Lassitude and vigour

It's surprising (or I've forgotten) how listless a short ailment can make you feel. All winter I escaped colds and flu but this week some virus or other attacked me and all I wanted to do for a few days was laze around or sleep. It made me wonder if that passive acceptance of old age—and the loss or renunciation of all worldly goods—that so impressed my sister when she observed the poorest of the poor in India might not be due, at least partly, to their not being in good enough health for any other attitude of mind.

Having said that, I have no right to pontificate on this subject whatsoever because I've never even set foot in India. I have read A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry which gave me a sort of inkling, but that's about as far as it goes.

At the other extreme from the sadhus and such people, the privileged young Canadians with whom we've been mixing recently are positively bouncing with energy, ambitious to cram in as much activity as possible before they get down to the serious business of running their adult lives. Last Sunday, grabbing a breakfast-to-go, Chris and I made our way to the flying club unwontedly early, where he was chief organiser of a Fly Day for three troops of scouts, turning up likewise early in their smart uniforms to line up for flights as first time "co-pilots" in club volunteers' planes, one of which was PTN, of course. "I've delegated everything!" said Chris, who all the same was immediately swept up in responsibilities. Organising events is bound to be a headache; he had been lying awake wondering if we'd be able to supply enough cushions for the younger children in the cockpits and other such details. Before getting involved in the "meeting and greeting" part of it myself, I first had to drive home again to serve those two 17-year-old girls in the photo a quick breakfast before dropping them at 8:30 at the National Library on Parliament Hill where they had a full day ahead of them (it was 10p.m. before we picked them up).

The weather for the Fly Day was just right and twenty-five scouts, bar the one or two who'd felt queasy, went home well satisfied. Several of the accompanying adults had the opportunity to go up as well. I took as many photos as I could of the aircraft and their occupants as did one of the scout leaders.

The programme for the Adventure in Citizenship in which our guests participated went as follows:

(Sunday)
Address from a Citizenship Court Judge
Speech from an M.P.
"Law and Citizenship" Mock Trial
Coach tour of Ottawa
Tour of War Museum
French-Canadian dinner, musical entertainment and country dancing at the ski lodge

(Monday, 7:45a.m - 9p.m.)
Address from the pages and by the clerk of the House of Commons
Address by the Speaker of the House of Commons
Guided tour of Parliament
Presentation by an Association of Former Parliamentarians
Lunch and group photo at the Parliament buildings
Tour of the RCMP Training Academy
Presentations by a panel of foreign diplomats and a panel of Canadian diplomats
"Skits" presented by the students (goodness knows when they had time to prepare for this!)

(Tuesday, 8:30a.m. - 11p.m.)
Presentations and discussions at Carleton University including one on "Conflict Resolution"
A quiz game about Canada
Formal reception by Members of Parliament
Dinner dance at a downtown hotel

(Wednesday, 8:15 a.m. till mid-afternoon)
Attendance at a special session of the Citizenship Court
Formal luncheon (sic) and speeches by Rotarians and students representing each province at the Congress Centre

Then they could fly home. (Brie's journey home was going to take about 9 and a half hours.)