Sydney, on the Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, is a lovely little town on a part of Canada that gets cold early in autumn and stays cold until spring has come to New England.  I’ve been to Nova Scotia before this trip, but I’ve never been on Cape Breton.  Like some places in the U.S. New England, Sydney is a good place to get lobster.  I spent about an hour in the afternoon looking at maps and thinking about that time when I lived in New Lebanon, New York… how cold it was there in the middle of winter… and how comfortable it was to resettle in San Diego in 1987.  I was bundled snugly today in a shop near the docks and A lady in a shop told me I should be glad the wind was blowing from the south.  She said yesterday’s wind was blowing from the north and it was much colder.  

Sydney claims to have the largest fiddle in the world.  I’m not going to argue with the town’s claim… and I particularly liked the way streets appear to “southerners…” all the trees are colored and still hanging on the trees.  Tomorrow we go on down to Halifax for our last stop in Canada before we return to the U.S.A.  I’m wondering how people on the ship will respond to the last “big debate” of this election season.  I’ve decided not to talk with Canadians about the election.  As a matter of fact I’ve decided not to talk about the election at all, discretion being the better part… etc.