From Canada to England...

It has been a crazy two weeks or so. I spent some time running around Ontario visiting friends and family, and generally having lots of fun. I managed to see all but one of the family "up north"! And I got my first ever view of Niagara Falls; isn't that ridiculous? Growing up four hours away from one of the great wonders of the world and only seeing it at the age of 24? I blame my mother :) To celebrate this, I have uploaded a picture of Rosaline and myself at the falls. Unfortunately, because it is night and my camera is perhaps not so very advanced, you can't see the falls. Sorry. But you can imagine a wall of white in the background lit up by multi-coloured lights. And then there's the picture of Grandma relaxing on one of Uncle Daryl and Aunt Connie's decks; I love that view. It was so wonderful to be back in Canada and enjoying the lakes and rivers.

After that, I headed over to England. Estella came down from Scotland and we had a great time acting like tourists and walking everywhere. The first night we went to a West-End show called "The Drowsy Chaperone". It was hilarious. They had taken a 1920's musical ("The Drowsy Chaperone") and made it into a private performance for an older man who was feeling blue. He would pause the record to give us a running commentary and at times would get so carried away that he'd join in the dances. Given that it was the 1920's when it was first produced, he poked fun at some of the lines and generally at everything that he could think of. I know I'm not doing it justice, but it's hard to describe being caught in someone else's stream of consciousness. All I can say is that I'd highly recommend it. If only for the touching lament sung by the bride as she mourns the fickleness of her erstwhile fiance, "I put a monkey on a pedestal".

We also managed to catch "Othello" at the Globe, also an excellent performance. And we met up with Mike, a friend from my last trip to London and a few of his friends for dinner, much fun. However, as this computer won't let me install my picture-getting-from-my-digital-camera software (what would the real name for that be?), those pictures will have to wait. So you just get to see Estella in front of a Canadian flag and the Novello theatre.

I'm off to Northampton in a couple of hours to visit Julia and Paul and meet the new baby :) And then tomorrow morning (at an ungodly hour) flying to Paris! I hope that everyone is doing well, and thank you so much to everyone who has picked me up and dropped me off at various airports, train and bus stations. I have had such an amazing trip so far and it is always wonderful to see you!

---

---