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To those who celebrate La Fête Nationale, vive la France, vive la Republique!

Normally I’m looking for a theme tied to the date but there wasn’t much I could do with Bastille Day.

But that’s OK because this set has a very special meaning to me as I’ve had to finally come to terms that after 12 years of hard and faithful service over 298,477 miles (of which only 12 were not under my command), it was time to finally let my beloved anirnisiaq qavvaq go after the left front CV joint and the axle failed.

She at least picked her time well as the really horrific sounds started at the Burger King on Poole Road (the one that had been torpedoed by careless drivers twice, the second literally within a couple of days of reopening after the repairs were complete from the first kamikaze pilot took out their dining room).

They got worse on the way back to the house and the CV joint finally failed at the turn at the top of my street which fortunately slopes down to my house at the end of the cul-de-sac where she came to rest at the top of the driveway where my head and my gut pretty much told me that this was likely terminal which was confirmed by two mechanics whose opinion I trust literally with my life.

My heart, on the other hand, is going to take quite a while to catch up to what reason made explicitly clear.

So many hours and miles spent together, so many memories and it’s hard not to think of thirty pieces of silver once the papers were signed. I can only hope that I’m not at the house when they come round to collect her and haul her away to a fate I have no desire to know…I don’t know that I’ll be able to truly stop the tears that may not be seen but they’re certainly going to be keenly felt for quite a long while.

And so my Angel of the Blue Ice (which is what her name meant in the language of the Inuit called Inuktitut)…this set is for you for you will not be forgotten as long as I shall draw breath. 🙁

Game 1 Warm-Ups

Zamboni and Game 2 Warm-Ups

Post-Game