We haven’t many attachments – by which I mean, we’re not especially affixed to anything. At least if you discount medical, dental and optometric desiderata. It is only our tiresome habits which presently interrupt our lives. This makes for a puzzling platform from which to contemplate where to go and what to do. I suppose one could say in fact that the globe is at our door. More realistically however – and in the wake of what I call the American commotion (a political about face which has had extraordinary consequences) – we are presently fashioning a short trip in Canada; precisely, the maritime provinces. I wish to be by the sea.  Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia have come to mind.  Recalling my law school days in Halifax 55 years ago, I know that there is customarily outstanding weather in September – clear blue skies and clean fresh air rolling over the harbour off the North Atlantic Ocean. I recollect standing on Citadel Hill on such a day! The perspective and atmosphere were exquisite!

The roads through the eastern provinces are preferable too. The Trans Canada highway and many of the 4-lane corridors across the provinces are newly constructed. I remember from our stay in Prince Edward Island not so many years ago that at this time of year the place seemed almost abandoned. We’ve lately unearthed a hotel there open all year round.

Oddly, in spite of the unrestrained liberty to go wherever and to do whatever, we haven’t seemingly yet acquired a convincing gusto.

The word “hutspu” or “chutzpah” (also spelled hutzpah or chutzpa) is a Yiddish and Hebrew term for audacity, nerve, or supreme self-confidence, often associated with boldness and the willingness to take risks, sometimes to the point of insolence. While it can describe having the courage to “get up and go,” it also carries connotations of shamelessness and gall, making it a complex word with both positive and negative potential depending on the context.

Whatever the appropriate word, we’re curiously inhibited. I attribute the defect to a number of things: one, I am still resiling from the American “commotion”; two, a confession of encroaching age limitations; and, third, I am frightfully comfortable right here where I sit. While I do not view travel as Nirvana; nor do I dismiss it as “just another city” (as I have heard Rome frankly called by a young and widely travelled gentleman). Accordingly I still maintain a viable endorsement of the benefit of travel; and I currently embrace the national flavour for Canada. Only this morning, while tricycling about the neighbourhood on this beautiful Labour Day, I encountered neighbours who traditionally winter in Florida. They enquired about our upcoming plans. In summary it appears we’re not the only ones with an ambivalent persuasion.