Travel Diary of an Elderly Bahamian Lady in Canada - Thu Sep 16, 2004 12:22 pm

"Come on Mum. Now that we are in Toronto, I want to take you up the CN Tower."

Cn Tower

"What's a CN Tower?" she asked trepidly.

"It's the tallest free standing structure in the world, Mum. There is a revolving restaurant on top."

"Lawd a mercy, don't you get dizzy and upchuck if you is spinning around that high and eating?"

"No Mum, it turns very slowly so that you get a view of the city. Come on, let's have lunch."

"Son, I'll get sick going up the elevator. Look, the elevator is on the outside of the building. It's got glass. It will make me sick."

"Come on, Mum. Here stand at the window of the elevator, so you can see the city as we go up."

"Lawd a mercy, what's that round white building. The roof is moving."

"That's the SkyDome Mum. The Toronto Blue Jays play baseball there. They are rolling back the roof for the game this afternoon."

"The roof moves. That wouldn't do very well in a hurricane!"

"Here Mum, We are at the top. Lets take a look."

"Everything is so flat when you are up so high. The city goes as far as the eye can see. I don't think that I like Toronto. It's too big."

"Come on lets have lunch Mum."

"Lawd a mercy, look at the prices for lunch. I would be satisfied with a sandwich or a burger."

"No we are going to eat here."

"There Mum, did you enjoy lunch."

"I sure did. Ask the waiter for the recipe for that Matriciana sauce. I want to make some for Miss Knowlton."

"Mum, this is a fancy restaurant, they don't give out recipes."

Mum is undeterred. She is a stubborn Bahamian. She asks the waiter for the recipe. The waiter fetches the sous-chef. I introduce Mum as a Bahamian in Canada. He sits down. The sommelier brings a bottle of white wine. Mum gets all friendly and talkative on the wine. The waiter produces some stationery, and the sous chef explains to Mum how to make the sauce, and the little tricks so that the cream won't curdle. Mum likes Toronto a lot more now. She thinks that it is the greatest city in the world. But its still kind of crazy to be eating dinner spinning on top of a 1,500 foot tower. Her grand daughter says "Can you see this far in the Bahamas?" "Of course chile" she replies, "in the Bahamas, I can see all the way to the moon on a clear night."

Niagara Falls is next on the itinerary. As we are driving down the Queen Elizabeth Way, we pass the massive Ford assembly plant in Oakville. "Look Mum, that's where they make cars."

"What an infernal shame that those factories block the views of the lake."

Mum isn't impressed with Hamilton, the steel city with all of its foundries. It is too dirty for her. We take the Skyway over the lake, and finally get to Niagara Falls. Mum can't believe that it is fresh water. "You mean that all that water een salt water?"

Mum stands silently at the railing for several minutes, oblivious of the busload of Hong Kong tourists. As I approach, she wipes a tear and says "I never in my live-long days thought that I would see such a sight."

I point out the United States of America across the water. The American Falls at Niagara are not very impressive at all. The shelf of the falls collapsed. It is nothing like the Horseshoe Falls. Mum is secretly pleased that her new-found country has some bragging rights over the United States.

She thinks that Clifton Street with all of its funhouses, and Madame Tussauds and the Ripleys Believe-it-or-Not Musuem is a waste of space and money. She can't be convinced to go in. I take her to the aquarium at Marineland.

She enjoys the killer whales, and how the trainer rides on its back. She said that it was foolishness to ride a whale, but I secretly saw her giggle and clap when the whale splashed the crowd. I take her to the underwater viewing area where there are Beluga whales.

"Look Mum, those whales swim in the ice water among the all of the icebergs up North."

"I knew that!" she said.

"How?" I asked incredulously. Mum had never every seen a beluga whale before.

"Look," she explained. "Dey is white as a sheet. If dey swam in the sun, they would be black to protect their skin." Couldn't argue with that logic.

We are on the long drive home. We are driving through the Canadian Shield of rock and boreal forest. The girls are asleep in the back seat. Mum is in the front, in the passenger side -- wide awake. I asked her if she was impressed. She said that essentially no -- God had given this country a lot, and a lot was expected in return.

This morning, she went out to milk the goats with Miss Knowlton. Miss Knowlton asked her what she thought of Toronto. "It's too busy, the buildings are too high, the roof moves, but they are great cooks." On Niagara Falls, she pronounced that they oughtta let those whales go back to sea, and level all of those tourists attractions and build apartments so that folks could look out the window and have a view of the falls.

Mum's chatter with Miss Knowlton is refreshing to hear. I think that she was lonely in Freeport. Her and Miss Knowlton have a fire going near the chicken coop. They are mixing wood ashes and goats milk. They are making some of Miss Knowlton's favourite soap. Mum is using my best canoe paddle to steer de pot. I love it. May she live long.

Footnote: Hurricane Frances totally destroyed Mum's house on Grand Bahama. There is nothing to go back too. When I first convinced Mum to come to Canada, it was just to ride out the storm. However I am convinced that Mum has ESP. One of the items that was in her suitcase, was a package tightly wrapped in plastic. It was her meagre store of photographs -- a lifetime of treasured pictures in a small package. As it turns out, she had brought all of her valuables to Canada with her. She lost furniture and clothes in the Bahamas, and that was it. She is convinced that the winds of Frances carried the will of God for her, and that her destiny was pre-ordained for her by her Creator's hands.

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