Noel via Moncton, bien sûr!

Christmas activity comes early in the ronniecat household.

That's partly due to necessity. I am still at a loss to understand why I can send a birthday card to a friend in Brandon, Manitoba, two days before her birthday, and have my "Hope it was happy!" greeting become redundant when she emails me the day before her birthday to say she received it, yet sending a letter, card or package to my assorted family in Newfoundland is the rough equivalent of tossing it in a waterproof casing into the Saint John River and hoping it makes its final destination on time.

It's not like the mail isn't all transported by plane in Canada over any significant distance. And it isn't like there aren't planes flying in and out of several airports in Newfoundland each day. It feels kind of like doing one of those big, thick, chunky puzzles with only 16 pieces, designed for 3-5 year-olds, and still not being able to make the picture of the bee and the flower.

Anyway, my point (and I do have one) is that I have determined that in order to ensure that Christmas pressies are in the hands of my Newfoundland-based family, I have a self-imposed deadline of having them in the mail by December 1st (or, if that is impossible, the first week in December). That means I start thinking about Christmas presents for my family in October and chasing them down or making them in October and November. (I go a lot for "quirky". I buy a lot of my gifts on eBay or make them.)

So, after discovering that a recent eBay find that was perfect for my Mom was just a couple of hours' drive away in Moncton, I emailed the seller and asked her if I could pick up the item in person, since we pop over there to shop regularly anyway. So Sunday we did.

Moncton. Ah, Moncton. City of lights. City of magic. City of contrasts. French - and English. Cosmopolitan - and provincial. Upscale - and sleazy. White, blue, and no-collar.






A city where strip clubs...









...and schools...






sidle side-by-each to each other, and while nobody seems to like it, nobody is quite sure what to do about it.

At least the owner isn't sending in recruiters, nor, as far as we know, has stripping been added to the career day curriculum.

ronnie