Canadialand!

So, first of, being picked up at 5.45 sucks. There is no nicer way to say this, it is par excellence a time that you should only see when you stay up to experience it, never because you wake up for it. And yes, I now sunrises are romantic, but let's face it, DVDs have them in better colour than real life.

But, having stood up at fudging5fudgingo-fudgingclock in the morning, being woken up by your mother singing in the shower, you might as well make the best of it. In my case, the best means grumbling nigh-uncontrollably until you hit the airport. At that point, the grumbling turns into so much despairing eyes raised towards the heavens that my occular muscles have developed carpal tunnel.

But it is actually very nice and warming to be coddled in the warm and inviting bosom of my family, even if that warm and inviting bosom is also remarkably stuffy and for some reason stuffed with dead animals. I kid you not, every single story either starts with a dead animal or ends with one. Unlike most of my conversations however, none ends with a punchline.

Eight hours of not sleeping later, we land in Toronto, at remarkable temperatures and practically no cloud coverage. This in no way explains the turbulence we had, I think we hit a deer or something at 10000 meters.

We've been here for two days now, catching up with the local shoots of our large and remarkably uniform family tree. I'm not able to post pictures, as my camera has not actually achieved thelepathy, but I will soon enough. So far, it's been a lot of fun.

I've not actually caught up on my sleep, as these people seem to be physically unable to go to bed at a reasonable hour, which explains why I can't actually anecdote at you just yet, but I'll be back after tomorrow, when I am going to a church service, after which we have a two-hundred person dinner, after which we have a surprise party. My horoscope actually says that what looks like a family gathering will turn into a date-like situation. It's going to be interesting, this church thinks gay men should be killed. I agree, obviously, for the most part, but not in my own, specific, case.

Wish me luck,
Kevin