Also...P.E.I!!!!!

I forgot to say a few things on the other post.

For one, I saw my first ever 6 INCH jet black slug. Any ideas, naturalis friends?? It was ENORMOUS!

Potentially amusing story:

I was cycling yesterday on the Isle du Havre aux Maisons, as I said, and at one point, I was walking my freaking bike up the hill (can I just say that I biked over 60 clicks that day, in the wind?? thanks. ). On the other side of the hill, I got back on my bike to coast down, when I see an older couple (maybe 60's?) walking their bikes up the same hill! I stopped and was all chatty saying that I had to walk up too. So the woman is all nice and she says how it's so annoying, she's pushing so hard her back wheel is skidding and she had to dismount! I was like, "uh, yeah, that's my problem too". I'm getting ED by everyone on the paths these days! It was funny anyways :)

You may have noticed that I'm using punctuation! I'm in Souris, the port the ferry stops at from Les Iles de la Madeleine. I was on the boat at 7 this morning, aand I invested in a taxi from the hostel in the early morning. It was a good investment. The ferry trip was mostly good, and partly apalling. the good parts included how I was spending time with the cycling couple I had met over on the Mag. Islands, who were also heading to Souris. The ride was smooths and the view was clear, so I got to see everything. I also had the great pleasure of meeting a lovely young kid called Vincent. He was maybe 5 at best and he wanted to learn to knit, so we knit together in French and soon he was showing me magic tricks. He was so sweet and polite and patient, learning how to knot (sort of). I gave him the sock I had already made, which is fine because I found it hideous, but maybe he'll get a kick out of it. Anyways, we became buddies. That would have made the whole trip for me, except for the one apalling event. Vincent's family was travelling with another family who had two sweet little boys. One of then, maybe 4 years old, was upset that he didn't get a toy or something, and went to the back of the seating area and I guess hid under a seat. The partents didn't notice right away, then when they did the dad was raging. Long story short, the kid is fine, but the dad needs to let off some steam by loudly swearing at the kid and then violently hitting him on the side of the head, twice. Hard.

It's one of those moments where you wonder what to do. I knew that reason is no good in a rage like that, so there wasnothing I could say, really but it made me sick to see. Then all was apparently well, the kid recovered, everyone ignored it, and dad kept bringing 'the little taps to the head" up to remind the kids not to stray. Way t use fear and pain as a way to teach your kids about dealing with problens. Ugh, I still feel physically sick about it. Anyways, it's not often that people feel comfortable enough with their rage to air it out like that,but I tell you, everyone was looking out for those kids after that, andI sure did knit with Vincent as long as I possibly could.

Anyways, i guess I'm here now, and I need to move on too, eh? I wonder if that knows how much he affected tehhe holidays around him, since he seemingly puts a lot of stock in the whole "my kids will loveme anyways' theory. I suppose, in his world might makes right, but I have to say, if you need to beat up a kid who physically and logically can't defend himself AND loves you it's pretty messed up. [Blogger won't let me swear! I'm kind of glad, since I came back to change it anyways. July 11 2005 edit]

Okay. Deep breath!

Tonight I'm at the "Place to Stay Inn and it's a nce quiet hostel. I'll ask for advice on where to stay in Charlottetown, too. This eveing I guess I'm going out to dinner with Frank and Liz, my buddies from the islands, and there's supposed to be live music!

OH YEAH! My pal Kerri from Nova Scotia (met her on the band exchange in high school, yeehaw!) e-mailed me out of the blue, as we talk sometimes. It turns out that she's in Halifax and wants to get together, so yeaterday I called her and now she's going to pick me up from the ferry at the end of this week and we're going camping in Cape Breton! She's going to drive, so I won't have to rent a car, how excellent is that!? Answer: very. If I decide to spend more time on the cabot trail, I'll rent a car for a few days, but it'll be cheaper either way and most importantly I'll get to see my pal. I'm SO delighted. She tells me that my other friend from the same exchange is in BC somewhere, so I'll suss his location out and maybe I can see him later on. Frank and Liz can set me up with a bunch of places to stay all over the place in BC, so that's looking really good already.

So that's really exciting news. I'm off to explore this little town. I hear there's a CIBC over here, so yay no bank machine fees!

thanks for stopping by. Sorry about the strong language, but I sure do have strong feelings. take care everyone
xoxo