Delayed

The day started chilly and overcast in Dartmouth, but by midday the clouds had burned off and it was sunny again. That was good, because it meant we had something nice to look at from the window of the terminal. You couldn't say the same of New York; thunderstorms there meant that our departure from Canada was delayed by two hours, which in turn meant that we were most likely going to miss our connecting flight to Hong Kong. Neither of us were downcast by this; it should be more bad news for our insurers, but we'll get to hang out in New York for a day with our friends, and hopefully arrive back by Tuesday morning. It might even be possible for us to get bumped onto a direct flight home, which would be rather more pleasant than the utter grind of a flight to Hong Kong plus another interminable wait in the airport and another connection.

Gloomy last day

As I walked around Halifax today, I felt profoundly sad. Was it the after-effects of taking child-specific antihistamines last night? Was it gloom at the course my life has taken? Was it the comedown from too strong a cup of coffee at 2 If By Sea? Or was I just ruddy knackered after all this charging about Canada without a break?

Lost in Nova Scotia

Today I went for a run in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Unlike my runs in Quebec, I'd remembered to remember what street I needed to get back to, and I didn't have to worry about nobody speaking my language. (I did have to worry that Canadians wouldn't be able to understand my accent, but that's a whole other story.)

Labor Day Celebrations and Mystery Meat

This morning we got up late and went for breakfast in Joilliet. It was Labor Day in Canada so most businesses were closed, which strikes me as ridiculous. If there was a national holiday to celebrate cheese, you can bet there'd be cheese to eat. Easter eggs aren't conspicuous by their absence at Easter. So why on earth would nobody be celebrated Labor Day by, well, labouring?

Lost in Quebec

Following the day of the wedding, I woke up the next day to slightly grey skies, and then wasted several hours reading a Tom Clancy, before putting on my running kit and heading off for a run.

I'd done the same route yesterday - down the road, into the forest, out into the middle of a new housing development of identikit houses, and then back to the cottage - and my initial success had bred contempt at the task. This second time round, instead of running in random directions and swiftly finding myself just down the road from where I'd started, I found mself ... nowhere.

Hitched

Our friends got hitched without there being any sort of hitch; after a day that had been grumbling about rainy weather, we woke up to a blue, cloudless sky on the day of the wedding, and the weather held all day long.

Laughing at Canadians

In the evening, once our bags had finally arrived, we went out. There was a comedy night at an ex-hockey stadium; a small room, tucked away within a downtown mall.

The comics were a mixed bag; the host didn't tell any jokes for five minutes, which wasn't a very good strategy, and the first comic was a bit insipid, but it improved as the night went on. There was a Quebecois who was chubby and shouted about burgers, there was a smarmy guy with a moustache, and then there was the main attraction, a hammy guy with straggly grey hair who possibly went on a couple of minutes too long, but did have the experience of working a crowd not to make things feel drawn out.

Hungover

Inexplicably hungover from half a glass of red wine, today was a struggle for me. Even after cramming fried food into my mouth at The Flying Pan in Wan Chai, and then looking for the World's Perfect Laptop Bag, I felt like death.

Hobo With A Shotgun

This was not Rutger Hauer's finest hour.

Boat Trip

Today we went for a ride on Fiddler's Green IV, our friend's boat, off to the Northern Arm of Halifax to look at rich people's houses on the waterfront. It must be a hard life being uber-rich; you spend all that time acquiring a fortune, then spending it on a beautiful house on the waterfront, and then some idiot with slightly more money than you builds an enormous eyesore slap bang next to your house and ruins your view.

Off to see The General

Today we took a boat from Shelburne out to the lighthouse, and to McNutts Island, where The General lives.

Of boats and stuff

Today we went to some of the museums of Shelburne, including the Dory shop, where they continue to build dories, although not at the frenetic pace of the previous century.

Prang

After another beautiful day on Monday, Tuesday was foggy and gray. We drove out to Lunenburg, where the sun materialised and everything was beautiful and shiny.

Balls to dogs

Today we drove the Black Boat, our unfeasibly large hire car, to my wife's cousin's place. There was her, three of her kids, two befuddled cats, a toy poodle, a rabbit and a Great Dane, all incredibly excited to see us.

Married at last

So I'm married now, which is a rather surreal experience. I keep thinking that at any moment, somebody is going to tap me on the shoulder and tell me that I have to give the ring back until I'm more mature and sensible.

Pre marriage panic

After going out for dinner last night, I conked out completely and woke up this morning, to blazing sunshine.

Hang on, no, it was still Halifax and it was tipping it down with rain. If rainy weddings are lucky ones, then we're going to be pretty much suffused with luck. It's been a fairly calm day so far: I've had two breakfasts, and gone for a drive in my ridiculous hire car, and the rain has continued to bucket down, but as my friends from the UK have pointed out, if there is a flood in Halifax, a boat is the best place to be. So, apres le deluge, c'est moi. Or, c'est marriage, rather.

Not much left to do for the next two hours. We're going to pop down to the bar for a quick drink, then it's off to the boat to get married - see you on the other side.

Large Nick

Before dinner this evening, we went to play pool at a bar down the street from the hotel; unlike England, where proficiency at pool indicates not just a mispent youth, but a tendency to hang out in dodgy joints where men get beaten to death with cues, Canadian pool halls are bright, clean places where you go to smack balls together. Although there's still a buzzer on the door to let you in, which makes the whole thing feel a bit like Prohibition.

Captain America

It's great to visit foreign countries and sample everything their culture has to offer. So today I went for lunch at the Elephant & Castle, a Canadian chain pub named after a decrepit shopping centre in South London, purchased Anno Dracula, a British alternate history written by a man from Somerset, and watched Captain America, a film about a bloke in blue tights from Brooklyn.

Getting ready for getting married

Today was very busy; we had to meet lots of people in charge of different parts of the wedding today, and ensure everything was in place. In the morning we began this task by going and eating lunch at a Sri Chinoy vegetarian restaurant, and then I spent half an hour trying on hats at a Banana Republic in a nearby mall.

The nice people of Canada

The last couple of days have had slightly mixed weather - sometimes sunny, sometimes foggy, mostly warm, sometimes cold - but today was nothing but warm sunshine and blue skies. We drove into Halifax and breezed through picking up our marriage licence, then spent some time with the wedding photographer and then wandered back into town along the boardwalk.