beboots

Day: Still one day away from departure

There's something so desperately appealing about maps. I honestly think that the only reason that Canada exists as a single country today is because we look so great on the map. Men in suits a hundred and fifty years ago looked at a map of British North America and said the early Victorian equivalent of "Damn, wouldn't it be cool if we had a country that spread from like, SEA to SEA?" And then they'd have drunk more champagne and claret and made it happen. Who cares if the Nova Scotians have almost nothing in common with the Canadiens of Quebec or the Métis of Manitoba? All of that land looks mighty fine, all joined up.

That was a bit of a tangent, but I just finished going over the cheap roadmap of the British Isles that I picked up at my local AMA. (Google maps just isn't as visually appealing.)  I spent ten minutes going through my itinerary and marking each city and town I'm to visit with a little "x" with my pencil. It was immensely satisfying, searching out some of the more obscure (to me, anyway) places.

Furthermore, I've decided that the British Isles have some of the coolest place names ever. Seriously. They have such a wonderful, lilting and sometimes even humourous appeal to them. In Ireland, for instance (try saying these out loud): Tralee, Caherdaniel, Ballycotton, Hook Head, Kilmore Quay, Blackwater, Carrick-on-Suir, Bantry,  Killashee... "Tipperary" will always be one of my favourites, from that famous First World War song, "It's a long way to Tipperary". 

I know that the spellings and pronounciations of a lot of these places, especially those with Gaelic names and, well, almost any English town, have almost no relation to each other. My mother, who was born in Leigh (just outside of Manchester), raised in Brighton, and schooled in London, has been trying to pound pronounciations into my head from a young age... but they don't always stick. Me and my filthy North American English. :P I'll do my best, though!

I'm also going to be on the lookout for a book on British place names, and their origins. I'm certain that one exists out there, somewhere. 

Anyway, marking out where I'm to be going has been quite a satisfying experience. I like knowing where I'm going. It's a good quality to have for life in general, I think. :)