General Harpo

Back in July, General Harpo (a.k.a. Stephen Harper) stopped by for a visit. I had the honour of passing him a wreath during a very brief ceremony in the cemetary. It was a nice ceremony, though the woman running the visit sort of ruined it by whispering (rather loudly): "10 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds" from somewhere just behind the Primeminister throughout the 2 minute silence. The most interesting thing about the visit was watching the media, the entourage, and his handlers. This visit was a photo-op, nothing more, and so at each stop on site, the media bus went ahead, and all the little media-types scurried off the bus to get in position for the perfect shot just before the PM arrived. My co-worker from Nova Scotia who had a few minutes to talk with him about what he could see on the battlefield below the monument was impressed that the PM would not let his handler rush him, but insisted on asking some questions about the Vimy battle.

In under an hour the whole visit was done and we were left with this sweet little photo of us guides and our PM.

What I thought was more interesting than his visit to Vimy was his visit to another cemetary with his wife just before coming to Vimy. They went to visit the grave of a great uncle of his wife's who died in WWI. Mrs. Harper shed some tears and this made for a great snapshot but what the media didn't report was that when they arrived at this little cemetary in the middle of a field, the entire nearby town had shown up to greet them. I guess they had heard Mr. and Mrs. PM of Canada were coming and they all turned out waving Canadian flags. I thought that was sweet. I can't get over how much they love Canadians here. It's like we can do no wrong!

And while we're on the topic of people loving Canadians, now would be a great time to tell you my little anecdote about clearing British customs. I have travelled to London on the Eurostar out of Lille (a city one hour north of here just next to the Belgian border) twice now and both times I have been complemented by the British customs officer.
Customs: "What are you doing in France?"
Me: "I'm working at the Canadian war memorial at Vimy."
Customs (in a very thoughtful and sincere voice): "You guys do great work there. Have a great trip!"
It's very nice to be so appreciated.