Here Come the Canadians!

Ah, those were the days! Back then, they had real cartoons like Rocky and Bullwinkle. OK, just between you and me, I never understood that cartoon. What I did like about it was the characters’ voices. But, the best part was that The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show also had other cartoons besides Rocky and Bullwinkle.

There was Dudley Do-Right. He was a Mountie (RCMP – Royal Canadian Mounted Police) who was always needing to rescue the damsel-in-distress – Nell Fenwick. As I remember it, Nell didn’t always need rescuing. And, sometimes, she needed to be rescued from Dudley’s bungled attempts at rescuing her. It appears that Dudley Do-Right successfully rescued Nell enough times to get his own show.

Fast forward many years. My wife and I took a vacation from the US West Coast to Northern England to visit our good friends who now lived there. Kim was originally from England. Rob was just in love with all things English, especially, his wife Kim.

We knew some British-isms. Still, we were unprepared for others. Those included shop-keepers asking us, “You all right then?” And, train conductors astutely deducing, "You're not from around here, are you?" Most of those were fun. Trying to drive on the opposite side of the road when I’m left-right confused as it is, proved to be too stressful.

We enjoyed spending Christmas with our friends. But, we really had to bundle up. Thankfully, I took my fur-lined crocs.

Then, there were moments which were really unexpected, but still very pleasant. For instance, Never for a moment did I think that we would wind up in our own cartoon, when some neighborhood boys looked at what we were wearing and thought that we were Mounties. They shouted, “Here come the Canadians!” Then, they went running off before we could catch them. I hope they didn’t think that I was Dudley Do-Right.

The story continues in Here Come the Canadians! Traveling in Northeast England.