Nothing today of our intended purpose has ripened. The tricycle examination was an overall failure (though at least we know now what seems to be wrong); the venture to Carleton Place Arena to participate in early voting muffed because of the extraordinary line-ups (which my decomposed spine cannot accommodate); and – frightful peril – I didn’t make it to the car wash (it’s been raining on and off all day).

Nonetheless – there’s always the other side n’est-ce pas? I had a chance but thoroughly affable confab with a younger couple from “The Barrhaven” (their joking imposition of the definite article). They’re visiting their daughter here in town. When I tricycled past them (coming from a walk along the river with their handsome dog), the husband commented upon my Pronto trike. Naturally I willingly shared correspondence with him to that effect. The chat quickly diverted from the tricycle and lasted considerably longer than either they or I had anticipated. We together touched upon such diverse topics as politics, architecture, education, discoveries, music, religion and travel. This for them had been a casual “Sunday” drive and meander along the river. The enthusiasm of our discourse found stimulation in similar professional associations between them and my family. And when she hit on her maritime love of oceans and he recounted an ancient relative who went round the world in less than 80 days; and, I then hit upon “The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B” (and Uncle Édouard of course), well, I can tell you, we drifted into the atmosphere with all moorings loosened, recollecting jointly I am sure numerous other historical accounts and tales, spirited at times perhaps by literary licence.  It was a good thing we hadn’t a bottle of whiskey between us because if it were so, I believe we’d still be there, chatting, mulling and ejaculating.

What intrigued me about the couple was their obvious strength of personal and reciprocal alliance. Their account of the matrimonial proposal and subsequent wedding in an officers’ mess rendered a happy picture of the union. The fluidity of our conversation bespoke to me the nature of Canadians in general, an unfettered conviviality united by a commonality of moral persuasion. We concluded our settlement by agreeing there are only six families in the world and that the rest is done with mirrors!