The End of All Things

Well, as the song goes 'Save the best til last'.

This was certainly the case with my last few days in Canada and traveling as a whole. We frequented the theatre to see Cyrano De Bergerac (mum and felt that if Cyrano had just told Roxane he loved her, it all would have worked out splendidly and she wouldn't have wasted her life in a convent, Dave thinks we don't get romance) and then had the most wondeful meal I ever had. Seriously. We went to this converted church and had a slap-up 3 courser. Every portion was small, but perfectly formed. The gastromical delights were astromical. I cannot actually describe to you how marvellous this meal was, but orgasm in a plate sums it up in the best and in the most word economical way.

After that we made another small journey to Fenelon Falls, Barbara's home town and location of their lake house. They called it a cottage, but trust me it was a house. A majestic 2 storey lakeside property with a small path to the lake and private deck. There was also a habitable boat house and small (purple!) boat. Most excitingly of all, Dave had erected a Scottish flag and I lay on the sun soaked deck, saluting the flag feeling very patriotic. Our weather wasn't too fantastic, but I managed a swim and we went on a jaunt on the afore-mentioned boat (I discovered I do not have sea legs) and when the rain did fall, we went for trips to nearby towns buying shoes and fresh vegetables. It was altogether a wonderful couple of days and I will look back upon them with great fondness.

Then the epic journey home began. It started with a 2 hour drive to the aiport and a slight panic when yet again they said I didn't have a seat on the plane, but actually did. Mum and I then said a fond farewell to Dave who had kindly been our taxi once again. Unfortunately, as always I then picked the wrong security queue and accidently 'volunteered' us to go through an experimental secuirity process which I can only describe as standing in a photo booth and getting a hair dryer blown in our faces. Quite how that detects bombs and the like, I am unsure. Anyway, there was some amusement had when the girls in front of us, that we had assumed were Polish/Russian because of how they spoke, turned out to be in fact incredible thick accented Glasweigens. I mean no wonder tourists in Scotland have trouble, these girls were incomprensible, like howling dogs on crack.

Anyway, the plane was on time and the 7 hours over the sea went slowly and without sleep, but it went. We then arrived in London with another 2 hour wait and then our final flight to Aberdeen. After a brief sit down with Grandpa, we then drove back. To illustrate how tired mum was I'll tell you this- she let me drive.

By the time we got to Dingwall we were both exhausted and it was about 5pm Scottish time, 11am Canadian with no sleep. However, the day wasn't over yet. I then met mum's new fancy man and was shown around her new house at the bottom of the hill (under renovation at present, not habitable). I also met one of the fancy man's dogs. Yes, one. He has five labradors. Indeed. After much sitting on by the dog, we returned to my childhood home and decided to have a take-away as by this stage, eating out or cooking were way beyond either of our abilities and in fact the capacity for rational thought was over. I stumbled to bed around 9pm with every intention of watching the some of the highly anticipated last season of Battestar Galactica (if anyone tells me who the last cyclon is, I will end you), but managed 10 minutes before I lapsed into a dreamless coma.

And that's it. Travels over, new life to now begin. However, before I can even think about my move I have to socialise solidly for a week and a half before I'm actually going to be in Dingwall long enough to form a sentence, let alone form a exit plan and job getting strategy. I will say this, after several notes of interest, I have decided to continue the blog. I will open it on a new page (or whatever its called) with a new name yet to be decided. So those of you who wish can continue following me, instead of around the world, around the interview table. I'll keep you posted (literally).

All there remains to say is this -to quote my favourite fictional character Samwise Gamgee (and in fact the final sentence from the Lord of the Rings)-

Well, I'm back.