At the Gare du Palais, the Quebec railway station which is a destination in itself, with two hours to wait for train to Montreal. The fly is sharing a table with a sparrow who has no shame. It regards the fly with belligerance, for no croissant crumbs are on offer, only une tasse chocolat chaud. But it continues to keep me company, nonetheless.
Yesterday, Quebec was wet and windy. The cruise on the St Laurence, in such conditions, was a bit anti-climactic. The buildings on the shore could still be seen, but without definition. I was grateful for the glorious days preceding. We were entertained by a young chap dressed up in seventeenth century gear who gave a very informative commentary throughout.
Back on shore, and all the gay cafes were looking quite sad, their umbrellas furled, their flowers drooping with the weight of water. No patrons. It must have been a worry for the owners, to lose a whole Sunday of trade in August. The tourist numbers this year, while looking plentiful to me, are very much down on previous years. The Canadian dollar is strong in comparison to the US one, so US people are not coming north, and Canadians are going south.
The fly took the chance to visit the Citadelle - the huge defence installation built by the British in the 1800s. (Knowing one of my brothers at least would be interested in things military). They knew that what was already in place had not stopped them, so more was needed. As it turned out, there were no more attacks, George Washington's attempt on the now-British colony in 1812 was the last. The Citadelle is still operational, one of the Battalions of the Canadian Army is stationed there. Their job is to guard the residence of the Governor -General (second residence, first is in Ottowa). They do a full-dress Changing of the Guard every day, just like at Buckingham Palace. Much military strategy acquired eg. build your fortification in a star shape and the canons fire across each other and no point of access is without surveillance. Same concept as Jeremy Bentham's panopticon really (a bit earlier in time) but its object was to maintain (the illusion of) constant surveillance on prisoners. (pics are in album Quebec three) on Picasa.
The fly's MIG friends will be delighted at the news that a two hour special on the TV covering Will and Kate's visit to Canada was greatly enjoyed. Apart from that, there has been no success in working out the system, if there is one, behind TV in North America. Notable however is the very poor quality of the advertising. Lots of talkiing (shouting) heads. The Gruen Transfer boys would have a field day. Lots of advertising for services (tax agents, retirement planners) rather than products. And directed at older people - but maybe that was because the fly was not watching the TeleToons channel.
The sparrow has flown off in disgust. The fly is off to Montreal.
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