Happy Hogmanay! Bonne Année!

Tags

2022, life, New Year, World

Well it is done and over, what a year, in all honesty it went by quickly despite all the problems. For PEI and Charlottetown it was not a good year economically and tourism wise. It did not affect me much, just the constant vigilance about Covid and simply getting my shots. Life goes on.

I did find that reading and authors I enjoy is a great joy. Though I have always done that so I am now simply continuing. A friend David N. in London always has good recommendations. I also look around for books which might interest me.

So 2020 and 2021 was no great shakes but we can always be cockeyed optimists and hope for a better 2022.

I remember New Year’s Eve of 2000, Y2K the world would collapse because of computers and I don’t know what. That St-Sylvester we were living in Warsaw, Poland, there had been so much nonsense about what might happen with the computer clocks and calendars and errors apparently made. Planes would fall from the sky and disaster everywhere. That night at the Embassy our communication technicians stayed up all night while our Ambassador slept at home, call me if anything important happens. He was not the only one who was in bed that night while we worked, others had gone home to families in Canada or on vacation.

By 8PM that night, Warsaw time, we knew this Y2K was a hoax and nothing was going to happen as the new year had arrived in New Zealand and then Japan without incident of any kind. The only other New Year’s Eve was that of 1991, all of 1990 had been preoccupied with the possible war between Iraq and Kuwait. I was then living in Cairo, Egypt, yes that one was significant, a short war. Diplomatic circles knew the war was coming though it still took us by surprise that the Iraqi Government was so stupid to start something they would loose. One CNN reporter made a killing on Oriental rugs, Peter Arnett.

There have been many other New Year’s Eve but not as eventful, in many ways they were all special spent with Will, family and friends.

Wishing you all Health and Happiness in 2022, there is nothing more anyone can actually wish that is so important in any life.

End of the Year

Tags

Christmas, covid, life, Rome, winter

Well on Wednesday, Will was not feeling well and he wanted to get tested for Covid, the clinic is in the old Federal garage by the bridge and next to the race track, just a 5 minute car drive. We went, I was expecting crowds, there was about 100 cars in front of us but the line was moving quickly. So the procedure is simple you can either walk in from the street, the test is given to you and you are out in 6 minutes. We came by car and so it took 90 minutes to get tested and the results are posted online at the PEI Health Dept. you can access the confidential results by entering your health card number. If you are positive you will get a phone call for a second test and to give contact information. It’s free and it’s easy and why not for peace of mind. I am feeling fine and have no symptoms but we live together and so we should both get the test. Later in the day we checked online and we are both negative. Will was happy and relieved.

The Weather continues to be mild in a very strange fashion, more like early Spring mild than end of December. Out West in Prairies and the West Coast they are freezing to death -45C to -50C and lots of snow which is completely out of character for them. The joke is that British Columbia got too much snow and they phone PEI to say, please come and get this snow delivered to us by mistake, it’s yours come and pick it up.

So our New Year’s Eve will be very quiet, no parties, no get together, just quiet dinner at home for the two of us. I wish to remain positive that 2022 will be better, there is no point in feeling maudlin, despite the news which is over dramatic. True that our little province today Thursday has 169 cases with again is absolutely not good, but no one in hospital, symptoms in most cases are mild. Boosters are being given out like candy on appointment. It’s not funny to live with this but it is a new normal for me anyways. Looks like kids are not going back to school and the University has already switched to online teaching.

Those who are sick are in the population were either not vaccinated or had one vaccination only. Many were children who now can get their vaccination but we still have a lot of parents who hesitate.

Winter here continues to be so mild that it feels like Europe, in fact some cities like Berlin have more snow than us in Charlottetown. The river is not frozen, no skiing, no ice for skating, so it is just cold -5C and humid. Life goes on.

A small Piazza in front of an old Palace in Rome, an area we walking in many times, so pleasant. Christmas in Rome was always so wonderful and full of lights and delights.

Posthumous Reading

Tags

books, John LeCarré, reading, Silverview

I have just completed reading the last book of John LeCarré published by his son a few months after the authors death in December 2020. The book itself had been in the works for some years and had been corrected and passages rewritten several times, it was completed and left in his desk at home. His youngest son Nick Cornwell also a known writer by the name of Nick Harkaway, had made a promise to his dad that he would publish any novel he found and so Silverview was published in June 2021.

It is not a big book, 210 pages in all. The story is in England in a small costal town, involving characters who all have complicated past lives and some are with MI6, the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6, is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligence in support of the UK’s national security. The plot draws you in and the denouement is surprising. Lots of details, so the reader has to pay attention to understand what is going on. I regret his passing given what a gifted author he was and how vivid the story and the characters become to the reader.

In his lifetime John LeCarré wrote about 30 books, all of them more or less famous and many bestsellers. At the moment I am reading Call for the Dead, a book written in 1961. It is a small book 156 pages and again I find I cannot put it down.

Boxing Day + plus

Tags

Boxing Day, covid, Food, Italy, Meatballs

Well today was a quiet day, many years ago Boxing Day was the day you rushed the department stores to return gifts you did not want, receipt in hand. I think that tradition has died with online shopping. I cannot imagine going to a store with hundred of other shoppers frantic to exchange gifts, it was chaos.

Will surprised me this morning by making Croissants filled with mincemeat, they were very good. I must have been very tired from yesterday got up at 10:30am and the puppies slept until 09:30am unheard for them.

The rest of the day was spent tidying up the house, nothing too strenuous. We are having two friends tonight for dinner, so a different menu, no turkey this time. A simpler menu from yesterday but the starter with Crémant is Lobster paté. Will is at the kitchen and I set the table with a different table setting from last night, the placemat are the PEI Tartan.

Listened on the BBC on YouTube to the Christmas message of HM the Queen from Windsor Castle. So well done and to the point, very nicely expressed, as they say not one word too many.

This post now extend into Tuesday since I did not finish it, on 28 December 2012, I retired from the Foreign Service after 34 years. It all seems so long ago now. I really do not have any contact with former colleagues, yesterday I heard from one, out of the blue, we were together in Beijing many years ago. She is now in Wash DC and it would appear that work has changed quite a bit from what it was then.

Will has been cooking up a storm, made some fantastic Italian meat balls with parmesan and parsley, I tasted a few they are soooo good. Turkey was made into a very good soup, Plum Pudding is gone. Tonight we finish the left over Tourtière.

Italian Meat Balls, absolutely delicious.

There is no New Year’s Eve celebration at the Club, cancelled for safety reasons. I do not disagree with that approach, it will be just as nice at home with the puppies.

Our Christmas table with place mats in the PEI Tartan colours.

It seems that a lot of people have taken the entire week off between Christmas and New Year’s, it is again very quiet everywhere, few people about. Despite the fact that people have been told that now is not the time to travel, I have heard that many are travelling either in Canada or in the Maritime region, in one case to Paris, in all cases tests and isolation is required upon return, it can get a bit complicated. Myself like many people are very tired of this pandemic, it has been 2 years and looks like it may be with us for some time to come. We are getting our Booster in 3 weeks, earliest we could get them, that is fine. Life has changed in many little subtle ways, not just with masks everywhere, but how you go about daily chores or general activities. I do miss not seeing our friends in person and sharing a laugh or a good conversation. At the same time I am reminded that in the last 100 years we had two World Wars an epidemic of Spanish Flu, the great depression, etc. so if in this case all I have to do is wash my hands, wear a mask and observe other sanitary rules it’s not that bad really.

Today the Health Dept of PEI announced 118 new cases, which is terrible for our little Island, statistically with a population of 150,000 this is a huge number, never seen before in the last 2 years.

A good day and no photos

Tags

Food, life, Plum Pudding, Turkey, XMAS

Got up this morning early around 8:30am which is early for me. Got the table organized for our Christmas Lunch, silverware and fine china. Will got the turkey in the oven and the Plum Pudding steaming for 2 hours. His Brandy Butter for the pudding was very good.

It was a pleasant lunch with the usual Xmas Crackers and funny hats, little bags of gifts and other nice items. I always shop for luxury items to give out at lunch, nothing extravagant but simply nice. The French service of Radio-Canada did an outstanding job with their music programme this year, very well structured featuring all manners of old 17th and 18th century French Christmas music, many sung in Church for centuries and I know the words by heart they are so familiar, they also had modern Quebec music for the season which is always nice to hear. They also do not have any news bulletin, so no news of fresh disaster.

It is a lot of work to prepare such a meal and Will went all out as he usually does, he frets a lot about the quality of what he serves and no one is ever disappointed.

We now have turkey left over enough to make some sandwiches and a pie. Half a Plum pudding which no doubt will be eaten tomorrow Boxing Day. But that is about it, so no great bother.

Again a sunny day today and not as cold, the wind died down, which is a relief. The City is very quiet due to restrictions and I am happy about it, it’s nice to have peace and quiet for once.

The Eve of

Today is a bright sunny day with very strong sea winds and -20C it’s brisk as they say.

We are having a very quiet Christmas Will and I. Will has been cooking a lot and today he made his Brandy Butter to accompany the Plum Pudding he made a month ago. He also made a German cookie called Pfeffernussen Christmas cookies , he also made another batch of Ginger Biscotti. He made the traditional French Canadian Tourtiere (meat pie). We have wines and prosecco, so we are ready.

Pfeffernussen cookies.

I stumbled on YouTube to see Martha Stewart with Snoop Dogg making brownies. He did not look terribly interested, a strange couple to say the least for a cooking show.

The Seasonal music is much better on Radio-Canada (French) than on the CBC (English). One song they have been playing a lot this year is Le 23 Decembre by Pierre Huet of the group Beau Dommage. Beau Dommage is a Canadian rock band from Montreal, Quebec, who achieved popular success in Quebec and France in the 1970s. The group’s style included rich vocal harmonies and elements borrowed from folk and country music.

The lyrics are full of images that Montrealers would immediately understand, part of the French Canadian traditions at Christmas which lasted from 23 December to 7 January.

Love the words and images they bring up, I can see those scenes being played out in my mind.

Here are the lyrics in French (there is no translations) by songwriter Pierre Huet.

J’ai dans la tête un vieux sapin, une crèche en d’sous
Un Saint-Joseph avec une canne en caoutchouc
Était mal faite pis j’avais frette-ette
Quand je r’venais d’passer trois heures dans un igloo
Qu’on avait fait deux ou trois gars chez Guy RondouxJ’ai d’vant les yeux, quand j’suis heureux, une sorte de jeu
Qu’on avait eu, une sorte de grange avec des bœufs
La même année où j’ai passé-é
Le temps des fêtes avec su’a tête une tuque d’hockey
Parce que j’voulais me faire passer pour Doug Harvey, 23 décembre “joyeux Noël, monsieur Côté”
“Salut ti-cul, on se r’verra le sept janvier”J’ai sur le cœur un jour de l’An où mes parents
Pensant bien faire, m’avaient habillé en communiant
Chez ma grand-mère, c’était mon père-ère
Qui s’déguisait en Père Noël pour faire accroire
Que les cadeaux, ça v’nait pas tout’ de Dupuis Frères23 décembre “joyeux Noël, monsieur Côté”
“Salut ti-cul, on se r’verra le sept janvier”Ça m’tente des fois d’aller la voère pis d’y parler
Fée des étoiles, j’peux-tu avoère un autre hockey?
J’ai perdu l’mien, beau sans-dessein-ein
J’l’ai échangé contre des photos où on voé rien
Une fille de dos qui s’cache les fesses avec les mains, 23 décembre “joyeux Noël, monsieur Côté”
“Salut ti-cul, on se r’verra le sept janvier”23 décembre “joyeux Noël, monsieur Côté”
“Salut ti-cul, on se r’verra le sept janvier-er”

You can watch the video on Youtube, 23 decembre, Beau Dommage. It’s quite fun.

Finally I was reminded that this Christmas 70 years ago in 1951, was the last of King George VI , that father of Queen Elizabeth II. He was quite ill with lung cancer and he was in the last stages of it. He would die in February 1952 in his sleep. The year 2022 marks the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, the first ever in history.

No snow this 24 December in Charlottetown.

Some good news

Tags

Christmas, Dachshund, Food, life, refrigeration

Well today we had some good news despite it all. I had an appointment for Nicky at the Vet to check on his eyes and the ulcers that had developed about 2 months ago due to the dryness of his eyes. With treatment and care and eye drops daily, the Vet confirmed that the ulcers are gone and he is not in pain over them. So that is a relief though his cataracts will get worse because of his age, at the moment he is fine. With this treatment Nicky has managed to grow very lazy and expects now cookies for almost anything and needs to be lifted and petted and talked sweetly non stop. He like most Dachshund is very good at manipulating silly humans like us. The vet is constantly telling us to be on the look out for this type of behaviour, because they learn very quickly and then it is difficult to break, much pouting and sad looks not to mention sighs. Yes he is a little monster but he is our monster.

The other good news today, the fridge appears to have been fixed and working properly, so we can move the contents back from upstairs into it. This little contre temps allowed us to clean out the fridge properly. Tomorrow we will start de-freezing the turkey which is hard as a rock right now. Only 2 guests coming for Xmas day Lunch and 2 more for Boxing Day Dinner.

I also had my haircut today for Xmas and went over to Government House to see the Lieutenant Governor to wish her happy Christmas, she was listening to the Premier and the Chief Medical Officer announcing the new health measures and restrictions, people feel very badly about this right now and with reason. We have no choice, it is a matter of public health.

She had in the Salon d’Honneur this 15 foot Christmas tree, she told me that she ordered it back in October, it is quite beautiful and I am probably one of the very few people to have seen it this year, since the Official Residence is closed unless you have official business.

It was a very bright sunny day today and despite being the first day of Winter it really was not that cold at all. In other words it did not feel like Winter at all.

Government House, Charlottetown, PEI

Only 28 days to wait

As of writing this, W. and I only have 28 days to wait for our Booster shot. Given how things are going, it seems like a very long time to wait, but patience is rewarded they say. Still the news is pretty grim all around.

Our fridge is having major problem and lucky for us we have available to us a second fridge we can use. I had bought all the meat for Christmas, so nothing lost. Hopefully the repair man can fixe it but this week so near to Xmas is not the best time of the year for this to happen. If it has to be replaced well, hopefully the supply chain problems will not make for big delays. Let’s think positive.

I also decided to take a break from the news, I have had my load of fresh disasters for a while. It appears that a lot of our news is either about grown adults who behave like spoiled children in public, screaming that life is not fair or panic news “we are all going to die” type which contradicts itself at the next news bulletin and the news reader taking on a dramatic tone of voice. We also have this fascination with “sexual assault allegations” every day more lurid than the next. The problem being that it is all allegation and is soon replaced with more news of the same with other alleged victims. Every one wants $$$$ millions in compensation. Frankly enough is enough.

I was talking tonight to W saying that I felt like just cancelling the whole Xmas lunch and any other activity, I have never felt this way before but I just don’t see the point. No it is not the most wonderful time of the year. Oh well it may pass, I am just a bit tired.

Putting the Star on the tree.

Memories of Xmas past

Tags

Cairo, Christmas, Egypt, life, Rome, Santa

I came upon some photos of years ago one is of Cairo in 1991 Christmas. I was talked into being the Santa for all the kids at the Canadian Embassy. With the children of our local Egyptian staff and the Canadian colleagues children, there was about 60 kids.

I remember getting dressed in the Santa’s costume at my home in Zamalek and then being driven to the party. On the street Egyptians were waiving, Hello Santa. Such a popular guy, the party went on for hours and the kids were super excited and I was exhausted, parents were happy. We had great fun and this is one of my best memories of Cairo.

Cairo at Christmas was festooned with multicoloured lights and you would think that being a majority Muslim country there would be no festivities. However while in Egypt I discovered that the Virgin Mary is honoured in Islam as being chosen by God to be the mother of the prophet Jesus. Egyptians also love a good celebration and a laugh.

Of course during our time in Egypt, we got to ride camels and I can tell you that it is not comfortable if you do not know how to sit properly.

This photo from 1991 is of my late colleague Jim Gould who took over from me as Santa, the brave fellow. I did manage to fool his daughter in 1990 when I was Santa and I wonder if he also was able to do this, the kid was a sharp observer.
My colleague Bill with the camera in the background and his wife Janet. Two of our local staff feeding the beast. People are dressed against the cold, despite what people may think Winters in Egypt can be cold, around 10C in the day time and much colder at night.

This picture of me and Diana, the president of the Canadian Club in Rome at our Club Xmas party in 2010. In Rome we always had such elegant parties and so much fun.

Christmas in Ottawa in 1980 our first apartment and our tree. The young days.

Us today, Summer of 2021 in PEI.

Just a few more days

Tags

Christmas, covid, Omocron, PANDEMIC, panic, PEI, Potatoes

This past week we have been thrown back to March 2020. PEI was doing very well in terms of cases and the pandemic, few cases and no hospitalizations, people followed the rules with few exceptions. On Wednesday we suddenly had 10 new cases, all related to travel off Island. Thursday another 10 cases and one Omicron, Friday 31 cases and a second Omicron case. This was the highest number of new cases ever, panic sets in, people are in disbelief, Chief Medical Officer gives a public news conference in such cases and tells islanders through Facebook live that this is very serious and ominous, the live comments had to be shut off, the abusive languages of a chorus of Karens and other idiots was beyond the pale. The narrative of their comments was, that the Chief Medical Officer was stealing their Xmas and the poor children would be scarred for life by this trauma. This is what I dislike so much about today’s public debate, the children are always used as a stick. Also this week the on-going ban of PEI Potatoes from USA markets due to a fungus. This is not a trade dispute but about plant safety, the two farms involve happen to belong to Cavendish Corp. a branch of the powerful IRVING corp. Again farmers who are facing ruin are asking for help because the children do not understand what is going on. I find that using the children as an excuse has become the weapon of the cowards who have nothing to say.

Talking of potatoes, the investigation done by soil sample will take until 2023 to have final results. This will have an impact on the economy of the Island but then again maybe an incentive to switch to other cultures.

So in a matter of a few hours, any public activity was cancelled and private gathering is limited to 10 people including the hosts and it has to be the same people not a constant mix of people. Schools are now closed for the Holidays BUT as the Premier said it is not known now if they will reopen on 8 January 2022. It very much depends on what will happen in terms of infection rate. All of this in PEI was caused by one University Student who went to a party at St-Francis Xavier Univ, in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The Student Union who organized the party without proper protocols has been fined.

For PEI we have a total of 73 active cases out of a total population of 160,000. That statistically is a lot for us, given our very limited medical infrastructure.

For us, well we already had made our plans for Christmas so it is very low key and quiet. So not much worry, we stay home, we will see about 6 people during the period, we know them all.

We finished the decoration of the tree and Will is putting the final touches to our Christmas food, we have our gifts for our friends done, just a small token, but a long tradition.

So despite it all, life continues…

For all the cry babies out there, there have been much worse times in the past and I offer you this image.