Halifax, Nova Scotia
The Slowest Team
I was told: "When you get out of the apartment building
you're on Washmill Lake Drive. Go right,
then left on Main Street."
I'm often impatient about waiting to go anywhere, so I
decided to get a headstart on foot.
"Please pick me up," I requested.
"Sure. We'll
only be five minutes," said Marshall, our driver, who was going to take us
to the popular Harbourfront in the downtown.
I was skeptical about the punctuality.
Anyway, a pleasant walk it was, though the sun was a bit much. I came to an end, or rather Bedford Highway
in front of me. Now what? I called for further instructions. I wanted quality time for us to chant in
public but the "five minute" time slot really was becoming stretched
out.
I asked a Chinese student at the juncture, "Do you know
what direction I take to get to the Harbourfront?"
"You take this bus..."
"Sorry, excuse me.
I'm walking."
In disbelief, he responded, "No, you can't do
that!" He was shaking his head in a
jittery fashion.
"No worries. I
walked Canada four times."
"Nooo,” he said
with the ‘O’ elongated.
Another pedestrian guided me: "Take the Bedford Highway, then Windsor
Street. That goes forever."
So I proceeded on, with no sign of my chanting monks. I passed by a cemetery where Titanic corpses
were buried one hundred and seven years ago.
Finally Marshall called.
"A little late?" I sarcastically breathed
out. Three people—Marshall, Samuel and
Angiras were letting me down. At least I
was getting some walking in. I passed
The Forum, then a funeral home. Finally
the van with the three pulled up.
"Sloths," I thought.
We got to the Harbourfront, unloaded our instruments and
began chanting. It was busy. Near our chanting location was one of those
displays (much like a sandwich board) with holes for poking your head through. It was used a lot. I looked to see. It was propped up with three holes in it for my
team of sloths. "Let's take a
picture of the three sloth monks."
Snap!
May the Source be with you!
6 km
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