This morning I awoke to an uncommon greeting. A welcome one to boot!  It was an email sent to me at 7:05 AM from a gentleman about whom I could recall nothing whatsoever, embarrassingly not the least of which was his outward form (quite apart from anything related to his ancestry or current celebrity). I did however recall the familiarity of his name and that our first meeting (which had been ages ago) was nutritious, even flattering because he had then reported having discovered on the internet something I had written which piqued his attention. My narcissism is boundless! Otherwise the man was a mystery (though this is not a fatal compliment because I have difficulty remembering what I did 30 seconds ago).

Good morning Bill. You will likely recall me and how we shared coffee and stories last March I think it was. Life has not been dull for me since then. We have returned to Almonte for the festive season and I’d be delighted to buy you coffee and once again exchange thoughts. I have a particular need to collect more information about the virtues of life in Almonte.
Over to you….

Stephen

Immediately I responded. This was an invitation too magnanimous to prevaricate. It’s not as though Government House is regularly calling and interrupting my social agenda. Today at three o’clock?, I hastily replied. He sanctioned back as readily in the affirmative. And so we were off!

Conveniently our rendezvous was at Equator coffee shop in Almonte, the most popular of several coffee houses about town. By further convenience it began to snow rather heavily this afternoon about the very moment we had scheduled our foregathering.  I say this was convenient because 1½ hours later, as we wrapped up our exceedingly hospitable conviviality, the snowstorm had overtaken us beneath its dark grey and now forbidding dome. The drive home in the diminished Winter Solstice while not exactly treacherous did nonetheless demand a degree of unfamiliar attentiveness. Just another of the many, many, many advantages of living in Almonte; viz., everything is nearby.

I was the first to arrive at the coffee shop. Because I was yet uncertain of the look of the chap whom I was to meet, I tried my best (without seeming to be nosey) to inspect everyone already in the place to determine whether he (or someone I figured might resemble him) was already there. No one fit the bill.

When he at last arrived and, to his credit, came directly to the table where I sat,  I felt as though I were one of those AI devices which, in private apartment buildings, recognizes a familiar face and opens the door automatically.  I did just that, shoving my right hand to him to press his palm to mine. I gathered the algorithms of his face in my mind.

Like old friends, we picked up where we had left off. The highlight of the reconnoitre was his account of a recent train trip (which he pointedly confirmed was Business Class) from Ottawa to Montréal to New York City (where he additionally confirmed boutique hotel residency on the Upper East Side).  I was already there, reminiscing about the Waldorf- Astoria, the Plaza and The Carlyle. Barbara Streisand’s Memories  to be certain! And his narrative about walking throughout the City with his head staring into the skyscrapers was similarly stimulating.  More memories, this time of both New York City and Paris.

Then we touched upon auctioneers for art (Heffel, Montréal) and jewellery (Dupuis, Toronto). A casual allusion to the Windsor Arms Hotel. From this followed museums and Canadian landscape artists (including of course the Group of Seven and A J Casson in particular). Also Frederick S Coburn and W H Bartlett (prints).

Somehow we got distracted to my former law career and my acquaintance with my predecessor Raymond Algernon Jamieson QC, his former law office on the second floor at 74 Mill Street, the walk-in vault and the collection of liquor hidden in his bookcase. Unimaginably this led to real estate.  He shared with me a photo. And wouldn’t you know!  The Jamieson house. At least I’m guessing so because he said it was adjacent the newly built modern home (belonging I believe to RAJ’s grandson).  I didn’t have time to tell him the grandson’s lot was taken by Jamieson as compensation for nonpayment of a legal account by a delinquent client. There is only so much that can be deciphered at one sitting.