Oui, alors! I am all packed and dressed in a traddy Girl Guide leader uniform, for I have been invited to be the leader's second-in-command until the real second-in-command can escape her workplace.
The camp will be in a field somewhere to the north-west of Dundee. I will be interested to see whence our water will come, and if we shall have to dig our own latrine. I see that flour and sugar bulk hugely in our rations, so I have stashed survival fats and proteins. After these considerations, I am curious about how I am going to return to Edinburgh on Thursday. Apparently there is a bus. Will someone drive me to the stop? Will I be walking to this stop? Stay tuned.
Meanwhile I rejoice in a brand-new 60 litre rucksack. Although I have lived in Scotland for seven years and can pass for a native until I open my mouth, I compulsively sewed a Canadian flag to this bag. It just seemed wrong and unCanadian to appear in public with an enormous backpack without a maple leaf. You can take the Canadian out of Canada, but you can't take the Canada out of the Canadian.
It's funny, though, as I can now let various Canadian holidays--Dominion Day, Thanksgiving, Hallowe'en--go by without a qualm or a special dish, and when Scots ask me if I'm American, I do not get annoyed. However---sew, sew, sew, quite heedless of B.A.'s warnings that I'd "destroy the membrane."
"Don't be silly," said I. "Every Canadian on earth sews the Maple Leaf to their backpack."
It's true. We can't help it.
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