Back in the USSR

The drive home was a success. It was a great success from Ottawa to North Bay where the roads were bare. The drive from North Bay to Cochrane was pretty bad. Luckily for me, I felt drowsy at this point and let Vero drive for awhile. But it was pretty bad. There were a few times where I decided to stay in the non-passing lane because it was too icy to pass anything. However, that doesn’t stop 20 other cars from passing me and then I have thoughts of one of them side-swiping me!

In the end, we counted 10 cars in the ditch on the way up and one was just past Moonbeam and was flipped right over. They were alright so we continued on the trip. It took us 10 hours so it wasn’t that bad of a trip. We played Christmas trivia and had lively discussions with Krista (who was getting a ride).

We dropped by the Konopelkys where my parents were having a drink and we relaxed for awhile and then headed back home for the night. After some beers, great pizza and watching the Beatles Help! film, Vero and I headed out to the Legion where everyone was. Maureen also showed up for a beer and we had a good laugh when realizing that we were both wearing the same outfit – red sweater and jeans! I proclaimed “You have the town to yourself for the entire year, this is my town for one week! Go home and change!”.

It was nice seeing some familiar faces and the band was in top form. My highlight of the night was when Bruce called me up to sing and we thought Back in the USSR would be a good fit. Luckily for me that I had been practicing this song for the past few months so the lyrics were fresh in my inebriated mind (as opposed to all the lack of memory on all other lyrics in this world!). So I was impressed with myself and we had a good time once we figured out what key to sing it in. Special thanks to the band for allowing me to sing on one number. I’ve included one photo which shows me in my rocking stance. I was telling Vero that it’s a different feeling being up there without a guitar as I don’t really know how to stand so I just tried to think of the greats; Robert Plant, Bono, Mom…and channeled that energy into the performance. I was offered the guitar at first but figured that it would be hard enough remembering the lyrics let alone playing with the entire band!

Highlights:

• What was with the draft beer that night? I swear there was definitely some sugar added to it.
• I have no recollection of how this started but somehow the slogan for Mike was that he was Hepatitis Free so every time we saw him we cheered this fact. Let it be clear that Mike has never had hepatitis!
• Seeing Brent take the drums for a few songs.

All in all, a good first night back home. It was good to see Danny and Carol as they are heading out fairly soon during the Christmas break as they have to go back to work.