Day 24 - Service Canada and Ottawa

We left the coach at 8:15 for a quick breakfast at Tim Hortons (Ah, Canadian), and then a session with Service Canada to have some data changes to Suzanne's records - it seems she didn't change her name on her Social insurance account after our marriage 35 years ago, and this is causing pension problems. We also had to renew our passports. Fearing a day long wait, we arrived at the office early. Surprisingly, we were ushered right in and the name change issue was handled quickly and with little fuss.

For the passports, we had to go downstairs in the shopping center and get photos taken at the local Wal Mart. That done, and having filled out the necessary forms (very short if you are renewing!), it was back upstairs to get the processing done. We were done in no time, and were out the door by 11:00 am. Cheers for Service Canada!

Of course, the passports will be 4 weeks in coming and will have to be sent to Rick and Lynne Bennett's house in Ottawa since we will be on the road and the passports have to be signed for. Hope Suzanne doesn't need her passport to get back into the U.S.! I'm OK since I have a U.S. passport too.

We stopped for lunch at Kristy's, a local eatery on Richmond Road, that we had frequented often when we lived in Ottawa. Nothing had changed, the food was still good - and inexpensive. After lunch, we took a short tour of the areas where we had lived to see how our former residences were faring - not well in the case of our first house in Hunt Club. It is a poor state of repair and the yard, which we took care of meticulously, is "jungle like."

Back to the coach to take care of administrative matters, then around 4 we headed over to Rick and Lynne's. The idea was to see how Dixie like water - not at all. I was in the pool and Suzanne handed me Dixie. The legs were going a mile-a-minute before she ever hit the water. She was panic struck, thrashing away trying to get out. Not a competent swimmer to say the least - more like a "sinker". After I lifted her out of the pool, she wouldn't come near any of us for about 15 minutes! Ah, the betrayers! Needless to say, no more swimming for Dixie! Hell, she wouldn't even go near her water bowl for over an hour!

Later we went over the Dennis and Susan Gibson's for a rib dinner. Wow, can Susan ever cook great ribs! Not bad for a lawyer! The dinner and company were great, and we had a most enjoyable evening. Unfortunately, my early morning work schedule meant we had to leave before we would have like to.

Tomorrow, Suz is taking a day off, and I am golfing at the Hunt Club with many of my old buddies. This will be followed by beer and dinner as is traditional for Wednesdays! Until then, Cheers!

John, Suz and Dixie the (non-swimming) Wonderdog

P.S. Sorry no pictures yet. This Internet connection sucks!