May Long Weekend (May two-four to Ontarioans, regardless of what dates it falls on. I know – weird.) has usually coincided with the first camping trip of the year. May is usually a wet month wherever you are in Canada, and Ottawa is no exception. Therefore, those May camping trips are 50% warm, sunny and activity-filled, and 50% dreary, depressing and spent hiding under a tarp city.
We had talked about camping for May Long Weekend 2006, but various things got in the way. In retrospect, it was a good decision. The weather forecast for Ottawa is rain, followed by rain with periods of rain.
May Long Weekend takes on a different meaning as well, as it’s now our anniversary. Not that there was much danger of me forgetting the date, but having it coincide with a statutory holiday is really quite handy. Unfortunately, I fly out at 7am on holiday monday, so the celebration has to be a bit early.
Finally, May Long Weekend is the official start of Summer Beer Drinking Season (SBDS). I (and several people I know) enjoy beer. There are few beers I don’t like. But I haven’t come anywhere close to trying them all.
Therefore, this summer I’ll embark upon a virtual Tour of Ontario Craft Breweries, the first step towards trying every beer on earth. Gotta start somewhere …
Care to join me?
(PS – Happy 30th Birthday Crispy!)
Shannen - I am THRILLED that we decided against camping this weekend. I can’t say I’ll never camp in the rain again, but with three full days of rain in the forecast and a rambunctious pooch sharing the tent with us this time around, I can say that I wouldn’t survive more than one night out there. Tarp city or no tarp city.
I like camping. But I love dry camping.
Kel - Ah! So Crispy IS a person! And he or she smells.
Now I know.
Obsessively,
Me.
EAP - May Two-four? May long weekend? What is this crap?
Just to set the record straight, it’s called the Victoria Day weekend. It commemorates the May 24 birthday of our longest-serving monarch, Queen Victoria. This is what happens when they stop teaching history in the schools.
And the unofficial name of the holiday is “Firecracker Day”. May Two-Four indeed!
EAP
dan - Touche, EAP, touche.
Now if you’ll just explain the “Civic Holiday” we get in August … who was Civic? Why is he just as important as Vicky? Why not Liz?
Dan
EAP - The August Bank Holiday, as it’s known in Britain, or Civic Holiday in Canada is just an excuse for a long weekend in the summer.
I’m afraid Liz will have to die before they rename the holiday after her. Given the way Canadians shun our British heritage nowadays, however, an awful lot of other people would have to die before we ever got another holiday named after a British monarch! 😉
EAP