On the Road Again 2013 Train # 3

We were only in Winnipeg for an hour or so. Which was just fine. Winnipeg is an interesting city but unless one has three hours or more to go on a tour one might as well not waste any time trying to see it. As it was, there was just enough time to go to the "Forks" and buy a few wraps for breakfast, lunch and supper, answer an email or two and post something to Facebook. I also made a call on my cell phone. Last year it had not worked from Brandon to almost Sudbury. I had called Telus and they had told me that my phone was now upgraded to work across Canada. It worked fine which was great.

I also checked CBC news on my tablet. I did not I want things to be getting worse in the southwest, but I was glad to see that while things are getting back to normal, both in Medicine Hat and in other spots things were still in a bit of a mess and therefore my decision to go to Jasper was at the very least, not a bad one.

The train is a bit more crowded than it was. For example there is a group of four sitting across from me on their way to Edmonton to be there to witness the birth of their first grandchild and great grandchild. As the young mother-to-be is already in labour I suspect that no matter how fast the train goes they are not going to make it

There have been on the train since Toronto 5 young guys - perhaps in their 20s. I don't think any of them were initially traveling together but they seem to have developed some sort of relationship. While they are occasionally a bit noisy, they are quite polite and I think if the occasion ever required it, quite generous. While they lack some awareness as to how trains work (specifically the assumption that they need to be on time), how electricity works ( the assumption that if a wire on a telephone pole is touched by a branch it will start a fire) and they are greatly mistaken as to prevalence of highly dangerous snakes in Ontario, they have been interesting to watch and occasionally we share a few words. They seem to spend most of their time playing poker for money. Which is a good thing for they have not acquired the fine art of accepting that train travel requires the releasing all expectations.

On the first part of the trip there seemed to be few children on board.The couple of kids that I did notice were very quiet. However at Winnipeg a few more families got on and their kids are occasionally in the aisles. They are all well behaved and their presence is quite welcome for entertainment value alone. The increase in family groups has necessitated some seating changes. Some people for the first few nights were lucky in that they had scored double seats so that they could stretch out to the seat across from them. By configuring the footrests one can almost create a double bed. Almost. However as families need those double seats those travellers have had to leave those seats and move to the regular row seats. Those travellers are not happy.

Sitting in the train allows one to observe people without being intrusive. There is for example a 40 something male who has the most remarkable close cropped bronzed/gold coloured hair who has massive weight lifters arms and says he was a surfer in California; or the person who takes apart oreo-type cookies and re-assembles them back together again, combining the halves that have the filling attached. I could never figure out what he did with the empty halves. There a number of Kiwanis on the train including a grandfather and his wife travelling with their grandson. They are from California too and are on their way back from visiting relatives in Toronto ( I think). The Kiwanis are all going to an international conference in Vancouver. There is an older gentlemen who got on in Sudbury and who speaks relatively little English. I heard him tell a train worker in Sudbury that he had worked for the railroads for 18 years as the person who shoveled coal into the boilers. I wonder how many time he has crossed the country and what he thinks about the state of our railroads now. Everyone has a story to tell. The trick is getting them to tell me.

It is 8:30 here (we have just gone through another time change). While it is is still bright, it has been a long day and I am ready for bed.