August 1989
The scenery in rural Ontario can be breathtaking. I once had the good fortune to be able to stay with a friend in the Ontario wilderness. I knew it was fairly rugged as he had already mentioned in his letters, that he lived in a house on stilts because of the bears.
Bare/Bear Necessities My parents had taken us to see Jungle Book as children.
At least my brother had not puked (Dad’s pancakes) or got so upset we had needed to leave.
He was also woken in the early hours of the morning, much to his dismay, by a particularly persistent woodpecker – sounded great to me.
Canada is the country (other than the UK) with which I have the most familial ties.
The whole experience had been completely thrilling.
The view from atop the house on stilts, was stunning.
The woodpecker was no longer a problem – long story.
We were completely surrounded by trees. However I think we became a little over ambitious, in our attempt to fit into our surroundings.
We – I was with my long-suffering travelling companion!best ftiend, not my Canadian friend, who I am sure is probably a much more experienced canoeist than either of us.- had made the mistake of attempting to canoe down the river.
It had gone well at first.I had wondered initially ( feeling overly confident) why I had not been snapped up by some Olympic team somewhere, as we had skimmed expertly through the water.
We were however travelling downstream. We had then attempted to turn the canoe around and had found ourselves, to our absolute terror, straddled across the river virtually unable to move.
Right on cue, a motorboat had appeared, hurtling towards us. I remember looking at the beautiful scenery which had surrounded us and accepting that this might be the last thing I would ever see.
Miraculously (Thank you God.) just as I was saying my mental goodbye to Canada and this world, a horrified face had peered from above the helm of the speeding boat –I can only imagine his words – but fortunately the motor boat had been able to halt its progress towards our helpless craft just in time.
Moral of this story:
I am going to stick to paddling downstream if I ever set foot in a canoe again
Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime – The Korgis.
To this day I don’t understand why he and one of his girlfriends had come bursting into my room with me still in bed, to take photos, as he was headed off to Canada. I had been really embarrassed.
My other flatmate had seen us on a last walk together and had initially thought he had a new girlfriend. He was totally out of bounds as far as I was concerned.
Check out countries my blog has reached here.
See also: https://familytreeourstory.com/2020/02/02/empowering-ourselves/
https://familytreeourstory.com/2020/02/02/empowering-ourselves/
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