You might well ask why so long since the last entry.

Well, ask,,,,

All right then, here goes. I've been a bit busy. It goes like this.

Friday was spent crossing the continent and zig zagging across the US/Canada border from Vancouver to Seattle to Chicago to Toronto, and then by shuttle to London. Unlike the east-west epic, this one was anxiety free and everything ran on schedule. I arrived in London at a little after 10pm to be met by Alex who drove me to his place - about 5 minutes away.

Whenever I am lucky enough to come back to Canada, and particularly to London, I find myself reflecting on the meaning of things like home and family and nationality. Here I am in the country of my birth with a passport to boot, and an accent that is way out of place, and another passport that says I am Australian. In most of the ways that count the accent and the southern passport win out. My view of the world, my attitudes and my connections have all been shaped by my life in Australia. And yet there is a connection here. It's not some grand ideal. It's not even having spent a year here back in the 80s. I think it really has to do with the warmth of family feeling from the Uncles and Aunts and cousins - both first and second!

Alex and Mary B's welcome was the very soul of hospitality as always. Why do they have to live so far away?

Sat up chatting with them on Friday night, filling in the gaps in our stories, and those of our 5 girls - oops - young women. Having been on the road for nearly a month, it was lovely just to be in a domestic setting, and that pretty much summed up the weekend. I was looking forward to some quiet time when I didn't feel driven to meet new people or see new sights/sites. As Alex had a cold, he wasn't all that energetic and didn't want to risk spreading the germs around as most of the family are travelling next weekend to Alicia's wedding in North Carolina. I took a trip to Costco (which is really not worth the traffic jams it caused in Sydney) and tagged along as Alex and Mary B tried to sort out a problem with Uncle Joe and Aunt Mary's fridge. Uncle Joe doesn't look any different despite his illness. He seems to just keep on keeping on. Aunt Mary is starting to look a bit frail, but is still very much up with the play. Maggie the dog seems to keep them very fully occupied.

We had a look at a Bezzina Family tree that Rita had had done that takes us back to the 17th century! Remarkably few generations for that span of time. More interesting though was the fact that I took it into my head to explore the origins of Dad's Mum's maiden name on the internet. We had always supposed that Mintoff was Russian. Guess again. It's from the north of England, around Yorkshire!

Somewhere on our wanderings we drove past our old place on The Ridgeway. The old stately home that stood at the front of the stables building in which we lived in 1984/5 has been destroyed by fire, with just the shell of the first floor standing. It looked like the stables- which had been divided into 2 apartments - one ours - were still in operation though.

Sunday was another leisurely day. I got caught up on emails and did some marking and feedback on doctoral work. In the evening we celebrated Siobhan's birthday at a place called Jack Astor's. She is the only daughter left in London at present, with Kathryn in Montreal and Erin in Ottawa. (Coincidentally this was taking place at the same time as Anne and Beth and Marthese were eating at Mado's in Auburn for Beth's birthday!) We had a fairly early night as Alex had to get on the road about 0520 to head to Windsor for the week.

When I tried to organise train tickets from London to Toronto for the 10th of October, I found that the only available ones were business class at $101 each - plus tax (I keep forgetting the tax!). So, I booked two Greyhound seats for $29 each ... A bargain.

Monday morning included a visit to Uncle Charlie and Aunt Imelda. Uncle is having more trouble with his arthritis, but that didn't stop him climbing ladders! Aunty is a bundle of energy, driving all over the place - not bad for a woman who got her licence at 60!

The afternoon and evening were back at the computer attending to business, then packing.

This morning I got Greyhounds from London to Toronto and Toronto to Barrie where I was picked up by Paul Begley, my Nippissing (try saying that drunk) University host. We had some very useful discussion - both professional and other. He and his wife, Marilyn, have welcomed me into their home at Mt St Louis (this will be on the map eventually - see below) as if I were family.

Whew! More or less caught up. The more observant among you will have noticed that this is labelled as London, but I have strayed a bit in the last few lines. This will keep the map acurate. I'll write more about Mt. St Louis later.