Well I'm glad you asked. Here's what Saturday looked like. It started early with Jude up painting things and fixing the areas where my inexpertise with masking tape was all too evident. As she slaved I walked, with the dog, along the canal. Now I usually tend to think of canals as places where old shopping carts and perverts too long in the tooth and short in the genitals to cause a real stir at the mall go to die. Throw in the odd wheezing swan and asthmatic child throwing mould sporing bread to cannibalistic ducks and you get the perfect canal picture.
But this one is a real fixer upper. They rent kayaks, people on rented bikes whiz by yelling "Monsieur, a droit" not realizing that the time it takes me to translate such a piece of information is a split second longer than they have to get around me. The houses by the canal are beautiful and the old warehouses are sprouting young professionals faster than the young professionals are spawning Jeremys and Voilets.
Anyway the walk is a couple of hours long and is followed by coffee at the local coffee shop where Velcro, usually used go being chained outside, is delighted to join the legion of big dogs resting contentedly at the feet of caffeinating owners.
Home and lunch before deciding that we really do need some clothes if we're going to meet people before the 29th - when our stuff gets into town. So we head into downtown (15 mins) and start shopping. The streets are full, the discounts are deep and at one point we stumble into "Ze largest outdoor fashion show in North America" - where it seems dancing is encouraged and hotness is a requirement rather than an option.
Newly fashioned up
we head home, change, take some pictures and head across the street for pizza at a nice open air cafe before jumping in a taxi (a taxi!) to the McConnell ice arena where an ex-figure skater (or as he thinks it should be called "Flower Glider" is doing a stand-up show. He's not at all bad - therapy on wheels and better than the last rollerblading theatrical experience Jude had (as a St John's ambulance person she witnessed Starlight Express derailing as they switched from rollerboots to rollerblades)Home again and we're just in time to watch the Spanish entry into the Summer Fireworks Festival explode over downtown... before heading for bed and watching two episodes of True Blood.
And that's a Saturday for us... me's happy