So, Canada, eh?

As it is the eve of my departure from the birthplace of the ever-delightful Kevin Yank, I wanted to make some inroads on my Canadian entry (oooh, blogging about blogging, how n00b-ish of me).

So, after spending a couple of days at Kev's parents' place in Cumberland, we wasted Wednesday waiting for Chris and some of Kev's other friends to pick us up and take us to the cottage. They were quite delayed so we watched X-Files. I'm very proud of how well we took advantage of our spare hours.

We finally met up near the ferry, and I was introduced to Chris, Lou, Marty and Chantal via the usual awkwardness of meeting new people (do we shake hands - oh, hug? Oop, was that supposed to be a peck on the cheek... Two kisses??) We then divided ourselves and our luggage into the two cars, and I was allocated a seat in the back on Chris's two-door vehicle, in with Chris, Kev and Marty. Guess they pigeon-holed me as a tomboy from the get-go, eh? Meanwhile, getting in and out of two-doors while wearing flowy knee-length skirts? Tricky.

We started our trip with a ride on the ferry and then a stop at a small supermarket in Buckingham. We bought essentials: mr chew big, coffee crisps, twizzlers (for Kev... about 4 kilos of the stuff at that), and some other chocolate bars. About, say, one of every kind. Well, I want to really explore Canadian culture, and the chocolate bars are different and stuff. Ooh hey, Smarties are Canadian. Who knew?

The rest of the trip was fairly fun, although I did have to face one of my worst fears - talking to strangers who are wearing dark sunglasses. I need to read people's eyes to see if they like me! We burned up the bumpy, windy, unsealed road to the cottage, I don't think I loosened my grip of the armrest even to smooth my hair, which became ever the more crazed thanks to the open windows. Ah, the boy's life.


We arrived at the cottage at about 6pm. We entered the cottage loaded with bags and coolers full of meat and milk (and booze), and I reached out and flicked the light switch.

Nothing happened.

So I tried another light.

*sigh*

The freezer had defrosted and the fridges were warm inside. The day was heading into dusk quickly and we were confronted with having to cook up all the meat and pack it into coolers so it wouldn't spoil. We started putting items such as chicken kebabs into bowls of water so they would defrost safely so we could BBQ them.

During this process we realised that the running water in the cottage must be powered by an electric pump.

Still buoyed by a mix of humour, irony and fury, we cooked up some delicious M&Ms hamburgers. We also planned to toast some burger buns. "Planned?" Yes, planned. Because about 15 minutes into the cooking process, the Propane tank ran out. The boys went to the garage, where we had been guaranteed by Kev's Dad that we would find one, if not two, extra Propane tanks.

Well, sure, the tanks were there, but one was empty and the other had the wrong sort of outlet-thingy.

So we ate our delicious, if slightly rare, burgers on soft buns and lit every candle in the house. Thankfully cottage country is known for blackouts so there were candles a-plenty. We sat and nursed drinks of various potency as we discussed the situation at hand. Would we give up and go home? Or would we make a stand and "rough it" in the powerless, waterless, luxury cottage by the lake?


Maybe you'll never know...