1 July: I'M TAKING A FEW DAYS' break from the performing arts, heading south to the city of Naumburg, 40 minutes by railway, to go canoeing. A little girl in the train compartment is looking in the direction of the disappearing station platform, crying unconsolably as grandma is taking her away -- for the summer or just a few weeks? I walk over and show them a small Canadian pin and how to attach it to my shirt collar, then hand it to the girl. I picked up 25 of these keepsakes from my local Member of Parliament's constituency office in Victoria, to hand them out as tokens of appreciation on my travels. The girl, about three years old, still has a few more sobbing fits, but by the time I leave the train I see
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