Access to This Blog

Google or someone has been messing about with this blog, which means I cannot get acces usining Google Chrome, but I managed to get in using Internet Explorer

The Answer to What's Next?

Well, I had a letter from Bill Boyd a couple of weeks ago. Bill is a past RI President and will be the Chairman of the Rotary Foundation Trustees in 2011/12. He invited me to accept his invitation to become Regional Rotary Foundation Coordinator for Zone 17 of RI which, of course, I did without hesitation. So, another chapter begins in my Rotary life. Not sure it will demand a continuation of this blog but I may post some highlights now and then.

Sunday 4th July - District Handover 1150

A very pleasant day at the Aberafon Beach Hotel for Donna's Handover. It started with lunch with the formalities to follow. I made a short speech about the past year and then installed Donna who went on to instal all her key officers. This year we had the winner of the Young Musician Final as entertainment, together with a children's choir. All in all a great day of fellowship with the formal handover complete and me now a has-been.

I suppose that this is the end of this blog. I hope those who are regular readers have found it interesting. Above all else this is my electronic scrapbook so I am now seeking ways to download it for posterity. Thanks to all those who have helped and encouraged me over the past three years.

Bye Bye

Thursday 1st July - First Official Day as IPDG

Today I am officially out of office. I tested out some of the stuff I used to have access to on the RI site and lo and behold I could do so no longer. A call to Donna to offer a welcome and congratulations and I settled down to start writing up this blog. Had a few very nice calls from folks congratulating me on a successful year, which was very welcome. What do I do now........

Wednesday 30th June - Home again!

We were in Orpington by 0900hrs on Wednesday and went straight to bed.

After 4 hours sleep we travelled home, arriving at about 1600hrs, unpacked and just got used to being at home again. Toby had mowed the grass so everything was fine. Good lad!! Getting back to normal took me a day or so but Edwina was back in school on Thursday.

Slightly out of sync, but time now for getting the head straight, sorting things out and dealing with outstanding emails while the washing machine is grinding away.

Tuesday 29th June - By train to Montreal and by air to Heathrow

A day to say farewell to our hosts and travel home.

Bruce was busy putting his accounts together for the two day home hosting and Dorothy was due in Kingston at 1045hrs, so she took us into town, showed us around a little and dropped us off at the station. Our train was due at 1200hrs but it was running 30 minutes late, which did not matter, but we did come across some Rotarians from Los Angeles whose flight was earlier than ours, and they were panicking a bit.

We had to wait a little at the airport before they would take our bags - I had checked in online - and then we went airside to have something to eat and do some duty free shopping. Getting on the plane was a bit chaotic but it just about left on time at 1940hrs. The flight was very full and consequently it was not easy to doze off and some of the on-board entertainment was not working but we got through it and the plane landed early.

We were near the front of the plane so we were off pretty quickly, through immigration without a hold-up, got our bags and met Grandbill in the car park.

Monday 28th June - A trip to Ottawa

A hot day in prospect we set off to Ottawa (no pun intended) to have a day as tourists in the Federal Capital. Bruce had arranged to meet up with some other Rotarians who had the same plan. Another two and a half hour drive and we were buying tickets for the open top tour bus which left at 1130hrs. This gave us a good overview of the city.

It is in two halves, one is English speaking and the other, known as Gatineau, over the river Ottawa, which is French speaking. Interestingly Kingston was the original Federal Capital but it was far too close to the US - in the days of border skirmishes - and it did not really have a French dimension - so, from the alternatives offered to her, Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as a replacement. We hopped off the bus for lunch, which turned out to be a small mistake, because getting back on another later one turned out to be very time consuming, and we waited in the heat of the day with the sun beating down.

Off next to the Parliament building, based on our own, to have a tour of the grounds and inside. This was very interesting and the guides did their jobs well.

We even had time to go to the top of the Peace Tower, a clock tower a little like St Stephen's tower, to get the panoramic views over the city.

There is a canal, the Rideau, that was constructed in the 19th century from Kingston to Ottawa, joining up a number of lakes. It is no longer used commercially and like our own canal system is mostly used by pleasure craft. We could see some of the locks from the clock tower.

When we had finished the tour, time was marching on, so we split off from our other friends and headed back to Howe Island along the route of the canal, stopping off at Merrickville for dinner just across from the locks.

Then it was back to Howe Island using Bruce's second sight navigational prowess. The rest of us did not have clue where to turn at junctions mainly because the Canadians do not seem to have signposts, but Bruce just trusted his judgement  and got us home safely.