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Published: July 11th 2006
Heya!
Okay, so first up I fully admit I have been rather negligent in maintaining the travelblogs - I’ve at least two past trips to cover in addition to this one, and several people have been reminding me that they’ve been logging on to check the site a lot more than I have. So I’m getting to it straight away this time, to recount to you the 10 wonderful days I just spent visiting Ottawa, Canada which was my home of 2.7 years and remains one of my favourite places on the planet.
So back to my trip! I left a grey and cool London on Wednesday 28 June, a date I had been impatiently waiting for ever since I booked the trip back in July last year, for three main reasons:
1) I have missed all my Ottawa friends so much, and couldn’t wait to see them again;
2) I’d be in Ottawa for summer and the Canada Day long weekend, which is when the city
is completely alive and it’s always been a total blast, and
3) It turned out to be right around the time that my friends Lori and Brian were scheduled to become first-time parents!
With all I had to look forward to I arrived with a huge grin on my face in sunny Ottawa that evening, greeted by a very pregnant Lori (who still managed to look normal, relaxed and totally comfortable) and Bri, who were my hosts for the holiday. Once at home we kicked back and enjoyed catching up over some very yummy wine, while I peppered them with questions about the pregnancy and waited eagerly for any opportunity to feel the baby move about in Lori’s belly! Then the jet lag kicked in and I crashed like a tonne of bricks.
The next morning I went for a run along one of my favourite routes beside the Rideau River. Before I left for Canada I prayed that I would enjoy at least one of its spectacular early summer storms, with huge thunder and lightening shows. That morning, I grinned like a maniac (and no doubt looked like one) as I ran through a massive, sudden storm
that blew in and raged directly overhead. It was just exactly what I had been hoping for! It soon cleared and I headed for lunch into the Byward Market - the epicentre of Ottawa’s social scene, full of restaurants, boutiques, pubs and food stores and market stalls where I spent a good deal of the rest of my holiday - to meet up with Lisa, one of my closest friends. Reunions are so much fun! We had a blast catching up on all that had transpired since we last saw each other, and I kicked off what would be a 10-day long indulgence at all the city's fine restaurants. I spent the afternoon doing some shopping and exploring the city - enjoying what had remained the same (most things, of course - after all I had only been gone 10 months) and discovering what had changed (surprisingly more than I anticipated - lots of new restaurants and nightclubs, and a few new boutiques to plunder!!). It all felt so familiar and comfortable, and I was clearly still on a buzz from the excitement of being back in town - I shopped like a woman possessed! (Why do I never feel
Chris at dinner
What a lovely necklace! I wonder where she got it...? like doing that in London??)
That evening I caught up with Chris, another of my closest Ottawa friends and, though I fought it like crazy, the jet lag eventually won out and I crashed hard again. Friday morning brought another storm (yay!) and then cleared up for a very fun lunch with Melissa - also a very close friend. Friday night was so much fun - drinks with Melissa and Claire (another Aussie lass, repatriated but emotionally attached to Ottawa after living there for several years - Claire had also worked at the AHC Ottawa when I first joined in 2003 and our commonalities made us instant buddies) followed by a fantastic dinner with a whole bunch of friends brought together by Lisa! I was joined by Melissa, Claire, Alecia, Lisa, Chris, Becca, Danielle, Doris, Carol and her man, Trevor and Andrew. I felt really touched by the gathering, and how welcomed I was by everyone. It really made me realise that I had built a full, rich life for myself during my time in Ottawa and had flourished even when I thought I was struggling. And I was by no means the only person to have a very
trying, difficult and frustrating year last year - it was wonderful to find that my friends who’d been having similarly tough times are in much happier places than they were a year ago when I left. It became clear that we were all moving forward in our lives, and very optimistic about the future. I felt so very happy. And I partied on, hard, with Lisa, Alecia and Trevor who took me to one of the new nightclubs that would have been my Mecca had it been there a year ago! I had a serious abundance of fun that night!!
The next day was Canada Day! It got off to a rather relaxed start, mainly because we hard-core partiers didn’t get home til the daylight hours. But I eventually made my way downtown in the late afternoon to take in some of the official celebrations. It was just as well I had attended in years’ past, as my tardiness meant that the good stuff was already over and that which remained was a mass of mediocre street performers, buskers and sweltering crowds. Not really my kinda thing. So it was off to the the pub for a quick drink
before hitting the Canada Day party with Chris, her boyfriend Bryan, and Alecia who was already there and had been enjoying the festivities for some time....! I may have mentioned this party in past newsy e-mails - this was the third year in a row I had attended and it was as crazy as ever: 400 instant friends, 10 bands, a big beer caravan with 30 kegs, six port-a-loo’s, a pizza stand and a tarot card reader all crammed into some guy’s backyard. To describe it as chaos is a bit of an understatement but it was a complete success and so much fun. The night did end a little earlier for me than Friday and, since there’s no such thing as an available taxi on Canada Day, I waded my way home through the typhoon that had hit (I swear it was a typhoon, I’ve never seen rain or wind like that since a hurricane brush past when I was in Florida last year). “Okay weather gods”, I muttered as I thrust my flailing umbrella defiantly into the storm and tottered on my brand new but rapidly deteriorating shoes, “will you please bugger off.” The God's clearly didn’t hear
Trev and Andrew
Well into a big, big evening of drinking and partying. Good stuff. me, and I arrived home a sopping wet mess. Perhaps it was time to start praying for sunny skies....
The next morning, I got up all excited about spending the morning with Lori and Brian, who I’d seen little of since I arrived and whose lovely home I had been treating a bit like a beautiful B&B since all my lunches and dinners had been out on the town. I was heading to Alecia and Craig’s cottage for the afternoon and next day, but thought the morning would be a good opportunity to catch up a bit more and relax in the sunshine. Lori welcomed me with a somewhat pained good morning and then said, “Well… I’m pretty sure I’m in labour…” OMIGOD!!! I had so hoped she would have the baby while I was visiting, and I couldn’t be more excited! I wish I could same the same for poor Lori though, but labour looked like no fun at all. After an hour or so of awkwardly standing around like a useless twit while Lori suffered through her steadily building contractions, Alecia colleted me for the trip to the cottage and I said goodbye to Lori and Brian,
feeling all rather impotent and unhelpful but still excited knowing that, when I returned in a few days, there’d be another little person in the house! It was such a strange, wonderful thought. I’m 29 years old but I still feel as ignorant and awed by pregnancy and childbirth as I did when I was seven and Mum had my little sister Ainslie. I still feel like such a little kid.
Alecia and Craig are getting married in Melbourne - Alecia’s home town - in August. Ottawa’s their current home, but Alecia’s Aussie heritage (yep, she’s another one) meant they would be married back home. Craig’s parent’s cottage sits on Lake Heney in Quebec, which is really beautiful - deep, clear water surrounded by thick trees and a scattering of blissfully luxurious cottages. Craig was already there, enjoying the tail-end of a four-day Bachelor Party with a bunch of his mates. Needless to say, they boys had partied hard and were still in fine form when we arrived. A few more groups of friends arrived and we settled into an evening of swimming,
drinking, eating and general mayhem - briefly tempered by a very civilized game of croquet, but culminating in some very cavalier fun with fireworks. I kept my distance from those… Again demonstrating my commitment to partying hard, I was the last one to surrender to fatigue and wound down in the early hours on a sunbed on the dock, staring up at a sky bright and full with stars, a sight I’d not enjoyed since I moved to London.
The next morning I checked in with Lori and Brian - they were home, with a new baby girl! Siobhan Buck Brady was born the previous evening, 2 July, weighing in at a sizeable eight lbs six ounces - Lori really hadn’t looked like she was carrying that much baby! Both mum and baby were home within a few hours of the birth and both were doing fine! It was wonderful news. I spent the rest of that day and evening with Alecia and (a very over-partied) Craig, relaxing at the cottage. The following day I returned to Ottawa and the happy parents. Siobhan is gorgeous - and possibly the most well-behaved baby on the planet. A reflection of her
Canada Day Party - band stage
This was set up on the back porch of some dude's house. Pretty awesome stage! parents, she is very, very chilled-out. I got to hold her a lot! I was extremely happy that I could be there at such a special time for Lori and Brian. And grateful they were happy to have me around.
That brings me to Tuesday - two thirds of the way through my holiday, already! The remaining days were spent catching up with friends over lunches and dinners at great restaurants, more shopping, going for runs, relaxing and enjoying the great things about Ottawa. I spent more time with Doris, Trevor, Alecia, Danielle, Nick, Lisa, Chris and my former work colleagues Jo, Glenda, Olivia and Caroline. I was spoilt rotten by everyone, and had so much fun. I had thought 10 days would be plenty of time to see everyone but it’s amazing how the time flies. I’d not managed to contact everyone I wanted to see before I arrived, but somehow Ottawa’s small enough that I simply ran into quite a few people around town, which was a fun surprise - I ran (almost literally!) into Hannah, and also bumped into Colin, Sharon and Dennis, and Nat and Megan.
My last 24 hours were spent with my
favourite ladies - Chris, Lisa, Melissa - for dinner and then brunch on Saturday. Saying goodbye again was really difficult and once on my own I shed a few tears, perhaps even feeling a bit anxious about coming back to London. I’ve had lots of holidays in the past six months, but I hadn’t felt as relaxed and at ease and peace as I had on this break, and I didn’t want to leave. When I was departing Ottawa last year, I remember saying that I would be a very lucky person if I managed to make even half as many wonderful friends in London as I did there - I don’t think I really appreciated even then how true that is. I certainly realise just how much I meant it now.
My last few hours were spent relaxing in the sunshine in Lori and Brian’s beautiful backyard, drinking pina coladas and daiquiris with them and watching Siobhan sleep.
And then it was time for us to part - me off to the airport with a much heavier pack, and Ottawa farewelled with a booming local economy courtesy of my rampant spending and dining out.
Back in
London, the whole trip seems surreal (or perhaps that’s just the extended fatigue). I’m sure I’ll get back into the swing of things here quickly, but to have so many friends gathered in one place where I can visit is a real blessing and I will definitely be returning there again soon.
The next trip scheduled is to Portugal, in early August, for a music festival on the beach, south of Lisbon. Long live summer!!
Hope you are all well and happy :-)
Love Cass xx
PS: For some reason, though I had it with me the whole time, I didn't make very good use of my camera on the holiday. So the photos aren't as comprehensive and varied as in the past but at least you can pair names and faces now ;-)
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