 | CANADA |
| CANADA |
INDEX
2013 was one of the worst years in my life. There are far too many reasons for me to go into that - if you want to know more, go and have a look at my blog . Just suffice to say that I was an innocent bystander while a succession of runaway trains derailed themselves in front of my eyes.
Back in May 2012, the last time that I was in North America , I had left a huge load of important stuff in my storage locker in Montreal with the intention of going back in the Autumn of that year, but in fact it's taken me a year and a half to return.
And even now it isn't all going according to plan, this little window of opportunity that has opened in front of me. I'm having disasters and I've not even set out yet. I've forgotten to bring home my jacket, which I can still see hanging on a hook back in the apartment in which I was stayiing in Brussels, and in it is the dictaphone that I always take with me on my travels and I'll be sunk without that. I hope that there's one in Carrefour tomorrow and I hope that Liz will have time to stop and help me find one. In the meantime, I must work out a backup.
Luckily I had taken my passport with me in my backpack while I was on my perambulations around Brussels just before I left so I have that with me, otherwise I would be really in the soup.
That's not the best of it either. My UK bank card has expired and my UK credit card, upon which I was counting to fund a large proportion of my travels, is on the point of expiry. Of course, being the Royal Bank of Scotland, the replacement credit card is yet to arrive, and I can't find the new bank card, which I know that I have received.
Furthermore, there's another Fortis Bank card, the one that was keeping Marianne afloat and which I've recovered, and now that has grown legs and toddled off too. You can see what kind of journey this is going to turn out to be.
Anyway, I did make it onto the aeroplane and I did make it not only into Canada but, quite unexpectedly and for the longest consecutive period since Rhys's wedding in the Spring of 2005 , into the USA too and that has to be something of a surprise.
If you want to know where I've been, then you need to follow the links below - such as are activated at the moment. Check back every so often to find out how far I've advanced.
But a word of warning - we'll be crossing the tracks of many of our other journeys to Canada, 2010 , 2011 and 2012 in particular, as a result of which we shall be having some ... errr ... merged pages of our different voyages.
But don't worry - I'll merge you in seamlessly and I'll also tell you when to merge out.
You'll also find that, when I catch up with doing it, the Montreal pages contain many cross-references to previous visits. I've always in the past tried to manage half a day or so in Montreal just for a wander around, but this year I took three days to have a really good look round. Hence I'll be fitting everything in together to make one big travelog of the city.
Before I go, however, let me leave you with a quote from the lost Gospel of St Thomas, not rediscovered until long after the Bible's present contents were fixed
"Have you discovered then the beginning, that you look for the end? For where the beginning is, the end will be. Blessing is he who will take his place in the beginning, he will know the end."
As you've probably noticed, I'm still working on writing up this visit. Time factors, however, are weighing heavy on my shoulders. Hence the reason why this work is advancing less quickly than I would hope. But I am trying to spend at least 30 minutes per day working on it, so keep looking back to see where I'm up to.
Meantime, I shall leave you with the immortal words of Philaster Chase Johnson, who had similar challenges upon his time when writing his magazine, the name of which I have unfortunately forgotten.
"Cheer up. The worst is yet to come."
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