As part of the Duke of Edinburgh adventure activity, myself and Mrs. L. accompanied a number of students on a trip down the Nottawasaga river. It was a reasonably uneventful trip except for watching Jason propel the canoe at top speed from one bank to the other. I love it when people (usually teenage boys) fail to understand the advantage of good canoeing skills and instead, resort to simple brute force. I remember one of the parents, Mr. F., who was sitting in the front of Jason's canoe, complaining that with Jason paddling it was impossible for him to drink his coffee. Every time that he would lift his cup for a sip, Jason would thrust with the paddle causing the entire canoe to shoot forward. It was akin to drinking coffee in a car on a bumpy road. That leads me to the other memorable event of that trip. Early on the first morning, for whatever reason, the group decided to leave without me having had a chance to enjoy a cup of coffee - perhaps we were behind schedule. Anyway, shortly after launching into the river, I pulled out the Coleman stove (while continuing to paddle) and fired it up to brew some coffee. The Coleman was a bit temperamental first thing in the morning and when people looked back all they saw was myself and Mrs. L's daughter, Megan, paddling in a canoe with a 3 foot flame emanating from the centre of the canoe. Needless to say they thought we had somehow caught on fire and started shouting and paddling back to meet us. Too funny. The coffee was some of the best that I have ever brewed.
