In The Middle Of Labour Day

So there I was, trying in vain to get around myriad street closures in Hamilton so I could gather up Little Sister and her stuff. It was Holiday Monday, Labour Day, and a very busy one at that. The Hamilton Labour Day Parade was getting underway.

I found myself following a white pick-up with black lettering – something about a Renovator – in a bid to get around the maze and find my way back to the core. I had called Little Sister and her street was definitely open. But how to get there when one doesn’t know the parade route and which streets are closed?

Then we (the renovator and I) saw what seemed to be a stroke of luck. A street with a wide open end where on parallel streets, orange cones were set up. Joy! Bliss! The white truck scooted down the street and I followed in my XTrail. What a couple of maroons!

We got to the end of said street only to discover we had reached the parade route. We had nowhere to go but right (damned one-way streets in Hamilton!) and there we both were, IN the Labour Day parade. A marching band filled our rear-view mirrors.

After two of the longest blocks of my life I was able to exit the parade route and get back on track to weaving my way around until I found Little Sister’s place. I don’t think my XTrail was voted best float. I didn’t wave to anyone. I actually tried to render myself invisible but I’m not sure that worked either. What I remember most is the look on the cops’ faces; they went from fury to a humble realization that they hadn’t done their jobs properly. No harm, no foul. And besides, I provide labour to the country too so it’s not as if I didn’t belong.