Why Canada Day is special to me in 2017
This is my first attempt in writing a blog but I could not let this time pass by without recording my memories of a very special time.
Fifty years ago today, July 1, 1967, I arrived in Montreal in the middle of the biggest celebration I had ever seen. Expo 67, The World Fair was in full swing. The city was jumping with visitors from all over the world. The world was an exciting place and Montreal was the centre of it all!
Having emigrated from Scotland a few weeks previously, my former husband and I were ready to start a new life together. We were young, married less than one year, with starry eyes and ready for unknown adventures. Anything seemed possible and it seemed like Canada echoed our beliefs.
I had arrived in Hamilton, Ontario on June 10th,, saddened by having said goodbye to my parents, sisters, family and friends back home and a bit apprehensive about Canada and my new home. Little did I know that the world as I knew it would quickly change.
I was gob smacked when I saw this country. There were wide highways and roads for huge cars and it was normal for everyone to have a phone. It was so easy to get around and I’d never experienced such a warm sun. The overhead electrical lines and garish advertising billboards were so different to what we had in Scotland.
My aunt and uncle from Hamilton made us very welcome. They had arrived as emigrants from Scotland many years before and knew what these newcomers were feeling. I remember lots of laughs and happy times with auntie Cath and uncle Stan and their two children, Marlene, and Robbie, in the few weeks that we stayed with them. I remember being taken to Stoney Creek for ice-cream. I had never heard of a banana split! It was a taste of heaven! My aunt took me to the market where there were fruits and vegetables that I could only have dreamed of in Scotland. I was then introduced to the plague of new immigrants: the mosquito. Huge weeping blisters appeared on my legs and arms. This would continue all summer as my immune system was making adjustments to these tiny critters. They were fierce, not a bit like Scottish midges!
After a few weeks in Hamilton we headed for Montreal where my husband had found a job. We had packed up all our belongings: a trunk (which I still have) containing our wedding gifts and a couple of suitcases. We were more than ready for our next adventure.
And so it was that 50 years ago today on a Saturday, that we arrived, tired and hot, with no booked accommodation, in Montreal on July 1, 1967 right in the middle of a World Fair!
Here are a few photos from my time at Expo 67:
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