The maple leaf is a national emblem for the state of Canada. Here in our own local area the grounds of the Anglican church, St John's in the Fields, contain a driveway flanked by a row of ornamental maple trees. The borders of the grounds are planted with a mixture of ash and sycamore trees. The sycamore is also called the English maple tree; their leaves are a similar shape. The maple emblem is one I know and enjoy.
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| Canadian Red Maple |
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| Canadian flag sticker |
Canada is a nation we have never visited but we have important friends who have made their lives sing more sweetly by moving to that country. John Reid, a contemporary of mine at Catz in Oxford (1967-70), moved to Canada to follow an academic path of distinction that now sees him a professor emeritus at SMU - Saint Mary's University, Nova Scotia. Mel and Dan Read are a couple we knew when we lived in East Anglia who moved to Canada with their two young boys to start a new adventure - and over twenty years later have reaped such rewards.
This blogpost is therefore dedicated to John and his wife, Jackie, and their extended family, and Mel and Dan and their two sons, Jake and Finn.
The trigger to create it came when the inimitable Sir David Suchet who played the part of Agatha Christie's Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, for around twenty-five years made a BBC series shown this year, 2025, which traced in five episodes the journey around the world undertaken by
