A weekend reuinion in Toronto!

The infamous Mel Wolter and I have been separated for far too long now after many years of being partners in crime in Perth. The last time we were lucky enough to have some time together was in 2007 when Mel popped over to Amsterdam for a weekend to visit to we were long over due for a catch up! (Yes yes we spoke almost every week on the phone for a good hour … still its not the same as sharing life stories over a glass or 10 of wine!) 

Ottawa is a 4.5 hour drive from Toronto – A meer stones throw! After settling into Ottawa and surviving my first week at work it seemed the perfect time to head down (across??) to Toronto for some QT with Mel and her better half Geoff!

We set off at a reasonable hour on Saturday morning after having our first night in a real bed in 2 weeks. The road trip there was very uneventful and we found Mel’s place without any trouble. The reunion was as you would expect. We squealed, hugged, jumped around and squealed again. We’ll never grow out of it. You can all stop hoping.

After the initial squeals died down we headed up to have some quality time with the boys. This proved difficult given that Joep’s face lit up with glee upon seeing the playstation … Xbox doesn’t work here. He was supposed to check this before we left Holland. He didn’t. He now has a perfectly good Xbox and may games that he cannot use. Thankfully he got his money’s worth from the Xbox in the last few months but he is currently suffering from withdrawals from lack of computer game playing… so needless to say, the sight of a perfectly good playstation sitting unplayed drove the poor Joepinator to distraction so we put him out of his misery and let the boys play their games while we caught up … HA! That is such a lie. A big fat one … mother ship, there would be a black line down my tongue right now if you could see me. Mel and I encouraged the boys to play the playstation so we could gossip about life over the past months without any distractions =)

Gossiping out of the way, we managed to tear the boys away from their game to head out to check out the city and grab a bite for dinner. Mel had chosen a FAB spot for us! The food was delicious and the cocktails were the best I have had in a long time! In addition the wait staff were fantastic!! 

The only downside of the dining experience was the music. Normally this shouldn’t ruin an evening … it didn’t ruin ours but did provide us with hours of entertainment. Every single good song that was played by the dj was mixed with loud sirens. It was horrific. Joep encouraged me at one stage to request something other than what was playing. I accepted the challenge and asked the dj if he would play a request. He said maybe and asked what I wanted. I asked for a Michael Jackson number (Joep’s request). He abruptly said that no that would not be possible. I then asked him if that was because he would only be playing awful music all night. He answered yes … then hesitated … processed my question and gave me a filthy look. I laughed.

I then turned around to find Joep standing in the middle of the dance floor with his hands over his ears screaming ‘Make the sirens stop! Make the sirens stop!’ Mel was nearby laughing heartily and Geoff had taken it upon himself to have a good talking to bar manager to let him know that the music was really causing some problems with their dining experience.

Phew! Mel & I eventually rounded up the boys (are noticing a theme here?? How many of you Perth-ites would ever have imagined that Mel & I would be the responsible ones in any outing? How times have changed …) and we headed off to the next bar.

The next bar saw us hitting the dancefloor for a good groove shaking session. Whilst dancing around a large (large … massive …) security lady walked by me. Geoff then told me a story re her being the scariest security guard in the city which is impressive coz she’s a chick.

After hearing the story I turned to find Joep on the dancefloor … spinning the massive security guard around! Whilst doing this he was grinning like a monkey and shouting ‘360! 360!’ I don’t know what was going on. But she loved it and the 3 of us were provided with yet more entertainment!

The rest of the evening past by in a blur of drinks, dancing and laughs before we headed for the nearest pizza joint for a pre-bedtime snack.

Sunday morning rolled around far too quickly and after a bit of a sleep in and a looooong breakfast Joep and I hit the road back to Ottawa … never fear! We are only 4 hours away from another reunion! Plans are already being made …