A new government, kind of like the old government

I'm blogging while DeWan, Rita, Rene and Alex are having dinner. The day was filled with thoughts of what a strengthened Conservative minority will bring. Prime Minister Harper has not been a leader on climate change. Worse than his impact in Canada has been his effect on international negotiations. In Bali last year, it was the Canadian delegation that held out to last to minimize the emissions cuts we would be required to make. My deepest concern is that with Mr. Harper deciding on the Canadian delegation that will help shape negotiations in Copenhagen, the whole world stands to suffer.

Nonetheless, it's the government we have, and the one we must work with.

I walked quickly ahead today to get caught up with friends and share news. Alex was wonderful about keeping up and checking on me. There was a chill in the morning air and I had my sweater hood up to keep the wind off my ears. The morning fog lifting up off Silver Lake was spectacular. There were few cars in the morning, it was beautiful.

We all stopped for coffee at the Fall River Country Store, Pub and Grill. It's advertised as "20 minutes west of Perth, Ontario", but I can assert that walking it's a lot more than 20 minutes. They focus on locally grown organic foods, and are powered by the sun. During the summer, they operate longer hours and have a coffee house next door that serves organic, fair trade coffee. This time of year, the restaurant operates only for bus tours. Fortunately, they had brewed up some coffee and made some muffins and pressed both on us, refusing payment.

Towards the afternoon, a black and white dog followed me for several kilometres. Finally, sitting with Alex in the car, I turned to him and said "Go home!" He looked at me and dropped his head and trotted a few steps away. When I repeated the order, he took another few steps back, and looked back sadly at us. Eventually, we persuaded him to go home. He's a nice dog, whoever he is.

Shortly after this, the road widened and the trucks roared past, kicking up dust that got in the teeth. I was glad we had decided to switch to Highway 10 after Perth. Wolfe joined us yet again. He is full of interesting information.

In the mid-afternoon, DeWan had another interview with the BBC. We've had a fair amount of local coverage and some international, no real pickup from the national media. We all arrived well ahead of schedule, and spent the early evening sitting together and chatting.