I've been coming home in the evenings and feeling a bit "meh!" so no blogging for a while. Which means I'm now playing blog catch-up so nothing gets the attention it deserves.

I mentioned I was in Ottawa. That was fun and it was great to see my friend Helen who kindly put me up for a couple of nights. As I already mentioned the heat wasn't so great but I was lucky enough to be taken sailing one evening by Helen's gentleman friend Wilby which was cool in every sense. I've never done much sailing but always liked the idea of catamarans and out we went in a Hobie Cat across the wide Ottawa River and back before the wind dropped


I then went through to Montreal where thankfully the temperatures were more conducive to wandering around. I was saying with my friends Sean and Keitha who were in fine form and excited about the arrival of a brand new Monkbert later in the year (as am I!). I can't believe it's taken me so long but I had my first taste of the Quebecois treat poutine - that's chips in gravy with cheese curds to you and me. It was good but I'm still a firm believer that a gentleman should have nothing on his chips but salt and sauce.



Montreal is a fascinating city and a wonderful place to stroll around. I did quite a bit of wandering as the only event in my diary was another Facebook-facilitated rendezvous with an old friend I hadn't see since Queen's days called Vanessa Stettler. We met in Vieux Montreal at a very cool joint called the Hotel Nelligan. We had a really nice chat and Vanessa introduced me to the delights of their white wine sangria: if a better drink has ever been invented for a hot summer's day I'd like to meet it. The only other thing I HAD to do was my pilgrimage to the home of the Montreal Canadiens in the rather boringly named Bell Center, I mean Centre Bell (this is the 3rd largest French speaking city in the world after all). I did a tour of the Canadiens' previous arena - the legend shrouded Montreal Forum - back in 1989. The Forum was ice hockey's Anfield, Wembley and Lords all rolled into one and looking into the rafters to see all the Stanley Cup banners there brought a feeling of being in the presence of history that I remember to this day. The Bell Center has none of that romance and the banners were rolled away as they were setting up for Daft Punk that evening. It's an impressive size and I would love nothing more to see the Habs play there but it is a shame that the Forum is no more. I was impressed though with the efforts they made to reach out and connect to the history of the Canadiens. They have a team hall of fame on the main floor with photos and plaques and a reminder of the history of success and a connection with the city that marks them out from every other team in the NHL. I hope when Liverpool move to their new stadium they will try and do something similar. The traditions of both teams has a lot to do with what makes them special. And of course they are now both owned by the same bloke!

The weekend after was my housewarming party. I've been in this flat 3 months or so and now that my decorations (hem hem) are complete I was ready to let my friends in. The final piece of the decorating jigsaw that I had lacked was something for my bedroom. I was very happy when I found some marvellous photos of Prairie skies by that up and coming Canadian photographer, Ashley Bristowe: