A Few Quick Notes 440

-Today, like yesterday and the day before yesterday, has been quite nice. Actually, in all three cases I might almost say that at some points during the day it has been a little too warm and the sun a little too intense. I guess I shouldn't complain as the sun being too intense is certainly more pleasant than most other options.

-The Queen has finished her visit to Halifax, though as far as I know she is still in Canada. For the most part things seem to have gone well, though her presence did muddle traffic throughout Halifax for a few days.

-A week ago during an Ultimate game I dove and then landed on my fist. Since then the area of my chest on which I landed has been hurting. The whole feeling is sadly quite reminiscent of the time I broke my rib a few years ago. Thus, after almost two weeks of continued pain, I am becoming more and more certain that I did in fact break one of my ribs by landing on my fist. I guess the good news is that now that I am two weeks in it is less painful than it was in the days after the experience. Hopefully within a few weeks I will be back to normal.

-We have another Ultimate game tomorrow. Hopefully we won't be trounced quite as badly as we were last weekend.

-A few days ago I mentioned that I might try to post a few photos of the Queen. Obviously that didn't happen. Here is one that also includes many of the other bigwigs attending the Garrison Grounds event.



It was basically as exciting as this photos would suggest.

The Royal Neighbourhood

It seems that we are in the Royal neigbourhood, meaning that the Queen is staying at a location just a few blocks away from our apartment. That this is the case is a little funny as in yesterday's Globe and Mail the Lieutenant Governor, when asked if the Royals would be staying at Government House, is quoted as saying that "Will the royal couple be staying at Government House, newly refurbished for $6.2-million? We have no confirmation of that. We are preparing for every contingency." Nice.

I feel pretty bad for the Lieutenant Governor, just having the Queen and Prince Philip dropped on her like that with absolutely no notice.

The Queen in Halifax

As planned, Neil and I made it the Queen's address on Garrison Grounds today. While it was raining for the early part of the ceremony, things eventually cleared up a little.

Neil managed to catch the Queen's address, which I then included in this video.



[Embedded Video]

While the ceremony was not particularly exciting (the Acadian music component was particularly tiring), it was largely made palatable by the fact that the classic Newfoundland celtic rock band Rawlins Cross performed a song. As an early investor in the band it was nice to see that they finally were able to perform for the Queen (and Prince Philip and Harper).

If I get a chance I may try to post a few more photos tomorrow.

A Royal Visit or A Rainfall of Majestic Proportions

A few weeks ago it was announced that the Queen and Prince Philip, her royal sidekick and companion, would be making a trip to Canada that would commence with a visit to Halifax. After some initial hesitation, I decided that I might actually try to check out one or two of the events, this was largely because I don't have any firm commitments that would prevent me from doing so.

Now that the first day of the visit is upon us conditions have changed somewhat. Instead of today being a nice summer's day, as many of us in Halifax hoped, it is instead overcast and rainy (and has been this way for quite a number of hours). While we still have a few hours before the public spectacle at Garrison Grounds, I presume that much of the damage has been done and that conditions will be unpleasant for spectators no matter what condition the skies are in at the time of talk. I guess the upside of all of this is that if I do decide to go I have to think that I will have the opportunity for a relatively better view because of the impact that the rain is likely to have on prospective attendees. Anyway, I guess I will just wait and see and make a final decision closer to the time of the event (which is presently scheduled to start at 3:00).

A Few Quick Notes 437

-Today, like yesterday, is beautiful. The only blemish on these otherwise perfect days has been somewhat higher than average wind.

-On Saturday night I was walking in our neighbourhood when I happened across a wallet lying on the sidewalk. Thinking that someone in the area may have dropped it, I picked the wallet up to see if I could find an address for the owner. While I was able to find an address and several pieces of ID, I also noticed that the wallet did not contain any cash or credit cards (basically just a variety of pieces of ID). While I presume that this means that the owner of the wallet lost things like credit cards and cash, that I returned the wallet to the police likely means that he didn't lose his birth certificate and SIN card. I can't imagine how much more unpleasant this guy's life would have been had he also lost all of his ID.

-We had our first Ultimate game of the season. While we were in the lead for much of the game, the final result was a tie. For the most part the game went well, though there were a few rules related issues that the other team wasn't particularly helpful when it came to solving.

-Just a few minutes ago, because I watched a CBC news clip, I learned that there are fire ants in Halifax and the surrounding areas. Until seeing this clip I assumed that these little guys hadn't yet made their way out of the US south, though I was clearly about 20 years (if not more) behind the times with this assumption.

-Starting tomorrow I (with Neil and Rebecca's help) will be taking on my first Halifax cat-sitting gig. Some friends are heading out of town for a long weekend and we offered to watch their cats provided that they would allow us to use their car. Given these obligations this weekend should be a more interesting weekend than most.

-It seems that the Queen Elizabeth II will be coming to town on June 28th for a visit.

We are hoping to get a chance to catch her famous wave (as demonstrated below):




-Hopefully I should be able to get some squash in tonight.

-A library school friend of mine, Mary, was in Halifax yesterday and spent last night with us. It was really great to see her again. I am hoping that in the not too distant future I might get a chance to see a few other friends from library school.