This week has been spent mostly planning for my get away
starting next Tuesday evening. I now have most things in place – a few train
trips, a couple of flights, lots of travel in Greyhound and various
accommodations, ranging from big hostel dorms to cheap hotels. It’s going to be
a busy 5 weeks or so till I get back to Winnipeg on 21 June, but I am looking
forward to hitting the road again.
At the end of this week I went to a concert for Prairie
Voices – the choir that Buffy sings in. It was being held about 7 miles away at
the top of Winnipeg, but it was a nice afternoon , I had done most of my
planning and I had time to spare, so put on my shoes and had a lovely walk for
about 2 hours in the afternoon sunshine. I arrived at the venue – a Mennonite
church and hall, to see Buffy’s dad , outside, so had a chat with him before
going in and Joining Buffy’s mum, aunt, uncle and brothers for the concert. It
had a bit of everything from Mika to Queen, although in my humble opinion there
was a little too much of The Beatles (scouse) and not enough of Oasis (Manc) or
any other Manchester bands. The last song was brilliant though – a version of
Viva la Vida, by Coldplay.
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| Prairie Voices singing.... |
Saturday was a lovely sunny day and was supposed to be ‘Free
day’, when everyone puts out stuff they don’t want onto the kerb for other
scroungers to take away. We did go out to have a look around but could find
nothing useful anywhere, so we headed down to The Forks, in town, where after a look around the market and finding a weather forecasting stone, we sat
and had a spot of lunch in the sunshine. We decided on hot dogs at a place that
specialises on weird and wonderful versions of an ordinary dog. I had a Chicago
– not that unusual with tomato, peppers and onions, but Buffy’s was a P and J.
Also known as Peanut Butter, Jelly and Captain Crunch cereal, with strawberry’s
to top it off – all with a normal hotdog underneath. Not really my thing but
fun anyway.
After lunch we continued to enjoy the lovely weather with a
walk along the Red River, before heading into town and ending up at a pub
called ‘Tavern United’ – a nice bar with a rooftop patio, where we sat drinking
coke in the sunshine. I have moaned about the price of things over here enough
and especially when the tax is added on top of the displayed prices – so today
I will not moan at all but give praise where it is due.... If you want a soft
drink, like a coke, then you get free refills – so we sat for nearly 2 hours,
enjoying the afternoon sun, drinking ice cold cola and all we paid was $7 –
less than £5, for 5 massive glasses. It’s not all bad you know!
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| The weather forecasting stone.... |
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| Weird as fuck hot dog |
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| Not quite as weird |
Sunday was another lovely sunny day and we spent the
afternoon in a local park, just sitting around, reading, chatting and watching
the families playing games and enjoying their barbecues. Just like everyone
should do on a nice sunny afternoon. Obviously it also took my mind off the
football from that morning, when I was up early and watching the Man United and
Man City games, when City got two last minute goals to sew up the premier
league title. Good luck to them and I’m already looking forward to next season.
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| Down.... |
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| ...by the... |
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| river.. | | |
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| An upside down photo from the bar.... |
Monday and Tuesday were quiet days. I spent most of the time
printing out the details and tickets for my trip away and waiting for the postman
to come. I was hoping he would be bringing my new ‘replacement’, shoes before I
left on Tuesday evening, but unfortunately he didn’t and I had to make a
decision...Should I go away with just a pair of trainers and going out boots,
or should I take a hit, buy myself a decent pair of walking/hiking shoes and
then just sell the new replacement ones on eBay when they arrive. I decided on
plan B and so after waiting in till 3.30pm on Tuesday just in case, I took a
quick trip out to Polo Park shopping centre where I bought a pair of Merrell
shoes, just like my last pair that I threw away in San Francisco. Luckily,
there was a bit of a sale on and so I got them for about £20 less than they
would cost at home in the UK. Cool.
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| My home made cake and home made treacle...... |
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| Nice... |
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| A photo from the bar, not upside down! |
So that’s Winnipeg for now. I get the train in about 6 hours
to Toronto. I haven’t been sitting around doing nothing all the time though. A
few years ago there was a Charity event in Winnipeg called ‘Bears on Broadway’,
where Polar bear statues were sponsored and painted by companies and placed
along Broadway in town all to make money for cancer charities.
Over the last few years these bears have been moved around
town and now sit outside shops and offices all around the place.
So I am now all packed and ready to get away again. I am
learning from previous experiences and have packed about half what I took with
me to Calgary and Banff. I know I will end up wearing most things at least 3
times before washing them and so don’t need 10 t-shirts or 2 pairs of jeans. Let’s
hope I haven’t made a mistake in doing so!!
I will be posting again soon – probably at the weekend,
depending on what I see and do between now and then.......
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