Warning! Long Whinge Filled Entry Approaching!

What a week. Let's review, shall we?

We'll start with Thursday, in true family fashion my father shows up over half an hour late, meaning we got to the boat just as they were sounding the boarding call for walk-on passengers. Of course, this is actually a blessing in disguise as it means we have to spend less time in Saint John. (Proposed motto: "You'll get used to the smell, we promise.")

The boat ride to Digby wasn't so bad, I had my iPod and it was nice and calm. Certainly was a change from the last time I took the ferry, on that occasion it was in the middle of a spring storm. Water the boat was pitching and rolling, water was spalhing up on the decks, and everyone was lying down trying to keep from being sick except for three middle-aged men who were standing at the front window talking loudly about what they had eaten for lunch.

Anyways, not a bad boat ride there; passed time by staring out the window and a few minutes with the small array of arcade machines. Missile Command and Centipede kicked my ass, and Ms. Pac-Man succeeded in only giving it a mild paddling. Finally we arrive in Digby and then it's a forty-five minute drive to  my aunt's house in Sainte Alphonse where the real fun begins.

Picture four middle-aged women, not all of whom probably got along well as children, all worked up and crammed in with each other for the past several days. Apparently they had already had disagreements about which room the visitation was going to be in and how much English (or rather, how little English) should be in the service. I show up around the same time as one of my cousins and make the mistake of saying that, like him, I don't have a tie with me either.

Now, let's review the process that led me not to bring a tie:

"Your cousins aren't going to be wearing suits, so don't brinq your suit."
"Ok, so what do I wear?"
"Don't you own any dress shirts?"
"Other than what I wear with my suit, no. The only other clothes I wear are the stuff I wear everyday."
"Well then, wear that sweater and a shirt. You know, that sweater."

Seeing as "that sweater" is green and the ties I own are red, well, even the fashion impaired can see the problem with that. So no ties went with me.

That passed eventually and it was time to decide where I was going to sleep. My mother's suggestions ranged from the bad (in the same room as my father, who snores like a chainsaw) to the ludicrous (in the laundry room, which has a cement floor, no heater, and is right next to the room my father was sleeping in.) That satisfied, my aunt came in and started suggesting all the places that had already been rejected and then my mother came back bound and determined that I was going to sleep in the laundry room.

Finally, sleep. Friday was visitation, which basically consisted of me sitting in a chair for four hours while staring at the opposite wall. This of course was broken by the occassional introduction to some nth cousin nth removed, who I had never met before and I'll likely never meet again.

Saturday was the funeral itself, the mass had more English than my aunt cared for, and I probably made a pig of myself at the reception afterwards. But, as my sister said, it was probably the only food we were served all weekend that I actually could eat.

This morning we got up well before six and were on the road well before seven. Another trip on the boat across, which consisted laregely of me watching the same fifteen minute news loop on CTVNewsNet and standing out on the deck staring at the water, as my iPod had died and the charger had been left in Fredericton. Trip was a bit choppier, with a few major rolls and pitches that left me wondering just how someone was supposed to play the pinball machine that was located in the lounge. Eventually the water started to turn from a deep green to a greenish yellow, then to a yellowish brown, and finally to the point where the whitecaps weren't whitecaps so much as sickly yellow caps. Welcome to Saint John.

So, here I am, all unpacked, fed, exhausted, and having to go back in to work tomorrow. If I wasn't so behind on my thesis I'd take a few days off just to sleep.

Hey, I warned you it was long and whingey.