More on dogs...

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Iqaluit has a dog problem and, well, here’s all the proof you need of the problem and the attitudes in town about it. The story itself is fairly interesting and while I normally tell people to never, ever read the comments section, this is worth it if only to show the attitudes of some people in town. A few people insult and attack Annabella Piugattuk using some fairly brutal language (some of those comments have since been removed). Then again, there's also a lot of anti-qaalunat sentiment brewing there that never fails to disturb me.

I swear to god, this town sometimes…

Do I agree with what she’s saying in the story? Not all of it. I think trying to ban all non-husky breeds is…misguided. Understandable, but misguided.

Look, Annabella just went through a horrific event. Some lunatic trained a pit bull to attack people, waved it around like it was a gun and then finally unleashed it to attack. She was brutally savaged for 20 minutes. Her small kids saw the attack happen and were traumatized by it. Coming out the other end of something like that you either curl up into a ball and never want to think about it again, or you’re going to make damn sure nothing like that can ever happen again. So good for her for speaking out. I think it’s commendable.

But trying to ban non-husky breeds from Nunavut. No, that’s not going to work. Although technically she does have a bit of a leg to stand on. If I recall from my Department of Environment days Nunavut does have legislation in place to ban all non-native species from the territory. There might be an argument to be made that any kind of dog other than traditional Inuit sled dogs should be prohibited.

(It’s a sure thing that cats, hamsters, snakes, tropical birds and other critters I know people in town have shouldn’t be here by that definition.)

But the problem is that ship has sailed. Non-sled dogs have been coming here for decades and it’s been a flood in the last decade. And those dogs have often bred, hence the “Iqaluit specials” – part husky, part whatever – that are often seen running around town. Such a ban is impossible. Besides, it’s not just non-Inuit who like dogs other than huskies. I’ve seen my share of Inuit babying their shi tzus. Good luck trying to get them to give those dogs up.

The city is going to have some consultations in the fall and I suspect the quick and dirty solution is going to be to ban pit bulls. I don’t really agree with that. It’s the human that’s the problem in 95 per cent of cases, not the dog. I’d like to see much stricter restrictions on owning dogs. I mentioned on Twitter about creating a two-tier ownership system. One for “regular” breeds, the other for “at risk” breeds. “Regular” breeds get a pretty straight forward licencing process. “At risk” would be much more stringent.

For one thing, you would need a special, and expensive, import permit to bring such a dog in. You would need proof that the dog had obedience training before it was allowed in the territory. Owners would be required to take a class in Iqaluit on the proper handling and care of these kinds of dogs. Any kind of incident involving those dogs leads to the dog being seized and a heavy fine for the owner. Those kinds of things.

Here’s the catch, though. I would list huskies in that category. Most of the dog related incidents in town, and the territory, aren’t from pit bulls. They’re from huskies. I think I have a reasonable idea there, but good luck getting anyone to go along with listing huskies as an “at risk” breed and require additional precautions before you’re allowed to own one. People would riot.

The city is looking at doing something, and it’s a start. But most of it is going to be with the people who own the dogs, and not the dogs themselves. That’s going to take a fairly significant public awareness campaign, including involving schools on what’s involved in taking care of your pets. And it will take years to accomplish. Plus stricter regulations. I think it’s necessary, but there are so many necessary things up here, I’m not sure if this will actually happen. I guess we’ll see...

Last Five

1. E. Watson - The Decemberists

2. Rolling in the deep - Adele

3. Both hands (live) - Ani DiFranco*

4. Family tree - TV on the Radio

5. Pomegranate daffodil - Hawksley Workman

Running for a change

I've mentioned several times on the blog over the last year or so that I'm trying to lose weight and get into better shape. Now, for the most part, I think I've succeeded. I'm down 65 pounds since February of 2012, which is great and I'm proud of that. Granted, I'm also a touch frustrated that I've been about the same weight since Christmas since the goal was to lose 80 pounds. But I've learned not to complain about that too much as I get lectures when I do.

There's no magic to it...it's the same way you always do these things. Move more, eat less and better. Stick to it, but don't beat yourself up too much when you slip. But do beat yourself up a bit to make sure you don't get into the habit of slipping up, if you know what I mean.

The eating has been the harder part. The routine of going to gym is pretty straightforward. I've been going five days a week this summer, what with Cathy back in Newfoundland, I find myself with extra time on my hands. However, the gym I go to has a "fitness challenge" ever year. You can either walk or run 1 km, 5 km or 10 km. Last year, I laughed at the idea. This year, feeling particularly masochistic, I decided to try the 5 km run.

A couple of things worth noting here. I am not a runner. I've never seen the appeal. Even at the gym, I rarely use the treadmill, preferring the elliptical when I have to get my cardio. And as has been pointed out to me, these are very different things. I just don't see the point. Eight months of the year it's too cold to go running, and the rest of the time you're running to escape the mosquitoes. Although one of the members told me on Saturday that with the right gear, you could easily go running in the winter. Why, she did it once when it was -32C.

Lovely woman. Obviously quite mad, but lovely all the same.

No, the runner in my family is my dad. There was a time there, back in his late 40s and early 50s, when dad would get up, go to work as a letter carrier, walk probably 10 km or more a day, come home, take the dog for a walk, come back home, run for 10 km, take the dog for another walk and then relax for a bit.

Lovely man. Obviously quite mad, but lovely all the same.

The thing being, I've known a few people into running. Most of them are quite mad. I may have my quirks (If you're in Newfoundland you can undoubtably hear a laughing noise from Mount Peak right now, where Cathy is summering), but quite mad is probably not one of them.

Still, in a fit of momentary insanity I decided to give it a try. Two years ago there would have been uncertainty if I could walk 5k without some damage. Even last year, I was down about 45 pounds, which still put me nicely overweight, so I could have walked it, but there was no way I was going to run it. But now I was curious, which is always a dangerous thing.

So I show up at Sylvia Grinnell Park on a cool, dreary, slightly windy day. Which is a good thing as the mosquitoes are slightly less carnivorous. The 10k run actually had prizes, but I wasn't kidding myself. They would have found my body in a ditch. I checked with friends who run (lovely people. All quite mad) and they told me 35-40 minutes was a decent time for a first time runner at 5k. So I was aiming for a little below that.

The run wasn't too bad, actually. I wasn't setting any speed records and there was a few moments where I was concerned that those running the 10k might finish before I got my five in. So that spurred me on a bit. But I managed to finish the race in about 32 minutes, which I'm pleased with. I don't have the exact time or where I place because, well, this isn't exactly a professional road race. But I'll take 32 minutes. I'll have to try and top that next year.

Oh yes, let's not be crazy here. I know I can do it, which is cool and all, but I'm not going to take it up or anything. I'm still not convinced that it's actually bad for your body. The aches and pains today were not unexpected. I used different muscles than normal, after all. My left knee deciding it was going to work sporadically throughout the day was an unpleasant surprise, however. Also, according to my FitBit, I burn more calories on the elliptical in 30 minutes than I do running for 30 minutes. Some clever person might come along and explain how that's not true, but it's what my gizmo is telling me, so I'm choosing to believe it for the moment.

No, the only running I see myself doing in the future is trying to get away from the mosquitoes, but it was an interesting experiment...

Last Five
1. President of what? - Death Cab for Cutie
2. Gardening at night - REM
3. Radio fly - Joel Plaskett Emergency*
4. Stories - Katie Baggs
5. Knickerbocker lin/Drowsy Maggie - The Flash Girls

Closing a Chapter(s)

It’s not exactly a secret that Cathy and I are heavy readers. There are times I’m convinced we bought the house just so we could add more books. Seriously, one of the best purchases we’ve made for the house recently was a solid pine, 7-foot tall bookshelf that someone put on Iqaluit Sell/Swap for $40. I bought that sucker about 2 minutes after the listing went online (and was widely cursed on by others for getting it first. Book shelves are an in-demand item up here). It’s being put into good use.

Our drug of choice for most of our time in Nunavut has been Chapters. There was fundamentally little difference between Chapters and Amazon in terms of price, so we choose the Canadian company. Plus, some of Amazon’s business practices in the United States make me feel a little queezy. Their prices were the same, normally within a few cents and both offered free shipping. And when you live in Nunavut, you really grow to appreciate free shipping. Hell, reasonable shipping is appreciated.

I recently had a Canadian t-shirt company try to tell me it was going to cost $20 to ship a $12 shirt from Toronto. When I asked how I was able to order a t-shirt from Europe and only be charged $5 shipping, I got a shrug and a “That’s what Canada Post charges”. The shirt didn’t get purchased and I cursed Canada Post once more. I really should start a company and sell t-shirts with “Canada Post Sucks” on them. Of course, they’d do well in Iqaluit, but I wouldn’t be able to afford to ship them anywhere else.

Anyway…

So we’ve liked Chapters and I suspect if you were to look at how much money we’ve spent with them over the last eight years, you’d be pushing a number with five digits in it, at the very least. However, I’m pretty sure we’ve bought our last book with Chapters, either online or in one of their stores. Why? They’ve stopped free shipping to Iqaluit. They’ve instituted an isolated post exemption to their free shipping policy. Or, in other words, fuck you rural Canada, we don’t want your money.

How bad is it? Well, I punched in two thin graphic novels totalling $30 and went to the checkout. I was told it would cost about $17 in shipping. Amazon, meanwhile, still has free shipping to the north. So guess who gets the business?

You get these dick moves from time to time with southern businesses. Well.ca use to have free shipping, then they started charging shipping, a reasonable amount. Then they really started charging for shipping, so nobody in Nunavut uses them anymore.

Future Shop is an interesting case study. They used to have reasonable free shipping. A DVD was free. A camera was free. Hell, even some small TV sets were free. But if you wanted a new oven, well, no. Then they went to the other extreme, charging $20 in shipping for a $5 DVD was my favourite. However, they’ve gone back to their original, more reasonable shipping rates. They had a change of heart, which is nice to see.

Of course, nothing beats IKEA and the $1 billion they were looking to ship a couch to Iqaluit.

Perhaps Chapters will change back. I think it’s a dick thing to do…to offer this service for so many years to people in isolated areas and then start charging full Canada Post shipping rates (which are ridiculous anyway) when your main competitor is still offering free shipping. Oh, and to not tell customers or offer up an explaination. It bears watching to see if Amazon does something similar (please god no) or if it’s a sign that Chapters is taking some water over the side. Considering what Chapters did to small bookstores across Canada, there would be some poetic justice in having it done to them.

In the meantime, we’ll adjust. We’ll switch move over to reading more books on our iPads (Cathy tried Chapters’ Kobo and it is a junky, poorly performing abomination) and only buy paper copies of books from authors we love. I’ll switch to buying all my graphic novels to Amazon. I could use the Comixology app, but I just like to read my comics on paper, not a screen.

It’s hardly the end of the world. It just pisses me off when companies suddenly decided to screw over loyal customers in the north.

Last Five

1. The future is x-rated - Matthew Good Band

2. The arrow killed the beast - Heartless Bastards

3. Bright tonight - Garbage*

4. Price of gasoline - Bloc Party

5. Streets of love - The Rolling Stones

Against the law (school)

I actually meant to write about this a couple of weeks ago, but the thought of writing about Memorial University again nearly gave me a seizure. I’m afraid to do a search through the blog to see how many times I’ve ranted about things MUN has done to piss me off. Let’s just say more than once.

The latest is MUN’s plan to perhaps…maybe…open a law school. They’re holding public consultations on it right now across the province. Because you can always tell when an organization is serious about getting input from a group of people before making a decision when they hold consultations in July and August. A dozen people showed up in Corner Book, for example. None of them were lawyers.

Let’s be perfectly clear about why MUN is reexamining this idea. MUN wants the money. That’s it. Full stop. It was nothing to do with the province being one of two without a law school. It has nothing to do with a huge demand for lawyers in the province (there isn’t one). It has nothing to do with students from Newfoundland and Labrador being deprived of a valuable educational opportunity by not having a law school (other law schools across Canada easily handle the load).

Law schools are cash cows. MUN needs the money because revenue from tuition is flat and the provincial government is not forking over the money liked it used to. It’s a pretty simple equation.

So if MUN wants a law school, why not give it to them? You know, originally I was to write this as outrage about why MUN is doing this just for the money. Because there is no real demand for lawyers in Newfoundland, according to everything I’ve read and to friends of mine in the legal profession in the province. For that matter, there’s not much of a demand for lawyers across the country. There are not enough articling position for the grads being pumped out now in Canada.

Although it’s not as bad as the US, where it’s apparently reached catastrophic proportions. There are so many law school grads – and so few legal jobs available – that it’s becoming a real problem. Especially when you consider how much money most universities charge for going to law school. There are the law school living dead wandering the streets in the US, $100,000 in debt and no job. All because some universities decided their bottom line was more important and exaggerated their job prospects after graduation.

Which is what MUN will do, if this goes ahead (and it probably will). It’s probably going to charge tuition comparable to its med school. It will make a lot of money off this school. Students might be screwed, however, when they discover there are precious few jobs available when the graduate. People have this notion that law is a licence to make money. It’s not. It’s hard, the hours are ridiculous, it’s much more difficult to get a position than you think and, as a friend of mine put it to me last month “Laywers don’t retire; we just die.”

Then again, MUN keeps pumping out new teachers even though there hasn’t been a shortage in that profession since the early 70s. Every spring, you can count on NTV or CBC going to a job fair and finding some fresh faced recent education faculty grad expressing shock…shock I tell you…at how few teaching jobs there are in the province (or the rest of Canada. Teaching positions are getting scarce in Nunavut, which was certainly not the case 10 years ago). If you can’t be bothered to do some basic research of the job market before picking a career maybe you get what you deserve.

So yeah, I think a lot of naive suckers are going to go to MUN’s law school. I think the employment rates for those grads are going to be horrific for years. And not just because there’s little demand for lawyers right now, but because of something else a law friend told me. Most partners will choose, when all factors are equal, a new lawyer who went to the same school as they did. So if a firm in St. John’s is weighing between a MUN grad and a UNB grad and the partner making the decision is from UNB, well, guess which way that decision is going.

But on the upside, MUN will make some money. Here’s hoping they pump some of those profits into actually useful faculties. You know, like philosophy or history…

Last Five

1. Another travelin' song - Bright Eyes

2. The Sunday song - Amelia Curran

3. Someone saved my life tonight - Elton John

4. The bootleg saint - Sam Roberts

5. Things have changed - Bob Dylan*

Icebreaker

Every now and then I get some email from a company hoping I will plug them on my blog. If they saw my current traffic statistics, I'm not entirely sure they would waste the email. Not sure how I managed to get on their mailing lists. I suspect some asshole PR firm in the United States just put together a bunch of blogs into an email and sold them to some willing suckers.

I'm sure I could turn this blog into something that sucks up to companies for free stuff, just as I'm sure the few of you remaining would quickly stop finding reasons to come here. I've never been interested in making money from the blog. It's had other functions - a place for me to rant, a place for me to share information about Nunavut, a place for me to try and stretch my writing muscles - but never a place to make any money.

And yet, I'm going to plug something here, because it's kind of cool and I'm kind of in awe of it.

The last few years I've been paying a bit more attention to clothing. If you knew me in high school or university, you'd understand what a transformative thing that is. I was a t-shirt, jeans and cheap sneakers kind of guy (one of the many causes of my catastrophic luck with women). I had to beg and bribe women friends to go shopping with me so I could figure out what went with what and what clothing looked good on me. Some did it because it brought them amusement. Others, I'm sure, were just tired of looking at the horrorshow that was my wardrobe.

I'm much better at it now. I still consult with Cathy from time to time, just to confirm what I'm thinking. But I'm mostly safe to do my own clothes shopping. I think Cathy gets amusement over how fussy I can be, especially considering how lax most of the dress codes are in Nunavut. I've worked in place where senior bosses have come into work wearing dirty jeans and ratty sweatshirts.

But along with dressing better I've also become interested in, for lack of a better word, clothing technology. Some serious money goes into clothing these days especially if you're working out in it or travelling. I thought doing a workout in an old t-shirt and some shorts would be fine, but I've learned those shirts make a different. I've used Columbia, North Face and MEC shirts for working out and while I've occasionally gone "I'm paying how much for a shirt just to sweat in?" the damn things work. I feel better working out in one of those shirts.

Travel clothing has been somewhat trickier. We tried Tilley for ages, but they've gone downhill badly the last few years. The clothes have gotten uglier and not as durable. Plus, it's still ridiculously expensive. From there we've tried different clothing that's all been along the same lines - decent enough looking, light, packs easily, dries quickly, and durable.

You understand, not having to wash it after you wear it never entered the equation because we didn't think the option existed. Which, when you're travelling, can be a pain in the ass. Either you make your peace with offending people (which is fine if you're backpacking in the middle of nowhere, not so much if you're in large groups and urban environments) or make do with washing clothing, either in a laundromat or washing it in the sink and waiting for it to dry over night.

However, when I was in Sri Lanka and bumbling around with some of my friends, they raved about this clothing line called Icebreaker. They'd been wearing pretty much the same few shirts for the entire trip and they hadn't start to smell. At all. And they raved about how comfortable they were. So I filled it in the back of my mind for future reference.

Flashforward to Ottawa last month. Cathy and I wander into a shop with a Canada sale. Which was bad, given our state of mind at the time (post-sealift). And they had Icebreaker stuff there. On sale. So next thing you know I have a couple of t-shirts and a few other things. Even on sale they're still quite pricey, but what the hell. I was curious.

I'll be damned if the stuff doesn't work exactly as advertised. I'm on day 4 of the same t-shirt at this point. I've worn it to the gym twice and then hung it to dry, which it did in a few hours. I wore it to work this morning because I knew I was going to be running around later in the day (literally. I helped out with the kids games at Nunavut Day. Eight year olds are fast little buggers). There is still no odor from the t-shirt.

The salesperson gave me the pitch about someone going out on a boat for a couple of months and when he came ashore he took a shower, but the shirt was just fine. Not sure I believe that yet, but if I can get a week out of this shirt, I will be be pretty damn impressed.

It's made of merino wool. It's light. It's damn comfortable and they look pretty good. I wish it wasn't a fortune for the stuff, but if it lasts and it's good quality, well, I've wasted enough money over the years on cheap crap for the sake that it was cheap. I don't mind spending money if it's worth it. Early days yet, but colour me impressed. I'll have to stock up on some of this next time we travel. Whenever that will be.

Oh, I also like that each shirt has a "Baacode" that you can enter into Icebreaker's website so you can find out where the wool in your shirt comes from. Neat gimmick.

Last Five
1. In or out (live) - Ani DiFranco
2. First we take Manhattan - Jill Porter
3. Gloryland - Blue Vipers of Brooklyn
4. Le fantome, Denis - Colleen Power
5. Winter - Tori Amos*

Man of Steel

I saw Man of Steel for a second time tonight. I normally only see movies twice in the theatres if I really loved it, or if I liked it, but there was something really bugging me about it. Man of Steel was the later. So I went back to see if I could figure it out.

I think I was too hard on it the first time. It's a pretty good movie. It's not destined to go down as the best in the super hero genre. I think Iron Man, The Avengers and The Dark Knight are going to have the top three in that list locked up for quite some time. But it's fine on it's own. And it has a lot going for it. I think Henry Cavill is fine as Clark Kent. He's no Christopher Reeve, but he's better than Brandon Routh. Amy Adams steals things as Lois Lane and is easily the best version of that character I've ever seen on the screen. And that's a pretty good supporting cast. If you're a guy and you don't get touched by the big father/son scene with Kevin Costner, well, you have issues.

And as much as think the last third of the movie is more than a touch too disaster porn-y and an effort to overcompensate from the criticism of Superman Returns that he never actually throws a punch (that's the least of that movie's sins), they are top notch action sequences. I actually liked the fight with Zod's henchwoman Faora a lot more than the big, climatic fight at the end. If you want to know what it might be like for super humans to have a fight in a metropolitan area, this movie is not a bad primer.

(The best, most honest comic book version of superhumans fighting still remains the terrifying issue #15 of Miracleman from back in the 80s where two beings destroy London and kill tens of thousands. I'd recommend picking up a copy to read, but it's out of print and you don't have the money to buy the back issues or the trades, which go for ridiculous amounts of money.)

So what's my problem? Well, I can point to specific moments. I still hate the ending of the big action sequence. I think the US military is functionally brain dead if they can't figure out who Superman is by the end of the movie. I'm not fond of Jonathan Kent's fate. But these are mostly nitpicks.

I think I wish this was a more...fun...movie. I remember reading comic book writer and novelist Greg Rucka saying before the movie came out that if this was a movie you couldn't take young kids to see it then you've failed, citing the scene in Superman Returns where Superman gets knifed by Lex Luthor as not really being appropriate for kids. And I'm not sure this movie is appropriate for kids. I don't have them, so I don't know. But I'm not sure I would take one under nine to this movie.

It's not unexpected that this movie is darker and more, I don't know, emo, given the creators involved. Dark = character development in their world. Which kind of misses the point, I think. There's darkness in the Iron Man movies, but there's also a hell of a lot of fun. Man of Steel has not enough of that. Not enough moments of wonder and joy.

And those origins are out there. No comic book character, with the possible exception of Batman, has had his origin rewritten so many times as Superman. Just before the movie came out Comixology (a digital comic app) had a sale on some Superman comics for 99 cents. I downloaded a bunch. There have been at least four major overhauls of his origin in the last 25 years alone, not to mention countless "out of continuity" retellings, like Red Son which imagines what would happen if the rocket had crashed in the Ukraine in the 1930s instead of Kansas.

I don't know much about the current origin, which was introduced about two years ago, other than most people really don't like the Superman books right now (perhaps because he's younger, sulkier and angrier. Also, his Kansas parents are both dead in his current origin, something I really dislike). But the other three all have merits.

Man of Steel by John Byrne came out in the mid-80s. It's a touch dated, but it worked wonders at the time. Superman was a mess before that series. There was about 50 different types of kryptonite and a ton of just silly foes and bizarre quirks. His power levels were also just short of God. The series stripped everything back to the basics and his version of Lex Luthor as a genius, driven businessman with a massive ego became the default version for decades. Byrne's artwork is still beautiful, even if the clothing and looks are a touch 80s.

There's Superman: Birthright by Mark Waid and Francis Yu which has a young Clark Kent travelling the world, particularly Africa, for the first few issues, as a reporter trying to see the world, understand things, and help people. And it works quite well. There are elements that don't work (Lex Luthor), but it's quite good and worth taking a look at.

But my favourite, and the one they really could have used more of, was Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale's beautiful Superman: For All Seasons. For one thing, it's beautiful to look at. No kidding, Sale created one of the best drawn Superman books ever. But it's just a nice, simple....clean retelling. It actually feels like Kent is from Kansas (something the movie basically ignores except for a few touches). He's a nice kid, a bit reserved and quiet, trying to figure things out. He has friends, but knows he should do more to help. When he makes a mistake, he runs home to try and figure things out and learns from his parents and friends. It's good stuff. It falls squarely under the "He's Clark Kent, Superman is just a costume" side of the argument.

I'm not saying they should have made that comic into a movie. Given it's shifting narrative structure, it wouldn't work. But they should have taken the spirit of that comic and made that into a movie. A lot of people complain about how hard it is to make a Superman movie, which is the same bullshit complaint they say of Wonder Woman (honestly, there are easily a half dozen stories they could adapt). It's not. You need the right people and the conviction to stick with the core origins of the character.

Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly created one of the best Superman stories ever about seven years or so ago with All-Star Superman. It's not an origin comic, although it has one of best summations of his origin ever - one page, four panels, eight words: Doomed Planet, Desperate Scientists, Last Hope, Kindly Couple - that is just breathtaking when you consider how much ink others have spilled trying to expand on that. But it's fun and filled with mad ideas. There's drama, because Superman is dying, but it's also filled with so much energy and joy that it's infectious.

The origin in Iron Man was loosely based on his comic book one and the rest of the story was even more loosely based on any specific storyline, yet they nailed the heart of the character. I'm not sure they did that here. They got a sketchy, superficial version of who he is, but not the heart.

All of which is a rambling way of saying that comic book folks have, for the most part, figured out the character and what makes him work. When they get it right, and they have, it's a cool thing. He's a humble character, who has his doubts, but overcomes them. He's an immigrant, but wants to help his adopted country/planet. There's a joy to the character. Some confuse it for him being boring or simple, but that's a mistake. He's an inspiration (which you can do without hammering people with the Christ analogy like the last two movies have). Superman can be a blast, he just needs the right creators...like any character.

Snyder, Goyer and Nolan can do dark and dramatic quite well. I just think they missed out on the fun. It's a fine origin...they could have done better. Maybe they'll remember it for the sequel.

Last Five
1. Town chapel - Telekinesis
2. Bats - The Joy Formidable
3. Stella the artist - David Gray
4. Too much blood - The Gaslight Anthem*
5. On your way down - Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint

Walking softly...

So there was one other purchase on the sealift that I didn't mention in the last post. Mainly because I'm a little uncomfortable with the reasons for buying it, but I figure I ought to explain why I did just in case in ends up being a thing at some point in the future.

When Cathy and I were shopping around in Ottawa we went into a favourite store called Apple Saddlery. It's a store that sells a lot of horse related supplies, which ordinarily we wouldn't go anywhere near, what with us not riding horses. But we popped in there one day and it's kind of a cool store. They have lots and lots of Birkenstocks on sale, which makes Cathy happy as she has a fondness (some would say obsession, but let us be kind) with those shoes. I like the various Guinness stuff they have on sale and I bought my first pair of Blundstone boots there, which are seriously awesome. It's a nice store to kill 45 minutes or so if you have the time.

So while I'm bumbling around I come across some seriously nice walking sticks. Now, I have a weakness for walking sticks. I have no idea why...probably some outdated and deluded sense that I look cool with one. And it predates House being on the air. Probably goes back to when I thought I looked awesome wearing a trenchcoat when I was in my early 20s. These days, much like the trenchcoat, there's a ritual involved. I show it to Cathy, she rolls her eyes and tells me there's no need for me to own that, but go ahead if I want to (translated: you're an idiot if you go ahead). Then I sigh wistfully, remember my age, and put it back.

This is a nice walking stick. Handcarved, nice solid brass handle on it. It feels comfortable in my hands. So I'm getting ready to go and complete our usual ritual when I stop and suddenly realize that I actually have a very good reason for buying this walking stick. I show the stick to Cathy, who is about to go into the routine when I give her my reason. She looks a little sad and nods her head. So we buy the stick and it's on its way up on the sealift.

So why buy it? Because Iqaluit has a dog problem.

I think most cities have dog problems of some sort, but it feels like Iqaluit's is starting to get out of hand a bit. There have been a few too many dog attacks in the last year or so. Pit bulls are getting to be a popular breed up here, which is worrying some people. I have a friend, Tara, who loves the breed and loathes the ban in Ontario. But I think we're about one more attack away from something similar happening here. I agree it's not the dog's fault, but we unfortunately have some serious assholes in town who think having these dogs make them badass. I'm also concerned about what happens if/when they start breeding with sled dogs. That's a particularly agressive mix that's not going to do anyone any favours.

We've already had a couple of dog attack instances of our own in the last six months or so; one with us and one with a friend of ours. The friend was out walking her dog, on his leash, when a loose dog came out of nowhere and clamped his jaws on her dog's neck and started to shake him. She freaked out and kicked the attacking dog as hard as she could, which sent him scurrying away. Her dog is fine, but she was pretty shaken up by the incident.

Ours happened over Christmas when Boo was attacked. We were actually back in Newfoundland and had a family house-sitting for us. We didn't know how serious the attack had been (they said he had got a cut on his neck from "somewhere") until a couple of days after we got back and after we cut back some of his matted fur and noticed about a half dozen cuts and and several still open wounds. I'm still pretty pissed off about that, but anyway....

Basically, they let Boo out the side door so he could do his business. No problem, we told them they could do that. When it's cold, he only ever stays out a couple of minutes and never wanders anyway. But we always keep an eye on him; they didn't. That's when two strays chased him up on the deck and started going at him. Fortunately, a neighbour saw the attack happen, raced across the street with his shovel and beat the dogs off. Boo is fine, but if that neighbour hadn't been out, we might not have the little guy with us. He's a 12 pound fluff ball. Fending off two huskies isn't in the cards.

There's been other things as well. I've been taking Boo on longer walks as the weather has gotten better and we've come across some dogs there have been a little more agressive than I would like. And if some of the ones on chains that are freaking out ever got loose, well, there would be a problem.

So why do I need a walking stick? Because I have the depressing certainty that at some point I'm going to have to whack an agressive stray dog in the side of the head because he's trying to attack Boo. I'm going to feel awful about that. Other than rapping a dog on the nose if he's misbehaving, I've never hit a dog hard in my life. However, I'm going to feel a lot worse if one of them grabs Boo and runs off with him and kills him. Or decides to have a go at me when I try to kick him.

I wish things were different. There have been questions in town about the effectiveness of bylaw in maintaining the dog population. I think there needs to be a cultural shift in town on how people view, treat and are responsible for their dogs. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen overnight.

So until it does, I'll be walking Boo, on his leash, and carrying a big stick.

Last Five
1. Soldier's grin - Wolf Parade
2. Mahogany - Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies*
3. Clark Gable - The Postal Service
4. Transformation - David Gray
5. Nobody - Tom Waits

Sealift

Last week we were down south to do the annual sealift, and to go to a wedding. More on the wedding in another post....let's focus on the sealift for the moment.

Sealift is an annual ritual for us. We've done one for the last eight years. The first one was actually done while still in Newfoundland and was hilarious bad. We had no idea what to expect or how much of anything we were going to use. How bad was it? Well, it took us three years to use up all the toilet paper, for one thing. But nothing is quite as ridiculous as the toothpaste. I'm not sure how bad we thought our dental hygiene was going to get in Nunavut, but we finally managed to use the last tube of toothpaste from the 2005 sealift back in February of this year.

We've gotten better over the years and we could, if really pressed, do it one day. Two days is a cakewalk. This year, because of circumstances, we actually had four days. Which is bad, but not something we realized at the time.

Doing a sealift requires a certain...mental preparation. You have to realize that you're going to go and drop an insane amount of money in a short period of time. If you can't mentally brace yourself to walk into a Costco and drop more than $2,000 in less than two hours, then sealift is going to be a problem for you. And that's a small sealift, by the way. We don't have kids. If you have kids, a Costco sealift run can be truly terrifying.

I figure between Costco, Walmart, Ikea, Canadian Tire and Sail (I needed a new Canada Goose coat. The old one is now eight years old and it's an XXL, which means it's a tent on me. Not good when -40C winds start blowing up it) we dropped around $5,000. Probably around another $1,200 to ship it all up. Which sounds insane, but it's a year supply of food and supplies and you do honestly save a lot of money. Plus, there is more variety than what you'll get up here.

Still, you do get looks. Costco was unusually snippy this year. Normally we just walk in, say we're doing our sealift and they set us right up. This year, when we spoke with the floor manager he huffed at us and asked why we didn't make an appointment. Because we never made one before and this is our fourth year going to that Costco to do our sealift? Seriously, we were there to spend thousands of dollars and he gave us grief about not making an appointment. Bit of a twit. We're actually friends with someone from that store and our opinion of him is apparently matched by much of the staff.

I always thought we got looks buying a year's worth of soft drinks (one can, per day, per person, for a year. Do the math on how many cases that is), but I discovered going to the cash with about 120 chocolate bars will also get you looks. I also learned the valuable lesson in previous years that chocolate and sealift does not mix. At some point, all the chocolate gets stored in a warm warehouse. Where it promptly melts and resolidifies. So I just brought them all back up with me on the plane.

The problem with this year's sealift is we had too much time. Normally we finish up and then we're on a plane somewhere for vacation. It gives you time to switch out of the spending spree mental state and into vacation mode. But since we weren't going anywhere, and were killing some time in Ottawa before heading to Kingston for a wedding, well, we had time to twack around. Window shopping in that mindset is dangerous. Next thing you know you're in Ms. Tiggy Winkle's buying the Lego Millenium Falcon (which is not on the sealift, it's up here with me, waiting for when I have time to do a Star Wars marathon. Because that's when you build things like that). Or going into MEC and the Expedition Shoppe just to look at stuff...

Anyway, we have to wait for all the stuff to show up. According to the schedule, that's supposed to be the first week of August. There's zero chance of that happening. There's still ice in the bay and the first sealift boat just buggered off to do the rest of it's run and stop back here before heading south. They habitually run at least two weeks late, so I would say the last week in August is when we'll get all of it.

So that's it for this year. Not as bad as it could have been as we got a bookshelf and elliptical up here just a few weeks before heading out. Now next year....we're thinking about a new living room set. Ack...

Last Five
1. Graceland - Paul Simon
2. Don't pull me over - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3. The scientist - Coldplay*
4. My life as a wrestler - Dear Leader
5. Honey don't - The Beatles

Snow in July

So this morning I opened the curtains and this was waiting for me...

Now, there were many thoughts racing through my head upon seeing this. The first was "I am supposed to be on a fucking beach in Costa Rica right now!" quickly followed by, "And if I head to the airport right now, and pick up a gun along the way (there are lots of guns in Iqaluit. I'm sure I could borrow one) I could hijack a plane and still get there."

(It was around 8 am. I'm not saying I was fully awake or making much sense at that point.)

Then there was the urge to curl up in a ball and sob for a few seconds. Then, finally, a resigned sigh and I went and got a shower.

Mercifully, it was short lived. By 8 this evening, this was the view from the window.

So yes, the snow didn't stay around long. And on the positive side, if you look closely that's an icebreaker out in the bay, which means sealift season is about to start. Ours won't arrive until sometime in August. They're saying the first week, but given that they've never been remotely close to accurate, I suspect it'll be closer to the end of the month.

And yes, there's still ice in the bay. Best not to dwell on that too much today.

Reaction to the snow has been mixed around town. Some where despairing (they tended to be mostly southerners). A chunk of people found it hilarious or didn't see what the big deal was (they tended to be Inuit) and others tried to put a positive spin on it  with comments like "Well, at least it'll kill the first generation of mosquitos." Not so sure about that. I saw one on the kitchen window this evening. They breed them tough up here.

The best comment came from Twitter where one wag wondered if the GN (Government of Nunavut) had closed for the day. You have to be from here to really appreciate it, but let's just say the GN has an...erratic history when it comes to making office closure calls.

Mercifully I didn't read any "Well, so much for climate change" comments or I might have completely lost it. Look, there's two ways to look at this. Climate change is not just the planet getting warmer, it's the planet getting weirder and snow in July, for me, is pretty damn weird. On the other hand, I've only been here eight years. Older Inuit around town were completely non-plussed by this because they saw this all the time when they were younger. It's only in recent years that there's been strange things like no snow in July, or the bay not freezing until January. So I don't think this is evidence that climate change is a hoax or something. I think it's evidence that it's all too real.

But that's just me. Your milage may vary.

Last Five

1. Ringneck loon (live) - Gordon Lightfoot

2. Have you seen your mother? - Rolling Stones

3. In my arms - Snow Patrol

4. A silent army in the trees - Matthew Good*

5. Delirious love - Neil Diamond

Summer plans

So, one month after our latest drama and how do things stand? Well, I'm working, so that's a good start.It's not permanent at this time, so things aren't perfect. But it's a good job, I'm grateful to the people who rode to my rescue and gave me the opportunity, and there's the potential for it to turn into something more, so we shall see how that goes.

Still, it's a bit rough. Right about now, if all had gone according to plan, Cathy and I should be in San Jose, Costa Rica. Just for the night. Tomorrow we'd be on our way to Puerto Jiminez for a week of beach and tropical rain forest. And then other adventures in the following weeks. Instead, I arrived back in Iqaluit yesterday. I flew over hills still covered in snow, the bay still has a healthy amount of ice in it and a community a few hundred kilometres to the north of us got a heavy snowfall warning for today. About 30 cm of snow is going to hit there...on July 2.

Fortunately not in Iqaluit, though. As Cathy said on the phone tonight, if that much snow hit Iqaluit today I'd probably be on a flight down south. Not entirely sure that's true, but I would be a decidedly unhappy camper.

And yes, Cathy on the phone. Due to the circumstances we're going to be spending longer apart this summer than normal. We often spend about 3-4 weeks apart. Being a teacher she just gets more time off. But this summer we'll be spending about seven weeks apart. She's in Mount Pearl and I'm here. Which kind of sucks, really.

Anyway, I try not to grouse about it. Sort of like when things went bad with the last job. Give yourself a day or two to feel bad about it and then move on. I've been back in town for a day. By the weekend I'll be fine.

However, that does leave seven weeks to fill. Yes, there's work and I'll probably increase how often I go to the gym from four times a week to five. And yes, I have a bunch of TV shows and movies that Cathy hates that I can sit down and watch. But just doing that for seven weeks strikes me as a bit of a waste of an opportunity. So what to do...

Well, I've decided to write again. I've badly fallen out of the habit. The last job was far more management than writing. Which was nice and all, but it's just like going to the gym. If you don't use those muscles on a regular basis, they're going to weaken. Also like the gym, the first few weeks you start going again hurts. And really rather sucks. So if this seems rambling and incoherent, well, hang in there. It should start getting better sooner or later.

Still, it's a thing that needs doing. I've already done some writing. Although the articles aren't online, I have a 12-part travel series running with The Packet, my old newspaper back in Newfoundland, about my travels over the past year. So that's kind of cool. I also had a brief piece in the Globe and Mail about my weight loss over the last year, which has gotten a lot of kind comments.

As for more, well, I think I'm going to take up blogging again. We'll see what form it takes and how often. I'd like to do it every day, but perhaps like the gym, we'll see how much it hurts if I just do it five days a week.

I also think I'll take one last, desperate swing at the novel. The damn thing is 80 per cent complete and has been that way for the better part of seven years. I have seven weeks with few distractions. Let's see if I can do it. If I can finish the book this summer, well, perhaps all the chaos of the last month will be worth it.

In the meantime, enjoy the ramblings. I suspect I'll be venturing all over the place in the next few weeks, but I have ideas on things I'd like to write about, which is more than I've been able to say in quite some time. So let's see what happens.

Last Five

1. Piledriver waltz - Arctic Monkeys

2. My hometown - Bruce Springsteen*

3. There is a reason (live) - Allison Krauss and Union Station

4. Heart to heart with Lionel - Joel Plaskett Emergency

5. Blood red moon - The XX

Employment update

So, I have news and the best way to deal with this, rather than repeating it a lot, is to do a simple Q and A. Which will also end up on Facebook and in an edited form on Twitter.

Q. So, you’re Director of Communications with the Qikiqtani Inuit Association, right?

A. Well, no. Not so much anymore.

Q. Wait, what? What happened?

A. Basically on Thursday I was Dismissed without Cause. Which is a technical way of saying they think I’m awesome (I have the positive performance review and offer of a letter of recommendation to prove it), but they’re going in a different direction and my services are not required.

Q. Different direction? What does that mean?

A.  It means QIA is undergoing an organizational review that will see a restructuring. Essentially the departments of Communications and Operations no longer exist. And since they no longer exist, they no longer really need directors to oversee the departments. You see my problem.

Q. So what’s going to be in their place instead?

A. If you’re curious then you should contact them. The main reason I feel comfortable talking about it this way is the reorganizational plan is being tabled to QIA’s Board of Directors at their Spring Board Meeting today. It’s now a public document.

Q. So, um, how are you doing?

A. I confess, Thursday night was not one of the happier ones in recent memory. And we’ve had to scrap most of our summer vacation plans with the exception of doing our sealift and going to a friend’s wedding in Kingston. However, Cathy has been awesome, as have been other friends. And it does me little good to sit in my home office fuming when there are more important things that need to be taken care of.

Q. Such as?

A. I need a job. We have reserves saved up so there’s no need for immediate panic. I even have something short-term 98% lined-up right now that will hold me over for several months. But obviously I would like something a little more permanent.

Q. So someone should hire you because…?

A. Aside from general awesomeness, I’ve lived in Nunavut for about eight years, have communications experience with the Government of Nunavut, the Government of Canada and with a Regional Inuit Association – QIA. So I have communications experience with the major government players in Nunavut.

Courtesy of my time with QIA, I’ve also got some nifty management skills as Communications had a staff of 17 for me to oversee at the time of my departure – community liaison officers, translators and a media advisor. And I like to think I’m a pretty good writer just to top things off.

Q. So if someone wants to call and offer you a job?

A. I’d appreciate any leads or offers. If you want to let me know of something available or to set-up an interview, send me an email, either on Facebook or craigwelsh1@gmail.com Or you can DM me on Twitter.

Q. You seems pretty cheerful, all things considered.

A. I’ve bounced back from worse and I’ve had friends go through much worse recently. So “woe is me” is not going to cut it. I’m grateful for my time with QIA. They’re a great organization and I learned a lot professional. I consider them all friends and I’m happy I had the experience. Now, onwards…

Would you pay for a FAQ?

A few weeks ago one of my friends locally sent me a note suggesting an idea...I should try and make some money off of my Moving to Iqaluit FAQ. That instead of putting it up on the blog for free, which I've done for years, I should instead put it up as an Amazon single. I could charge 99 cents for it and keep about 70 per cent of the money.

I confess, I never really thought about making money off the FAQ. I always considered it more of a public service. When we were first looking at moving up to Iqaluit in 2005, the online resources to help you with such a move were practically non-existent. A smattering of blogs, a bit of information on the truly awful (at the time) Government of Nunavut website and that was it. There was a lot of guesswork involved in figuring out what you needed to bring and what you were in for if you choose to move here.

I remember us taking an action packer with plants because we were convinced we would not be able to find or buy house plants in Iqaluit. That theory went out the window pretty much on my first trip to Arctic Ventures. There wasn't a great selection, they were over-priced and half dead, but hey....plants.

It's changed since then. There are a lot more blogs outlining people's experiences in Nunavut. The Government of Nunavut has gotten a little better at providing information to new arrivals. There's even a slap together website outlining information about moving here.

So I wasn't sure if the FAQ is really as needed anymore. However, the last update in October has more than 600 page views. It's by far the most read post on this blog. I've had strangers tell me how much that post helped them. Hell, I was in a class last year and when it was revealed that I was the guy who wrote that blog with the FAQ, nearly all the non-Inuit in the class knew that post. One local reporter told me he uses that post as a test for newbies eager to move to Nunavut for "an adventure". I believe the cull rate of people after reading it is about 80 per cent.

Which was never my intention, by the way. I never meant to scare the crap out of people or tell them not to come here. It was always intended to be an honest assessment of the pros and cons of moving here. I like to think I've managed to do that.

So I'm tempted by the idea of an Amazon Kindle. I'm under no illusion of making any kind of significant money off of it. If 25 per cent of the 600 people who read that post spent 99 cents on it (a deeply generous estimate, I suspect), and then I made my 70 cents off of that sale, I would make about $100. If you've read that post, you'll understand exactly how far $100 will get you in Nunavut. But hey, better than nothing, right? I try to limit my writing where I don't get paid to the confines of this blog these days.

But I am curious. My readership is a fraction of what it was back at its peak in 2009. But for those of you still kicking around here waiting for me to say something interesting, would you go and pay 99 cents for an Amazon single on information about moving to Iqaluit? It's only a buck, but people can get weird about spending money online. There still exists an air of entitlement when it comes to writing and information. That it should be free.

If I get enough feedback to make it interesting, I'll look at doing a single. I'll pull the information off the website and put a link to Amazon. And then I guess we'll see what happens next.

Last Five
1. Behind blue eyes - The Who
2. Hey Jude - The Beatles
3. Damned if she do - The Kills
4. Don't fail me now (live) - Ryan Adams*
5. Been a son - Nirvana

Travel plans

Obviously the last 12 months have featured just a ridiculous amount of travel...for both Cathy and I, but more so for me. Barring unforeseen weirdness, that pace isn't going to continue for much longer. When I was in Sri Lanka a few of my friends asked what was next in my travels. Keep in mind that most of these people have travelled a lot more than I have and even they were a little shocked by how much going I've been doing. Having said that, there are plans and schemes afoot.

The next two trips are pretty much locked in. The first will be a week in Florida, which we've done each year for the last four years. In the past Florida has been as much about the shopping as the relaxing, but I think this year it's just going to be about the sloth. Which is fine.

The summer trip is in a couple of stages. Stage 1 is the annual sealift resupply (perhaps a jaunt down to the States to hit some of the Outlet stores. We've never done that before). Stage 2 is going to Kingston for Dups/Jenna II. If I can make it to Sri Lanka for the wedding, I can surely manage to get to Kingston. Stage III is heading to California for a few weeks. We'll mostly be in the San Francisco area, with a few jaunts down the Pacific Coast highway, Napa and probably to Yosemite so Cathy can see giant trees. I was hoping to get to San Diego for the comic con, but tickets sold out in something like 30 seconds. I never stood a chance.

After that, things get vague. There probably won't be another trip for me then for a year. The last few years I've managed to get out in October, but I don't think so this year. Nor do I think we'll be going anywhere for Christmas this year. Part of it is just trying to save some money. We have to top up the reserves for the next big round of travelling.

However, tentative plans would look something like this:
2014 - Central Europe: Germany, Austria (I really want to see the Alps), Czech Republic with perhaps a jaunt up to Scotland and tour the west coast with some friends.
2015 - Machu Picchu, Peru along with the Galapagos.
2016 - Spain, Portugal, Morocco and the Canary Islands

All subject to change, of course. The Scandinavian cruise didn't come up on the radar until fairly late into our summer planning. As for other trips, well, Cathy and I still have a couple on our bucket lists. We've been lucky to be able to cross off Italy and Australia, however I would say Egypt is still high up there for Cathy and Thailand is still up there for me.

There are problems with both of those, although perhaps not as impossible as I first thought. The security situation in Egypt is worrying. However, one of the people I was bopping around Sri Lanka with has made multiple trips to the country in the last month. And considering she's a young woman and was travelling by herself, well, maybe it's not ridiculously bad, if you just avoid certain parts of the country and avoid being stupid and careless.

The problem with Thailand is mostly the food. Cathy's allergic to seafood and peanuts. Which is a problem as most of the food there is doused with one, if not both. However, I've done some digging into the subject and people with severe allergies can travel there with some basic precautions such as sticking mostly to western food and having strongly worded cards printed in the local language explaining her allergies to hand to waiters at restaurants.

If that's not enough, there's still more. We'd both like to see some of the Greek islands. We'd love to get to New Zealand at some point. Cathy would like to see Sri Lanka. I'd like to see Ireland and Iceland. And there's Australia, Italy and Costa Rica...countries we've visited, but loved and would love to spend more time exploring. Oh, and a Panama Canal cruise, while we're dreaming.

And if I'm still dreaming, it'd be nice to share some of these adventures with friends. One of the very nice things about Sri Lanka was doing the trip with friends. There are pros and cons to this kind of travel, but it's the first time I've done it in ages and I really enjoyed it. I'd travel with any of my Sri Lanka companions again in a second.

On Facebook I have the TripAdvisor app which says I've visited 18 countries and been to something like 120 cities in the world. It's more than I could have dreamed of doing when I was 18 years old and about the only place I'd ever been in my life was Ontario and Florida. But when I look at the map, all I see are vast white spaces...places I haven't been to yet and want to see. Plus, I feel like I'm still learning how to travel. One of the reasons why we're going back to California this summer, aside from seeing some friends, is that we felt like we didn't do it right last time. We'd like another shot of doing it right.

How do you "do" a country right? No idea. Part of the fun, I guess. Figuring these things out. I'm looking forward to continuing my travel education for many more years...

Last Five
1. The path of thorns - Sarah McLachlan*
2. Runnin' with the devil - Van Halen
3. I'm yours - Joel Plaskett Emergency
4. The infinite pet - Spoon
5. What I'm looking for - Brendan Benson

Sri Lanka, Days 8-10

After one of the memorable weddings, and days, of my life, the rest of the Sri Lankan adventures seem a touch anti-climatic by comparison. And they were. Not to say that fun wasn't had; I enjoyed myself quite a bit. But this was more standard vacation fun than what had happened during the first week.

By agreement we'd all decided after the wedding to head down south towards Unawatuna. The south coast of the country is the beach area and the most touristy. When planeloads of Europeans arrive in Sri Lanka most of them are not heading north to the national parks or Buddhist temples. They're heading south for a beach and some sun. Considering how hectic the last week had been, especially for the new bride and groom, a few days on a beach before heading back to frozen Canada (more frozen for some rather than others) worked.

So after the usual chaos we managed to get on the road. By consensus, we decided to hire back our drivers rather than trying to use trains or buses. We also decided to take the slow coastal road down to Unawatuna rather than the slick new highway connecting Colombo and Galle (which is just a few minutes north of Unawatuna). The drivers seemed quite disappointed. I think they were anxious to show-off the new highway. After so many days of marginal roads and lunacy on the highways, they wanted to show off something shiny and not crazy.

Still, I've been on highways. It's a nice drive down the coast as the road was frequently only a few metres away from the ocean. It's hard to tell when you've left Colombo because there's always signs of a city of some sort. But the pace and craziness does easy up. And there's also one other sign that you've left the capital. The signs of destruction.

The 2004 tsunami devastated southeast Asia, particularly Thailand. But Sri Lanka didn't escaped unscathed. Parts of the east coast and the south coast were badly hit. Cities were destroyed and thousands of people lost their lives. More than eight years later you could easily spot the traces of flatted buildings that have never been rebuilt. The level of recovery is frankly amazing, but the ghost of the tsunami are always lingering. We passed by two memorials marking where at least 1,700 people were killed with the wave slammed into an over-stuffed train. It's the worst train-related disaster in history.

The one put together by the Sri Lankan government is a bit grim and on the shambly side. One donated by the Japanese government is much more serene and beautiful.


Eventually we made it to Unawatuna, where we stayed at a hotel run by a British ex-pat. Which would be a theme with Unawatuna. I think it's as close as I came to being disappointed with a place in Sri Lanka. It has a very "generic beach town" feel to it. Really, it could have been in The Dominican Republic. Or Cuba. Or Costa Rica. It could have been anywhere in the world that has a beach. There was little distinctly Sri Lankan about the place.

I guess asking for beach and culture is asking for a bit much. Still, Unawatuna proved to be a bit disappointing on both fronts. Lack of culture aside, there's also the matter that it's beach was practically wiped out after the tsunami. It looks like there's attempts at trying to rebuild the sandy aspect of the beach, but it won't be back anytime soon. In the meantime, in the typical chaotic Sri Lankan manner, new businesses are building right on top of the beach. In some cases it's only a matter of feet separating the front of a hotel and restaurant and high tide.

It would never be allowed in most places. In a few years, they might even fix it. But right now, the beach at Unawatuna, other than being wet, was a bit of a disappointment.

Fortunately, Unawatuna made up for the lacklustre beach in other ways. While we had lost two of our travelling companions just before the jaunt down south (Eddie and Tushar had to fly out that day), the rest of the crowd were all staying at the same hotel. While some people like Janius and Laura and her family are relative strangers to me, it was honestly awesome to be able to squeeze in as much hanging out time as possible with Dups and Jenna (they were in Honeymoon mode, so we didn't crash their space, obviously), or Niall and Rebecca. Hell, even Lori and I were not ready to kill each other yet even after spending nearly two weeks together.

These people mean a lot to me and I never see them often enough. So even if it's walking down a beach, eating at awful vegetarian restaurant (the food was fine; it just took 90 minutes to get it and the owner was a passive-aggressive ex-pat Brit prick), or just hanging out at the hotel, it was all good.

Even wandering around Galle one day, and visiting the Dutch fort was fine. It felt a little weird, seeing this very obvious European intrusion into Sri Lanka after days of temples and Sri Lanka culture. But it was nice to walk around the walls and get some photos. It was also nice to get some last minute shopping done in Galle. I'd promised Cathy "all the gifts" when I went and she couldn't go. So I grabbed a couple of more items (two silk saris. Nothing like grabbing about 14 feet of intricately decorated silk for less than $75) and declared myself done. Except, you know, the few things I got at the airport.

But now, alas, people had to start to leave. After day one, Dups, Jenna and Nuala had to leave. Then we had to say good-bye to Mike and Kelly, who were staying for a few extra days and moving on to their next location. So then it was Niall, Rebecca, Janius, Jan, Lori and I heading to the airport. And then we lost the first three as they had to wait until 4 am for their flight to leave, and ours left at 1 am. We lost Jan in Frankfurt, where she was catching a flight to Vancouver. Then, finally, I said good-bye to Lori. She was the first one I met up with on my travels and the last I said good-bye to.

We didn't kill each other, which surprises me a little. We can both be stubborn and have a bit of a temper. But she was great to travel with.

It was a great trip, honestly. I was probably guilty of trying to peg Sri Lanka into other countries I've visited before. At different points I thought it reminded me of Costa Rica, South Korea and the Dominican Republic. But it is one of the most distinctive countries I've ever visited. Certainly it has the best food I've ever eaten. Yeah, better than Italy, New York and San Francisco.

It's a country in transition, and that can always be a fascinating thing to watch. It's coming out of the shadows of a decades long civil war and trying to become normal again. From talking with my friends who had been there only five years ago, they spoke of how much more relaxed the country is, how much happier the people are, and how much more prosperity there is.

I'd like to go back there again one day. I think Cathy would like to as well, so perhaps in five years time or so, we'll find a way to get back. It'll be interesting to see how much more it will have changed by then. Change is always messy, so I'm sure there will be somethings it does right, and somethings it does wrong. I hope it keeps the food, the parks and wilderness, the temples and the friendliness and curiosity of the people. I hope the driving gets a little better. I hope it doesn't get overwhelmed by European beach goers and turned into another beach resort country.

I look forward to returning and seeing what they got right...

Assorted Bits
1. One way the country is changing is the military is trying to find things to do. Mike found a page on their air force website offering to fly paying passengers via helicopter to Jaffna, which is in the northern part of the country and deep in Tamil control during the Civil War. It also suffered heavy damage in the final days of the war. Alas, they didn't get back to him in time. But I think it was something like $100 return, per person, which is just silly.
2. I thought I was playing things very loose on this trip compared to how rigidly planned Cathy and I normally do things, but that's nothing compared to Mike and Kelly. The day we were checking out of the hotel in Unawatuna, they didn't know where they were going to stay that night, or what they were going to do for the next five days. Then again, they had fun and the world didn't end, so there's something to be said for it.
3. A decided western complaint, but hot water is a hit or miss venture in Sri Lanka. Solar showers are as common. Which is lovely when the sun is shinning, but a lot of days there it wasn't. An unintended consequence of this is I came home with a beard.
4. We ended up taking the toll highway when dashing to the airport. They really are proud of it, the first of several around the country. And it did cut down the travel time from Galle to Colombo significantly. Plus, the drivers behaved normally.
5. We had a small adventure flying back to Canada. When we hit Frankfurt at 7:30 am we learned that our flight at 1:30 pm to Montreal was being delayed by at least six hours, maybe more. Mechanical problems. After a mad dash, we managed to get on a flight leaving for Toronto that actually got us into Canada about 4 hours earlier. And our luggage arrived on time. So, as hard as it is for me to say this, kudos to Air Canada. They transferred us over to the new flight with no grief, got us good seats and my bags arrived. Can't ask much more than that.
6. The jetlag off of a 10.5 hour time zone change is vicious. It was bad when we arrived in Sri Lanka, but much, much worse coming back. It took me about six days to shake it off. Not helping was picking up a cold.

Sri Lanka, Day 7

Nearly a dozen years ago, Dups gave me one of the most remarkable few days of my life when I attended his citizenship ceremony in Ottawa. Days of celebration with friends cumulated by watching him bounce across the stage at the Museum of Civilization to become a Canadian citizen. I've always cherished that event.

And now he's given me another memory to cherish for the rest of my life. Because, honestly, I've never experienced anything quite like February 11, 2013, the day he and Jenna got married. It was a remarkable day. Those of us in attendance kept looking at each other as if we couldn't believe we were actually in Sri Lanka and experiencing this.

My day didn't begin as early as Dups and Jenna's did, but I was up at 6 am, just in case he needed any help. Besides the plan was that most of the men would meet up in one of the hotel rooms and get changed, plus to give Dups any support or help he might need.

It was a fun hour or so. Lots of jokes and moments of cracking up. Dups running out of the bathroom and asking if any of us had any hair gel. Let's just say that of the men in the room at that time - me, Mike, Eddie and Tushar - gel was not something we felt compelled to pack for the trip. We concluded prolonged exposure to Dups could cause hair loss. When I think about it, I believe I did start losing my hair right around the same time I met him.

Later, when Dups was getting dressed he discovered that perhaps you should take your new dress shirt out of it's packaging sometime sooner than two hours before you get married, so Tushar was doing some frantic ironing of shirts.

But the moment things hit home was when Dups asked Niall and I to run upstairs. Niall needed to get some photos of Jenna and Nuala. He needed me to grab Jenna's dad's cufflinks, which he wanted to wear when they got married. So Niall and I got an early preview of how the bride and her maid of honour were going to look.

Breathtaking. No kidding, I've been to a few wedding and seen some stunning brides. But I've never seen anything like what Jenna and Nuala looked like. I think all I managed to keep saying was "wow." Although I'm not entirely sure how they managed to breath in either dress.

I remembering bringing the cufflinks back to Dups a short time later and telling him "try to remember to breath when you see her." I wasn't there when that happened, but by all accounts it took him a moment or two to remember.

After getting dressed, everyone began making their way to the main lobby of the hotel to meet before the wedding. I was wearing a suit, but a couple of the guys - Niall and Eddie - opted for more traditional Sri Lankan men's clothing. Most of the women either went with saris or tunics. We were actually hanging out in the lobby for about 15 minutes or so with Dups and Jenna (they had a bunch of photos taken before the ceremony) so everyone got to see them together. They actually were pretty calm, I must say. Although Jenna and Nuala were the centre of attention. People were either asking permission to take pictures, or trying to sneak one in.

Now, here's the weird thing...we didn't actually know what was going to happen. Dups Sri Lankan family did, obviously. But the western contingent didn't have a clue what was about to happen. Hell, even Dups and Jenna were a touch in the dark about aspects of what as to come next. They had made a number of changes from the more traditional ceremony. There would be no foot washing of the groom, for example. They cut some other aspects of the ceremony Dups was not comfortable with for personal reasons. So everyone was curious about what was about to happen.

Dups and Mike went ahead to the main hall. Most of us stayed with Jenna. Because Dups had so much family in the country, we decided to be Jenna's family. That meant at the appointed time, someone came and told us it was time. Jenna, her mom and Nuala went first. The rest of us followed behind, a little uncertain but going with the flow.

Outside of the banquet hall, we were greeted by men in traditional Sri Lankan dress. That's when they began singing, dancing and playing drums to escort the bride and her family into the hall. I keep using the word "remarkable", but it was. It was so full of energy and life and joy. You couldn't help but smile the entire time.

The timing of everything was also important. The duration of the celebration escorting Jenna in was dependent on her being at a specific place at a specific time, as I understand it. They had their horoscope read months earlier, so much of the timing of the ceremony was based on that. The drumming, singing, dancing and, eventually, acrobatics, lasted about 10 minutes. It could have been shorter, it could have been longer.

Throughout all of it we were encouraged to be as involved as we wanted. There was no problem milling around and taking photos and video of the festivities. There were seats, so if you wanted to sit down, you could. If you wanted to be up close and take photos, you could. There was a very specific ceremony and ritual happening going on, but it was also quite relaxed about how involved the families could be. It was fantastic.

After that, it was a ceremony. Dups and Jenna had to step on a special hand made dais at a specific time. The priest performed a ceremony that I think caught Dups a bit by surprise because he was not speaking Singhalese; he was speaking Sanskrit. It's basically the equivalent of a Catholic ceremony being done entirely in Latin. There was a moment when the priest handed both of them some leaves. Dups thought they were supposed to hold onto them; Jenna thought they were suppose to drop them on the floor.

For not the last time in their marriage, Jenna was right.

There were other moments. A coconut was lit on fire and cracked in half with a machete (it actually kind of exploded. Smoking coconut shrapnel hit several people). That was supposed to symbolize virility. Not terribly subtle, now that I think about it. But it's bad luck if it doesn't go well. The signing of the registry and saying the vows, which is a moment where I think it kind of sank in finally that they were getting married. There was also a moment where they had to light some candles around a bronze stand. I confess, I wasn't really paying attention to all the details of the stand at the time, so I missed the initial joke.

You see, we'd spent days at this point making fun of the national bird of Sri Lanka. It's the jungle fowl. In Sinhalese it's called a Fire Bird. In reality, it's a chicken. It's a jungle chicken, but a chicken all the same. So we've spent days exaggerating how fearsome the jungle chicken was ("Did you know the jungle chicken is the only natural predator to the elephant. It takes about 20 years of pecking, but he eventually wears him down"). It was reaching Monty Python-like proportions. It was a good bit of fun at Dups experience.

On top of the bronze stand was the bird. So when Dups and Jenna finished lighting the candles, they walked by and whispered to Lori and I, "Hey look. It's a fire chicken!"

I nearly lost it. Just a perfect little moment in a perfect ceremony.

After that, there were elements you would find in a lot of weddings. The newly weds were brought to a sati where people went up and offered congratulations and had their pictures taken with them. They went around from table to table and spoke with family and friends. There was yet another astonishing Sri Lankan meal. The food in that country is unreal.

And then, well, there was some milling about. You see, they weren't allowed to leave until a certain time. Nor were the guests. It would be bad luck. There was music playing, but well....one of Dups brothers was in charge of the music for the wedding. He loves 80s karaoke. I'm not kidding. And they were playing it loud. However, no one was really inclined to get up and start dancing to it. Oh, and there was no alcohol.

There were still a few more amazing moments to come, however. One was that Dups family felt comfortable enough around us that they went up and started singing traditional Sri Lankan songs, which was amazing. What's more amazing was that Dups father joined them and sang as well.

Dups dad had fairly serious surgery back in December. The fact that he was well enough to attend the wedding was almost a miracle. That he was up there singing along with his family...well, you'd have to be inhuman not to be touched by it.

His dad also said a few words at the end of the ceremony. I'm glad I got the chance to meet him. I wish I had met him when he was healthier. He was amazing at the wedding. From speaking to Niall, Rebecca and Mike, who had met him years ago, he was even more amazing back then. Plus, he has one of the great laughs. It just fills a room. You can't help but smile when you hear it.

And then that was it. The bride and groom headed out, with all the family and friends following. Jenna arranged a vintage car to pick them up and carry them away (they were back at the hotel 10 minutes later).

After that, the rest of the day feels kind of anti-climatic. A group of us went out on the upper deck of the hotel and had high tea. Nuala joined us. She'd changed out of her bridesmaid outfit, but kept the hair, which was like concrete. It didn't move an inch for the rest of the day. She told us later it took soaking her hair in conditioner for about 30 minutes before it even began to loosen up.

Later in the evening, we all headed down to the beach and ate supper. Dups and Jenna even joined us for the evening. It was just a nice night of hanging out with friends, talking about the day and enjoying each other. It was the last evening we were all going to be together. Exhausted, we all headed back to the hotel around midnight...

Assorted Bits
1. We briefly entertained the idea of going up and singing a song or two ourselves, but we had a hard time trying to come up with a song to sing. It was nearly "Barrett's Privateers", but we thought that wasn't exactly cheerful to sing at a wedding. It was noted that there are not many sing-alongable and cheerful Canadian songs that do not involve lots of drinking. We'll figure something out before the Kingston wedding.
2. Mike was considerably nervous before the wedding. He was the best man, but Dups kept him in the dark about what he was supposed to be doing. We never did figure out if that's because Dups didn't know what was going on, or if he just wanted to torture Mike. I think Mike was the most relieved once the ceremony was over and discovered his role was fairly minimal.
3. Both Jenna and Nuala had considerable amounts of make-up added, which darkened their complexion. Nuala, in particular, seemed to frustrate the make-up folks. She's Irish and has freckles. They seemed very determined to get rid of them. Thankfully, they failed...
4. Rebecca and Janius both wore lovely saris, but it was a near thing. They had been fitted for them a week earlier, but the tailor apparently tossed out the measurements. They didn't fit and it took a morning of frantic adjustments to make the saris work.
5. When Dups first bounced into our lives, nearly everything he wore was purple. In honour of that, Lori wore a purple tunic and I wore a purple shirt and tie. Which was fantastic, but it cracked up my my wife when she saw the pics. "You guys look great, but it looks like you're going to prom together..."