Day 23. A long day in Montreal.

My Second Visa Appointment. I was determined to be early, so of course woke up soon after four, got up soon after six, and was standing at the bus stop in the middle of nowhere by 0645, feeling vaguely surreal.

By the time I got into the US consulate, two bus rides and a big walk later, I had slot A2. By the time I'd gone through two visa interviews, it was 0900, and I was just about ready for bed!

There was a chance I might get the visa at 3pm so I filled in the day in Montreal, while the boys went off to the city funfair. It was tipping it down with rain, and I felt increasingly like a homeless bag lady schlepping around all my legal and financial papers, my raincoat, my brolly, my novel-to-pass-the-time etc. But there's nothing like a haircut to boost my morale - plus a good conversation with the Iranian lady who did it - plus   some serious shopping plus some serious reading in the park during the dry spells.

At 3pm I shuffled back to stand outside the consulate in bedraggled bag-lady mode in the pouring rain and no, the visa wasn't ready. Hey ho, another night camping in our dusty surburban carpark.

We made up for it somewhat with a posh meal at a very nice place called Downtown on Crescent Avenue. It took us a few hours to rendezvous, so I ordered for us all, starting us off with two glass of Prosecco and one pineapple juice. Cheers. By the time we all caught the bus back over the river to Brossard, we were all seriously ready for bed.