Welcome to the tea party!

Yes, I am back.  Oh, am I ever back.  Back not only to this blog, but to Canada, to BC and to my hometown of Victoria.  And perhaps symbolic of my return on several levels, here is what I saw over the weekend:

The Oak Bay Tea Party Parade, which I haven’t seen in about a decade.  Here is the Oak Bay Town Crier (every community in Canada needs a town crier…well, at least if they claim a strong British heritage, as Victoria does).

The entire community was out in force!

Everyone from the Naden band to the reservists, the MG enthusiasts to the military vehicle preservation society:

…and from the Girl Guides to my very favourite entry of all:

I had my own stint in the Oak Bay High School marching band and have very fond memories of counting repetitions (23 repetitions of our piece in the Victoria Day Parade – unfortunately can’t remember what it was called), sunburns, and early morning practices in the parking lot (or, if raining, in the West Building gym).  But I do have one gripe.  I acknowledge the need to keep up with the times, but black trousers?  The old white pure polyester ones may have been stunningly awful to wear, but they looked so sharp (particularly with the matching, white plastic wipe-off shoes).  The new black trousers just don’t do it for me.  I can’t believe the white poly trousers died (by the time I wore them, they had lasted a good 30 years already…I am sure nothing could kill them), so the black must have been a conscious decision.  Hmmm, not so sure about that one.

Once all the community floats had passed and my pocketful of parade sweets stowed safely away (some of which were aimed at me like missiles – others I had to pick up from the gutter), it was on to the Tea Party proper.  And like the parade, the Tea Party never changes…in a good way.

Everyone was there.

And then, when they were finished with the baron of beef and the corn on the cob and the ice cream and the afternoon tea and the rides and the midway, everyone went to the beach.

Which begs the question…if I have left the Thames, what should I be now?  Fig-on-the-Beach?

Welcome to Victoria.