After Monday, I spent a day and a half running, stretching, drinking beer and watching Derren Brown with Mel. The news at the doctors had me flipping between being horribly cantankerous and being basically happy-go-lucky. One half of me felt loss, or a deprivation of sorts, and the other felt a warm joy arising from habitually taking what I perceived as potentially life changing decisions on an almost weekly basis.

On Tuesday night Mel and I went to the Science and Tech museum that was just up the road from her flat. They had a sex exhibit that was causing a kerfuffle, so we wanted to check it out. It was actually pretty good, though Mel wasn’t a huge fan of the copious amounts of old penis on display, or the teenage voice that occasionally came on over the speakers to drop awkward comments about his girlfriend’s anatomy.

Off the back of this visit, we decided to spend the following day in Ottawa, having a wander around. We spent time particularly at the waterfront, near the Houses of Parliament and where the Rideau Canal steps down into the river, before going to check out a Van Gogh exhibit in the National Gallery.

Ottawa was a clean-cut city; there was almost no litter and it felt like everything was new. The open spaces, soft beiges and browns of the buildings and numerous pedestrianized trails made the city feel almost friendly. I decided that I was growing to like the place.

That evening, I went to Science and Tech museum again, only this time with Renee and Eric. This time I had some of the interactive activities all to myself, and behaved like a child in a…sex exhibit…?!

On our way out, we made a picture of Julie, our friend from Denmark, out of sticks and bark to create a reversal of the photo I had taken in Lyon in which Julie and I had made a picture of Renee. I thought it might be a nice touch to create a similar one of Julie, 9 months after the original and thousands of miles away. We ended the night in a Dooley’s, where we successfully played 3-person pool, and said goodbye with a hug.

The next day I swallowed my pride, and got a lift to Toronto with Willie and Mel after leaving my bike at Renee’s. As I said goodbye to Mel, I realised that I wasn’t sure when I would be back for it.