“Big Niko?”
Friday, 30 October 2009 00:00
Long hours spent driving in the van can sometimes – well, most of the time – lead to silliness. At the beginning of our tour the PJ team decided to spice things up by speaking in different accents. One stop in Wawa, ON we walked into a Subway and ordered dinner as though we were British tourists. We did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself.
Well, those accents have morphed a little, to say the least. We were driving through Sudbury on our way back to Winnipeg after our last Ontario event in Stratford when the “baby voice” emerged. It started with Natalie Elliott. Actually, after having spent some time at her house and with her family, I think this particular voice started with Elliott’s mom. But Natalie has taken a liking to speaking in this voice, and sooner or later we all did, too.
We were driving through the streets, zigzagging back and forth, in search of “The Big Nickel” – a huge Canadian 5 cent piece home to Sudbury – when the van erupted in baby talk. “Hewo, I’m wooking fo da big niko. Can you hep me fin da big niko?” We spent a solid 15 minutes amusing ourselves with this conversation until our voices became tired and we finally realized that we had no idea where to find this nickel of monstrous size. But at least our attempt resulted in a hilarious video and a tour of Sudbury.
Once the silliness passed over our eyes lifted upward, and high up in the distance, there it was, the “Big Niko!” Though it was already passed 5:00pm and we still needed to make it to Sault Ste. Marie for that night, we couldn’t resist seeing the nickel up close.
Moral of the story? When you’re lost, tired, and suffering from Van Fever, sometimes you just have to let the sillies out – no matter what that might sound like!
Natalie Binder