For those who have seen the now classic film "A Few Good Men", the title of this entry will ring a bell as one of Jack Nicholson's famous lines in the movie, often quoted. What does this have to do with our trip to Quebec? Well...before we left Cincinnati, Allan got his hair cut. Inspired by the heat and humidity, he had a lot taken off and came home looking a little like Jack in his salt and pepper buzz cut. He was a little self-conscious, but happy to be cool. We were all beginning to get used to it until we arrived in Rochester, NY, when two separate people mistook Allan for a retired US military man!!! Now, I had to snicker in private because although this was funny to me, the sentiment was not shared. I suggested to Allan that he wear his ball cap if he was concerned, but of course at the border, that had to come off for fear of suspicious disguises. Needless to say, he felt a little out of sorts for a while...At the border, we found ourself in an interesting situation - in between two nationalities - Canadian passports with Ohio license plates. No problem though, we explained the situation, showed the proper documents and we went on our merry way, leaving the French-speaking customs officer a little puzzled as to what western Canadians were doing in an Ohio car driven by an "ex-army colonel" speaking French. Wow, how's that for identity crisis?! If that wasn't enough confusion, as we we driving down the Trans Canada highway about an hour into the Canadian frontier, I spotted a car with an Alberta license plate. I got very excited and waved at the driver as we passed. I'm sure he thought me very strange as we no longer have an Alberta plate, of course. Now, I'm looking desperately for some "kin" from Ohio to wave at and redeem myself.
After a rather humiliating day of travel (it's also our 17th wedding anniversary today and only one of us remembered), we arrived at our motel in Quebec city tonight in the dark and will begin checking things out in the morning. We'll see how much "truth" we will have to handle then.
Thanks for a good giggle! Poor Allan, all that embarassment caused him to forget an anniversary. I hope Quebec is cooler than Ohio. Ilmenau is tending toward the high 60's.
ReplyDeleteQuébec is warm, but about 10 degrees cooler than Cincinnati, so it feels much more pleasant walking around. They are forecasting some rain for early this week, so we'll see what happens.
ReplyDeleteOMG Your story is so funny. With your multiple identities, you are all truly global citizens now! Please reassure Alan that people are attributing the charactaristics of admirableness and distinguishedness to him as a result of his hair. I am certain they are not thinking he is an imperialist megalomaniac. Honestly.
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