CANADIAN ROUNDUP

This will be a bit sketchy, as it's been an awfully long time since I've had a chance to post in the blog, and my memory isn't what it used to be (retail causing atrophy of brain cells, as it were). If I've forgotten to mention a major event involving yourself, please send me a scathing email and I will rectify the problem post-haste.

We had a fantastic visit home with our family and friends - you know who you are, and thank-you for giving us places to sleep, food to eat, and for making us feel very loved. We love you all too! A special highlight of our trip was meeting the two newest members of our friends' families: Nicole and Jason's baby son Joseph and Jennifer and Colin's baby daughter Kaitlyn. Next time we see the wee folk they'll be walking, and, if they are anything like their parents, solving differential equations while waiting for their diapers to be changed.

As mentioned in a previous entry, our trip to Vancouver Island was a hoot and we followed that up with three days in Vancouver where we visited up a storm and still only managed to see about half the people that we had hoped to spend time with. Ah, the trials of having many friends...it's a tough life, but someone has to lead it.

Our final week at home was filled with snowy days and a lot of sitting around on our butts. It was great! We topped off the holiday with a final trip to Vancouver before our flight, where we stayed downtown and had a relaxing morning in town before heading out on an evening flight. The trip from Heathrow to Cambridge went remarkably smoothly, particularly considering how sleepy we were and the fact that we had to wrestle our luggage from the airport, to the Paddington Express train, then onto the tube, then the train to Cambridge, and finally into a taxi to get back to our flat. I feel like a travel pro now.

Being away for a few months has given me the following perspectives on Canada:

1. We Canadians really are friendly
2. We Canadians really do have an accent
3. Maple syrup really is the nectar of the gods

Note on the accent - being immersed in the Queen's English has resulted in me no longer actually noticing the accent, and when I first arrived back in Canada, for about the first five minutes only, I could ACTUALLY HEAR THE CANADIAN ACCENT. Kinda twangy, actually.