As if on the dot as of the 15 August the weather cooled all of a sudden, as it does every year, we went from 38C to 22C. and it is more comfortable now. The weather is still sunny and though it is nice for us in the City it is a crisis for farmers with lack of rainfall and the fire index is critically high, so no open fires are allowed anywhere. Though I noticed today that the Sun is lower in the sky and enters the house at a more horizontal angle and the days are progressively getting shorter.
Everyday we have our activities planned for the day and marked on the calendar. Now because of the pandemic most of our volunteer activities are on hold. But we still have to shop or see friends or get a haircut or simply travel on the island. This Summer we went to French River in the New London area and stayed at a nice cottage, something we are sure to repeat, we enjoyed ourselves so much. Being Summer, we drink a lot of Rosé and across the street from our house is a new wine shop with 400 labels of wines which would fall in the more notable category. The prices are from $20 to $900 a bottle depending of the wine and vintage, found some very good German white and Italian rosé from Puglia.
Lately we have been to small diner parties at friends. Now we all brace ourselves for the coming Fall Season and the return to school for so many. Fortunately our little island has been sparred the worst and we only have a handful of cases and all came from people returning from abroad. Self-isolating at home and all cases have been mild, no hospitalization, lucky indeed.
What I really like to do is to start the day with quiet music with my morning Espresso with Nicky by my side. On the Weekend, Radio-Canada has music programs with a host who talks on various topics engaging the listener, the music is soft, classical, I like piano music like Satie, Grieg, Ravel or Debussy. Every evening, we rarely go out at night, after dinner, which for us is around 08:30pm because we have dinner late by Canadian 5pm standard, I like to sit in my chair in the living room with Nicky beside me and listen to classical music, reading. Currently I am reading the letters and journals of Sir Alan Frederick Lascelles, known as Tommy, private secretary to the King and later to his daughter Elizabeth II, fascinating behind the scene stuff, so well written a real page turner, the documents were edited by Duff Hart-Davis, who did all the necessary work to put the book together and sought all necessary permissions. A difficult task because the Courtiers are protective of such documents seen as State Papers, in the end the Queen agreed and gave permission for publication.
We did not have the annual parade on 15 August due to Covid 19 but our neighbour will have a lunch outdoor on Friday as she does every year. A simple get together. A week from now we invited 20 friends (this is the legal limit) to have dinner and our good friend Pico will make his famous Seafood Paella in his metre wide dish, that alone is worth the show, quite a nice dish. We are using a friend’s secluded yard which is nice and private on a quiet street. I know that small gatherings are now allowed as long as you follow precautions.
On other news, we have a new Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, who has been Minister of Foreign Affairs and is currently Deputy Prime Minister, she will now have the Finance Portfolio as well and will present in the Fall an economic forecast. Also yesterday the Prime Minister went to see the Governor General and ask her to * Prorogue Parliament until 23 September, when the House will return and we will have a Speech from the Throne giving out the details of the Government’s new program to renew the economy after this first Covid phase. Freeland is famous for having handled the negotiations to the new Free Trade Agreement CUSMA with the Trump administration, a difficult task if there ever was one.
It looks like we may have a general election in October despite the fact that most people do not want one due to the Pandemic. But the other parties in the House appear keen, despite the fact that the Conservative will have a brand new leader and the NDP have no money for an election, the Green Party should also have a new leader by then. The Separatist Bloc Quebecois are pushing for an election but remains to be seen if they will be able to win over other MPs to vote against the Government. The test may come as soon as 23 September since a vote of confidence must take place after the Speech from the Throne. At the moment PM Trudeau has a minority of seats in the House but the poles show him winning the next election, time will tell.
*Prorogue; Prorogation is a political process which marks the end of a parliamentary session, and also refers to the time between the end of one parliamentary session and the start of another.
