Kingston sits roughly between Ottawa and Toronto. And is in fact the reason why we’re here in Canada in the first place. Claire is a Maid of Honour at a school friend’s wedding who now resides in Kingston.
It’s nice having an apartment instead of a hotel room. Today I finally got the chance to make my own interpretation of a Canadian breakfast, without the lashings of maple syrup, and used the half kilo of bacon I bought yesterday. I thought I’d need oil in the pan, but so much came off the bacon at one point I’m sure it was floating. Some giant bread, a bit of cheese and I was done. I’m not sure how Canadian it really was, but it certainly seemed to fit the size and fat requirements.
Upon arrival in our accommodation for the next few days, I had a few concerns about the bed. The mattress was particularly soft, one of those that you sink into when you sit on it and with my back problems of the last year and even a few hip problems before we left, I was dreading waking up in the morning with some part of my body feeling sore. I was pleasantly surprised, body felt fine and instead of Claire having to listen to me waffle on about things aching (to which her usual reply is, you are old you know) I had to listen to her tell me that I’d been snoring for the fifth consecutive night running. Having come from a king bed in Ottawa to what we’d consider a double bed, there was absolutely no escape either.
I’ve had a good wander around Kingston over the last few days; first we headed out to the military college on an island you reach via a road bridge. The college was pretty deserted but it was a pleasant walk. The next stop was a brewery, the Stone City brewery on the main street. We’re noticing most of the breweries here follow a slightly different model than their Australian cousins in that they tend to be shop fronts, the staff don’t seem that knowledgeable about the beers and there is never a brewer in sight. The Stone City brewery however did have a brewery in the back of the shop, but I doubt it really serviced more than the 8 taps they ran (of which I sampled all). The other brewery here is straight across the road from our accommodation. I can actually see people sitting outside it from the windows in the lounge. We got round to visiting this one on the day before we left. It definitely modelled itself on an English pub and even served a couple of hand pumped ales. I’m still unsure whether they’re made for this hot weather (25c-35c at the moment), but it’s nice to taste something a bit different.
What has surprised me so far, is that we have been in a number of breweries but absolutely no-one has commented on my Prancing Pony brewery hat that I’m wearing. I’m sure in Australia if I could visit all these breweries, someone at some point would comment on it. My guessing is as above, the people we’re chatting too aren’t the real beer experts, but rather there to serve us, not engage us in conversation. Saying that though all our interactions have been very friendly and nice throughout both Kingston and Ottawa.
Another thing in Kingston that intrigues me is the wind turbines just off the coastline. I remember the debate raging in the UK when I left about whether they were an eyesore or not and the decision was made over there to position them out at sea rather than viewable from the shore. My own take here in that they enhance the coastline rather than take away from it and provide something else to view on the horizon.
I decided to bite the bullet and pop into Starbucks for a coffee, and apart from them completely not understanding what I was ordering (how is a Latte that hard?), the service was quick, efficient and the coffee that came out the other side was quite delicious and I didn’t have any complaints about it. I wonder if we taste-tested coffees, where they’d come on the list. Probably not as far down as we think I reckon. I think we form opinions about the size of the organisation and in our minds think that detracts from the quality.
Saturday was the big day. It’s great nowadays that the world is so small, we can just jump on a plane and endure a slightly boring journey and arrive the other side of the world to help old friends celebrate these occasions.
For me though, some of the lead up and the day itself was, at times, extremely hard. The last real wedding I’d been to was my own and the majority of you will know how quickly and suddenly that union ended. Weddings follow the same linear structure the world over and every step of the way, brought a memory back for me. There were parts that were harder than others and lots of parts that were fine. Claire in her own amazing way was outstanding throughout (this is the woman who decided on my wedding anniversary to take me out to dinner in case I felt sad). She didn’t really push me but provided support where she could. It’s hard, because really it’s just my battle and I completely comprehend that it’s not a nice thing for other people to have to deal with, especially Claire. I guess with more exposure to these events, things get easier in the future.
I did as usual tear up the dance floor later on in the night though. I guess because I still haven’t run this holiday, we could consider this exercise and in fact the only exercise I’m going to get. The wedding was beautiful; I’d say especially Claire’s speech, which was related to how the bride and Claire used to watch Dawson’s Creek when they were kids and how everything in life can be related to Dawson’s Creek. I just wish I’d watched it…. well maybe not. And it was nice listening to the speech with the perspective of not knowing what it was really about. It’s always nice to see people happy, it doesn’t always have to be all about your own happiness eh? And the bride and groom certainly looked that.
As we were walking back to our apartment, we both couldn’t remember the last time we wandered home post midnight. I resisted the urge to get another beer out of the fridge. I get wiser as I get older.
The day after the night before. It’s never a stunningly productive one eh? Having gone to bed at 3am, after watching Claire strangely wipe make-up off her face with olive oil, I wasn’t in a particularly exploratory mood. More of a lie on the sofa and complain about how my feet were hurting kind of mood. We of course managed to wander out for our now daily ice cream, but that was about the sum of the whole day really.
Toronto was approaching fast!
IJS 24/07/2017