Canada Day.....in London

Could there be any better way to celebrate Canada day than to do it in style in central London amongst other ex-pat Canucks sipping Molson Canadian in Trafalgar Square? Well, maybe in Canada itself. Regardless, we managed to find the biggest Canada day celebration outside of our country's fine looking borders.

We had heard about the Canada day celebration in Trafalgar prior to July 1st and therefore had planned to swing by at some point during the day to see what had been planned. The party started at 10am and was scheduled to last until 10pm. Our objective was to arrive at some point around 5pm and celebrate the rest of the evening in central London. Around 2pm, another Canadian ex-pat friend of ours, L, mentioned on facebook that she was super excited to see Our Lady Peace live that night as part of Canada day celebrations. Upon seeing that, V and I suddenly loaded the official Canada day in London page and were quite surprised by what we saw (or at least I was). We were met with the musical lineup featuring Kid Koala, Shad, Hedley, and Our Lady Peace. Upon seeing that, V got super excited as a rush of rekindled Our Lady Peace moments came flowing back, and I could not believe my eyes seeing that Shad (one of my favourite rappers) was to perform. We instantly begun getting ready to head out; made food, baked, got dressed, and ate. We arrived at Trafalgar just as Shad was getting up on stage. Perfect. He put on a great show, and it was awesome to be able to see him in a setting which was somewhat mind blowing. The crowd wasn't too into it, which was unfortunate, but Shad did not disappoint. We stuck around for Hedley, although not paying too much attention to their act, in anticipation for Our Lady Peace. L met up with us as Our Lady Peace was taking the stage. I was never the biggest fan of them, although I definitely recognized some of their songs. V on the other had seemed to joggle her memory and sing along to all the songs they sung. The night was capped with a wonderful rendition of O Canada, sung by all the participating artists, on stage simultaneously. 

All in all, it ended up being a great Canada day. In fact, it was probably the most both of us have celebrated Canada day in a long time.

Ps. After the party had ended, we made our way to the stage exit, sipping on our Molsons, trying to catch a glimpse of some of the celebs present. I spotted Shad and called out his name, as if I was good friends with him, and he instantly turned towards me and started squinting trying to make out who I was. I begun waving my hand, beckoning him over, and to my surprise he started walking over. We had a short chat, a picture taken together (thanks V) and a couple of handshakes/chest bumps later, he was on his merry way. Such an awesome moment!

T.