First, as I may have mentioned before, we may have overdone it a bit on the souvenirs. Not that we bought too many, you understand, just that our suitcases are too small. We were really lucky in Quebec City: they booked our "souvenir " suitcase right the way through to Vancouver (yay!), so we only had to manage one suitcase, my red bag, Tom's CPAP, the Princess bag full of stuff that won't fit in the suitcase, and the walker. Because we're staying at the Hotel Bonaventure, which is just across the street from Central Station, a taxi is out of the question. So we loaded up the walker (the "truck", I call it), and dragged the suitcase to our destination.
Secondly, I booked the hotel at the travel agent rate, before I stopped being a travel agent, and was a little concerned about misrepresenting myself at check-in. (My dad would understand.) So when I got an envelope from the receptionist, and read the contents, my first reaction was "Oh, crap", they want to give me a tour so I can sell the hotel to my clients.
But then I felt a familiar tickle at the back of my brain. There is a 25-year old joke we have with the Griffiths about Mr Loof Lirpa, which, if you are slightly dislexic like I am, reads very clearly as "April Fool" spelled backwards. Hah! I get it! We're to call Pat and Jim. There was some discussion that they might meet us in Montreal, but nothing had come of it.
Had barely made it to the room, when there was a knock at the door. "Room Service!" Room service? I opened the door and, low and behold, it was Mr Lirpa!
It turns out that Jim had been stalking us, Pink Panther style, from the time we got off the train. He hid behind a newspaper, getting odd looks from other travellers, as he watched us come up the escalator, get our luggage, wait for the walker, then lost us as we walked to the hotel. He watched me pick up up the note and puzzle over its contents.
Went out for dinner, a few drinks, and lots of laughs. Proved that people over 60 should not try to take selfies.
What fun! Too bad Pat couldn't make it, too.
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