We had the most lovely afternoon drinking champagne and chatting with just a few friends at home. We also had a very delicious Mascarpone cream cake, this rounded up a week of Birthday festivities. Despite the wind, brilliant sun was in attendance. It was all very comfy, the way life should be.

We reminisced on our 10 Anniversary living on Prince Edward Island and all the things we have done since. We certainly have a greater social circle here than we did in Ottawa.

On Wednesday I have been invited to talk on the current situation in Iran and give an historical perspective based on my own experience and observations during my time in the region. Due to bad weather it has been postponed to later.

The price of gas is now $2.00 per litre or $8.00 per gallon. Given we have lots of F150 trucks and SUV I can just imagine what people are paying and complaining. Other statistics about Canadian attitudes towards other countries. The USA is at the bottom now, where before Trump it was high. The number of Canadians willing to travel to the USA is down to 5% which is an all time low. It appears that many Canadians want to join the European Union to increase trade benefits beyond what we have now and divorce ourselves from the USA.

This is now Income tax season, renewal of car registration and car inspection which we do yearly on PEI, insurance renewal etc. It can be expensive.

We got our tickets to fly to Spain in September, there was a seat sale and got better prices. So we are pretty much set, we are arriving a few days before the cruise in order to see the Sagrada Família Church almost completed after 144 years of construction. In the meantime April is the start of the tourist season and I am ready to meet the challenge. However with the price of gas, hotels and restaurants, I wonder if we will get the same amount of people we did in 2025.

Here is a thought for the day: Eating Tiramisu will not make you happier but neither would Broccoli. So enjoy your dessert.