wait for the fireworks when we finished our meal we decided to head back to the house rather than twiddle our thumbs, so after squeezing into the Quattro we settled down to watch the new version of Red Riding Hood starring Amanda Seyfried hoping it wasn’t too scary for our easily-scared constitutions.
