First, Bonfire Night. I really was gutted to be missing the 5th of November, particularly as I'm not a huge Halloween-er, and that certainly is a massive deal over here. Edinburgh festivities on Arthur's Seat are always fun, and at home I can never get enough of some proper Yorkshire Parkin. Luckily however, it turned out that some of my other fellow British international students were feeling the same. It is relatively hard to explain to anyone else quite why we get quite so excited about re-enacting capital punishment!
So, come the evening of last Wednesday, a group of us donned our many layers and climbed to the top of Mont-Royal to pretend the colourful lights of the cityscape were rockets and to light some Dollarama sparklers (thanks Luke!) The Dollarama lighter was as good as it sounds, which meant me spent a good 20 minutes huddled together trying to spark up. This led to some shifty glances and us having to reassure, "Don't worry we're not taking drugs, we're just British!" Eventually however one sparkler lit and there began the great sparkler relay to ensure we could light all 40 of them without having to return to our dubious huddle. Needless to say we got far too over-excited, but it was so nice to bring a little tradition from home to Canada.
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| 5th November |
Today marks Remembrance Day, or Jour du Souvenir. The university held a very impressive service, both for students and the public, which Helena and I (among several thousand others) attended. At least eight or nine divisions of the Armed Forces were represented at the service and representatives of the city and province were also present to lay wreathes. There was a helicopter fly over, and a 21 gun salute.
I have previously mentioned how it has been a little eye-opening to come to terms with what it means to live in a Commonwealth country today, and learn what an influence - good, neutral, or otherwise - it continues to have. I was particularly moved by the idea today, having caught up with The Cenotaph broadcast on Sunday and been reminded just how many forces fought for Britain in both of the World Wars. The event of course was of national historical importance for Canada in its own right, and it was a privilege to experience this moment. Unexpectedly, perhaps naively on my part, several phrases of the British national anthem were played at the beginning of the event, and thus the connection was nodded to.
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| 11th November |
I'm not trying to be profound, or to come down on one side or the other about the Commonwealth in anyway. Living here has forced me to think about what I actually do think about the association, and I honestly don't know where I stand. I am just hoping to express what a meaningful moment it was to share in Remembrance in Canada,and find out just how many members of the McGill community were directly involved in the British war effort. They trained on Lower Field, the very location of today's ceremony, and their names can be viewed in McGill's restored Book of Remembrance currently on display in the library. Several of the regiments today were Québecois and thus received their orders in French. I had invited Australian friends to attend with me. In all, a very unifying moment.
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