Would have like to stay longer in Ottawa and interview more people. However I had to book the rest of my stays, while in Ottawa, that’d get me back to Toronto. I decided to take a route that would put me flush into Central Ontario, with its small towns and farming communities, rather than go to Belleville and Kingston etc. Figured it’d be a better way to get a feel for what people out here were thinking re: democracy, anti-hate and anti-racism.
First stop was Carleton Place. It was a town about 53 km south west of Ottawa.
When I arrived I had some trouble finding the Airbnb home. So I stopped at a home where some people were in the driveway. They were very kind. They filled up my bottles with cold water. We chatted for a bit. Then the husband got on his bike and drove a few km with me to the right path.
My Airbnb that eve was the home of a lovely woman, a widow. I ate my dinner in her backyard gazebo which was overrun with foliage. That night we sat and talked. Very pleasant.
