OMEGANS of 1949-50
Omegan News and Updates:Sunday, May 24, 2015
Carson Update 2019
Update 2019
It is
astonishing how quickly the weeks and months go by now that we have nothing to
do! Life in our “village” is pretty tranquil except for the welcome visits of
our daughters to help us celebrate birthdays (mine in March and Edwina’s in
June). Apart from such celebrations we rely on the resources of the Village and
the city. The Village offers an amazing variety of activities both physical and
social. The facility we most appreciate is the indoor swimming pool in the
Village Centre which is literally just across the street. There are also
lectures and discussion groups which help to keep us mentally alert. But most
surprisingly, the Guelph cinemas offer an amazingly rich variety of films on
opera, ballet, art, and theatre which make us feel that we are still connected
to international cultural life -
Metropolitan Opera, Bolshoi Ballet, National Theatre, and a whole
network of Art Galleries from around the world. We are also involved in
bringing music to the Village in programs ranging from classic to jazz.
The highlight
of our year, however, is always our trip to Britain to see the family. Although
we keep in touch with them on Skype every week it is not the same as seeing
them in person. We are lucky to have access to a great flat in London . It
belongs to the widow of a former Canadian diplomat whom we met several years
ago through a mutual friend. She wants to maintain her Canadian status which
requires that she spend six months of the year in Canada. As a result her flat
is available during the summer and we have been taking advantage of the
situation for several years. The location is ideal, within easy reach of most
of the West end attractions, and it is also large enough for us to have
visitors. Consequently we were able to see quite a bit of our far-flung family.
Lynne and her husband, Mark, passed through London on their way to a holiday in
Rhodes so we saw them briefly going and coming. Our grand daughter, Anna, is
now in London where she is studying animation at Central St. Martins. She is in
her second year there having astonished us all first by deciding to shift her
focus from English literature to art and secondly by gaining admittance to one
of the leading art schools in the country. She seems to be enjoying herself and
is quite at home in the “big city” (having spent one of her undergraduate years
in Singapore from where she travelled extensively in Asia.) Cameron, our
grandson, is enrolled in theatre studies in Glasgow where he is preparing to
become an actor! I can’t imagine any more risky ambition but we encourage him
as much as we can (albeit with a sinking heart). We are probably unduly
apprehensive. He may do very well. In any case the future seems so particularly
uncertain these days that he might as well do what he enjoys as long as
possible. How long that may be is anybody’s guess in the current political
turmoil. We can hardly believe what is happening to the Britain we thought we
knew. All of the politicians (to say nothing of many of the ordinary citizens)
seem to have gone completely mad. The future seems impossible to predict. Here
is a picture of us outside the Young Vic Theatre trying
to ignore the current disturbing uncertainty.
to ignore the current disturbing uncertainty.
Back here in
Guelph Edwina and I are well (having finally recovered from a nasty flu we
caught on the plane coming home). We have become adjusted to life in our
retirement village. It is a curious limbo-like existence but one that suits our
declining energy level. I have become quite tolerant of the men who cut our
grass, take away our garbage, shovel the snow, and keep the landscape
remarkably attractive.
We wish you a
merry holiday season and a New Year more settled than the one we have just
lived through.
posted by DonA, OAC 1958 # 12:41 AM 
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