BACK TO NORMAL

... and then, weirdly, out of the blue and quite suddenly, it is my last day here in Toronto. Tomorrow night I fly home. I'd better get rehearsing the responses to those stock questions when they come. Here we go:

1. How was it?

Awesome.

2. How was the food?

Awesome.

3. Did you go up the CN Tower?

For sure.

4. And how was that?

Awesome.

5. What about Niagara?

Yup.

6. And what was that like?

Awesome.

7. How was the weather?

Awesome.

8. Did you try pancakes with maple syrup?

Oh yes.

9. How was that?

Awesome.

10. And how does it feel to be back?

Oh.

I'm not playing fairly, I do apologise. I promise I will go into more detail, and I genuinely will be pleased to be back. However, it's a tough job to sum it all up. Truth is, I've had a great time - despite getting sunburned, and, as you're about to see, getting my spectacles broken. It's been a really great balance of activity and relaxation - time to read, time to write, time to eat and time to push through all my pain barriers at the gym. That has been the best mixture of all actually, in the land of curious mixtures.

"Whose glasses are these?" asked Christa, the coach at the gym this morning. They were mine and they'd been stood on and deformed to the point where the lenses had popped out of the frame and the wire that held them there had snapped.

I think I've mentioned before about the weird connection spectacle-wearers have with their eyewear. You might not believe it, but they are actually part of our faces - which means that when they get broken, it's a deeply personal thing. My heart sank - not here, not like this, not in a foreign country. I was really upset.

Thankfully, Emmie knows an opthalmology wizard, who once fixed her sunglasses. He worked some magic, pulled some mysterious thread through the frame and in a matter of minutes (of him telling me about his fig tree in Sicily) I was back to normal.

Back to normal. That's an unusual idea, isn't it? There isn't really a normal, there's just different. This time zone, where days feel like weeks and the sun stretches the memory into long and beautiful walks, has been very kind to me. It feels as though I've been in Toronto for a month, which is a super feeling - especially as this city feels so chilled and calm and cool.

It isn't home though. And that's what I think I mean by normal. I'm talking about home, the place where your heart is, where your family is and where you know you need to be at the end of the day. That is what I'm going back to. I'm kind of sad to be leaving this great land of beauty and possibility behind, but I'm also very thankful for the memories it's given me - which will last as long as I do. And for those, Canada, I'm really thankful.