Ottawans

We've been in Ottawa for one week now and the girls have recovered well from their trip. We have been given a very warm welcome by our friend Yvonne who has kindly offered to house us for the rest of this month and for July in her beautiful home in leafy Glebe. It's a much shower pace of life than Toronto and we have been adjusting to all the other differences of the nation's capital. In particular, the Ottawa recycling and refuse system is pretty complex. Ultimately I put out the neighbours trash by mistake after quite a lot of poking around to check everything had gone in the right bins. Apparently the neighbour thought I was one of the homeless people who searches the bins for the bottle deposits, which doesn't say much for how well I was looking with the jet lag.

We have already experienced very hot days, a heavy rain storm and a 5.5 earthquake which slightly curtailed Chil's shopping for suddenly needed summer clothes. Most of our time has been taken up with trying to find a place to live although we've found time to keep up with the World Cup and to explore this part of Ottawa. We haven't found a place yet but are starting to get a feel for the city. Next week Wednesday is Canada day, a national holiday, and I start work the Monday after.


A performance on the Trinidadian national instrument, the bottle and spoon, at the Ottawa Jazz Festival, by the excellent Drew Gonsalves and the Mash Potato Mashers.