Canada's Day
Today is Canada's birthday: Canada Day. July 1st. It used to be called Dominion Day, until former Prime Minister Pierre E. Trudeau changed it to Canada Day. Fittingly, I feel, although my husband doesn't agree. After all, although we were (and, in a sense, still are) part of Great Britain's "dominion" we are also, as it happens, a country in our own right, with our own Constitution (repatriated as it was by the selfsame P.E.T.).
Canadians are not nationalistic, they are quietly patriotic. Although, particularly of late, we are becoming more obviously enamored of demonstrating our love for country. We have taken, in the past decade, to flying the flag of Canada, most especially on this July 1 day of celebration. We are, therefore we celebrate.
We, my husband and I, aren't given to public displays of this kind. This year we adopted a rather more subtle riffle on the flag display. You see up there a photograph of a portion of our garden and the brickwork done by my talented husband four years ago (at the end of which a right turn will take you to a walkway leading up to the house), well that's our symbolic flag. I said it was subtle, you have to use your imagination and look for it. Yes, that's it: bottom right-hand corner. White ceramic pot, red geraniums: red/white, the colours of Canadian patriotism. From sea to sea to sea. From the east to the west, south to north.
I wore blue today. Not for me these public displays of, for example, red shirt, white trousers. Nor did I stencil a red/white flag on my forehead. On our way up the street to access the ravine entrance we came across a family of two adults, three young children. They drove their van from Prince Edward Island back to Ottawa. They lived on the street adjacent ours until three years ago when they decided to move to P.E.I. They cannot believe the escalated house prices here in Ottawa now. They bought their house on one-and-a-half acres of land, close by a beach for $138,000. Now the townhouse condo they sold in Ottawa is valued at one hundred thousand over that. Housing is inexpensive there, but food, hard goods, utilities and services are more expensive. It balances out. They don't have the shopping choices, nor the level of services we enjoy here, they lament. Ah, but the good clean air, the laid back style of life, the fact that in seven minutes he travels from home to office, that's worth a great deal, isn't it?
I received an email today from a former neighbour who lived at the foot of our street. She and her husband with their one child moved to British Columbia three years ago. They love it there, of course. They'll be coming back for a visit in mid-July and she plans to come around for a reuinion, brief though that will be. Canadians get around. From the mid-point of the country, the Nation's capital city, to the furthest point east, point west.
It was hot, really hot today. The U.V. index stood at 9, the humidex around 40, the temperature at 30 degrees. There were thirty thousand Canadians milling about Parliament Hill this afternoon, happy, despite the heat, to take in the entertainment. To be there to hear the Prime Minister and our Governor General make their feel-good-about-Canada speeches. Really, they were there more for the public entertainment, the music, than anything else. It's a huge street party, a true feel-good event. When our children were young we took them once to the Canada Day celebrations around Parliament Hill. We heard Louis Quilico sing, the Prime Minister gave a speech, everyone cheered, everyone was happy. And then the fireworks! Who doesn't love the incredible incendiary skywide spectacle of fireworks?
Happy Canada Day Canada
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, July 02, 2005
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