Within 30 seconds or less all assembled jumped into the lake - Ollie for the first time.
He took to the water like a duck.
In the afternoon a friendly neighbour came by for a visit and asked Ollie how old he was.
"Fo-a," said Ollie.
"When is your birthday?' asked the neighbour.
Ollie said, "Decemba."
"Sorry, I didn't catch that," said the neighbour.
"Decemba," repeated Ollie.
["I was born on a dark and stormy night - in Decemba": photo GH]
Someone inexperienced with Ollie's background might take points off for spelling or poor pronunciation but I know he got it right, English accent added.
His grand-parents, on his mother's side, are English-Canadians and have passed on a few British genes and an old soccer jersey from Manchester.
About Ollie's accent: I love it. It makes me laugh.
And it reminds me of the following experience, related to accents, from my teaching days.
Anna M., from Romania, and without a word of Canadian-English to her name, entered my Gr. 5 class after Christmas break while I taught at a London elementary school in the late 1980s.
I knew my class well by then and sat her beside Patricia Perreira, top female student in my class, and within 30 seconds (in the same amount of time it takes a gaggle of Harrisons to jump ino the lake on a hot day) Patricia was helping Anna with my instructions and important points related to classroom and school policy.
Within the week Anna felt more comfortable in her new surroundings and Patricia had more objects labelled with flashcards than any other classroom in the school - or gaggle of schools.
Though I didn't call on Anna for much information during her early days in my room, I did notice she was picking up new words everyday.
And without knowing it, she gave me my best laugh during that school year.
Because Anna was the only Romanian-Canadian I ever met who spoke Canadian-English with a Portuguese accent.
***
Will Ollie speak English-Canadian or Canadian-English?
I'm not sure, but I'll always love his accent.
.
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