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Canada Trip. 3 It was about six in the evening when we landed in Toronto and after the hulabaloo with Immigration and Customs we met Shirley at the arrivals point. Emotional as it was for me, it was of course moreso for Bev. I've known Bev burst into tears quite frequently over the years, ( over things that I've done, the kids have done, the dogs have done ) but never at the sight of her sister before.  Hugs and kisses and compliments exchanged, we were whisked to the car park. First impressions of the North American Continent? The cars. They are huge! They have everything. Air con....Heated seats.  ( Isn't that a paradox? ). DVD players, CD players, head phones. Mobile phones....BUILT IN! Space. Lots of space. Headlights on all the while. The front lights only. The cars have no separate indicators. We British have pretty orange ones that act independently of the brakes and tail lights. Confusing.  Automatic gear boxes. ( Bit Girlie guys.  ) Gas....less than a $ a litre....half of what we pay!  Air bags in front, behind, at the side. Cup holders...everywhere! The drive to Orillia was exciting. The landscape unfamiliar in so many ways, the names of towns and communities vaguely familiar. The buildings, the houses...well...Colonial. ( I mean that in an un-patronising way ) Arriving in Orillia we were busy looking out for the house that we felt we should recognise from the photographs we had seen. It was nothing like we imagined. It was huge! Shirley and Nick had sold a quite modest house in England...and ...they had bought a veritable mansion....Five bedrooms, all of which were three and four and in the case of the master bedroom...ten times the size of the rooms in my own house!  And.... They have a pool. A heated pool!  Late as it was to us jet lagged travellers...we sat and marvelled at the style in which they lived. Chatted and laughed, caught up with news. You remember I was taking anti-biotics? Strong ones? Well I refused the beer wine and whisky that was offered. I remembered the words of advice from the Doctor. ( These are VERY strong. Do not under any circumstances take any alcohol. I was good. ) The infection was all but cured, swelling down , pain gone. Another day and I should be fine! It was an early night for Bev, Owen and I. We spent the next day ( Sunday ) walking around Orillia , seeing the Lake, the walks around it. Visiting what few shops were open, eating any oversized junk food and cakes that we could find. The range of snacks, drinks and refreshments is amazing, orgasmic, too good to pass by! Drinking in the atmosphere we wandered around the small town and adjusted to the North American ... Canadian life-style. By midday it was as hot as I can remember it ever being on any holiday I had ever had! We went home and plunged in the pool! Shirley had arranged for a few friends to call around that afternoon ...for a cook-out. (That's a bar-b-que to me) It was fun meeting them all. They were politely inquisitive about Great Britain. Keen to know what we thought about Canada. It was fun talking. Sometime after lunch, I decided that sufficient time had passed since I'd taken the last of my medicine. I had a beer. I had a few beers. I had a few beers then a few whiskies. I swam in the pool, drunk as a lord. Someone brought a bottle of wine to the pool. Thats the last I remember The next morning I had a cut on my forehead, a lump the size of of an egg and I had double vision and a very sore neck. I was concussed ... I've been concussed before, I know what concussed is.  Don't dare complain about it Brian. I could fore-see the bitter discussion. A trip to the Emergency Dept. A lecture about my drinking...about drinking and taking medicines, about acting my age.  I kept quiet and suffered the cutting remarks.  Nick and Shirley took us out for a tour of the nearest National Park. Algonquin Park. It's something like the size of Wales. I'm told there are about 25 million lakes of some size in Canada. I may have that a little wrong....( I was concussed ) ... It certainly is huge and beautiful. We stopped at a visitors centre, we parked and walked, we took photographs, all the while looking for Moose, Deer and other Fauna. At around sunset, Nick drove us to a small town dump. This was a good place to see bears ... lots of them. I imagined some sort of huge pit, around which we could stand in comparative safety, separated by a cage, protected by people with guns. As we were parking the car on a dirt track, Shirley shrieked that a bear was behind us. Bloody right there was. Big as a house and not twenty feet away, a huge black bear shambled across the gateway to the dump. That was scarey! I'd seen enough, hadn't managed any pictures, but I'd seen enough!  Nick started to unload everyone from the car. We had to...I mean HAD TO...walk into the dump and keep our eyes open. Nick, Owen and I walked ...crept ... sneaked into that dump. I could see these large, dangerous, dark shapes in the treeline surrounding the dump. Nick's jokes about what to do if one charged, tipped me over the edge.  Trip the guy next to you...the bears wont chase you, they'll go for the weakest, the lamest! Thanks Nick. Besides, I was seeing two bears for every one bear that they both saw! I was spooked. I made my way back to the car....on my own! I could hear these creatures in the trees, see them peeping at me from the foliage! As I made it back to the car, Bev found her Brave Heart and wandered over to Nick and Owen. There is a wonderful clip on my video camera of the three of them standing, gazing about them, totally unaware that a bear the size of an outside lavvy is watching them. Shirley can be heard telling me to get a little closer, and I can be heard saying, "This camera has 40 times bloody zoom....this is close enough!" THAT was an adrenalin rush. |
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