the dickies

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the first thing i need to do is warn you: this blog is completely for my own entertainment. it has little to do with anything and a lot to do with nothing. so if you have nothing better to do, ie, you have washed your hair already, clipped your toe nails, taken out the garbage and there is nothing on the boob tube, not even one of those humiliation shows, then it may just be that you belong here with me. at the bottom of the entertainment barrel.

in order for sense to be made of why you will see me, laura and other suckers at various world sights wearing cheap sunglasses with silly expressions on our faces and flashing the "devil's horns" you must know the story of the dickies.

just before we left on our trip i had a couple of buddies come up to my family's cabin on thormanby island. these two guys are as upstanding as two fathers can be. the kind of dads that are really on their game. but as some of you are parents, and i'm sure that my parents will agree, you will know that every now and then you need a break from all that continual bliss and joy of parenthood.

so with some juggling and the blessing of their families up they came. it had been raining hard, and i was starting to worry, but as it seemed to be destiny, the clouds parted and we all enjoyed some r&r in the sun. the weekend came to an end, and sometimes when blowing off some steam there may also be a little "foggy-ness" of the mind so to speak and in this state they hurridly gatherd their things (so i thought) in order to catch the ferry and return home.

a few days later it was our turn to get packed up. as we did this we started to discover an odd collection of unclaimed items. things that seemingly no one person could misplace, which made determining the fact, that is was in fact, the work of mainly one person, all the more difficult.

the list: 1 sandal, a hat, a jacket, sunglasses, pants, lanturn and some socks. yes, a list (i have heard) that some may say could only be made by men. well in this case, point taken. upon determining that indeed this was largely the work of one man (jason, ryan only able to claim one or two of these items) the job to get everything back to it's rightful owner had begun.

as it was men that got us here, who better than a man to get us out? over the course of a week or so and all they crazy goings on of trying to get ready for the trip, i made several efforts to return the items. however, every time one thing or another was forgotten or misplaced for whatever bonehead reason and i just could not seem to deliver the goods. so on our last visit i realise that i have misplaced the dickies, aka cheap sunglasses.

jason, the good natured guy that he is, exclaimes: "to hell with it, i don't want them, keep the glasses, they're crap anyway!" we shake our heads with a laugh. and then with a pause and a thought he says, "better yet take them with you on your trip."

so at the risk'of becoming someone who kidnaps garden knomes or brings some other trinket to travel around the world with, i did just that. it's important to entertain one self after all.

interlude: Truro, Nova Scotia. it's time for a little more background info. my buddy jason is origonally from Truro, a small town a few hours away from halifax. over the years we had many discusions about the marvels of Truro. for one it's the home of stanfields underwear company, good undies, the Truro bearcats minor hokey club, is known as "the hub" of nova scotia, has one of north americas largest tidal bores, has atlantic canada's first mosque, is famous for wooden stump carvings and was home to Adams George Archibald, one of the fathers of confederation. so through the years of talking and dreaming about going to Truro one day, the place started to reveal it self to me more and more. it was like when you are looking to buy a certain car and then when you are out and about you always seem to notice that particular model when it seems you had never noticed before.

and so it went. Truro in the news, Truro in the paper, Truro in other peoples conversation... what is up with this place? it's all around me and yet it's a mystery? why am i even going to the taj mahal, the pyramids or petra? what's the point of going to machu peechu when i haven't experienced the marvels of Truro? ahh, who's to say? i guess i'll put it on the "to do before i die" list.

so that having been said the first stop for the dickies was mount everest. and as it turns out they became more than just a lark. as you get to know someone, in the context of travel, you also get to know some of their weaknesses. as it turns out laura has a weakness for holding onto nice sunglasses, not the cheap ones, just expensive ones. just before we left i bought her a new pair of raybans, she had mentioned bad luck with good sunglasses but i blew it off. mistake. as we were headed up the trail and nearing the snowy areas the raybans grew wings and flew away. as i'm sure you know hiking on snow in sunshine without shades is unpleasant to say the least, so we searched for those glasses long and hard, what are we going to do?

ah ha! the dickies! although your eyes would still hurt if you stared directly into candles with them on, they are better than nothing and so the dickies notched their first victory. so after we check out everest and have our dickie photo shoot, complete with the devil horns (hand gesture, meaning "keep on rock'n") a rocker thing (another story) down we go. incidentally, laura bought cheap replacement shades on our return to kathmandu and they are still going strong.

as we had mentioned in the everest blog, we passed hundreds of people on their way up as we were headed down the trail. it was staggering in fact, we wondered where they were all going to sleep. so as we pass all these hundreds of people, most of which were not particularly talkative (huffing and puffing up the hill), we stop for a moment to take a snap of the valley below. at that moment two people come walking by and the man has a vancouver t-shirt on.

"hello," i say, "so you're from vancouver?" "no," he says, "i'm from nepal, i'm a guide, but Gail is from canada." "well hello there, so where aboots are you from in van?" i ask. "well i'm not from vancouver actually, i'm from Nova Scotia." "oh, Nova Scotia you say, where abouts in Nova Scotia?" like i didn't somehow already know the answer. "Truro!" says gail.

unbelievable, hundreds of foreingers go by and the one, the only one, that i spark up a conversation with is from freaking Truro. now i'm starting to feel like gollum with his "prescious", these glasses, with a power of their own, drew me to this person. what is it with this place? i'm on the other side of the planet and it's Truro whispering in my ear again.

so we have a chat and a laugh at how small the world is, as i fill her in on my Truro connection, she thinks that maybe she curls with jasons folks on occasion, i get her to put on the dickies, which is what they wanted all along, take a snap and we parted ways. score two for the precsious.

on all my trips i have run into people i know or people that know people i know. i don't suppose it's all that strange considering that in world wide terms we are among the elite and many of us like to travel. on my first trip to thailand i literally ran into two gals i went to high school with. on another trip i ran into an old elementery school chum in monglia of all places. there were also many other smaller conncections along the way and of course the last one which was running into laura in indonesia. now not that meeting Gail Brown from Truro Nova Scotia is as close to home as the other encounters, it's a start... there's just something about the place.

anyway it's all cheap good natured entertainment, hopefully the sillyness of it can be appreciated by some. all i can say is that one of these days i'll find myself at a bearcats game, wondering "what is a bearcat anyway?", in my new stanfields underwear and a cheap pair of sunglasses. and since you now know of the land of Truro perhaps it will whisper in your ear as well and i'll see you there.

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Comments

[Anna]

Great story!
Matt, you're a great writer...I loved this story! Thanks for sharing. To add to your Truro connection, my favourite jeans are from the Margolian's department store in Truro! I'll be sure to wear them when next we meet in Vancouver. I'll be passing through Truro in Sept...perhaps I can take the Dickies to Jason's family :-) Happy travels! Anna