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Wednesday, August 15, 2012 1937 - 2012 · Celebrating 75 Years Orono Weekly Times - 5 From The House At The Centre Of The Universe You can take the boy out of Britain but... by Tracy Tonkinson You would think having lived in Canada for nigh on 17 years we at the House would be well and truly Canadian, and in many ways we are. Celebrating the birthday of a queen the Old Country forgot years ago, immersing ourselves in the great outdoors that is cottage country, barbecuing virtually every meal rain or shine and cheering on athletes in red and white should make us feel thoroughly Canadian. And though it does, we have just slogged through 17 long days of wall to wall Britain, watching the amazing retelling of The Hobbit at the Olympic opening ceremonies. I am joking, but it has to be said that what was supposed to be a recreation of British achievement, looked more like a tribute to the Hobbit author J.R.R. Tolkien than to the Victorian engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel who spent 30 years building the Clifton Suspension Bridge, the first of its kind in the world. There was also the unnerving spectacle of the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson dangling comically from a zip line he had failed to negotiate as far as solid ground, making him seem like a bigger fool that his shaggy hair cut does. Finally, as we watched the Olympic closing ceremonies that invoked the cherished memories of my husband's adolescence through the music of the bands he used to spend most of his part time job money to go to see, we arrived this week at a destination called Homesick. I think it is safe to say that if you came here from anywhere else in the world, unless it was war torn, famine ravaged or otherwise unlivable, you will at some point have fallen victim to a yearning, however small for your homeland, and so it is right now with my other half. For my part, while I like the idea of a visit back to see the family, the reality of a trip back to Swinging Britain is that after a couple of days two things become evident; first your family has not changed one bit from the people they were when you last saw them. All the same rivalries are there, the same relatives that were fun are still fun and the same ones that are not such fun, well you can imagine. The second thing that becomes apparent is that you are homesick, but this time not for the homeland, but for your adopted country, that lovely place that we all chose as a new home, the place that has loved and comforted us, shown us a good time and been the The horn section of the Clarington Concert Band as they performed at the gazebo in Orono as part of the Orono Town Hall Board's summer concert series. source of new friends and adventures. I can't deny that when I fly into Heathrow Airport and catch my first sight of the serpentine River Thames snaking its way through the heart of the British capital, it brings a lump to my throat, but people here think I am genuinely crazy when I tell them about the heart leaping joy I feel at the sight of Mississauga looming into view as my Air Canada flight draws to a close and I know that I am coming back to Canada, coming back Donations always appreciated at the C l a r i ng t o n E a s t F o o d B a n k 905-987-1418 87 Mill St. N., Newcastle ~ www.claringtonfoodbank.ca home. I suspect that for my husband the end of the Olympic Games coverage meant more than respite from endless feelings of athletic inadequacy, it meant an end to the sights and sounds of his old stomping grounds, his heritage, his youth. It will not surprise me if before the snow is on the ground here at home we are not whisked away back to Britain for a dose of things old and familiar. Yet these same old and familiar things of our youth have now become slightly alien and unnerving. Even so the trip back will be helpful, if only because you can take the boy out of Britain, but you can't quite take Britain out of the boy.