Wonder Years

wonder how the sales are going ?

I have been known to do some of my more prolifict ‘wondering’ in toilet cubicles.

I mean….you’ve got to  admit  there are so many things to observe in there. Things like…how easy it is to get between the door and the loo…  how handbag friendly it is…..the location of tissue paper (not to mention it’s choice and quality )…..half flush…full flush or self flush…..the list goes on.

BUT yesterday I was puzzled to note that the loo in the bar where we had lunch, was at the bottom of  a long steep and dark stairwell. I guess that…in and of itself, wasn’t such a big deal…but when I walked into the bathroom I saw the disability access cubicle.There it was well signposted and clearly designed to meet the needs of someone in a wheelchair…. IF only they could ever get to it !!

On my way out I spent  little time snooping around and looking for another entrance or secret elevator….but alas no there was nothing…zip,..zero.

So why was it there I wonder ?

As often happens when I find myself in new surroundings, I begin to ponder the small and obscure things…Today was no different.

We grazed over a slow delicious breakfast, the calm broken only by the occasional need to throw snowball out the window at the brick wall across the alley (..just because we could) and the conversation soon turned to mythbusting. The main focus was northern hemisphere Vs southern hemisphere ‘norms’ …and whether or not tornados twist in opposite directions; however given that was a little hard to prove in any kind of scientific way over brekkie….we opted for ‘which way does the water go down the drain’???? instead.

Easy!….you think ??

Well easy enough to prove which way it travels here, but do you think any of us true blue Aussies had ever bothered to take note @ home ? No…not one of us had a clue.

So if any of my friends down-under feel like filling the sink then draining it…we would appreciate our hypothesis being validated…..or I could just ‘google it’….

Oh …for the record it’s clockwise here in Montreal.

 (oops window crisis tonight ….aaargh)

OK…so here we are…smack bang in the middle of a real live winter wonderland. Just like the movies and the storybooks …and about as far removed from the lead up to an Aussie Christmas as you could get.

Bob’s Place

All our lives ‘downunder’, we’ve  lived with the images of snow covered cottages and Christmas Trees … But OUR reality is so much more about bbq’s beaches and tinsel draped on store bought trees or …better still, the branch of a gum tree…..same same but different….maybe ????

Anyway, after a sleep-in and slow start to the day, we wandered the neighborhood …..somewhere between 7 and 9 km (depending on whose iPhone you believe) … in and out shops, cafes and markets…watching dogs frolick in armpit deep white stuff ….drinking real Italian coffee (no I’m not demented…and yes we are in Montreal).  Then off to Bob’s place to share  wine and oysters with some awesome local hospitality….

So far only one crash on the ice… and that was the footpath not the skating rink …lol …but  thankfully no injuries AND it was before buying the bottle of wine…phew !

As if life wasn’t busy enough today………..getting packed for our trip and sorting all those last minute Christmas bits before we run away…. BUT instead of getting on with it I spent 4hours of my life this morning with a nerd.

A very very pleasant nerd….but a nerd nevertheless.

I had waited a year to to see this nerdy neurologist.and despite the competing priorities I was happy to be drawn into his conversation and have him explain the most complicated concepts in a very reassuring and straightforward way. As I was locked in his words and listening  to his unusually squeaky highschool voice…I pictured him as the kid in the playground who sat alone with his text books engrossed in words instead of the world…….and I was really happy…(for him and for me). Thank god for nerds…

Now..4 hours of my life gone, but.that is box ticked…and it’s onward and upward ..(and back to the packing).