Thursday, January 29, 2009  My Universities: Canadian Diplomat
Canada is seen as being an America for losers. While the
Republic got the Mafia, Jews, film stars, atomic boffins and
Beyoncé, the Dominion ended up with Ukrainians, Eskimos, lots of
people called MacKenzie and the French.  Maybe it's because I'm
Welsh, but I've always been fond of this Transatlantic also-ran.
I've not been there, and don't want to ruin the fantasy of gruff
Québécois skating home across the tundra from the 'ockey-stick
factory with a plate of poutine in one hand and a Labatt Bleu in
the other, pausing only to pleasure Margaret Trudeau over the
back of a moose. Dressed as a Mountie.  I'm proud to have served
that noble federation as an informal consular official in Moscow
in 1988, although I'm not sure whether my efforts were fully
appreciated in the Ottawa doughnut shops of power.  I was at one
of those frequent crossroads in my life, where one track led to
serious achievement in the academy and the other to dicking
around with m