Just a quickie...

On our way back from Skiing at Kicking Horse in Golden these last few days Victoria and I had a singular experience. We looked everywhere for a haircut for me in Banff and then passing through Calgary and finally found one near my school run by an Iraqi gentleman, the first Iraqi I have knowingly met (lovely fellow, can't see how a nation like that could be any bother, assuming they're all exactly the same, of course). Anyhoo, following a very reasonable priced wash and cut I was just admiring my newly and fashionably coiffured visage in the mirror when the Gentleman with my hair all over his shirt sleeves brandished 2 feet of white cotton and asked if I wanted the hair in my ears and on my cheeks removing, and perhaps between the eyebrows? No? Well, having had these follicular outcroppings pointed out by a professional I could hardly refuse, so he set about 'threading' my face.
It was an odd and uncomfortable sensation as a roll of cotton plucked all the tiny hairs from the sensitive skin on the outside of my ears, escalating to actual pain when he laid into my cheeks just below my eyes, a level of pain easily comparable with a 45 minute tattoo. This is the same procedure with which I am assured some Muslim women depilate themselves, top to toe! Head and eyebrows are often the only hairs remaining on a devout Muslim lady. Bare (sic) that in mind the next time you see someone in a Burqa!


Tomorrow we're off to Leader Saskatchewan to Jim's farm for an authentic Canadian Farm experience. We'll be helping out in the meat shop on Thursday, helping to turn two cow carcasses and two pigs into beef, pork, steak, burgers and sausages and on Friday we'll be helping Jim slaughter two cows. Being a city-boy I am fascinated by the whole farming life and this will be a wonderful opportunity to educate myself on where the meat on the little styrofoam trays in the supermarket really comes from. We'll be videoing as much as we can so that we can share with you all the story of your staek.