Canada Day - Trafalgar Square

[Chas]

The totem carvers from last year had obviously finished their job and weren't there. In stead we saw some First Nation dancers.

This guy could not keep still. And as he danced and jumped and stomped, his whole costume shimmered and danced with him.

In his daytime job, he is a Sergeant in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.







This young lady represents a different tribe and her dancing style was, although still animated, more subdued. Her dance and throat singing was to plead with the Rain Gods to not visit us on that day. It must have worked as we had no rain.



This little girl is the daughter of one of the Consul Staff and is half First Nations. Her outfit was made for her by her grandmother and is typical of plains dress.



More to come

Regards

Chas

[CMcG]

Up Canada!

[Chas]

So finally the food stalls were open. Poutine time!





Alex has a shot of me actually eating. What can I say. It was OK, but nothing to write home about. Yes the flavours melded together, but to my mind was a bit too salty.

As we were eating a group of youngsters came up and asked in all seriousness "How's the poutine, today?" I said it was a bit salty. This set them off. One said that poutine should never be mass produced. Another that eight portions at a time was max. One wondered how long the onions for the gravy were cooked for and whether they had used both roast and boiled. The discussion raged as to whether the cheese should be vintage or just mature. They went off in deep discussion. This was all said in the same tone that one would discuss world politics or a major natural disaster. Alex and I were dumbfounded and were left to eat our poutine.

And all the time the queue for Tim Hortons never got any shorter.



Of course, one of the major events of the day is the street hockey. Here is last year's winning team.



The play is fast and furious and injuries are common. Here their opposition is taking a break as as one of last year' winners is helped off after a clash of sticks and shins.



More to come

Regards

Chas

[Chas]

We met up with Chapmanredbourn (Brian). We met him at last year's Canada Day and he later came to Harpenden.



He and Alex are both wearing the Maple Leaf tartan and mine is Flower of Scotland.

I spotted this guy, wearing the Newfoundland flag, early on in the day. He was far away in the crowd and by the time I got to the lower terrace, he was gone.





I then spent the next few hours trying to track him down. When I finally found him, he had been 'enjoying' the day quite considerably and his flag was now either back to front or inside out.



All the while there were lots and lots of crowds, just watching it all happen.





More to come

Regards

Chas

[cessna152towser]

Here are a few of my pics from the day:-

Chas eagerly contemplates the poutine.

Lunchtime and Chas finally gets to sample the poutine.

Chas took my photo below the bust of Admiral Cunningham.

We met this lady who was a veteran of the Ontario branch of the Farm Service Force.

We met a young Scots lass who was working for Canadian Affair travel company.

We met this lovely lady from Chillawack BC, which is where my cousin Gord lives.

There were lots of bonnie Canadian lassies who were happy to show us their tee-shirts.

Another group of proud Canucks

Street Hockey action

and concluding with the Ladies Paralympic Basketball players who arranged themselves into two teams and played a demonstration match.