I have been on the island for just over a week and have done almost nothing. That is not entirely true but it feels that way. I have been to the beach a couple of times, socialized a few times with my son's friends and their kids, spent a fair amount of time playing with my grand sons and finally typing up my blogs already posted and piles of emails etc. I have as well started working on the design for my newest walking stick/cane.
The sticks are always a challenge both in terms of design and implementation. I am always
aware that the vision that gets shaped in the wee hours of the morning as I lay in my bed, unable to sleep is both impractical and for someone of my limited artistic and carving skills, somewhat impossible to achieve. But the more critical factor in deciding how it will turn out is the wood itself. I am never sure what type of wood I am gong to get to work with. I am always amazed at how beautiful the end product is as it gets sanded and oiled. But sometimes when I am carving the stick the beauty of the wood (and on occasion) the design is not readily apparent. Of course the little drops of blood from the countless nicks on my fingers seldom add to the beauty. This year I am attempting to do a cane with a dragon for the handle and dragon/snake scales down the shaft. It should not surprise anyone that figuring out how to do that has me stumped. It is clear in my head how it should look but what is in my head and how to get the stick to look like that are about a million miles apart. Still it keeps me busy.
Keeping busy seems to be important. I think I have lost some of my capacity to do nothing. I do wish that I could get it back. I suspect that I would feel as if I had accomplished something if I felt like I did not need to accomplish something.
The weather on the island has been hot (some might even argue that there were a few day when it was too hot) with no rain on the horizon. Which is of course great for all except for those who worry about, monitor and on occasion have to fight forest fires.
Friday, July 5, 2013
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
On the Road Again 2013 # 3
I did not sleep well. Part of the problem was that the spot I had chosen was on a bit of a slope. Just a small slope but it was enough to cause me to slide down to the end of my sleeping bag and the bivy sack. Having my legs scrunched always wakes me up. But there were also other distractions.There were at least two other people in the part all night. One of them walked quite close to me. There was also a skunk who walked closer to me than I would have chosen. Neither the four legged or the two legged mammals paid me any attention. I was happy with them ignoring me.
I was up and getting my stuff together by 5:00 am. It was getting light and I was pretty sure that the city fathers (and mothers) did not want folks sleeping in the park. I am quite sure that there would have been no consequence if I had been seen but there was no point in looking for trouble when I could avoid it. As well that silly skunk was rooting amongst the flowers just across the path from me. Again it is better to avoid trouble as opposed to fixing it. And finally it was starting to rain and I would much prefer to pack my stuff when it was nearly dry as opposed to it being soaking wet. So up I got, not feeling particularly well rested but happy to be moving again.
There was not much happening in the area. There was a guy sitting in the bus shelter who when I asked him the time ( I had neglected to set my watch to Pacific time the previous night) answered rather grumpy that he didn't know and a lady with two well behaved but large dogs who told me that she had missed the last ferry and had spent the night walking around. She apologized if she had stepped on me in the dark. I don't think she did but I wondered if the dogs padding by had been one of the things that had awoken me.
I bought my ticket as soon as the terminal opened and shortly after 6:00 was on the ferry. I used the bathroom to clean up a bit, saw and talked to Michael for a bit and then had some breakfast. People complain that ferry food is lousy - I personally like their scrambled eggs and it was nice to have a cup of tea after my long and somewhat uncomfortable night. By 8:00 I was in Naniamo, I got a city bus to the Greyhound Terminal and five minutes later I was on to a bus to Duncan.
I was at my son's house by around 10:30.
Not the most eventful trip out west by any measurement. It was in fact probably the eaiest. While I am not complaining, it was not at all what I had envisioned as I lay in my bed during the sometimes cold and frequently dreary days of winter but then it does no good to complain about what the gods of hitchhiking send us. Whatever happens - I need to be thankful. And I am.
I was up and getting my stuff together by 5:00 am. It was getting light and I was pretty sure that the city fathers (and mothers) did not want folks sleeping in the park. I am quite sure that there would have been no consequence if I had been seen but there was no point in looking for trouble when I could avoid it. As well that silly skunk was rooting amongst the flowers just across the path from me. Again it is better to avoid trouble as opposed to fixing it. And finally it was starting to rain and I would much prefer to pack my stuff when it was nearly dry as opposed to it being soaking wet. So up I got, not feeling particularly well rested but happy to be moving again.
There was not much happening in the area. There was a guy sitting in the bus shelter who when I asked him the time ( I had neglected to set my watch to Pacific time the previous night) answered rather grumpy that he didn't know and a lady with two well behaved but large dogs who told me that she had missed the last ferry and had spent the night walking around. She apologized if she had stepped on me in the dark. I don't think she did but I wondered if the dogs padding by had been one of the things that had awoken me.
I bought my ticket as soon as the terminal opened and shortly after 6:00 was on the ferry. I used the bathroom to clean up a bit, saw and talked to Michael for a bit and then had some breakfast. People complain that ferry food is lousy - I personally like their scrambled eggs and it was nice to have a cup of tea after my long and somewhat uncomfortable night. By 8:00 I was in Naniamo, I got a city bus to the Greyhound Terminal and five minutes later I was on to a bus to Duncan.
I was at my son's house by around 10:30.
Not the most eventful trip out west by any measurement. It was in fact probably the eaiest. While I am not complaining, it was not at all what I had envisioned as I lay in my bed during the sometimes cold and frequently dreary days of winter but then it does no good to complain about what the gods of hitchhiking send us. Whatever happens - I need to be thankful. And I am.
On the Road Again 2013 #2
As soon as I opened up the pickup's door, the first words my driver spoke were "I hope you don't mind dogs". I like dogs but there have been times when sharing the front seat with a large dog or even a couple of dogs has been a bit uncomfortable. But not this time. Michael was travelling with three miniature dogs and they were very well behaved. No barking, no fuss and for the most part they were well content to lay on their bed between the two of us. There was a long haired Chihuahua, a tiny dachshund and a larger (although one must recognize that "larger" is a relative term)long haired dachshund. The latter was quite affectionate and was content to lay on my lap.
Michael was from the Drumheller part of Alberta and was on his way to Port Alberni. Because of the flooding in the southern part of the province he had chosen to go up to Edmonton and then south again through Jasper. He was originally from Canmore and seemed to know what was happening with the flooding. My friend from last year had told me that Banff was a ghost town. Michael confirmed that story and said that there was no traffic getting through on the Trans Canada. Which was why he had taken this long circuitous road to the west coast. The only other alternative had been for him to go through Crow's Nest Pass which would be very slow with all of the trucks taking that route.
We had been talking for about 30 minutes when I got around to asking where he was actually aiming for for today. I was delighted when he said "Horseshoe Bay". From train station to ferry terminal in one ride is pretty good travelling.
Michael and I talked for almost the entire time we were in the car. He was now, and had been for a number of years a professional, certified dog groomer and dog trainer. He also owned a kennel where folks drop off their pets when they were away. So we started our conversation talking about pets and owners , dog food and life in small towns. We then moved on to why people build on flood plains, why municipalities let people build on flood plains, who should pay for their losses, cell phone use, global warming, people who think oil is limitless, all of the jobs that he had had and a thousand other topics. I am not sure if it was really a conversation in the sense that there was a full exchange of views.There were times when that happened but much of the time he told his story or made his point and I agreed. I think we were perhaps ten years apart but generally we were either exceptionally flexible in our opinions or we had very similar values. It was an interesting ride and one, that considering how far we travelled together(800km) a very quick ride.
We stopped once in Merrick for gas and for the dogs to get out and stretch their leg. A number of times Michael's wife called just to chat - she was in Port Alberni and was anxious to see him. It was not until I got out of the truck that I realized that in spite of the fact that he had spoken to her four or five times, not once did he mention that he had picked up a hitchhiker.
The traffic was not too bad and there was no time that we had to slow down because of it. At one point it had felt as if Michael might stop in one of the little towns before Vancouver. That would have been just fine for to me. I had slept the last two nights on the train and was ready for a full nights sleep on a motel bed. A shower would have been dandy as well. However Michael didn't seem at all tired and we got to Horseshoe Bay by 11:0 or 12:00. Michael drove me to the park around the ferry terminal and then went to park his car so that he could be first in line to get on the ferry the next morning.
While I had been to the terminal a number of times, I really was not too sure where to sleep.I picked a likely looking spot and tried to set up my bevy sack.It had been a year since I had used it. I really should have practiced once beore setting it up in the dark. There was however enough light from the docks and the ferry to figure out what I was doing. There were a lot of strange noises or at least noises that I did not recognize. It was windy which caused various bits of rigging in the sailboats to flap around. At one poin during the middle of the night I heard something that sounded like a shopping cart full of wine bottles being pushed along a bumpy sidewalk. After listening for a few minute I realized that it was just some bits of metal clanging against some metal masts.
As I was setting up my shelter I kept on hearing a man shouting. I could not understand what he was saying but he sounded very firm. I was almost afraid that he was yelling at me. Somewhere around 2:00 in the morning I heard "this is the captain speaking - abandon ship". I then understood that I had been listening to drills conducted on the ferry that was berthed there for the night.
Michael was from the Drumheller part of Alberta and was on his way to Port Alberni. Because of the flooding in the southern part of the province he had chosen to go up to Edmonton and then south again through Jasper. He was originally from Canmore and seemed to know what was happening with the flooding. My friend from last year had told me that Banff was a ghost town. Michael confirmed that story and said that there was no traffic getting through on the Trans Canada. Which was why he had taken this long circuitous road to the west coast. The only other alternative had been for him to go through Crow's Nest Pass which would be very slow with all of the trucks taking that route.
We had been talking for about 30 minutes when I got around to asking where he was actually aiming for for today. I was delighted when he said "Horseshoe Bay". From train station to ferry terminal in one ride is pretty good travelling.
Michael and I talked for almost the entire time we were in the car. He was now, and had been for a number of years a professional, certified dog groomer and dog trainer. He also owned a kennel where folks drop off their pets when they were away. So we started our conversation talking about pets and owners , dog food and life in small towns. We then moved on to why people build on flood plains, why municipalities let people build on flood plains, who should pay for their losses, cell phone use, global warming, people who think oil is limitless, all of the jobs that he had had and a thousand other topics. I am not sure if it was really a conversation in the sense that there was a full exchange of views.There were times when that happened but much of the time he told his story or made his point and I agreed. I think we were perhaps ten years apart but generally we were either exceptionally flexible in our opinions or we had very similar values. It was an interesting ride and one, that considering how far we travelled together(800km) a very quick ride.
We stopped once in Merrick for gas and for the dogs to get out and stretch their leg. A number of times Michael's wife called just to chat - she was in Port Alberni and was anxious to see him. It was not until I got out of the truck that I realized that in spite of the fact that he had spoken to her four or five times, not once did he mention that he had picked up a hitchhiker.
The traffic was not too bad and there was no time that we had to slow down because of it. At one point it had felt as if Michael might stop in one of the little towns before Vancouver. That would have been just fine for to me. I had slept the last two nights on the train and was ready for a full nights sleep on a motel bed. A shower would have been dandy as well. However Michael didn't seem at all tired and we got to Horseshoe Bay by 11:0 or 12:00. Michael drove me to the park around the ferry terminal and then went to park his car so that he could be first in line to get on the ferry the next morning.
While I had been to the terminal a number of times, I really was not too sure where to sleep.I picked a likely looking spot and tried to set up my bevy sack.It had been a year since I had used it. I really should have practiced once beore setting it up in the dark. There was however enough light from the docks and the ferry to figure out what I was doing. There were a lot of strange noises or at least noises that I did not recognize. It was windy which caused various bits of rigging in the sailboats to flap around. At one poin during the middle of the night I heard something that sounded like a shopping cart full of wine bottles being pushed along a bumpy sidewalk. After listening for a few minute I realized that it was just some bits of metal clanging against some metal masts.
As I was setting up my shelter I kept on hearing a man shouting. I could not understand what he was saying but he sounded very firm. I was almost afraid that he was yelling at me. Somewhere around 2:00 in the morning I heard "this is the captain speaking - abandon ship". I then understood that I had been listening to drills conducted on the ferry that was berthed there for the night.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
On the road Again 2013 a brief intermission #1
Yes I am "holidays" as are most politicians and therefore I should have relatively little to complain about but........
So there is this flood in a small town that forces the evacuation of the majority of its citizens. The RCMP conduct a house to house check to make sure that every one has gotten out. During that search the police notice that there are some unsecured rifles in a few houses. The police take those rifles and then tell the owners that they can have them back when the people move back to their homes. That makes sense to me. Not only is it the law (I think) that fire arms need to be secured but it seems reasonable that owners should not leave their firearms around where they could be taken and used by other people.
The Prime Minister's staff tell the police that it is not their job to take the rifles and suggest that there may be consequences. Excuse me!! One , it is their job and they should get recognition for doing so when things were so chaotic and two, the PMO (Prime Minister's Office) has no right to tell the RCMP how to do their job.
One would think that with all that is going on the PMO would have better things to do. They are dead wrong on this issue.
#2 in report released by the CBC - it was stated the the civil service has grown in number by 14% in the past few year. This is in spite of the fact that this government has campaigned on reduced tax load through cutting back costs. Perhaps they should fire a few more staffers (there are 892 of them) from the PMO - they clearly have too much time on their hands!
So there is this flood in a small town that forces the evacuation of the majority of its citizens. The RCMP conduct a house to house check to make sure that every one has gotten out. During that search the police notice that there are some unsecured rifles in a few houses. The police take those rifles and then tell the owners that they can have them back when the people move back to their homes. That makes sense to me. Not only is it the law (I think) that fire arms need to be secured but it seems reasonable that owners should not leave their firearms around where they could be taken and used by other people.
The Prime Minister's staff tell the police that it is not their job to take the rifles and suggest that there may be consequences. Excuse me!! One , it is their job and they should get recognition for doing so when things were so chaotic and two, the PMO (Prime Minister's Office) has no right to tell the RCMP how to do their job.
One would think that with all that is going on the PMO would have better things to do. They are dead wrong on this issue.
#2 in report released by the CBC - it was stated the the civil service has grown in number by 14% in the past few year. This is in spite of the fact that this government has campaigned on reduced tax load through cutting back costs. Perhaps they should fire a few more staffers (there are 892 of them) from the PMO - they clearly have too much time on their hands!
Saturday, June 29, 2013
On the Road Again 2013 Train #5
The last few hours of my train trip were equally as interesting as the previous day. The landscape gradually changed from the wide open rolling vistas to more and steeper hills with denser wooded areas. The trees which had been primarily single popular/aspen type trees scattered over the low hills and valleys switched from single trees to groves and finally to forests of conifers and aspens. As we started to get deeper and deeper into the mountains I could feel the excitement build. I was finally getting to be on the road. It had been a long wait!
I am not too sure when I first noticed that the railroad ties were not made out of heavily creosoted wood but were rather made out of concrete. Which initially made sense to me. However I started to rethink that opinion when I saw large piles of used concrete tie. It seemed to me that a significant number of them were cracked and the cement had deteriorated. Perhaps the prairie winters were just too much for them. I assume CNR were experimenting.
While the schedule conflicts between passenger train and freight trains had greatly been reduced there were still times when we had to pull of on to a siding to let a freight go through. I couldn't help but notice that some of the grain cars that passed me had little mats of grass and weeds growing at the ends of their platforms. I assumed it was because various seeds had been spilled as the cars were either loaded or unloaded. Some of those seeds that had sprouted were canola. Which makes one wonder.... will those plants spread their seeds across the prairies. And if so who will get sued for disseminating patented seed.
The train arrived in Jasper right on time. It was interesting to note that the train which was rather long (19 cars) stopped so that the first class passengers did not have to walk too far to the station but us poor economy class folks had to walk a fair distance to get to the station and the exit. Just before I had left I had bought new walking shoes. They had felt great in Sudbury but as soon as I put them on in Jasper they felt far too tight and way too uncomfortable. As well it had started to rain and so I had to put on my rain jacket which is superb at keeping out moisture. Unfortunately it also keeps in my sweat. It did not feel like a particularly grand start to my trip.
I had a hard time finding the right exit out of town.I walked down one road, couldn't find a reasonable place to stand, walked back to the stop light, looked at the map again, still was not to sure what to do so I decided to walk towards some signs half of a kilometer down the road, looked the map again and finally decided that I wanted to head west - not south. My chosen spot was not a great one. I was by a set of stop lights but the shoulder was not particularly wide and certainly no truck could have stopped but it was the best I could do.
I was there for about 30-40 minutes when a small pickup truck pulled in. Out popped my driver from last year who had rescued me in Kenora and driven me all of the way to Sudbury. He had followed his dream and had moved back to Jasper to be near the mountains he loved. I was glad to see that he had done what he said he was going to do. We chatted for 10 or so minutes and he invited me to the hostel if I could not get ride. Amongst other things he told me that he had kept my sign in his car until he left for Jasper, I told him that I still had the " Big Nickel " souvenir that he had given me in my car. It felt good to have a friend.
I stood at that spot for at least another hour. At one point a new looking small 4x4 stopped and a young lady got out. The male driver drove away. Initially I assumed that she was an employee from a store in town and that she was just waiting for a ride from friend. She did not make eye contact with me. A trucker going in the other direction and stopped at the light yelled out that I would have better luck if I had her as a partner.I was embarrassed for both her and myself. Eventually the vehicle that had dropped her off came back and she walked away from it. As it got closer to her, she turned around and headed back to town totally ignoring him. He called her name and when she did not respond - took off. A lover's spat???? I would have become involved but she seemed to know her own mind and he was at least somewhat respectful of it.
Finally a large pickup truck stopped. The back seat looked rather crowded with stuff so I threw my pack in the back and hoped that it would not rain too much. I was ready for first ride of the year.
On the Road Again 2013 Train #4
6:30 AM Edmonton - it is another cloudy gray day. Which is a shame as
yesterday was so nice and in fact hot out. It stuck me at some point
last night as I was tossing and turning that I could have planned to get
out at Edmonton and start my trip. I had forgotten that the Via Rail
station is on the outskirts of town and while I am sure there are buses,
it would have been a steep learning curve trying to figure out the bus
system.
The train is on time and in fact it has been on time ever since Winnipeg. Hopefully that continues and the train will get to Jasper when it is suppose to.
I slept reasonably well last night - I think. But it is never a really deep sleep. If the train stops or when it starts again there is noise, when someone walks by they may brush against some part of your body and when any door is opened whether it is the door between cars or the washroom door it squeaks. Still I feel reasonably refreshed and ready to go. In fact I am anxious to get this show on the road.
I have only taken the train across the prairies once before but I don't remember the landscape between Winnipeg and Edmonton being so beautiful. It was really quite extraordinary. While there are advantages to travelling along the major highways, in exchange for speed one loses the opportunity of seeing much of the country side.There were miles and miles of glorious rolling hills and lots and lots of water. It had clearly been a wet spring. The old page wire fences had water up to the third wire. A major river that we past over just before Saskatoon ( Northern Saskatchewan river ?) was moving fairly fast and it looked as if there was some debris being carried along. Every pond that I saw had a few ducks swimming around. They looked to be small things. I wondered if there were so many of them because they were too small to hunt and therefore lived with some sort of immunity. I also saw a couple of bison farms which would have been more exciting if I had not seen the wild bison on the side of the road near Yellowknife last year. I also saw three female and one male elk - that was pretty neat!
Definitely a good day to be looking out the window!
The train is on time and in fact it has been on time ever since Winnipeg. Hopefully that continues and the train will get to Jasper when it is suppose to.
I slept reasonably well last night - I think. But it is never a really deep sleep. If the train stops or when it starts again there is noise, when someone walks by they may brush against some part of your body and when any door is opened whether it is the door between cars or the washroom door it squeaks. Still I feel reasonably refreshed and ready to go. In fact I am anxious to get this show on the road.
I have only taken the train across the prairies once before but I don't remember the landscape between Winnipeg and Edmonton being so beautiful. It was really quite extraordinary. While there are advantages to travelling along the major highways, in exchange for speed one loses the opportunity of seeing much of the country side.There were miles and miles of glorious rolling hills and lots and lots of water. It had clearly been a wet spring. The old page wire fences had water up to the third wire. A major river that we past over just before Saskatoon ( Northern Saskatchewan river ?) was moving fairly fast and it looked as if there was some debris being carried along. Every pond that I saw had a few ducks swimming around. They looked to be small things. I wondered if there were so many of them because they were too small to hunt and therefore lived with some sort of immunity. I also saw a couple of bison farms which would have been more exciting if I had not seen the wild bison on the side of the road near Yellowknife last year. I also saw three female and one male elk - that was pretty neat!
Definitely a good day to be looking out the window!
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.
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.
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