More Kingston ...

Wow - have been pretty slack on the blogging front of late.

In a tchnological note - the iPad is a bit of a disappointment as a substitute for the laptop when travelling. Hotels tend to have networks that you need a cable to connect to - the iPad has no cable. (I know - 3G - but I would have had to pay for that whereas I have already paid for an internet connection in the hotel room). And the "lite" operating system means that flash and client side scripts tend not to work - so the editor that I am currently typing this in will not work on my iPad (luckily the travelling companions brought a netbook with them). And while the iPad will display my photos fabulously and let me load them to Facebook via an ap - I can't access them to post them here... Any non nerds who are reading this are already asleep - so I will move on.

The rest of our time in Kingston waslargely a family affair. The wedding went well - it was a bit windy, but the rain held off and the bride and groom seem deliriously happy. There were som beautifuld speeches. And there was dancing - with lots of music that I recognised. Of course, made a total fool of myself on the dancefloor as usual - although I hear they played the TimeWarp some time after I left - always sorry to miss that.

We also managed a brunch with the newlyweds before they departed for their honeymoon in Disneyworld with a cruise on the side. They will overlap with us for a day in DisneyWorld - just what any honeymooners want - a chance to catch up with the whole family for a meal.

We managed to fit in a trip to the home of the first Prime Minister of Canada - Sir John A. MacDonald. We are unable to confirm rumours that the "A" in his name is why Canadians add "eh" too any sentence... I also believe that he is unrelated to any hamburger chain and never owned a farm.

The home advertised as his home is only one of the several places in which he lived during his tenure as PM - Kingston being the first town that they tried out as a capital for Canada. Unfortunately, at that time, the PM gig came without either a place to live or a salary - so the poor guy had to move about a bit, probably according to what he was earning from his law practice at that point. I think they choose this place to show as it is one of the nicer places he lived (before the money ran out).

John A had a very illustrious career - united Canada and organised for a railway to be built - but what I like best about him is that he had crazy clown hair (like mine) and that he was rumoured to be a bit of a heavy drinker. People are so wowserish with their Prime Ministers these days!

We also squeezed in a trip to the cottage (scenic as ever) including a paddle on the lake.

On our last night in Kingston, I managed a bit of swing dancing. A google search for lindy hop in kingston before our departure yielded the Limestone swing club - who weren't doing much of anything on the nights I was there. They put me on to the Queens Swing club - who had a beginner class and some social dancing on Monday.

The academic year is just starting here and Queens is the local university - so most members have only been there a week or so and were just attempting their first swing outs. There were a few long timers there though and they were kind enough to do a jam circle and I had some lovely dances.

Unfortunately I didn't get a photo - but we passed a great Canadian sign while driving around in Kingston offering a season ticket for curling including - $399 - including your own shoes, name tag and broom.