On the Road Again 2016 Winter (Going West) #2

It is just before 1:00 PM and we have just made a brief stop in Gogama - which by my calculations means that we are running about four hours late. I have lost count of the number of freight trains that we have had to stop for - I stopped counting after six trains passed us. It seemed as if many of the car were travelling west empty. While I can understand that loaded freight cars contain more valuable items than do passenger cars but I must confess that I take some insult at being less important than an empty freight car!
The car that I am is full by Via’s standards. That is, in the car that I am in,  at least one seat out of two is filled. While some are getting off in edmonton or Jasper, there are quite of few who are going all of the way the Vancouver.

Just stopped at Foleyet - the good news is that we have not lost any time - we are just about as late as we were two hours ago.

As  have noted on other train trips, entertainers get to travel from Vancouver to Toronto for free if they give three performances a day - one in each of the three types of sleeping cars (or in my case economy which stands for sleeping while sitting up). This trip’s entertainment is a singer songwriter who has some skill with lyrics although his guitar playing is a bit weak. A nice guy who tried to engage the ten or so people who were there - even going to the point of handing out a list of 60 or so songs that he could sing and encouraging us to pick one. Unfortunately there was a woman who maybe had had too many drinks or perhaps she was always loud, rude and obnoxious. She insisted on talking to some young travellers throughout his singing. I think a couple of people left because of her. He wasn’t the best singer I have heard but he would have just fine for a rather dull grey day on the train…..she made it hard for him to perform and hard for those of us who wanted to hear what he had to say - pity.

We finally got to Hornepayne at 7:25. We were suppose to be here by 2:20. We seem to have lost an hour somehow. It is, of course dark, it is snowing and I suspect it is fairly cold outside. I have been here before - I have no need to get out and walk around the parking lot. However for the those who smoke, I think this is the first stop today. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for those who have a serious addiction to nicotine.

I have spent the day reading a little it, listening to music and napping. I can’t believe how tired I am - but then reading and napping is what the train is well suited for.

At 8:45 AM stopped at Reddit, Ontario….should have been here by 3:30 AM - which means that we are just over five hours late…. That means a very short stop in Winnipeg which means that I won’t have time to shop for food…..pity. But I guess I was getting fat anyway.

If it is a very short stop in Winnipeg, w could make up up to three of those missing hours - which would be nice.

On the Road Again 2016 Winter (Going West)

In what is becoming somewhat of a ritual - here I sit in the Sudbury Junction Via Rail station waiting for a train that is late. I would not mind waiting the  three hours  nearly as much if I and my daughter had not needed to be up so early this morning. The good news is that the train was, at 5:00 going to be two hours and forty-five minutes late. It now looks as if we are only going to be two hours and fifteen minutes late. But then I have another three and a bit days to go - who knows if we are going to make up the time or be really late. As long as we have enough time in Winnipeg and Jasper for em to buy some food, I won’t complain too much.

The station is surprisingly full. Three kids from two different families - all being entertained by various mobile devices, and nine or so adults equally entertained by their mobile devices. While it is subjective - it feels as the place is far more quiet than it was ten years ago. There is no need for us to talk - we can all be entertained by the content on our little screens.

It is cold outside and the footing is treacherous - so no one is waiting outside.  It is uncomfortably warm in here but again no one is going outside….except for those who wait in their vehicles for passengers who are late in their arrival.

On the wall opposite me there is the electronic notice board stating the number of the train (1) the scheduled time of arrival and the actual/anticipated time of arrival. At 7:15 - the revised arrival time was 7:28. Thereafter every time the actual time got within 11 minutes of the anticipated time - that time was moved forward. It was like someone was teasing us...letting us believe that the train’s arrival was imminent and the at the last moment - postponing it for an additional five or so minutes. It was maddening.

The train finally arrived at 8:00 - a minute or two later than I was told when I first arrived. Two hours and forty-five minutes late. To be fair, two freight trains passed by the station heading north and one passed us heading south. The two northern ones looked to be quite long.

However - I am on the train and heading west. While I am sad about leaving the grand kids and my daughter - who takes care of me so well what I am in Sudbury - I am excited to be going home. I have a rather long list of weaving projects I need to get started on. I start going to be selling at the market in two month’s time.

P.s. for the first time in a while I have a reserved seat. The conductor looked for me and gave me the seat number….maybe they do plan on having the long distant passengers having two seats to themselves for at least part of the trip.

Rant on Christmas

 For most Canadians - the annual ritual/gluttony of too much food and too many presents is - thankfully - just about over for another year. Millions of Canadians have spent the last few days visiting friends and relatives, or being visited by them - eating enough food to feed twice perhaps three times as many people and opening truck loads of presents - mostly made up of items they didn’t need. Thousands and thousands of Canadians will be paying off the debt generated by this spurge in spending for months. All of this done in a futile attempt to somehow recreate an image of Christmas that, in fact for most of us, never existed.

The actual amounts of how much people spent this year on Christmas presents will take some months to be tabulate.  However Statistics Canada has published the results from 2014.

• $416.3 million — The value of toys, games and hobby supplies, including electronic games purchased at large retailers in Canada in December 2014, up 185.9% from average monthly sales of $145.6 million for this category in 2014 and up 51.2% from November 2014.
• $364.3 million — The value of computer hardware and software purchased at large retailers in Canada in December 2014, up 80.4% from average monthly sales of $202.0 million for this category in 2014 and up 36.9% from November 2014.
• $255.1 million — The value of small electrical appliances purchased at large retailers in Canada in December 2014, up 91.7% from average monthly sales of $133.1 million for this category in 2014 and up 51.6% from November 2014.
• $166.2 million — The value of cosmetics and fragrances purchased at large retailers in Canada in December 2014, up 78.2% from average monthly sales of $93.3 million for this category in 2014 and up 58.2% from November 2014.
• $192.8 million — The value of sporting goods purchased at large retailers in Canada in December 2014, up 32.7% from average monthly sales of $145.3 million for this category in 2014 and up 81.4% from November 2014.
• $122.8 million — The value of jewellery and watches purchased at large retailers in Canada in December 2014, up 139.7% from average monthly sales of $51.2 million for this category in 2014 and up 113.8% from November 2014.
• $71.1 million — The value of cameras (still and digital) and related photographic equipment and supplies purchased at large retailers in Canada in December 2014, up 122.7% from average monthly sales of $31.9 million for this category in 2014 and up 77.5% from November 2014

While it is of course impossible to know how many of these purchases would have been made even if was not the Christmas season, it is clear that millions of dollars are spent in the month of December on Christmas type presents. The absurdity of spending so much money - money that we may not have should be self evident. Should be …. but clearly it is not.

I struggle with the very thought of Christmas for a number of reasons, but the gluttony, the sheer excesses of food and presents disturbs me the most. We, on social media, publicly grieve for the suffering in Syria or a second destruction of infrastructure through natural causes and human ineptitude in Haiti; but we are comfortable in blaming someone else for these unfortunate events or at the least expecting someone else to fix them. We are comfortable from the safety of our living rooms to bemoan the state of the world - but we are prepared to do little to make the needed changes in our lifestyles that could start to address some of the fundamental questions of inequity that drive some of the wars that cause such destruction.

While a massive infusion of cash could not solve all or even some of the world’s problems, surely the near billion dollars spent in Canada on Christmas related presents would go a long way. If all of the western world did the same thing - who knows what would happen?