Wednesday afternoon saw most of us meet up at Toronto Airport for the long journey home after everyone getting checked in online. We got through to the gate and then it was pointed out that we had not seen David and Fiona - they didn't appear on the plane either and we have not heard from them......so please, David and Fiona if you read this please get in touch and let us know that you are ok and only missed your connection.....

Finally, we have already had brief discussions on the next tour to be organised - once we have everything sorted out for this one we will get the show on the road with organisation for the next tour!

Hope you all had a ball - I know I did......off to book a holiday now (ok ok I can dream - just need one to get over this one!)

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SCOTLAND 106 - CANADA 126

This aint great but unfortunately we didn't get round it.........

Unable to type anymore and no help from anyone else we are heading our own
ways tomorrow.....New York here we come!!!

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The first session took to the ice where they had a relatively tough time with only Trevor coming out on top with a very close 9-8 win. He reckons the highlight to his game was taking a 4 in the second end.

Ian Kerr was unlucky with his close game with his team losing 4-5 and a slightly higher difference of 3-10 to Raymond and 2-11 for Gordon.

Julie and Irene continued with their tradition of drinking Labatt Blue and Irene is away for an early night now.... Julie is on the rum.....

The second session saw things slightly better although Arthur was drawn against the club's strongest team and shook hands after the 7th end on a 15-1 defeat. Alex Bryden was also down in points with Alex Dickson and John McDermott and their teams coming out on points to bring us back to a very respectable Scotland 94 - Canada 94. It was brought to our attention later that changes had been carried out in one of the Canadian teams without the consultation and agreement with the opposition so we made a committee decision and voided the game bringing the totals to

SCOTLAND 96 - CANADA 92!

The friendliness and hospitality shown at this rink in 2004 was repeated today with an evening meal being provided and the teams sitting with their opposition for many hours. One even went as far as to bringing in his "Milk Bottle" which had some of the amber nectar in it and shared it with his Scottish opposition.

The day ended with an "ice ball" fight between Susan and Chris on the way back to the bus and Susan received a sore face...

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Thereafter we had a wonderful evening meal; and a Ceilidh where Lena received a presentation of a lovely bouquet of flowers from her hubby back in Scotland for her 28th wedding anniversary and young Batty got his first dance with his surrogate Ma!

Brenda finally got her thumb’s up in the shape of a Saltire and Arthur finally relented and got his aswell.

Quote of the day from Muriel “I didn’t have time to go to breakfast, I was too busy scrubbing ma gusset!!! To which the reply from a certain person was “What’s a gusset?????!!!!!!”

We left the final score today as
SCOTLAND 88 – CANADA 84!!!

Woohoo!!!

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After arriving at the Rideau CC Trev walked to the Ottawa Curling Club and bought a pair of Balance Plus shoes so he didn’t have to borrow and stink out Raymond, John’s, and Chris's shoes anymore!!! Chris is getting a $20 refund from Trev now!!!!

In the first five game session the RCC won four out of five games.

The after noon session saw the Scots winning all three games with each game going to the last stone of the last end.

And we are now so far ahead now that we cant remember what else happened apart from picking Jamie up from the airport so he has finally got here!

We will leave you with a rendition of one of the tour songs “The Herring’s Heid”…..
Or I would if I could find the right version online…….any of you that know us will know the version we are talking about……and how endless it is!

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Raymond, who had partaken in whisky and vodka sampling the previous evening and practiced his Russian to those that were willing to listen, was one that decided to head off to bed.  On waking he found that the house keeping staff had been in and serviced the room.  A panic soon came over him when he found that cash and cards were no longer in his “purse”.  News travelled so fast that those at the curling club soon heard of his predicament, and worried for a moment and then went shopping!!!

A session of bin-hoaking thereafter followed and he found the contents of his purse in the trash can.  In order to catch up with us he took a taxi to the curling club at a cost of $51 – an expensive lesson learned.

Anyway, onto the curling and why we are here…..

After a journey through rush hour Montreal  we arrived just in time at the curling club which is 200 years old and the oldest club in the Americas having been established in 1807.

The club could only raise four rinks to compete against us so the first session took to the ice with two Scots rinks, one skipped by Alex Dickson and supported by 3 women. The second was skipped by Alex Bryden .  The remaining sheet was occupied by two Scottish teams skipped by John McDermott and Gordon Gilchrist.

After a slow start to the game, Alex Dickson and his team of Kirsty Harrison, Lena Carmichael, and Linda Dickson pulled ahead finishing with a great result of  10 – 3.

The opposition in this case are blaming their loss on the new ice as the club, during the closed season spent $180,000 replacing the complete floor of the ice rink. They also purchased new rocks.

Although it was the coldest curling rink we have played yet,  the constant temperature,  which was helped by air-locked doors,  meant that the ice remained consistent throughout the entire game.

Alex B,  with Kenny Crookshanks, Bill Alexander and boy wonder, the youngest member of the tour, Chris Batty,  weren’t quite so lucky was unable to secure a win on this occasion finishing at 4 – 8 to the Canadians.

Raymond was meant to be there for the second session but due to the above incident he failed to turn up and we had to get a sub. 

Thursday was the first day that we were able to hit the shops, so hit the shops I think everyone did.  Montreal is home to a massive underground shopping centre which I know that Kirsty, Susan, Muriel, Greg, and Chris, didn’t manage to get the whole way around because of eating crepes and sitting on massage chairs – they are recommended for a couple of minutes relief and a laugh at the faces getting pulled!  Due to this we don’t know what happened in the second session as no-one has told me and I was too busy with other activities…..

There was a street nearby the curling club, St Catherines, which had a huge number of restaurants and shops, and basically you could buy anything you want.  Many of the group sampled a few of these with the younger ones keeping Chris happy and taking him to McDonalds.  Apparently there was a 7 course meal in a local Italian………

Thursday’s on Crescent , as recommended by Myrna from the RMCC,  proved to be an excellent choice for eating, with plenty of well cooked food, attentive staff, and reasonable prices.

Don’t know if anybody ate at Jacques Villeneuve’s new restaurant across the road.

An excellent day drew to a close with a couple of drinks at the RMCC under the watchful gaze of the two rams head trophies that adorn the stairs.

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On our arrival Chris immediately fell asleep much to the amusement of everyone else, but boy these sofas were comfy! 

The day started out with an early morning weather forecast by Susan wit quote of the day "IT'S CHILLY ON THE WILLY BUT ON THE (W)HOLE IT'S NOT TOO BAD!!!  Susan didn't realise that her voice carried so far and we have no idea why everyone found it so funny!

The weather was stormy outside and on a walk there was a windswept and interesting look courtesy of Kirsty's hat!

In the true spirit of curling, one of the teams donned shorts and wigs, but not even Kirsty's Saltire knickers, and Raymond's milk bottle legs could put the opposition off.......by the way Derek, can we get the wig back please???

We also managed to meet up with friends and family, and new friendships were forged.  We were delighted that Kenny's sister could join us for an evening meal at the Lachine curling club, Irene disappeared with her friend Chantal, and we were able to put together a "Highland Week" (for those of you who now us that have been there) team to play against Gael......and lost.

On the whole, the day was a good one with 4 wins and a peel to Scotland bringing the tally to

SCOTLAND 64 - CANADA 64.......!

Once again, there will be loads that we are sure to have forgotten, and we will be back soon with Thursday's update!

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A very welcome one it was aswell after the early rise to transfer to the Ice Rink. The first session saw all 3 rinks win and bring the scores to Scotland 51, Canada 47. This was reduced slightly in the second game with only Trevor winning his game (but never mind, at least he won his game today and didn't get Grannied (again!). The third session also only saw us win one game, with Alex Dickson and his team coming out on top and knocking the stuffing from the opposition with a close fought game. This brought the final scores of the day to a peel of SCOTLAND 55 - CANADA 55!!!

The Canadians also decided that being in a very Scottish Township of Glengarry, near Maxville (named after the number of people who are "Mac's" residing there), that they decided that the winners should also be granted the winning Saltire badge. Elizabeth Stewart was the first with a long line of both ladies and gents joining the queue!!!

The Muir Bakery sold Sausage Rolls, Bridies, and Scotch Pies, with Empire Biscuits for dessert. The wee wifey from the Convenience store spoke with a strong accent and after having to ask a second time cos we couldn't understand her, we found that she comes from the Isle of Mull. A wee man ran in and asked for "Scotties" help as he had gone to the washroom and on his return found he had locked his keys in the car! We have him some advice but he either didn't understand or didn't believe us with our tips!

The local newspaper were there to take pictures and we were given fantastic soup and sandwiches from the club. They also put on a Highland dancing display with fiddlers and singers with the Flower of Scotland to make us feel at home. Excellent.

The day was topped off with snow! Could not believe it but it was an excellent touch to an excellent day although some of us did not expect to walk to McDonalds inn the driving snow for dinner only to find the bus driver sitting there enjoying his big Mac! We got a lift back!

As was said in relation to yesterday's post, we started a tradition of creating a Saltire nail for the winning players - an exclusive club which you can only enter if you have won a game. Quote of the day::: "Oh NO, I've smudged ma nail polish, and ma hairs getting in ma eyes!!!"..... No prizes for guessing who said that - you can take your pic!!!!!

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On to the ice rink where we were greeted by the staff and curlers, with copious amounts of coffee and more Tim Bits!!!

In true Dusty style he has managed to lose something again this year – this time it would appear to be his curling shoes and today saw him curling in a pair of dress shoes with a slider – he is now know as Flipper!!! However, this must had brought him luck as on the way to the ice rink we also learned that Michel Paquette who was beaten by Hammy at Stranraer was bringing his rink in the hope for revenge – he was sadly mistaken when Dusty actually won a game and “stuffed” him!

At the end of the second session John McDermott was down in shots and he was forced to strike through a port to take away the shot stone – he did this in style resulting in him gaining a 3 in the last end to win 7-5.

The first session was a very closely fought session, apart from Arthur Devine who won 12-4, convincingly. Alex Dickson started with a good lead however the opposition pulled back with Alex eventually running out a 6-5 winner with Muriel’s (the lead) first stone of the last end remaining as almost the winning shot until the very end when it was overcome.

Ian Kerr also had a close game ending 8-7 to Scotland, by taking out the opposition’s stone to take a 2 in the winning last end. He was later treated to a guided run around the golf course (in a buggy!!!) by Armand who also offered a choice of cigars – 15, 20, 25, or 30 minutes long…

A new tradition has been started on this tour where we have a “winners club”. You can only join this club once you have actually won a game and your prize is a finger nail painted with varnish in the form of a Saltire. Who would have thought that so many “butch” men would volunteer for nail painting!!!

Ann McCormack is also keeping up tradition. At the start of the week she took a tumble when getting off the bus, and today she took a tumble on the ice, developing a reputation which can only be helped by numbing the pain with white wine!

The star of the day has to be Ian Dyers opposition where the skip surprised everyone. It was noticed that he had a severe disability and he was by far and away the best player we have seen on tour so far. Ian lost his game 9 shots to 5!!!

At the end of the day we brought the scores back to a very respectable

SCOTLAND 45 - CANADA 47

There is bound to be some we have forgotten and will no doubt remember later...

In the evening we headed off to a Sugar Bush Camp where we ate lots of food doused with Maple Syrup and had a complete sugar hit. We also got ripped off - again. Did certain people here see us coming???? Young Chris certainly didn't see the wolf coming....but that's another story!!!

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SCOTLAND 45 - CANADA 47.

We also won a prize today!

Focus is the word, and there are medals at stake now!

More to come shortly, meanwhile, I have managed to upload some pics so please click on the following link and hopefully it will work (click on the pics to enlarge).

http://s381.photobucket.com/albums/oo255/spca-cssc-canadatour/

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The first session were soon piped onto the ice where after 8 close ends Raymond and Alex Bryden and their rinks came out on top! Raymond met a fellow cue player who was using the cue for the first time so he gave him a few tips. Raymond lost the next three ends......

Trevor had his one(according to him,nobody else!!!!!!!)good shot.

Mary Kerr is now known as the Acrobat being the first tour member to do a tumble on the ice. The stone was burnt but such was the sportsman-ship that the skips agreed to follow the natural course of the stone and increased the guards for the losing team.

Lunch was provided by various members of the club with the strangest sandwiches (on appearance to us) fillings ever, but fantastic in taste. In fact, there is one we are still not sure what it was but it was lush!

The second session headed on with some Scotland players defecting to the Canadian side - and failing miserably!!! Ian Kerr managed to get the Granny with a great result of 8-0. He tried hard but couldn't give a shot away!

It shoul be noted that Davy Bell played his very first game, and Irene played her first competitive game, with Irene winning and Davy coming a very close second. He is itching for his next game now.

After the second session, we realised that there were 5 wins, and 1 peel to the Scottish side. This helps close the gap to

SCOTLAND 35 - CANADA 41.

It has now been decided that any person winning a game will be given a Saltire - in the form of a painted nail....Raymond is the only person who has willingly participated in this event....and received some lovely glittery cheeks at the same time! He got Rouged!!!

The hospitality was second to none and we were awarded a three course meal by the ice rink staff tonight. This resulted in Cathie being the first person dragged up to dance to Ian singing - and she was not the last. David Miller also surprised us all with his singing and dancing. We didn't know he was so talented!! We were trying to get us to join us at the back of the bus but he got the red card and was not allowed to sing and dance on the bus.

We could go on and on about today's curling and entertainment but it would take all day today and tomorrow.....it was a fantastic day and one that we will not forget for a long time. New friendships have been forged and hopefully will remain that way. A return tour expected - I hope you are reading this and taking note Gert and Greg!

On leaving Renfrew Curling Club to start the party at the hotel, there was a strange pungent aroma filled the bus. A quick investigation found we decided that the skunk ouitside wasn't of the four legged variety....

It's off to the quiet room now for a few beers, music, and dancing......

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Gordon Gilchrist should now be known as Gordon Girl-christ.

After a sedate start to the day for a 6 hour journey, we headed north through the wilds of Algonquin National Park, hoping to see or catch some beaver. The wildest thing we saw is more commonly known as Dusty, who eventually learned a vastly important lesson.......

......If you want to sit with the girls at the back of the bus, DON'T fall asleep!!!

Pink nail varnish, liquid guy-liner, and purple and silver glitter later, it was an hour later after he arrived at the hotel when someone let the cat out of the bag. In true Dusty humour he quickly donned a blonde wig to complete the look.

Photos of this to follow at some point.....

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A visit to the Tam Heather Club where we faced serving and retired officers from the Toronto Police Association where we played eight sheets on the first session. Richard Fergusson and his team quickly took a quick lead and managed to lead 5 shots to 1 after three ends, however, lost a 3 and it went downhill from there on in and they eventually lost the game 8-6 after a very close game.

Kenny Crookshanks once again almost came out victorious until the very last end where he was unable to keep the hold over the opposition and lost by one shot.

The afternoon session of 5 teams saw a little more success with Gordon Gilchrist and John Graham both winning their games.

This helped the overall final scores to their current position of

SCOTLAND 24 (we got points for Niagara failing to trap on the first day), CANADA 36.

Trevor and Julie also joined us, arriving after a long and tiring day travelling, and Trevor wearing Pink jeans after spilling red wine all over the place.

The day ended nicely with a trip to the CN Tower for an evening meal at a very reasonable price, something well worth doing if in the Toronto area. But I would say - book ahead, go early, and try it in smaller groups - nearly 3 hours for a meal is not fun!!!

Headed back to the hotel and the parties started in some rooms, with the night manager asking the occupants of a certain room to keep the noise down and stop playing guitar at 3am - and Dusty failing to make it to his bed at all sleeping in a chair in Raymonds room!
At least Kenny got a peaceful undisturbed sleep last night.......

Off to today.......

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SCOTLAND 4 - CANADA 12

St Catharine's Golf and Curling Club

The Doonhamers made up for Prince Charlie stealing their shoes, and held up the Scottish end. Kenny Crookshanks deserves a special mention as a septogenarian, and with a team with a combined age of 247 years young, they convincingly managed to outfox a team of junior whippersnappers with a combined age of about 64 - if that (their parents came to collect them!)

Alex-almost-retired-Dickson was the morning star and quickly gained the upper hand over his opposition which he did not relinquish through a tough fought match, eventually emerging as the victor, but his efforts were not matched by his curling colleagues who succumbed to vagaries of the ice and failed to provide a winning result for the tourists.

Special mention should be made of "Dusty" who shook hands after the seventh end because the score board didn't have enough numbers on it.

It was good to get the first game underway, and initiate the St Catharine's rink for this season. Their hospitality was outstanding and the venue is to be recommended to anyone considering curling events in South Ontario in the future.

Tomorrow we go to the Tam Heather Club to face the Toronto police Association to ensure that we achieve an overall victory over the Canadians......

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International relations were re-established after an incident at the check-in desk at Glasgow with a prominent member of the party, but I won't mention your name Raymond, having a discussion (not an argument) over baggage allowance and the fact that his luggage was not booked through to Toronto. The result was that the prominent members luggage arrived, and only one other person's did not. She is still waiting on a change of clothes......

We met Wendy (the FOOT STAMPER - I still bear the scars from Highland Week) and Andre at the airport and informed that our first day's curling at Niagara Falls CC had been cancelled due to the Manager being sacked in the summer. The day was not wasted and we went a tour up to Niagara on the Lake and a winery at Inniskillen where we got a few tastes....

On arrival back at the hotel we found that the same prominent member (RAYMOND!) had lost his wallet. This cost him a return journey to Niagara on the Lake on the coach where he found it down the seat of a shuttle bus. This cost him dearly in buying a round of drinks for the rest of the tour.

The Maid of the Mist trip round the Falls was taken by many of us. First we were headed for the American Falls (stop sitting Wendy) and Susan announced that it was raining. This was obviously a blond moment and soon found it was due to the spray from the falls. The Horse Shoe Falls on the Canadian side were far superior (Wendy paid us for that comment) before we headed back to dry land.

When we got back we set a curfew of 11pm as we have an early start in the morning. Hey ho. The die hards of John McD, Cathy, RAYMOND, Lena, Kirsty, and Wendy are still up - it's 1am.....and it is Lena and Cathy's room so they have no choice.

Time to go and put some music on........

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The day will be tinged with sadness for me as on Tuesday I should be with family at my grandpa's funeral but Dad, Uncles, and Nana have told me I am not allowed to be there, I am to go on holiday and try and keep everyone on the tour in line and make sure they get on the plane.

I would just like to say thanks aswell to everyone who has been in touch over the last week or so with their best wishes. Dad and Julie have cancelled their flights out with the rest of the tour but will be joining us on Friday to catch up again.

I see that John McWhirter has put a little comment on.....as you are all packing remember to put in your hallowe'en outfits!!! We arrive in Ottawa on Hallowe'en and I notice that the city has haunted walking tours but unfortunately I don't have the times of the games on that date - I think they will be late afternoon or early evening so can't plan anything in advance, it would be fun to do something though!

On that note, once again - REMEMBER TO PUT YOUR CURLING GEAR AND A CHANGE OF CLOTHES IN YOUR HAND LUGGAGE!!!

See you all Tuesday!

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Ok, so it worked......but somehow when posted managed to cut a couple of folk off the right hand side!!!  OOPS!!!

http://s381.photobucket.com/albums/oo255/spca-cssc-canadatour/

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Ian, I am disappointed that everyone made up for me not being there....I am sure that everyone missed the singing....or maybe they were glad of the break this year!  I think that you should pack the guitar into the suitcase for entertainment value on the coach since we have a few longish journeys!  I am sure you can print off some song sheets instead - I nominate you to be in charge of the entertainment.........

Never mind.  The leave sheets have gone in for next year, hopefully I have picked the right time so that I don't miss out next year and join back in the fight for bringing the trophy back.

I am sure that we will all have a ball out in Canada, and that everyone who was meant to come but for one reason or another couldn't make it will be doing their best to be on the next tour because I am sure there will be one at some point in the future!

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Unfortunately the Police side had to hand the trophy back to the Civil Service side. After storming ahead in the first sessions, the Police side did not hold out to well in the second lot and the CSSC took over. From what Gordon said last night it was going to be really close in the end but I have not heard the final scores.

Oh well, there is always next year to get the trophy back again!!!

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Anyway, a little about us......
The leader of the pack (until I knocked him off his pedestal) is Gordon. The first tour was his brainchild and I insisted on being involved in the organisation this time round so we had a female point of view. Gordon only thinks he is the person in command now!!!

For those of you who don't know me, I am Kirsty. I was on the first tour and had a few moans about it (as we all do) but this time is going to be just the best - nobody is allowed to moan at me (my bark is worse than my bite though)!!!

Gordon and I have had a help from Jim (thanks for the sportswear) and Trevor (who has now lost what was left of his hair due to the hassle we have had with flights), and Lena who has managed to organise everyone from the CSSC and keep them in line.

I am sure you will be sick of seeing us by the time the tour is over and we have loads of photos uploaded.......

Our Tour Itinerary
Tuesday 21/10/08 - Arrival at Toronto
Wednesday 22/10/08 - St Catharine's Golf and Curling Club, Niagara
Thursday 23/10/08 - Niagara Falls Curling Club, Niagara
Friday 24/10/08 - Tam Heather Curling Club, Toronto, against Toronto Police Association
Saturday 25/10/08 - NO CURLING!!!
Sunday 26/10/08 - Renfrew Curling Club, Renfrew
Monday 27/10/08 - Hawkesbury Curling Club, Hawkesbury
Tuesday 28/10/08 - Maxville Curling Club, Maxville
Wednesday 29/10/08 - Lachine Curling Club, Montreal
Thursday 30/10/08 - Royal Montreal Curling Club, Montreal
Friday 31/10/08 - Rideau Curling Club, Ottawa
Saturday 01/11/08 - RA Curling Club, Ottawa
Sunday 02/11/08 - Navy Curling Club, Ottawa
Monday 03/11/08 - RCMP Curling Club
Tuesday 04/11/08 - RCMP Curling Club
Wednesday 05/11/08 - Transfer to Toronto for flights home or own itinerary

Now that you all know where we are, feel free to pop back on a daily basis to keep tabs on our progress as we go, including Scotland V Canada scoring......

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