I had home leave this year and we went to Canada for 2 weeks in early October. My sister and some cousins had organised a big party to celebrate some milestones in our extended family, so we just had to go. I was a bit apprehensive about the whole thing, seeing as it was the Bean’s first long-haul flight and all, but the whole trip went surprisingly better than expected.

We boarded the cats, left the house keys to a plumber who would be redoing our bathroom while we were away and went to Leicester for a few days prior to our departure. That way, Mel could be our chauffeur to/from Heathrow. We went to feed the ducks and geese at Groby Pond and saw deer in Bradgate Park.

The flight to Canada was long, but fairly uneventful. Bean was very good in the plane. He slept during take-off and giggled while there was heavy turbulence during the landing. It took a bit of fiddling to get the CARES harness properly setup, but once we figured it out, it wasn’t too bad. It was a good thing that we got him his own seat in the plane though, because he wouldn’t have stood to be sat on us for the whole flight. He kept getting up in his seat and waving to everybody, especially the poor woman behind him. Changing a nappy at 37,000 feed is interesting and lets just say that conditions are a bit cramped. Even though he didn’t sleep a lot, there wasn’t too much fussing. We managed to keep him fairly well entertained, even if we had to watch Shrek the 3rd about 5 times. In the end, when passengers were departing, Bean got complimented on hid good behaviour. It must be said, ironically, that this was the first time ever that I flew long haul with only one child present in the flight – and it had to be mine.

Bean was good at the folks’. He got used to little dog quite quickly, even if he was a bit reticent about her the first night there. Once he got over that, he kept chasing after her and kept feeding her food. We had to put the dog out at every meal because half his food went to her. Even then, he ate like bottomless pit. He was always outdoors, playing on the swings or in the sand pit, eating apples, and running through the leaves or grass piles.

The party was more fun than I expected it to be. I ended up doing a fair bit of the catering, but that wasn’t too bad as it meant that I was certain that I’d be able to eat the food :) My boar roast marinade gravy got lots of good reviews as well, which is always nice for the ego. Bean got lots of fuss and compliments, and tried his first taste of beer. He also kept trying to get into ladies bathroom. That’s my boy.

Both Katy and I noticed that Bean seemed more grown up during this trip. He got more and more chatty, started eating with a fork and could drink out of a glass without giving himself a milk facial. He also discovered a very important word for him: “MORE!”, shortly followed by “JUICE!”.

Having 3 kids in the same house is chaos and Katy and I were taking bets on how soon it would take for all of us to get horribly sick. We were hoping we could hold out until after we did all that we wanted to do. We had a full calendar planned. We went to see horses at a neighbour’s farm. We tried feeding Ben to them but they weren’t interested.

We went to the Canadian Museum of Civilisation and for a jaunt to Ottawa. It was really funny to see Bean constantly run up to my mom’s car and try to get in for a road trip. The museum was fun. Bean rode saddles in horse display. We bought way too much stuff at the gift shop, including a beautiful ‘Children of the Raven’ rug. We went to the Byward market for a wander round and stopped for tea and a biscuit at a nice but very chaotic tea shop in the market. Bean has really taken to being carried on my shoulders, but we had a bit of an incident with a rogue tree branch :( That’s what gave him a scar on his cheek in the other pictures. On the way back to get picked up by my mom at the museum, Bean was waving to everybody, including dogs and pan handlers who – surprisingly – waved back :)

On Tuesday, we headed to Montreal. We had lots of things planned in very little time. We had a photo shoot with Isabelle at the Botanical Gardens. Bean got tired and grumpy part way through it but we managed to get some really nice pics in the end. I was impressed at how easy he was to put down for nap at my sister’s place while I tried to fix her wifi setup. In the end, I gave up and we went to our hotel. Very spanky! We got a suite upgrade with a jacuzzi for Katy. I had a boys night out with the old gang. Katy wasn’t in the mood to come so she stayed in, had a very nice meal (got a bit tipsy) and pampered herself (and accidentally ordered a PPV movie). We had a “Fuck it!” moment regarding the money situation when we realized that the holiday would cost a bit more than we expected, but sod it. We have one nice trip every two years. We’re going to enjoy Montreal. Boys night was fun, but we got old. We spent the evening in the kitchen, standing around a kitchen island and talking about work, kids and motorcycles while one of the guys was itching for a rant and really let rip at the poor St-Hubert restaurant that delivered his food one hour late and cold. That was impressive, especially considering that the restaurant is only 5 minutes away (this prompted the quote of the evening – “Would it be quicker if I just went there and cooked the damn thing myself?”)

The following day, Katy had her appointment with Norm for her tattoo and I had some time to do a few errands. I even managed to sneak in some tea at Ming Tao Xuan, even though all the shops open stupidly late in the old port. We had plans to meet Michel and Isabelle at Bishoku for dinner but those well through when Isabelle caught the man-flu that Michel had just gotten over. I’ve been going to Bishoku for over 10 years, when it was still called Tokiwa. When I was still living in Montreal, Michel and I used to go at least once a week. I’ve been living in the UK coming on to 6 years now, but I still go every time I have home leave. Amazingly, when I phoned up to make reservations, they remembered my voice and were thrilled that I was going. I was told that we needed to come!!! Going to a restaurant that remembers what you like after a two year absence and makes you stuff that is no longer on the menu speaks volumes for the service. I love those people, and they never disappoint :) We had sooooo much food, but damn, it was good. It was better than good. I wish them well – they need to be there when we go back in two years. We got a bit tipsy at Bishoku and Katy was dorphed-out from her 6-hour tattoo session, so we hailed a cab (yay! cabs everywhere! took 5 seconds flat) and we headed back to the old port. Katy was asleep before her head hit the pillow. I watched the glow from our fake fireplace for a while then did the same.

We came back to Ottawa on Thursday, when we had booked ourself a night at the Hilton Casino. It took a bit of stress and faffing to get us there, but we got a suite upgrade when we got there and that more than made up for it. We had late dinner reservations, so we went to the cigar lounge to chill a bit and have a drink. The bar only had roasted almonds as a snack. When I informed the nice lady bartender that I was allergic to nuts and we were getting rather tipsy on the good red wine we were enjoying, she got the kitchen to smuggle some sandwiches into the lounge for us. Unfortunately they had loads of garlic in them but its the thought that counts. That’s the sort of service that you don’t get hereabouts. I didn’t have the heart to let her know I couldn’t eat them. I went to the little corner shop and bought a bag of crisps. Not as posh, but very effective.

We went back to the suite to get presentable before dinner and had an amusing encounter with the bed turn-down maid service. Poor lady, we must’ve made a bit of an impression. Having said that, I’m sure it’s not the first time something like that happened…

The evening ended on a bit of a sour note. Katy’s meal didn’t completely agree with her. The restaurant declined my credit card because the computer at the front desk had mis-scanned it and I had to call Natwest to clear everything up. The room aircon was being a pain. There wasn’t a kettle to make tea so I had to use their weird percolator, but the water coming through reeked of coffee and to top it off, the the teabags were already waterstained. When I called up for tea to be sent up to room service, it took 30 minutes before it came but once it did and I showed them the state of things, the attendant was less than impressed, apologized and said that his manager would be informed. We were comped the tea. Tea made it all better.

The following day, we went to Kinki in the market for a sushi lunch. I have to say, for as much as I hold Bishoku near and dear to my heart, Kinki is a cooler place to eat. The ambiance is a lot more hip and the food is a bit more avant-garde. We had really good panko chicken and wasabi calamari as starters, followed excellent rolls. I especially recommend the beef-fillet wrapped shrimp surf n’ turf roll.

On Saturday, we went to the Science and Technology museum in Ottawa, to show Bean the train gallery. Bean was a bit grumpy and a bit of a handful, but I think he enjoyed it. My mom has bad laryngitis and completely lost her voice and my dad’s back was playing up.

On Sunday, I met up with Michel in the market before Roger Waters show. Had “small” pint of Hoegaarden at D’Arcy McGees on Sparks St. then went for dinner at Kinki. I found out that previous meal there had garlic and sesame in it, but I was pre-loaded with antihistamines so no harm done. I ended up doing the same thing again and it was still good.

The Roger Waters show was kick ass. I had a little something to enhance the show but there was a ton of stadium security and they were acting as kill joys. We went outside during the intermission, along with a significant number of people. They were scanning people in and out. It was a mess. Let’s just say, however, that the second part of the show was more intense than the first.

The show was excellent and I can’t wait until May to see it again in London. It sounded just like the CD. Now, normally, if you go to a live show, you expect that things will be different, but in this case, different would have been disappointing because the album is so iconic. It didn’t disappoint. It was spot on and almost perfect. I cried, again. Sue me.

Monday was our last day in Canada and it was a bit hectic. Bean had broken my mom’s chain so I gave her mine. I knew it would make her feel good to have something of mine with her all the time. Thing is that I feel naked without it now, but xmas should fix that. After a bit of a packing, weighing and repacking frenzy, we headed to the airport. Even with all our best efforts, we still had one suitcase that was 3.4kg over its allowed weight limit. The lady at the desk told us that we could shift stuff around to our other two suitcases, who were a few kilos light each. Unfortunately, both other suitcases were packed solid and nothing would have fit (trust me, we tried). In the end, those 3.4kg cost us a flat penalty fee of $100. Fuck you, Air Canada.

The trip back didn’t bode well, when Bean had an emotional outburst at being restrained in his seat. It was probably just fatigue, and he chilled out when other people starting boarding the plane. I changed him into PJs after take-off and he fell asleep around 8 while we were watching Avatar. Things seemed to go smoothly, until he woke up round 10:30pm roasting hot. He must’ve finally caught what the boys had. Perfect timing… We gave him water and meds and, although he was a bit listless, he spent the flight chilling in Katy’s arms watching Sherlock Holmes and another movie after that.

The only bad thing is that he slept the whole of 2 hours that night, when he normally sleeps 12. We went through customs and baggage with little hassle, and then we met up with Mel for the trip back to Leicester. Bean and I slept in the car and then we managed to make it through that day. The end of the story is here and here :)

All in all, a very good, very positive, very tiring, very expensive trip. But worth every penny, even if we’re broke now :)