Ooh look! A penguin!

When I dropped the boy off at nursery today he screamed. It was as if I had just shot his wife and children. 'NO! NO! PLEASE, GOD, NOOOOOOOOO!'. The journey in had been been a struggle. Not for him but for me. The streets of Montreal are covered with fresh snow today so I decided to take the bus. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea and the bus was full. So I found myself in the middle of an urban snow storm with a decision to make. Do I wait in the hope that an emptier bus eventually turns up, do I plough head first into the mile long journey to day care or do I take the baby home until April? Being a hero, I chose to walk.

Have you ever pushed a buggy through a mile of snow? It's like trying to push a shopping trolley across a beach. I felt like I'd accidentally signed myself up for the World's Strongest Man. I wasn't the only one doing it either. All around there were parents pushing and pulling their kids across the tundra. The Montreal school run should be an event at the Winter Olympics. 

It's astonishing really that anyone decided to put a city here. My suspicion is they built it in the summer, were shocked to discover how bad the winter was but stuck with it out of stubbornness. "It's too late to move the city now - we've just built a bowling alley".

Another theory is that it's the fault of Americans. In comparison to Americans, Canadians are an understated people. Perhaps when the first settlers came over to North America, one of them found a quiet corner and said "Those guys over there are loud. Does anyone fancy going up north with me?" and a country was born.

The boy seemed to have no problems with the journey. He was like a rowing cox. Zero effort but happily along for the ride. "Ooh look! A penguin!". It was when we arrived that things kicked off. Today is his third day at nursery here and he's clocked on that he's being abandoned. I like to think of it more as 'providing him with a stimulating environment which will aid his development'. That's not to say there isn't an enormous amount of guilt associated with leaving your child in the care of strangers. And why? It's not as if I'm leaving him so I can continue my important research into tropical diseases. I'm doing it so that I can write vacuous blog posts such as this.

"Father. I've been talking to my therapist. I think a lot of my problems stem from you abandoning me when I was a toddler."

"I'm sorry. I had work to do."

"No you didn't. Mum did but you just wrote directionless blog posts. I've read them"

"Did you not think the Winter Olympics bit was kind of funny?"

"You're right Dad. It was hilarious. I forgive you. I think you were right to deprive me of a full and loving childhood so that you could write your blog".

Glad that's resolved. Four hours until I have to pick him up now. Pub?