“Always Fresh” is the infamous motto. But I wonder how fresh a Tim Horton’s donut can be on a sweaty afternoon in Trafalgar Square. I’m nibbling the icing and rainbow sprinkles off the top of my import – making a gooey mess of my face and hands – amidst a Great Lake-sized sea of sun-kissed Canadians who have found a sort of “home away from home” here in London.It is Canada Day and the UK’s capital is hosting a celebration for its commonwealth compatriots (http://www.canadadaylondon.com/do/default.asp).
Alongside the Tim Horton’s stall I see a maple syrup stand, and smell bison burgers on a grill across the square, and spot a line up around the corner of a Molson Canadian tent. I was hoping for poutine – I don’t even really like poutine – but nothing screams Canada like poutine. My craving persists.
Pearly-toothed people, clad in Salomon sneakers, carrying MEC packs (decked, traditionally in post-9-11 style, with maple leaf lapels) surround me. A sea of red and white is spread afoot the steps of the National Gallery, facing a stage where a trio of Canadian artists are singing to a fiddle.
“Has anyone here ever been on a river?!” shouts the lead singer who was hauled in all the way from Yellowknife.
My heart sinks, because the Thames in London, England, although majestic in comparison, doesn’t bring on the nostalgia that the Thames in London, Ontario somehow does. Along the river runs my favourite cross country course at the Thames Valley Golf Club, where I’ve trodden plenty of turf.
But I would shame other Canadians to think only of the dirty, winding Thames, at the sound of the word, “River”. And let's not talk about Detroit. But since I’ve left home, indeed for a few years now, I have wanted little more than head north for a breath of fresh Algonquin air and practice my j-stroke then while someone else (any takers?) takes the brunt of the work at the front-end of a canoe.
My homesickness is relieved by another mouthful of melting donut icing.
The band makes their exeunt and Jian Ghomeshi from The Hour keeps the show rolling. Love that guy.
That reminds me – I do miss the CBC.
Behind the stage rises Nelson’s Column, a mini-CN-like-tower (without the ugly bulge at the top) and as my eyes scale the pinnacle, I see airplanes heading in all directions, some doing victory laps around Heathrow before landing. It’s not often I wish I were flying, but for a fleeting moment my thoughts wander westbound, and suddenly the idea of an emergency landing in a cornfield in Essex County doesn’t seem so threatening. So long as I can slide off the airplane – oxygen mask still stuck to my face, floating device not yet inflated (for those who listen to the emergency instructions, you’re supposed to wait until your near-drowning in panic before you pull the inflatable cord) – and run from the wreckage until I collapse with my face in (worm-free) Canadian soil.
Then I realise, Canada is only a short flight away. And I’m here, among other like-minded “Can-UKs.” Canadians at heart, with a UK home. And that’s alright with me, on any other day besides Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the First of July.
I've been abroad for 11 months already, and recently moved to London. I love it here, but can't help missing home, from time to time.
I was still in Windsor when I started this blog, a year ago today.
I wrote a piece about “Canada House” (see http://3sixty6.blogspot.com/2007/07/0701-canada-house.html) which I hope someone has kindly paid homage to in my absence this year. I realised then, that a year would quickly pass – and that my circumstances would be flipped upside down come 366 days (http://3sixty6.blogspot.com/2007/07/countdown-begins.html).
I can assure you they have, despite failing to document the day to day process that has found me here today. In February, my camera failed me – a technological glitch that left me without means to capture the banalities of my life here – and the not so ordinary adventures. So I have left a gaping hole in my online dialogue – my diablog. But I figured I should at least finish what I started with this closing remark.
Happy Canada Day.
Hope the Fireworks were a blast.
Let me know when Tim Horton’s goes global.
Melissa
