Day 28. Sept 3 2001

A stay at home day for the most part.

We took a trip up through Shaftsbury, a city on a plateau with spectacular views all about.

You can see the ancient defensive motivation while at the same time enjoying the beauty it produced.

The major thing we did todays was watch Colin fly his gliders. We climbed a narrow track directly opposite the Stourhead folly tower. We stood on the grassy sides of a steep hill and launched delicate winged gliders into the buffeting wind and the listened to their eerie howl as they climbed the currents of air.

  They were spectacular as they seemed to glide effortlessly above the greenery but looking at Colin and the beads of sweat on his forehead as he struggled to keep his craft aloft dispelled that notion.

 
Colin cracked up one glider while landing and brought the other craft into a perfect landing.
Then, with the wind picking up, we abandoned the hilltop for the safety of Colin’s driving. He took us on the poor mans tour of the Stourhead gardens, peering in from the road we saw the grotto, the lake, the replica pantheon and could only dream about having that money.

The rest of the day was mostly quiet, spent in conversation with the Ormans and each other.
We had a long conversation about what it means to be Canadian and what vitues Canadians hold dear. Both Heather and I found as we talked that we loved how the new generation of Canadians had been brought up with the a belief that we have a right to access all cultures and not only study them but experience them to their fullest.

We also felt proud that we are striving to be ethnicity and nationality blind. As a country built of immigrants it would not behoove us to be so worried about the states and nations we have left behind except to admire all that is good in our mother cultures. I say this knowing it is not fully true but that it is a goal that we would even think about striving towards makes us feel good.

What I have written makes no sense, so I must mean every word of it.


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