Queen Elizabeth in Ottawa.

[Lallans]

HRH arrived here yesterday and will be present for Canada Day, tomorrow, giving us the unusual pleasure of a three day visit. Some of the items that have come out in the local news are interesting and/or cute: one is that Canada appoints a Queen's Piper for each visit and this time the piper is a young woman who has written a new pipe tune called "The Maple Crown," which she will play tomorrow and also present Her Majesty with the original manuscript. The other item that caught my attention was about a very young boy in the age 4-5 range who had written inviting the Queen to a barbeque at his house. The Queen replied that she was unable to make it, but later invited the boy to a tree planting ceremony, where he should be as I type this.

[The BBQ thing brought to mind a particular dread of mine when I was the boy's age, which was that the Queen would come to our house for a visit, meaning that I would have to dress up in scratchy clothing and behave myself for far too long. Clearly the Ottawa boy is no more realistic than I was, but a lot better socialized.]