In honor of this great day, I am proud to bring you (And by 'proud', I mean 'slightly abashed') ...
Pancakes Saved My Cab Fare
A Canada Day Parable
From Which One May Take What Lessons One Can
So, our story begins yesterday, or this morning, take your pick. I'll go with this morning, 'round 11 to be precise. Mecha arose, and staggered to the wonderous interweb in order to awake.
The wonderous interweb informed Mecha that it was the first of July, and this provoked a furious spinning of wheels as our hero tried to reconcile the world in his head with the world his head was in. You see, due to a valiant but utterly wrong headed bit of reasoning yesterday, Mecha thought it should really be the 31st.
On finding this odd schism between the expected and actual date, Mecha promptly went all buggy eyed as the words 'Shit! Rent! flashed behind his eyes in letters of flame. A mere 30 seconds later, a after much flopping around, trying to use a phone through a shirt while putting on one's trousers and tying ones combat boots, a taxi was called, and Mecha was a headin' for the door.
And then he stopped. Yet another look of confusion as he said 'Why do I smell pancakes?' At this point, Alfred enters the scene spatula in hand, and waves good morning, prompting the question 'Are you supposed to be at work?' The reply coinciding, as happes so often, with the questioner arriving at the conclusion his own self, has already been given away by the title, or even a Calender. Consider;
If pancakes are being made, Canadian Tire is closed. If Canadian Tire is closed, It's a holiday. If it's a holiday, the banks are closed. If the Bank is closed, rent will wait. If rent will wait, I should cancel that taxi.
And that, dear friends, is how Pancakes Saved My Cab Fare.
Nah, my ever increasing haplessness quotient of the day allowed me to look in a slightly different place than usual for the Edit link as soon as I posted to the effect that I couldn't. If anyone needs me, I'll be under my bed.
Oh, I forgot to say, HAPPY CANADA DAY! This makes me think of my grandmother, born in Glencoe Mills, near Mabou, NS. Two of her surviving sisters still live down the road from the house where she was born in 1909 and the churchyard where their parents and two other siblings are buried. She went to a one-room schoolhouse (now the Parish Hall) and the old anthem, 'The Maple Leaf Forever', was one of the first things the Gaelic-speaker learned in English. Of course, as they say, you can't eat the scenery, so the Depression forced her and some of her six sisters to leave for jobs in Detroit. One of the proudest moments of her life was when she showed her two daughters, including my mom, both with Master's degrees, the houses she used to clean as a maid in Grosse Pointe. She was a US citizen since 1946 and lived and died in Brooklyn and basically was your typical American-Dream-come-true type, but she loved Canada and went back whenever she could, even during the war with four kids when it took five days by train!
I might be coming to NS later this summer, so I'll see if I can link up with some Buffistas. Any Cape Bretoners here?
Great story! Are pancakes A Thing That's Done today? Is it politically incorrect to add American cheese*? Does the choice of English Colby or French brie for a snack depend on what province you're in?
* just kidding, American cheese is always incorrect. Bleeech.
Originally, but not currently.
Aha. Besides, you think it would be beer today.
Well, there's no tradition of pancakes that I know of, but the Lion's Club does a free pancake breakfast in the Grand Parade (public square in front of city hall) and another next to the Dartmouth ferry terminal. I didn't bother going this year - e have left-over cherry clafouti which is plenty yummy, despite having maliciously not risen at all. Still better than pancakes from a mix.
I don't think we have any posters living in Cape Breton - all of us Nova Scotians are in the Halifax area.
Oh, as to that, the actual pancakes aren't related to Canada Day, as far as I know. It's just that they're the only thing my roommate knows how to cook. I just didn't expect pancakes to be cooking at that particular time.
And Caroma, Halifax isn't all that far from CB, if you were looking to wave at posters. Hell, I hitched there and back the week before last.
