I've just started a new project at work. However it's not in Calagry it's in Kingston, Ontario.

"Kingston, Ontario?" I hear you say "Isn't that where you went to university for a year about 15 years ago?"

"Yes it is"

"Wow. That must have been a real nostalgia trip!"

"Well...."

I was expecting it to be a massive nostalgia trip so it was it was very strange when I arrived and didn't really recognise a thing! A few things came back on the way from the airport such the limestone buildings and Waldron Tower (my old hall of residence). But downtown where the hotel and office were I looked around and thought "I don't recall any of this" which felt a little strange.

It wasn't that things had changed out of recognition: I would have had to be able to remember something before I could realise it had changed. I came to see that the problem was I didn't really know the downtown - I'd spent almost all my time on campus and that's what I had forgotten over the years (Obviously if I was a Mac I'd have been living it up in town all the time). It wasn't till I wandered up Princess Street that things started to come back. The cinema, the site of the Chinese Laundry cafe, the unsightly Princess Towers and, joy of joys, the A&P supermarket from where I used to buy by Fudgee-os. Then on Thursday after work I finally got a chance to visit the campus and that WAS nostalgic.


I could remember enough to see what had changed and what stayed the same. The cafeteria reminded me of skating to breakfast one morning on a frozen Lake Ontario, walking past Vic Hall reminded me of the moment I decided that "Vapour Trail" by Ride was the greatest song ever!


It all seemed like a long time ago: I even had a full head of hair in them days!