Le moment de vérité

Le moment de vérité (moment of truth) is a challenge-based game show on Radio-Canada (confusingly a television station), and it was the moment of truth for Dominick, Céline, Sandra and Pascal last night. Regular readers will have met Dominick and Céline before, whilst Pascal is Dominick's brother and Sandra is a former teaching colleague in Inukjuak.

The foursome tried out for the show earlier this year (or maybe late last year, I lose track of time so easily these days), and in the summer they got invited on and made their recording, which was finally broadcast light night. Sandra was selected to perform their challenge, which seemed to involve developing the ability to distinguish one red wine from another. I say seemed, because as the whole show was in French I wasn't 100% sure what was going on; Sandra certainly did a lot of smelling, swilling and spitting though, so she was either wine tasting or testing mouthwash.

From what I could make out, the group were given a few days, or possibly weeks (remember what I said about time?) before the show taped to 'train' Sandra for the task, and the training paid off because Sandra aced the challenge on the night, correctly identifying the five wines on display in the two minutes allowed and winning some very handy prizes for herself and the team. She and Pascal both walked away with a variety of computing and photography equipment, whilst it looked as though Dominick and Céline won a holiday to Scandinavia; either that or they won a photograph of a fjord, which wouldn't have been so impressive.

It was great to see my friends on TV, and even greater to see them emerge victorious. It's a good job they didn't have me on the team instead of Sandra though. The only time I've tried my hand at wine tasting was at a vineyard just outside of Cape Town a few years back, and after sampling a number of the local products all I was able to proclaim was, "yep, tastes like wine alright." My lack of a sense of smell would have reduced the challenge to guesswork, whilst my minimal grasp of French would most probably have led to a complete misunderstanding of the rules and seen me attempt to drink the entire contents of all five bottles in the allotted two minutes before collapsing in a drunken heap on the floor.

Now that would be a game show...

And we're back...

After ten most relaxing days of vacation, I am now firmly ensconced back in the North and the blog is finally back online. I hadn't planned such a hiatus from my musings, but with irony of which Ms. Morissette could only dream, I was more busy on holiday than I usually am at work, so blogging ended up being put very much on the back burner.

It was great to see Melanie again, and she still has another week in Canada before she has to go back to the UK for the summer term at her school. She is going to use that week to draw up a list of chores for me, so that when I return home in May I will be suitably occupied until her school year ends in July, at which time she will be coming back out to Canada. Just how many of these chores can be left to the last minute I don't know yet, but I'm sure that I'll be able to work that out soon enough.

So, what were the highlights of my vacation, I hear you ask? Well, I managed to get the haircut I was looking forward to, rather a good one I thought as well, but both Dave and Celine have commented that I must have gone to the same barber as Simon Cowell. Now, I happen to like Simon Cowell so I will take this as a huge compliment, but I don't know if that's what was intended! Alongside the long-awaited haircut I was also able to enjoy my long-awaited return to Tim Horton's - three visits on the first day back alone - and I managed to win three coffees and a donut by rolling up the rim, which is a very good return, given my track record of (not) winning things. I did win a Jimmy Hill football trivia book once on a Radio Bristol phone-in quiz, but that's about it. I wonder how many donuts you could fit on Jimmy Hill's chin...

But I digest.

It was also mighty fine to catch up with friends over the course of the last week, and the normal southern staples of fast internet - yes, Cogeco did finally reconnect us - and being able to drive felt like refreshing novelties. It was also very pleasant to be able to see trees and grass again; I had forgotten what the colour green looked like. One sad happening during the week was the broadcast of the final ever episode of Corner Gas. I admire Brent Butt's decision to end the show whilst it was still at the height of its popularity, but I wish he hadn't made it! Maybe a trip to Dog River will be in order during the summer...

Not long after watching Corner Gas on Monday I had to leave in order to start my journey north, and on Tuesday afternoon I found myself back in Inukjuak, which is still cold and white, but not quite as cold as when I left. My flight was uneventful, although I was treated to a full body search as I passed through security in Montreal. The officer even searched my hair - I kid you not - but unsurprisingly found nothing; maybe he just wanted to admire the fine craftsmanship of my haircut at close quarters. I wonder if Simon Cowell has to go through all this when he flies? Bet he doesn't.

Casting the net

Sunday 7^th September

I am now online, sort of, thanks to someone else's wireless network which is unsecured and cunningly named 'wireless'. The connection is of Shatneresque quality (see my first post), but I have been able to send and receive a few emails and catch up with the outside world. Andy Murray has made it to the US Open final, Lewis Hamilton has won a thrilling Grand Prix only to be demoted to third and England have snuck past the mighty Andorra by a couple of goals. Oh, and Stephen Harper has called a snap election for October, which should serve as the B-Movie to the one in the US in November (although as this is Canada, perhaps that ought to be an 'Eh-Movie'). I haven't missed much, then.

Still no cargo, so had to hand wash smalls and socks. It's a rock 'n' roll lifestyle up here.

Went down to the river with Dominick and Celine this afternoon, and enjoyed a fine couple of hours fishing, skimming stones and eating berries which Celine assured me weren't poisonous. If my blog entries end abruptly in the next day or so, I will know that she was wrong. The landscape by the river is truly beautiful, a fact that one forgets once the snow has come.

No fish were harmed during the writing of this post.