A Big Organ and The Grey Cup

Before I start telling you about the weekend of sport I must update you on the weather...... The last few days have turned cold cold cold!! The other night, on the way back from another party, we checked the temperature and it was minus 18.5 degrees Celsius. That's chilly. A quick look at the Internet and we found out that the record low for Manchester, England is minus 17.6 degrees. So no one in Manchester has ever been this cold. The funny thing is, as we left the party just after midnight, the local Winnipeggers asked me where my coat was! I was wearing a fleece and 89cents gloves. To be honest I didn't feel that cold. Buffy explained that everyone in Winnipeg is so used to wearing their big coats when its chilly, that when they see  someone without one, they wonder how they are going to survive! Haahaa, its funny that I get away with wearing a small thin fleece and they need to dress up like a survival expert at the north pole....It really doesnt feel THAT cold everyone.

Incidentally on the way home, we drove a little out of the city as the Northern Lights were active again and spent 20 minutes or so sitting in the car at the edge of a field watching the mesmerising green glow light up the sky again.

Earlier in the day we had borrowed the car from Buffy's mum (Thanks!!) as the party was quite a way away from home and we couldn't find a decent way to get there using public transport. I was picked up by Susan and had a fun afternoon helping out at her local church. Her friend Ian, helps out wit looking after the church and we had a few jobs to do - Changing and trying to fix some of the broken lights right up in the church roof - I spent a while with a rope tied around me while Ian climbed the huge ladder and did the real work. We then moved the ladder and I stood under it with a sheet on my head while Ian used a broom to sweep some broken plaster from another area of the roof and covered me with it below.

The main highlight though, was when Ian opened up a door behind the altar and we had a climb and look around the huge organ and its pipes. Believe it or not there are hundred of pipes behind the huge ones you can see on the front of the organ and you can pick them up and blow them yourself (fnar fnar) to make the noise. There was a lot more room than I imagined behind the pipes and two more ladders to climb which took me up above the pipes themselves and gave me a great view of the pipes and the church itself. I really enjoyed my afternoon out and a little bit of work too!!

Organ pipes

and more

Looking down

Cool view

The church

Buffs mum looking down

Back to this weekend and its been a good one so far - Yesterday morning we drove down to The Pemby pub where we met up with a couple of United fans to watch the United v QPR game. When it finished we came back out into a snowstorm though - the wind had gotten stronger and an inch of snow had fallen quite quickly. I drove up to the supermarket to do a big shop and came out ti a blizzard!! I couldn't see more than 100 yards and so spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at home.

Today is Sunday and is a big day of sport. Already I have watched a great Brazilian grand prix on TV and the Chelsea v City game on the Internet and now its the big game - The Grey Cup.

Now, I know that nobody at home has probably heard of the Grey cup - but here in Canada it is not just a massive game but a massive weekend - Canada's version of the Superbowl or the FA Cup.

The Grey Cup

The Grey Cup.
Even the Queen gets involved in the Grey Cup. This year is the 100th Grey Cup and as it coincides withe the Queens 50th anniversary she has sent a special message to Canada to wish everyone well.
The Grey Cup itself is the culmination of the Canadian Football season (American style football - egg chucking with a few slight changes from American football rules, not proper football like we play at home) There have been some outstanding games played in The Grey Cup, but having looked through some of the history the two that stand out for me are 'The Fog Bowl' and 'The Mud Bowl'. Both featuring the Winnipeg Blue Bombers....

The Fog bowl was the game played in Toronto in 1962 and was the 50th Grey Cup and is regarded as one of the top ten finals. It is remembered as the weather was terrible during the game and due to thick fog the game was suspended overnight and completed the next day, with Winnipeg winning 28-27 over the Hamilton Tiger cats. The stadium where the game was played was susceptible to strange weather conditions, due to its proximity next to Lake Ontaria - (It is the only place where Major League Baseball has been played with snow on the field) and the stadium was replaced with the Skydome, now named The Rogers centre - a roofed stadium right underneath the CN Tower, where todays final takes place. Heres a video about the fog bowl....its only a minute or so long...

The mud bowl, was played in 1950 at Varsity Stadium in Toronto. Before the game there had been a heavy snowfall, which had melted in warmer conditions in morning of the game, leaving a few inches of mud over the entire pitch. The Argonauts beat Winnipeg 13-0 in crazy conditions and you can see a short video showing highlights of the game here....

A still photo from the Mud Bowl

The CFL consists of just 8 teams in two divisions - East and West who play 18 games each over the summer months into early winter, plus a couple of play off games until the final which is being played in Toronto today. Winnipeg's team  - The Blue Bombers were terrible this year after reaching the final last year and failed ti qualify for the play offs. The final today is being played between The Toronto Argonauts (The Argo's) and the Calgary Stampeders (The Stamps). I am rooting for The Argos just because their Quarterback is called Ricky Ray.



The CFL is also celebrating the 100th year of the Grey Cup and it has been on a tour of the country visiting lots of the major cities as well as some tiny town and settlements miles away from anywhere. It all finishes today though with the final being played at about 5,30 this evening. We are off around to Buffy's mum and dads for another Sunday dinner and to sit and watch the Grey Cup on TV there. I'm happy as I love to sit and watch even more sport on telly!!

One last note from this week.... Its minus 11 degrees outside at the moment and I have justbeen to the shop - wearing shorts. For some reason people are looking at me in a funny way! Cant think why!!

Ill let you know the result of The Grey Cup in a later post!!

25 foot long icicles

After the excitement of the other evening and the Aurora Borealis, the rest of the week has been a little more normal. The weather has turned a little brighter and I spent a nice hour or two down by the river on Thursday taking some photographs and enjoying the bright sunshine. I was stood under the road bridge and noticed a snow fall coming from the pathway above. It actually started to move along the pathway and as it got nearer to me I moved out of its way as a whole pile of snow and hard ice fell down from above. It was only when I got back up to the path that I saw the local workman driving a small tractor, clearing the paths. I’m glad I moved at the last minute as some of the lumps of ice were pretty big.

A small pile of snow in a car park

The river bank

Frozen bits on the river

The snow being cleared from the bridge above

Lovely

The river itself is now close to freezing. I have been watching it as the weather gets colder and the snow falls. I have never had time to watch the process of a river freezing before and it’s quite interesting. I couldn’t comprehend how a moving river turns to ice but it’s really quite simple:-

The snow falls and the weather is freezing. The cold weather causes ice to form along the edges of the river in much the same way that icicles form from drainpipes. The snow that falls alongside the river banks also helps as it slowly melts and moves and bits fall into the river itself. These lumps don’t melt in the river as the water is very cold, but turn into a mushy soft icy lump. These lumps of mushy ice them get caught on the river banks and form larger lumps which stick to the ice. Over time, these lumps fuse together on the river banks and by the legs of bridges and in the shallower parts of the river. Slowly as more ice forms and more snow falls they get larger and larger until they freeze into solid ice. It is much the same way that twigs, logs and rubbish in the river can congregate together to form dams and the like, but much cooler!!

Talking about ice and icicles I am surprised by the way that a lot of the houses around here have huge icicles hanging from the drain along the roofs. Some of these drainpipes are so full of ice that they are bending out of shape and will surely cause damage to the houses if they aren’t broken off and cleared away soon. Some of them are massive too – One just down the road has grown from the drain and is about 8 feet long. The bottom of the icicle actually reaches to the rail of a balcony, where a 2^nd and 3^rd icicle have formed below it creating a three tiered icicle monster about 25 feet long!! 

Icicles

Ricicles

Fookin big Nicicles

So that’s the weather – what else has been happening? Buffy has been on the local television channel again, this time looking at winter coats. We had another night at Sierra and Andy’s place last night, spending a couple of hours in the hot tub outside in the snow. Me and Buffy were the only ones with bollocks enough to get out of the hot water and roll in the snow before getting back in! It was a fun night out though and may be the last time we get to do that as Sierra and Andy are hopefully moving into a new apartment soon.

Today is Saturday and after quiet morning I went into town around tea time and stood with crowds of families and kids watching the annual Santa parade as it drove along Portage Avenue in the centre of the city. It was a pretty good show with one of the Canadian Olympic medallists leading the parade (Desiree Scott, who won Bronze as part of the women’s soccer team) There was all the usual things – people dressed as reindeer, jugglers and clowns, cars and trucks with Christmas lights all over. My favourite part was the 3 or 4 concrete mixers covered in fairy lights – I don’t know why, but I just love concrete mixer trucks. One strange thing I noticed is that while there were lots of floats n the parade giving sweets and candy away to the children, there was also floats that were collecting food and cans for homeless people. Maybe they should combine their ideas and instead of giving free sweets to unthankful little kids – maybe they should put the money spent into buying food for the homeless.......... Hmm, it’s just an idea!

Winnipeg sunset

Desiree Scott

Its nearly Christmas

Reindeer

Horses

Abominable snowman

Concrete truck

And another

Later in the evening I met up with Buffy’s mum and dad at the local church where Buffy was singing with Prairie Voices in their first concert of the season. It was a good concert with guest choirs from Winnipeg and Edmonton. The first choir on had really loud yellow ties as part of their uniform, but were really great at singing. 

One of the other choirs

Prairie Voices - and more photos of them below....

After the concert we all piled around to Walker, Barry and Evans house along with about 50 other people and spent the rest of the evening drinking and chatting to celebrate the end of the first concert  - a good end to a good evening, which finished at about 4am when we finally got home.

You will be happy to know that the weather today is even nicer than it has been during the week. It’s a couple of degrees above freezing and sunny outside – I’m hoping that it stays like this during the week so that I can get out for a couple of runs before it freezes over again. It does feel a little strange though as last night at the Santa parade was the coldest I have felt since being here – mainly because I was stood still for an hour and my feet and hands got cold. As long as you keep moving the cold doesn’t really feel that cold!!

BREAKING NEWS  –  BREAKING NEWS  –  BREAKING NEWS  -  BREAKING NEWS

Ok, its not that important but you will be happy to know that I have actually now seen two snowmen.......

Why there are no snowmen in Winnipeg

I make no apologies about todays post – you see I am an addict. I want more. I need more of this. I crave more of what I had last night!!

Plus, I now know why there are no snowmen in Winnipeg!!

Last night I spent about 20 minutes stood in a freezing cold, snowy, school playing field opposite our apartment  staring open mouthed at the sky. At the time I didn’t care about anything else in the world except for me, Buffy the moment we were sharing. No one else was there and we just stared, open mouthed at the night sky – dumbstruck by the experience. I want more of it – I need more of it. I didn’t sleep last night as I dreamed of more of the same. Once you have had some of this you need some more...

A glow around the trees

Look carefully....

A little more....

See!! (Sorry for the blur)

Let me explain .....

I have been very lucky in my travels in the last couple of years. I have experienced some amazing things – In Nepal I swam with elephants and watched the peak of a mountain glow red as the sun rose above the Himalayas. In China I sat alone on the Great wall during another stunning winter sunrise. I swam on the Great Barrier Reef and watched the shadows dance around Uluru as the roasting hot sun fell past the horizon. In Indonesia I climbed and peered inside a Volcano and once again watched as the sun rose above it. I have stood on the precipice around the Grand Canyon, slept on a hammock in Fiji and rode a scooter around the highest road in the mountains of Vietnam.  

Mother Nature has been kind to me with the sunrises and sunsets she has created, but she has also been a bitch – with floods in Thailand, an earthquake in New Zealand and storms in Asia and Australia. I thought at one point that she (Mother Nature that is) had something against me as we seemed to be constantly fighting the elements wherever we went. But Mother Nature IS a good mother. She not only teaches you about the nasty parts of the world – she also gives you treats like the ones mentioned above. Last night it was her that made me an addict – She gave me a treat that I will never forget and one that I want to experience again and again.  Last night Mother Nature got out her little box of treats for when Rick has been a good boy and she dug right down to the bottom of it where she keeps her very special stuff.  She showed me something I have never experience before and something that no photograph, no video and no jumped up blogger (me obviously) can describe. There are no words for how it makes you feel. Dumbstruck and tiny – like the world had been reduced to the size of a tennis ball and we were stood on top of it as it floated in space – just stood staring at the greeny haze that floated above us in the sky. 

The Northern Lights. Aurora Borealis.

 We have all see light reflected off the ripples of water against a wall or under a bridge. Take that dancing ripple effect – make them the brightest most stunning green colour and project it into the sky – it’s the closest thing I can imagine and is utterly useless as a description because it doesn’t come close.   

A helicopter flying past the Aurora

a second later

and more

As you see, I cannot describe it in all its glory and remember - we were stood in the middle of a big city, on a cloudy evening with the contamination of street lights all around us – But still in the sky there were these balls and streaks of beautiful green light. They were mesmerising us as we stared, pointed and giggled like small children and spotted more of them.  I have looked through the internet trying to find a suitable description. People write that the lights dance, or that they move in waves. I have no idea what to write about them. I just want to see more. Even in the middle of the city there were amazing for the few minutes that they lasted.  I cannot imagine how amazing they would look if we went out into the countryside on a clear night. But I want to find out.

The photos on here are terrible, I know! I cannot do the lights justice – but the people of Winnipeg and everywhere where you can see the lights are lucky. They have the opportunity to see one of the most amazing shows imaginable. The lights do not occur every night though – they come and go. I will be looking out of the window tonight, tomorrow and every night from now on in the hope that I see them again. 

I nearly forgot – it’s been snowy in Winnipeg for about 4 or 5 days now. There has been about 12 inches of the stuff falling and the trees, parks and gardens all around are covered in a sheet of white. But I have wandered all around town and failed to spot even one Snowman. You would think that the children would be out all day throwing snowballs, building snowmen and enjoying the white stuff. But now we know why...... the kids are all at home, keeping their mums and dads happy. Behaving and being good little kids so that when the Northern Lights are in the sky, mum and dad will wake them up and let them see the amazing show. 

Wow....

Wow!!!!

WOW!!

I’m sorry that my photos do not do it justice. It was about minus 15 degrees Celsius, just after midnight and my hands were shaking with the cold and excitement. I fired off as many pictures as I could without taking my eyes from the sky and checked out the pictures later when we were back in the warm. Next time (I am determined there will be a next time) I will grab my tripod and attempt to get somewhere better, where the lights aren’t partially obscured by street lamps. However, I’m sure you will agree – some of the photos turned out pretty good – even though they are blurred and badly focussed. 

Just a little bit

The glow behind the trees

Look right in the middle

Getting brighter

A large streak of light

More of a glow.

bushwhackersforgottenbeersbonfireboatsandsunburn

After a good week spent in the city, it was time again to hit the road and head eastwards towards Ontario and another weekend at the Cowtan Cabin.

I packed my bags, Buffy's guitar and some beers and headed out to pick her up and get on our way. It was a lovely summers evening and so we took our time, even stopping on the highway to take a photo at the sign that marks the longitudinal centre of Canada. (The halfway point between the east and west) Then further on to the cabin, which we arrived at just after 9pm. It was then that I realised that I had left my beers behind in Winnipeg - I think I may have left them sitting by the side of the road when I packed up the car. Bugar. A quick drive down the road solved the problem and $17 down I returned to the cabin where the rest of the evening was spent mellowing out with my newly acquired, 2nd lot of beers.

Do I need to explain!?!

Saturday morning and we were up early for once (Before 11am!) after a good breakfast Buffy's mum asked us if we wanted to do a little work and we spent the next couple of hours bushwhacking .Basically, using an old scythe, some lopping shears and a big rake, to clear an overgrown path through the woods to the easternmost point of the island - known as 'The Point', we enjoyed destroying the weeds that grew as well as trimming a few trees and clearing the debris away - even though I did get a blister on the pad of my hand as well as using my super strength to break the scythe!! It was all worth it in the end though as there is now a beautiful little pathway leading from the fire-pit down through the woods, past some decorative tree stumps and some branches to mark the path, before you finally arrive at the point, where you can sit and watch the sunset at the end of a summers day.
We celebrated with a quick run and jump into the lake followed with a lazy hour in the sunshine down on the swimming dock.

Bushwhacking..

The result

Nice

Just a little blister

Later in that evening, after feeding the dogs, I fired up the barbecue and cooked my homemade burgers. They consist of ground beef with peppers, mushrooms, onion and garlic, all mushed together into a burger patty and they were delicious, even though I do say so myself. They also held together well enough to eat without dropping all over the floor. Which is a bonus. The evening was lovely again, and so after dinner we set a huge fire in the fire pit and sat around that till it got dark and cold, which was our cue jump into Buffy's hammock with a warm blanket until it was too dark to read outside anymore. We then went inside and set another fire in the fireplace, where we spent the rest of the evening - Me playing with the 3 dogs, reading and drinking cold beers, while Buffy started to build the robotic dinosaur I had bought for her, before her brother Pat turned up with a few mates and some really nasty cheap sparkly 'wine'. They had a fine drunken evening!!

Cuddy with ears wrapped up to stop them falling in his food!

At the BBQ

Homemade burgers

Oh yeah!!

Greedy!

Mmmm MMMM

Sorry dogs, none for you!!

Sunday and another lovely big breakfast of eggs, sausage and bacon was followed with a quick change and the afternoon to swimming gear and a full afternoons lazing about on the swimming dock again. We messed about jumping in the water and trying to get the dogs to follow us too, but the closest we got was for them to lick all the lake water off us as we climbed out. I must have spent a little too long in the sunshine as when I got home later in the evening I discovered that I was a little bit pink and sunburnt, but it was worth it for a fine afternoon. We then heard that Pat was coming back for dinner and so had to take a boat over to leave for him when he arrived. This meant I had a chance to drive one boat over, drop it off and drive the other back, with Buffy. Cool!!! Speedboat time.

Hammock!

Fire!!

Dogs.

Dinosaur!!

DinoSAUR!!

DINOSAUR!!

We headed back to the city after Sunday dinner and were dropped off back at home by Buffy's dad.
I unlocked the apartment door and walked into the kitchen, where I was pleasantly surprised to see my forgotten beers sitting on the kitchen floor where I left them on Friday afternoon. Nice!!!

Messing about in the water

Getting dried!

Very uncomfortable

My towel!

Playing with the dogs

Jump!

and again, watched by the dog

Little boat....

Bigger boat

Yeah!! Awesome!!

Monday  - a mellow day after a 6.7mile run first thing in the morning. I am working hard to get my fitness back after not doing much for the last few weeks. When I am travelling I keep fit with all the walking I do to see sights and get around the cities, but since I have been back in Winnipeg I haven't done so much. So last week I did 5 runs, completing 17,7 miles for the week. This week my aim is 20 miles over 5 days and so I started on Monday with a 6.7mile run, to break the back of it!

My beers waiting at home for me!!

The 2nd toenail has now gone!!

Unfortunately, my toenails don't see to like running again and at he moment one has already gone while another is in the process of falling off. They aren't too pleasant to look at, but I do need to keep fit, so its worth it. So far I have done about 11 miles in two days and so am well on target for the end of the week.