Wednesday, June 27, 2007

un pincement au coeur

My aussie friend and colleague, Marie-Louise, who was visiting colleagues at LAC the day I left, gave me good advice - hold it together until you get on the plane. Well I almost made it. There was a lot to concentrate on - getting everything out of the apartment, handing over the keys, returning the rental car (I lost my temper - very uncool) and the check-in procedures. The boys did a great job cleaning the apartment.

Mathieu was a wonderful help with loading up the cars (his as well) with our luggage and the stuff still left that we were not taking with us. The boys had girlfriends with them and were finding it hard to concentrate. He also kept me company at the airport as Richard and Darcy were consumed with farewelling all the friends who had showed up to say goodbye. I thought I would prefer to be alone at the airport but I was glad to have someone by my side. it meant I could leave the boys to wallow in their leavetakings while we queued up with luggage etc.

The down sides were that Mathieu came armed with a camera and his presence reminded me of all the new friends I had made and how generous and funny Canadians can be. Vous avez touché mon coeur - chacun d'entre vous. Vous allez me manquer. So I have to confess to not quite making it through security before the tears started to flow and there are evidentiary photographs. Sorry for not being able to follow your advice Marie-Louise! and to Mathieu for adding yet another chore to your list - trying to cheer me up.

As often happens, I was the one selected at random for the pat-down - and quite an intimate one at that. I think I get picked out as the token example of their lack of bias - anglo (sort-of), middle-aged, female, badly dressed, frazzled - all the low-risk attributes.

Excuse the bits of French my aussie friends. Soon I will be smattering my posts with Italian phrases instead. I can't communicate in either language really but when it comes to matters of the heart their words seem to come naturally to me.

I am determined to study French again when I return to Australia. I love Quebec as well as the rest of Canada and I plan to spend more time there one day.

Just some of the things I’ll miss:

Maple flavoured everything
Skiing and ice skating as often as I like (in winter anyway)
Watching Ice Hockey
Rick Mercer
The Red Mile
The most pleasant and courteous panhandlers on earth
Ditto for employees in shops and restaurants (but not counter staff for govt agencies)
Some of the funniest people and great stand-up comics
Good public transport
Good central heating, air-conditioning and double-glazed windows in my house
Well behaved youth and safe streets (well relatively anyway)

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