July 1st - Kelowna, BC (BST -7hrs)

It is Canada Day today. The last time we were in Canada on July 1^st was 2006, and it rained. Today, we awoke to blue skys and the world and his wife seemed to be heading to the lakeside for a day on the beach.

Actually, we were more concerned about our laundry. But, as the coin-op was closed for the day, we will have to do our washing tomorrow.  Instead, we spent the morning backing up the computer, discussing our plans for the remainder of this trip … and thinking about the next time … 

Being realistic, we had already dropped the idea of going to Alaska and the Arctic Circle. This comes as a bitter disappointment as we had been planning that part of the trip since last year and, theoretically we could still make it. But at what cost? If we had left today, we could have been in Fairbanks on July 6^th as per our original itinerary. But, assuming no further hiccups, we would have had to turn right around after our Arctic Circle trip and head back east. We would miss most of what we came to Alaska to see. On the other hand, if we spend an extra day here and then meander slowly up to Watson Lake, we stand a good chance of hooking up with George’s group on 6^th instead – presupposing, of course, that they are still on schedule.

But, for now, we just headed into town to see what was going on.

Most of the action seemed to be occuring down at the waterfront parks. There were market stalls and musicians, hot-dog and candy floss vendors, belly dancers and face painters, clowns, jugglers, the eccentric, the artistic, and the just plain weird … We took an hour out and booked a scenic lake tour with two slightly drunk ladies enjoying an extended weekend break from Vancouver.

Then there were the belly dancers: remarkably graceful, despite some of them being rather more endowed with belly than others.  We gave the ‘alternative rock’ a miss. The expression “if it’s too loud, you’re too old” came to mind, but may be we were just being too British. Young and old alike had Canadian flags stuck in their hair, their button-holes, their handbags, or their rucksacks. Some wore the national colours of red and white, others had a Canadian T-shirt or a maple leaf stenciled on their face.  The last time I remember anything similar in England was the Royal Wedding of Charles and Diana in 1981. Foreigners must find us an odd lot.

Eventually, we needed to take a break from the heat and retired to our motel room until the evening. After dinner, we ventured back in briefly for the fireworks. But we made our getaway almost before the final salvo had dimmed. We had an early start planned the following morning – if only to do the laundry! Within half an hour we were in bed, asleep.

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