Penmanfest - otherwise known as the Helen World Tour [7]

Week 7

October 1

Another travelling day, sadly. This time Rania dropped at the airport in New Orleans about 10am for my flight to Chicago, O'Hare airport.

The plane was full and the flight was uneventful, though all my luggage was searched again before boarding. At the airport I had some Chinese food for lunch and settled down with music and book to wait the three hours until my flight onto Toronto.

Top points to Canada for customs and immigration management. I was through to where Jane was waiting to collect me within about 15 minutes of touching down.

We drove to Jane's where I met two of her daughters, Katie and Jenns, then we were joined by Lindley and Elizabeth.who had arrived earlier and been out on a boat trip on Lake Ontario.

It was fun joining in with Jane and her family for the evening which was very low key as we chatted until time for bed.

October 2

I was awake early and managed to check a few emails on Jane's computer before it was time to drive off to Stratford, with Jane, Katie, Niels (Jane's father), Vickie and I in the van. Our departure was delayed by the rear view mirror in Jane's van which decided to jump off the windscreen for some unknown reason. A stop at the car dealership managed to rectify the problem though setting us back an hour or so.

On the way to Stratford we were able to see some of the countryside which was just starting to colour with autumn leaves.

We stopped at Tim Horton's for lunch (a Canadian fast, but almost healthy, food institution) then made our way direct to the Festival Theatre arriving in good time just after 1pm. A pifflefest sign and Jane's blue umbrella made finding everyone easy and we happily chatted until time to move in for the play.

The big Stratford Pifflefeast started with participants meeting for a drink in the Edinburgh Room of the Queen's Inn, our private room for the evening. There were sixteen of us in total: ten official pifflers and six friends and relatives. Pifflers were Just Jane, Jill Koski/Mrs Venables, Debbie/Menace, Sandy/Rachel Levy, Lindley/Mrs Merdle, Sarah/Miss Meteyard, Erica/Glassblower's Cat, Cally/Gaude, Freda/Tudor Pot. Friends and relatives were Rebecca and Elizabeth from LordV list, Vickie, Katie and Niels from the Petersen/Burfield family and Brian Koski, Jill's husband.

We sat ourselves at the table and were astounded by the amazing menu, which included New Zealand Rack of Lamb (at which I had to sulk!), Canadian Prime Rib Steak and Seafood/Vegetable Medley. I tried two different types of Canadian beer (separately of course!).

Conversations included books of course - Bujold, Sayers, Dunnett, Evanovich. We talked about everyone's favourite books and favourite characters, where we recommend people should start in each series and why we love them so much.

I distributed Vegemite around the table and surprisingly some pifflers were brave enough to try it! :-)

A collection of Australian souvenirs made there way around the table and fluffy kangaroos were soon seen clipped to jackets. The next stage of my plan for Australian World Domination was to distribute water based temporary Australian flag tattoos, which soon found themselves attached to pifflers, some in the most interesting places! I hope the photos show them.

Our meals arrived and were attacked ravenously. It is amazing how hungry one becomes from piffling! My prime rib steak was absolutely delicious, tender and huge. After our main meals we rotated every third piffler around the table so we had a chance to talk to different faces. Conversations picked up without a break. We talked about differences between Australia and Canada with Lindley helping to keep up my side of the discussion. After her long visit to Australia last year, I think we should appoint her as an honorary ambassador to British Columbia.

Trash/Rubbish/Garbage/Litter was a surprising topic as we discussed the usages of the words in various countries.

Then it was time for dessert, with the warm toffee sponge cake being a favourite around the table. Coffee and conversation continued to flow as we did another rotation around the table. Then it was time to reconvene the PiffleFeast to Lindley and Sarah's room where the promise of a chance to try some British Columbia wine was irresistible. How many pifflers can you fit into one hotel room? Well at least nine. The wine was a white, Pinot Auxerois, and very tasty. A little like a Sauvignon Blanc from home.

We eventually wandered off to our own rooms with plans to meet again for breakfast.

October 3

Breakfast was a great buffet and pifflerchat continued where they had left off the night before.

Then we all departed in similar and different directions. I went with Sandy and Debbie to drive to Niagara Falls. Lindley and Sarah followed us in a second car. Jane and her crew were heading straight back to Toronto. It was goodbye to the Koskis who were heading home and to Elizabeth who was staying longer at Stratford to see The Scarlet Pimpernel.

BJ and her father had driven from Buffalo and were coming up to Toronto just for dinner, then driving back home.

After taking some photos, Sandy, Debbie, Lindley, Sarah, BJ and I bought our tickets for the boat trip, donned blue plastic raincoats and climbed aboard. Although Canadians, Lindley had never been to Niagara and Sarah hadn't been since she was a small child. Debbie had seen the US side but not the Canadian one so it was an interesting trip for everyone. BJ kept up a great commentary explaining about the falls and we were all fascinated by the geological structure.

As we got closer to the Horseshoe Falls, the atmosphere became decidedly damp and it was a rather bedraggled-looking (but happy) group of pifflers that returned to the shore. Top points to BJ for wearing a full-length raincoat.

We returned to our cars and drove through Niagara town to a lovely Greek restaurant that BJ knew, which was a bit away from the tourist centre of town. We were all rather amazed at the flashing signs, bright lights and commercialism of the downtown area. Wonder what it looks like at night?

I swapped cars to ride back to Toronto with Lindley and Sarah which was also fun and gave me a chance to swap Australia memories with Lindley. Sarah was an excellent guide and helped us to get back to Jane's where we had a few moments before it was time to head out again for dinner. This time it was to a Toronto restaurant, The Free Times Café, where there were 20 pifflers, friends and relatives.

Who was there? Jane, Miranda and Jenny Petersen/Burfield, Erica, Cally and their friend Melissa, Sarah, Steve & Mary Clarke, Freda, Laura, Stevie-Ray and Jocelyn (?), Sandy, Debbie, Lindley, Shayna, David, BJ and her father. Hope I haven't forgotten anyone.

Dinner was a vegetarian buffet which was nice and easy and made some mingling possible as we chatted throughout the evening. A high point was seeing Stevie-Ray looking so well and hearing such positive reports of his treatment from Laura and Freda. And there was a lot of excitement as we all eagerly inspected Steve's proof copy of his second edition of the Lord Peter Wimsey Companion: a much improved model with a huge quantity of new entries and new features. David was impressed to find the shield with 'three mice courant' as the cover illustration.

After dinner we said a lot of goodbyes and I went home with Jane and the girls for my last night's sleep in Canada.

October 4

Over breakfast I emailed some photos to piffle list and chatted with Diana in LA, finalising arrangements for her to collect me at the airport. I was to look for a shortish woman with dark hair, wearing light green shirt and black jacket. Easy!

I packed up again and Jane, Miranda and I headed off for a quick scenic tour of some of the bookshops of Toronto. First stop was a lovely book exchange near Jane's place where I bought a book present for Jane and one for me. We also found Strong Poison for Miranda to read.

Then it was time for lunch, dim sum at a family favourite restaurant. We couldn't spend too much time over lunch as there were plenty more bookshops to visit.

Contact Editions was next on the list, a huge bookshop with some new books but mostly second hand. I was very restrained here, buying only one medieval history book and Gaudy Night as a present for Miranda. Miranda showed much less restraint having a wonderful time finding books for her University course, mostly early European History but with smatterings of her love for all things Egyptian added in as well.

Sleuth of Baker Street was our last bookshop stop. Here I had a lucky find: an old John Rhode detective fiction book for only C$4.

Jane decided that we could tour past downtown Toronto on the way to the airport so we set off down through one of the pretty ridge districts into the central city area. The traffic seemed much worse than normal for a Friday mid-afternoon but we managed to see some interesting things like major cathedrals, Union Station, a movie being shot and the place where Jane works. The traffic was getting worse and worse so we took a different road to the airport. Tuning into the radio on the way we discovered that there had been a big gas leak at a construction site in the city and a lot of the central area had been evacuated - no wonder there was traffic.

By this time we were well clear of the chaos and made it to the airport in plenty of time for my flight. Plans have been made for Jane and the girls to come and visit Australia so I hope it happens soon.

Customs and immigration were a long delay, taking about one and a half hours to get through to the waiting area - still with enough time to write up my journal before the flight though.

My time was confused as I'd changed three hours on the flight, but not as confused as Diana's. She is usually a nocturnal person, working mostly at night and sleeping during the day. As she wanted to spend as much time as possible with me on my 24 hour stopover, she had been changing her sleeping habits over the past week with the aim of switching to a daytime sequence instead.

So we chatted while Diana showed me her wondrous collection of hats, then we swapped photos and had a lovely dinner with Diana, her husband, Peter and son, Paul.

October 5

Brilliant Californian sunshine greeted me on Saturday morning. It was still early so I spent some time quietly playing on my computer waiting for the others to wake. Diana had arranged for us to have brunch with Mary Katherine, another piffle friend.

This was at an omelette café where I ordered Eggs Benedict and they were lovely. Although we were all rather full after breakfast, Diana and Mary Katherine decided that I couldn't leave USA without trying a waffle so we ordered one to share with strawberries. Meanwhile we chatted about various things. Mary Katherine had brought Diana and I a copy of the CD which she had just finished producing: a compilation of Bill Monroe songs. We talked about places that I should see in LA in my remaining hours and things I should see if I came back for a longer trip another time.

One of these made of red coral and gold caught my eye and had to be bought. I also had to fossick among the bookshelves to see what treasures could be found.

After our first cup of coffee, Diana and I wandered up the street a couple of shops to another bookshop. This one has a copy of Diana's biography of her grandmother, Onoto Watana. Previously the book had been in the window but a display of book on Buddhism had caused it to be moved aside. The bookshop owner agreed with this and also created a neat sign advising that it was by a 'Local Author'.

Next stop was the hat shop where we tried on a variety of hats, some a lot more suitable than others. Some of the most interesting were by an Australian designer, Helen Kaminsky - probably cheaper back at home.

With Paul in tow, we had a look along the Promenade shopping mall, finding an English goods shop where I bought some Jaffa Cakes to take back to Paul at the office. Diana then drove me around the Santa Monica area and we visited a friend's house so I could see a real Spanish-influence home, complete with backyard.

Then we drove up the coast, looking at the canyons on the way and heading for Malibu. This was fun until we hit a lot of traffic and decided that it was time to head back home.

Thank you for everyone who opened their homes for me and made me so welcome.
It was truly a lifetime experience.