Friday, May 13, 2016
On the Road Again 2016 #4
The train had been on time for the first day and a half. However, by the time we left Edmonton it was a hour or so late, by the time it got to Winnipeg it was at least two hours late,by the time we left Winnipeg, it was even further behind schedule.
I went to the snack bar at some point around supper to see if they had anything that I could eat - nothing not even a slice of banana bread Fortunately I still have a few granola bars and some bags of nixed nuts/dried cranberry to get me through the next few hours.I knew that by the time we got to Winnipeg, everything would be closed but I hoped that the snack bar would be re-stocked with something I could eat.
I managed to get a good internet connection and sent out a Facebook post to say where I was. I aso posted my first two blogs on the trip I had more to send out but the connection was slow and my tablet had decided to use its energies to download all sorts of upgrades for the various applications I do wish I could figure out how to stop it from doing that. It always seems to upgrade at the most inopportune times.
One of my travelling companions had mentioned that he needed to find an ATM so that he could have money to buy some food.I saw him walking through the lobby carrying a large bag of chips. I asked him were he had got tem from. I was pretty sure that there were no corner or grocery stores anywhere near the train station.He told me that he had found a little store inside a rather posh hotel just down the street. While I had already used twenty minutes of the forty minutes we were given to do the internet thing, I decided that I needed to buy something to munch on. I hustled across one street and down another, popped into this very nice hotel with automated revolving doors and uniformed attendants found the little shop, bought a bad of chips and hustled back. I needed not to have rushed. It was another ten minutes before we were allowed to board and another hour and bit before we left the station completely. Why - I have no idea.
The mother and sun from Fort Mac and my guide to junk food and I talked for almost an hour as we waited for the train to get moving. He is originally from Sweden but his accent is more Australian as he worked there for a few years.He is on a one year work visa but right now is travelling around. It is nice to be part of this foursome. We don't talk a lot, but it is nice to have someone to either say good morning to or to occasionally groan abut how slow the train is.
I am not too sure if it is because the springs in this car are shot or if the track has been warped out of place by frost but this trip has been the roughest I can remember. There are sections where the train is swaying so much that I can't type.
It is interesting to note that the trees in northen Ontario are just starting to show their leaf buds.....which makes the trees here about seven - eight weeks behind those on the west coast and at east three-four weeks behind the trees in the Rockies.
I have spent a birthday is some unusual ways....but spending it on the train with no one knowing it is my birthday and not getting any birthday wishes may be the strangest.
On the Road Again 2016 #3
Tuesday Am
I had not slept well on Sunday night. I was wide awake by 5:00 on Monday morning. I had therefore assumed that I would fall asleep fairly quickly on Monday night. And I did, I think sleep for a bit. But I was wide awake when we got to Edmonton just around 11:00. I think I was curious as to how many people would be getting on. I had been told that because of the offer of free tickets, there might be a lot of people deciding to leave Fort Mac for a bit. I was aware that if this was the case, I might have a seat mate for much of the remaining trip. However, only three people got on (and at least four got off) so my seat was safe.
There was some sort of problem with one of the mechanical or electrical components of the train and it took them some time to fix/replace it . There was large, bright station light just outside of window and falling asleep became impossible. We were there for well over an hour and no matter how tired I was, I just could not sleep. When I did fall asleep after the train got going, it was more fitful than most of my sleeps on a train. When I finally "got up" around 7:00 I felt groggy and sleep deprived. I can remember my first trip on the train. I curled up on the seat and slept wonderfully well - or at least that is how I remember it. I have noticed that I don't curl up as well as I use to.
Unlike yesterday when the sky was clear, I woke up this morning to dull grey skies. It was difficult to initially determine as to whether or not the greyness was due to rain clouds or to smoke drifting down from Fort Mac. I thought I could detect a slight smell of old smoke in the air - perhaps smelling smoke was only my imagination being over active as there clearly were rain drops accumulating on the windows.
I decided to have breakfast in the fancy dining car. Breakfast is the only time that we peons are allowed to enter the holy sanctuary of the rich folks. It was a strange feeling wandering through the narrow passages to the dining car. It felt as if we were trespassing. The space itself was very restrictive, limiting. Narrow corridors that are only wide enough for one person at a time to pass down are lined with doorways leading to little rooms closed off to the world. Everyone is confined to these rather small cubicles. Perhaps their dome cars are larger and well used for socializing. I would appreciate a good night's sleep where I could stretch out, but I think I prefer being in an open space where I can observe and occasionally interact with others.
Breakfast was shared with a retired travel agent coming back from visiting her grandchildren and a mother and son from Fort Mac heading to visit family in Nova Scotia. They were the only two people that took Via Rail up on its offer for free travel. While they ( and her husband who has stayed behind) don't know if their house is still standing - they are some of the fortunate ones. They have house insurance, money in the bank and while they have been laid off from their jobs, they still have access to the health insurance. Still it was clear that they have been traumatized. Breakfast was served nicely on real china and placed on linen table clothes. I got to wipe my dedicate lips with linen serviettes. The food tasted fine but for $12.00 plus tip....I could have eaten better at a Husky service centre or at almost any greasy spoon in Canada.
Because there are fewer people on the train I have gotten to know, even superficially relatively few of my fellow passengers. I think I am also only one out of four or five that are going all the way to Ontario. I did talk to a couple from Newfoundland (who had no accent at all) who were on their was back from an Alaskan cruise, taking the train from Vancouver to Edmonton so that they could visit grandkids before flying home; there are two young ladies in front of me who look to be an age where they should be still in high school- they are great friends and when they are here (they spend a lot of time in the dome car) they giggle almost constantly. There are quite a few young males travelling - all alone. They don't seem to interact very much with anyone. I wonder where they are all going.I have noticed in the past that when the cars reach a certain point of emptiness - it is all too easy for us to build our little cocoon walls.
6:00 PM all afternoon the car has been very quiet. No one has been talking or moving around very much. It looks to be a cool, windy and grey day outside- the sort of day that one would listen to jazz on the stereo, read a good book and drink lots of herbal tea.
What is the Function of a House
The May issue of the Walrus had an long piece about the cost of housing in Vancouver. While Vancouver's rising house prices are perhaps the most disturbing example of the cost of housing rising well beyond the capacity of young families to ever purchase a home, it is not the only city in Canada that has this problem. In fact every major city from Toronto west has a similar story to tell. What makes Vancouver's situation a bit different is that some people are clearly blaming immigrants - mainly those from China to be the cause of the problem. I think that while it appears as if much of the new- almost obscene amounts of money being spent to buy houses is coming from Asia, that is only part of the problem
When my parents were able to afford a house just after WWII, it was only because the Canadian Government contributed money to returning soldiers so that they couldn't buy a house. If that money had not been made available, I do not know if they would have considered the possibility. Neither of my parents came from families who owned a house. In fact many if not most people in Montreal lived in what they called "flats". When my parents borrowed the money to buy the house- they did not do so on the assumption that they were buying a short term, lucrative investment. They were buying a home. Somewhere they could raise a family. When my former wife and I bought our first house, again we did not do so as a way of making money, but rather as a way of having home. While in the next twenty years we did buy and sell a couple of homes, each time we bought a new one, it was because circumstances required us to move. Each time we sold a house, we hoped that we would make a little bit of money if only to pay us for all of the work that we had put into either building or renovating the house. But our intent was never to make money a pile of cash in the short term. We just wanted a home to raise our children in.
Something has changed in the last twenty or thirty years. Buying a house, for at least some people has become more about how much will it be worth in how short of a time. People buy expensive houses at least in part because they assume that the value of that property will increase at a rate higher than any other investment. People are selling their property for far more than it is worth - just because they can. In the Vancouver papers one can frequently read stories of houses being sold for thousands of dollars more than the asking price the same day as the property is placed on the market. While financial advisors (and any reasonable person counsels against it), people are making offers with no conditions - including building inspections or bank approval. There is such a feeding frenzy in some markets that people are paying far more than the property is worth. In doing so, they are committing themselves to having a mortgage their entire working life.
So who is responsibly for this crazy increase in house value? Is it the buyers who hope that their investment will increase in value and therefore it is worth the risk or is it the sellers who see the opportunity to make some money and take it. Surely when people sell something for far more than it is worth that is price gouging - which is not against the law but it should be.
One has to wonder if it is simple greed that is driving the housing market. If house prices are continually escalating because both the sellers and the buyers see an opportunity to make more and more money. That they do so with no thought towards the future and the possibility that at some point there will be a limit as to what a house or a lot is worth is frightening. That they do so with no appreciation that cities might wither away if more and more young families are forced to live elsewhere shows how shortsighted greed can make a human be.
When my parents were able to afford a house just after WWII, it was only because the Canadian Government contributed money to returning soldiers so that they couldn't buy a house. If that money had not been made available, I do not know if they would have considered the possibility. Neither of my parents came from families who owned a house. In fact many if not most people in Montreal lived in what they called "flats". When my parents borrowed the money to buy the house- they did not do so on the assumption that they were buying a short term, lucrative investment. They were buying a home. Somewhere they could raise a family. When my former wife and I bought our first house, again we did not do so as a way of making money, but rather as a way of having home. While in the next twenty years we did buy and sell a couple of homes, each time we bought a new one, it was because circumstances required us to move. Each time we sold a house, we hoped that we would make a little bit of money if only to pay us for all of the work that we had put into either building or renovating the house. But our intent was never to make money a pile of cash in the short term. We just wanted a home to raise our children in.
Something has changed in the last twenty or thirty years. Buying a house, for at least some people has become more about how much will it be worth in how short of a time. People buy expensive houses at least in part because they assume that the value of that property will increase at a rate higher than any other investment. People are selling their property for far more than it is worth - just because they can. In the Vancouver papers one can frequently read stories of houses being sold for thousands of dollars more than the asking price the same day as the property is placed on the market. While financial advisors (and any reasonable person counsels against it), people are making offers with no conditions - including building inspections or bank approval. There is such a feeding frenzy in some markets that people are paying far more than the property is worth. In doing so, they are committing themselves to having a mortgage their entire working life.
So who is responsibly for this crazy increase in house value? Is it the buyers who hope that their investment will increase in value and therefore it is worth the risk or is it the sellers who see the opportunity to make some money and take it. Surely when people sell something for far more than it is worth that is price gouging - which is not against the law but it should be.
One has to wonder if it is simple greed that is driving the housing market. If house prices are continually escalating because both the sellers and the buyers see an opportunity to make more and more money. That they do so with no thought towards the future and the possibility that at some point there will be a limit as to what a house or a lot is worth is frightening. That they do so with no appreciation that cities might wither away if more and more young families are forced to live elsewhere shows how shortsighted greed can make a human be.
Wednesday, May 11, 2016
On the Road Again 2016 #2
On the Road Again 2016 #2
Monday 10:00 AM
As I have made this train trip a number of times before, I was not anticipating seeing much that was new. I was wrong. It has been a glorious trip so far. Usually much of the trip between Kamloops and Jasper has been at night time. This time the sun was just rising when we were west of Kamloops and it will certainly (unless we are incredibly late) still be up when we are well east of Jasper. The country is absolutely gorgeous. The deciduous trees are just in full leaf - showing of their new bright green foliage. The conifers are tipped with newly hatch cones, looking quite satisfied with themselves at having survived another winter The mountain tops are still deep with snow and are glistening in the morning sun. The North Thompson River that the train tracks have somewhat sporadically followed for much of our trip is running high, begging to be canoed down. All in all - a delightful way to spend the morning.
2:30 - Monday
It has remained a beautiful day. For the first time I got a clear view of Mount Robson. On other trips it has been too foggy or else dark to see the top.Today the air is clear and all of the tips of the peaks are visible and amazing. I had forgotten, perhaps because my more recent trips have been done in either bad weather, or in the case of hitchhiking at night, how magnificent the mountains are. I am glad I came this way.
The year's music entertainment is a young lady and her guitar. I think she said she played in band which might explain her unimaginative playing. She had a great voice- lots of range and control over that range. Perhaps her lyrics were as wonderful as her voice but in spite of the fact that I was no more than ten feet away from her, I could not understand one word out of ten. I do wish that young singers would learn to enunciate their words. I would perhaps appreciate their work so much more.
The conductor has just announced that the train is on time! We may get to spend the full 1.5 hours in Jasper - in daylight. How nice!
9:00 AM Tuesday
Jasper was a bit cool but pleasant. It is too late in the ski season and too early in the summer season for the streets to be crowded. I got my sub, messaged my daughter and then got back on the train. In spite of the fact that I was enjoying the trip, I am a bit jaded by some of the scenery. But then Jasper didn't excited me that much the first time i saw it.
As we were leaving the station, an announcement came over the speakers that there was a bear on the left..... we all ran over to that side - no bear. A few minutes later there was an announcement that there was a moose on the right - again everyone moved over to look out the windows but no moose could be seen. This happened a few times more to the point that people were laughing at ourselves running back and forth. The conductor who happened to be in our car and was also going back and forth wondered at one point if the the person making the announcements had said "caboose" not " moose ". Actually I am quite sure that the engineer did see those animals but by the time our car got to that spot, the animal was long gone. We were fortunate enough to get a nice look at a herd/flock of mountain goats.
When I had gotten on the train in Vancouver I was told that there would be a lot of people boarding the train in Jasper.. Two or three passengers left and I don't think anyone got on this car. Lots of room for sleeping
Monday 10:00 AM
As I have made this train trip a number of times before, I was not anticipating seeing much that was new. I was wrong. It has been a glorious trip so far. Usually much of the trip between Kamloops and Jasper has been at night time. This time the sun was just rising when we were west of Kamloops and it will certainly (unless we are incredibly late) still be up when we are well east of Jasper. The country is absolutely gorgeous. The deciduous trees are just in full leaf - showing of their new bright green foliage. The conifers are tipped with newly hatch cones, looking quite satisfied with themselves at having survived another winter The mountain tops are still deep with snow and are glistening in the morning sun. The North Thompson River that the train tracks have somewhat sporadically followed for much of our trip is running high, begging to be canoed down. All in all - a delightful way to spend the morning.
2:30 - Monday
It has remained a beautiful day. For the first time I got a clear view of Mount Robson. On other trips it has been too foggy or else dark to see the top.Today the air is clear and all of the tips of the peaks are visible and amazing. I had forgotten, perhaps because my more recent trips have been done in either bad weather, or in the case of hitchhiking at night, how magnificent the mountains are. I am glad I came this way.
The year's music entertainment is a young lady and her guitar. I think she said she played in band which might explain her unimaginative playing. She had a great voice- lots of range and control over that range. Perhaps her lyrics were as wonderful as her voice but in spite of the fact that I was no more than ten feet away from her, I could not understand one word out of ten. I do wish that young singers would learn to enunciate their words. I would perhaps appreciate their work so much more.
The conductor has just announced that the train is on time! We may get to spend the full 1.5 hours in Jasper - in daylight. How nice!
9:00 AM Tuesday
Jasper was a bit cool but pleasant. It is too late in the ski season and too early in the summer season for the streets to be crowded. I got my sub, messaged my daughter and then got back on the train. In spite of the fact that I was enjoying the trip, I am a bit jaded by some of the scenery. But then Jasper didn't excited me that much the first time i saw it.
As we were leaving the station, an announcement came over the speakers that there was a bear on the left..... we all ran over to that side - no bear. A few minutes later there was an announcement that there was a moose on the right - again everyone moved over to look out the windows but no moose could be seen. This happened a few times more to the point that people were laughing at ourselves running back and forth. The conductor who happened to be in our car and was also going back and forth wondered at one point if the the person making the announcements had said "caboose" not " moose ". Actually I am quite sure that the engineer did see those animals but by the time our car got to that spot, the animal was long gone. We were fortunate enough to get a nice look at a herd/flock of mountain goats.
When I had gotten on the train in Vancouver I was told that there would be a lot of people boarding the train in Jasper.. Two or three passengers left and I don't think anyone got on this car. Lots of room for sleeping
Tuesday, May 10, 2016
On the Road Again 2016 #1
On the road again 2016 #1
On the train somewhere around Kamloops just after sunrise.
This trip feels awkward. Normally when I am travelling I am either going towards my summer home on the west coast or I am returning to my permanent home in Ontario. However this time I am travelling east to go to a temporary home in Sudbury - a new city for me to spend an extended amount of time in. Things feel somewhat backwards. My internal travel clock wonders why I am going east at the beginning of May. It is as if somehow my moving to Vancouver Island has made every thing topsy-turvy .
This trip has felt somewhat..... I am not too sure what the right word is. I am certainly looking forward to seeing my daughter and grandkids,. It will be fun spend time with them, to cheer them on in their activities, to help my daughter plant some flowers and to spend some time alone exploring the city. I am looking forward to everything. But it just feels more than a bit weird. And I am not too sure why. It could be as simple as I have just started to feel at home at the trailer park/mobile home community and I was not quite ready to leave.
Yesterday was a long day. I was on the bus to Nanaimo and the ferry terminal by 9:00. By 10:30 I was on the water crossing over to the mainland. ( on the ferry I saw a number of people carrying bouquets of flowers. Over hearing a few conversations - I realized that people were travelling to see their mothers. Quite a trip - both in terms of time and cost .) A few hours later I was in downtown Vancouver reacquainting myself with the transit system. My two and half hour journey took me through quite a dramatic change from sleepy Duncan with its rather magnificent (and generally untamed looking) flowering trees and bushes to downtown Vancouver that even on a Sunday had traffic jams and crowded sidewalks.Vancouver has never been my favourite city to visit. I am sure it is a wonderful place and perhaps one day I will take the time to learn the transit system well enough to get to know it properly.
I certainly had the time yesterday and it hindsight I am not too sure why I didn't. I could have, for example gone to the beach or visited Stanley Park, but I didn't. I think I was so focused on my trip and in particular not missing the train that I did not think of what else I could do for six hours. So I walked. I walked around Chinatown with its hundreds of shops, selling what looked to me to be the same selection of vegetables and dried shrimp, fish and beans. I walked up East Hasting street - perhaps the most depressing street in Canada - home to those who have run out of choices and options and who now live on the street with their addictions. I walked through a large flea market just off of Hastings that was really just a number of people spreading,out on the ground, their findings from the left-overs of a much more affluent society that lives and plays just a few short city blocks away. There was nothing there that I wanted or needed.
I had a nap in the park with a number of other older men - none of them looked significantly better or worse than me. As I laid there in the grass, people walked around me, talked over me, ignored me. Which was fine by me. I am content to be thought of as near homeless. Better that than to be thought of as one who lives a rich life, dropping my discards behind me so that others can pick them up and try to sell them to others whose needs are as great as their own.
The train left on time. While there were two economy car, only one is being used and it is half empty. Apparently there are quite a few getting on at Jasper - which surprises me. Who gets on at Jasper in May and heads east?. As well Via Rail have offered free seats for anyone from Fort Mac. The train could be really crowded after Edmonton. In the meantime it is wonderfully quiet in my car. Time for a nap?
On the train somewhere around Kamloops just after sunrise.
This trip feels awkward. Normally when I am travelling I am either going towards my summer home on the west coast or I am returning to my permanent home in Ontario. However this time I am travelling east to go to a temporary home in Sudbury - a new city for me to spend an extended amount of time in. Things feel somewhat backwards. My internal travel clock wonders why I am going east at the beginning of May. It is as if somehow my moving to Vancouver Island has made every thing topsy-turvy .
This trip has felt somewhat..... I am not too sure what the right word is. I am certainly looking forward to seeing my daughter and grandkids,. It will be fun spend time with them, to cheer them on in their activities, to help my daughter plant some flowers and to spend some time alone exploring the city. I am looking forward to everything. But it just feels more than a bit weird. And I am not too sure why. It could be as simple as I have just started to feel at home at the trailer park/mobile home community and I was not quite ready to leave.
Yesterday was a long day. I was on the bus to Nanaimo and the ferry terminal by 9:00. By 10:30 I was on the water crossing over to the mainland. ( on the ferry I saw a number of people carrying bouquets of flowers. Over hearing a few conversations - I realized that people were travelling to see their mothers. Quite a trip - both in terms of time and cost .) A few hours later I was in downtown Vancouver reacquainting myself with the transit system. My two and half hour journey took me through quite a dramatic change from sleepy Duncan with its rather magnificent (and generally untamed looking) flowering trees and bushes to downtown Vancouver that even on a Sunday had traffic jams and crowded sidewalks.Vancouver has never been my favourite city to visit. I am sure it is a wonderful place and perhaps one day I will take the time to learn the transit system well enough to get to know it properly.
I certainly had the time yesterday and it hindsight I am not too sure why I didn't. I could have, for example gone to the beach or visited Stanley Park, but I didn't. I think I was so focused on my trip and in particular not missing the train that I did not think of what else I could do for six hours. So I walked. I walked around Chinatown with its hundreds of shops, selling what looked to me to be the same selection of vegetables and dried shrimp, fish and beans. I walked up East Hasting street - perhaps the most depressing street in Canada - home to those who have run out of choices and options and who now live on the street with their addictions. I walked through a large flea market just off of Hastings that was really just a number of people spreading,out on the ground, their findings from the left-overs of a much more affluent society that lives and plays just a few short city blocks away. There was nothing there that I wanted or needed.
I had a nap in the park with a number of other older men - none of them looked significantly better or worse than me. As I laid there in the grass, people walked around me, talked over me, ignored me. Which was fine by me. I am content to be thought of as near homeless. Better that than to be thought of as one who lives a rich life, dropping my discards behind me so that others can pick them up and try to sell them to others whose needs are as great as their own.
The train left on time. While there were two economy car, only one is being used and it is half empty. Apparently there are quite a few getting on at Jasper - which surprises me. Who gets on at Jasper in May and heads east?. As well Via Rail have offered free seats for anyone from Fort Mac. The train could be really crowded after Edmonton. In the meantime it is wonderfully quiet in my car. Time for a nap?
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