A Dampener

The rain complimented by the winds brought down the mercury substantially. The spirit of seeing around a new place never leaves me though. 

St. Jacob's Village, adjoining Waterloo, has a market where many of the merchandise come directly from the produces of many villagers. This was one of the places recommended by the old man at the bike garage. My first impression of the place was a 'mela' like the ones in India, complete with a merry-go-round for children. Only that the shopkeepers came here in horse drawn carriages or caravans. Many home-made food-stuff were available. I tried out some and liked them. Besides loads of vegetables being offered at cheap rates (since it was nearing the end of the day), there were also many clothes and gift-item shops. There were some eateries too. One store was selling second hand books at 3 for 10$. I couldn't turn down the offer.

In the evening we went uptown, which should actually be called the downtown because it was supposedly the most happening place in Kitchener-Waterloo. But on that day it was almost deserted because of the rain.

The 10-minute bus journey from uptown back to the university was phenomenal though. Some drunk girls in minimal clothes had boarded the bus and what they were doing could easily be classified as soft porn.

On Saturday, our group comprised us Mitacs fellows, and 2 internees from London (the one which is an hour away) and a non-Mitacs girl also stationed in Waterloo. The next day there was an addition to our group. Supriya having just arrived in the morning at CLV, decided to go out with us. It wasn't the kind of welcome she would have preferred, as we all had to walk some 12 kilometres in the rain, in search of the Laurel Creek Conservation Area entrance, and by the time we found it, all of us except Irene (from London) and Vishnu, were tired enough to ditch the idea of going into the park.  

The Laurel Creek Reservoir