Hello again folk, it seems that my avid fan gets ever more impatient for another ‘Letter from Canada’. I opened my email today & read that the ‘blog’ had received another comment! That’s two! Mind you, I think there would have been more, had I got the settings right in the first place! So eager to see what someone had written I go to the blog, to be greeted with: Isn't it time for an update? :). Now I’m not going to embarrass the person concerned by naming names………….., ahh to hell with it, it was Melissa Gregory!!!!!! In order to avoid further chiding from my fan out there – here we go on an update and another, ‘Letter from Canada’.
I have now resorted to making notes for my letter, in order to make recall easier – when you get to my age you need all the help you can! So, what’s first on the list – oh yes, you’ll love this one fan, a tale of torment & woe. For her first few days in ‘big school’, I drove Wendy into the city & dropped her outside the office building on Jasper Ave in downtown Edmonton. We decided to do this until Wendy got her parking pass – Directors get that sort of thing you know! It’s almost like being ‘A’ based – for those in the audience who work at the Aussie Embassy. For those that don’t, call them at the Embassy for an explanation.
Anyway, I drove Wendy in for a few days but her pass appeared much quicker than she expected, & was thus forced into the unprecedented step of ‘driving to work’! Again those in the audience who know Wendy & I well, will know her reluctance to get behind the wheel & drive to work. I was her personal chauffeur for about six years! There she is, pass in hand & finally having to admit she will drive herself to work. I did the final drive into town and met Wend after work for some dinner. After which I carefully showed her the way to the car park – some 5 mins from her office – and drove out of the car park & home.
The following morning my little Director heads off to ‘big school’ under her own steam – scary stuff fan. I got a call from Wendy some time later, telling me she had finally got to work, but had got lost coming out of the car park & took a full twenty minutes to find her office. To say I fell about is something of an understatement, but I did try some sympathy……….. After telling her how to get from said car park to office, we rang off. I felt sure she would now be ok……………., but oh no!
Sometime after 6pm that evening I received a call from Wendy on her cell phone. I figured this was just a call to say she was on her way home, & I should slip into something comfortable for the evening……….. “I’m lost”, were I believe her opening words. For the men out there, Edmonton is laid out in a grid pattern not unlike DC or most major cities in the US, so in essence, very simple to get about. Edmonton has numbered Streets – running N/S, & numbered Avenues – running E/W. Additionally, there are a few named streets/avenues – simple stuff huh?
Thinking like a man, & understanding this simple grid system, I asked her where she was. Not a clue, came the response! Here is the picture folk, busy Friday night homebound traffic in the Provinces capital, wife is lost, still driving with cell phone clamped to ear! Not good fan, not good. After the initial response I told her to tell me the street/avenue at the next junction she passed. With that info, I quickly worked out that she was about four blocks from her office heading north, out of town. We live out in the south west! Having sorted that out, I got her to make two quick left turns to put her back on course and then, as she approached Jasper Ave a quick right. It was like a light had been turned on, “ahhh, I recognize this bit………..” I’m pleased to report that from there my dear wife made it safely home. However, up until a day or so ago she was still getting lost coming out of the car park by foot - got to love her all the same.
We also got to meet the neighbours a couple of weeks ago - both sets quite different from the ‘crowd’ in North Oxbow Court, but ok in their own ways. To one side we have a couple with a 10/12 year old son/daughter – couldn’t tell with the jacket & hat on and didn’t understand the name. Neither did I catch the ladies name, it sounded like something very ‘tree huggerish’ or French– if you know what I mean. I must ask again some time. She is obviously ‘vertically challenged’, & resolved to stand on a piece of fencing in her yard to talk to me over the fence.
Even with this assistance, she was barely able to look over the top. She had been curious to see the dogs, and was a little taken aback by the size of our ‘girls’. As a sort of apology for way the garden was systematically being destroyed by two galloping Newfies, I said I would have some work to do in the spring. “Yes’, she agreed, “it had been a lovely garden in the summer” – emphasis on the ‘had’ I seem to recollect. I hope we have shed loads of snow between now & spring – covers a multitude of damage.
On the other side, we have a very laid back couple, Norm & Holly. I soon discovered Norm – also vertically challenged or just plain short – has his own tyre business, with a couple of outlets in Edmonton. We had only just met out on the drive while I emptied groceries from of the car, & he came over to introduced himself. Not only that, but promptly invited us round for cocktails at about 7pm on the Sunday evening.
Sunday evening came round & we went round for ‘cocktails’, this turned out to be a euphemism for getting stuck into what ever you liked! Turns out Norm & Holly love entertaining & frequently have a house full. They are also very generous hosts & not at all backward in dishing out the booze in copious quantities. Not that I drink you understand!!!!! I only mentioned that my ‘tipple’ was single malt whisky, & for the remainder of the evening I was forced, forced I tell you fan, to sample about 6 different bottles of Scotland’s finest ‘falling down waters’. Wend played safe & stuck with G&T’s – several of.
We further discovered that our neighbours have no kids & way too much excess cash, which they love too spend. Without providing an inventory of all the ‘toys’, they have amongst other things a cabin on a lake, a newly acquired house in Palm Springs, his & hers snowmobiles & jet skis……… These guys are living life LARGE & good on them. On top of all that, they are a smashing couple & we look forward to getting to know them better – and trying the snowmobiles of course!
We have just bid farewell to our first brave visitors to the frozen north. Dave & Dawn hitched their Huskies to their sled & headed north on Thanksgiving, spending a little over a week up here. We spent the weekend together, before they headed off to look at some of the most spectacular scenery in Alberta on the ‘Icefields Parkway’. Prior to doing that, Wendy felt duty bound to show her very dear friend the sites of Edmonton and take her shopping to the West Edmonton Mall (WEM). To the non shoppers amongst you, that will mean absolutely nothing. To the ‘shopaholics’ out there, this must be a mecca. Now before going any further, I want to establish that my comment re mecca was not intended as a racist slurr against the Islamic religion. So I don’t expect to be dragged off to the Sudan, placed in jail or face a firing squad! To continue!
I declined the shopping trip to the WEM, even though it is either the largest or at least second largest mall in North America. Even though it has over 880 shops, an indoor fun park, ice rink, water park & theme hotel – I resisted. However, I did nearly crack at the thought of Sears and a stock of Craftsman tools…………………….!! On the Sunday with temperatures at about -12’C/10’F & a mighty northerly wind blowing, we took our guests sight seeing – what a giggle! I’ve never seen any two people looking so damn frozen! I’ll try & post a photo or two to demonstrate what I mean – I’m sure D&D won’t mind.
On the Monday, I took the intrepid frozen travellers to the airport where they collected a hire car & set off on sight seeing for a few days. We arranged to meet up again at a wonderful log built hotel, just outside of the beautiful Jasper National Park. Take a look at this link folk:
I have now resorted to making notes for my letter, in order to make recall easier – when you get to my age you need all the help you can! So, what’s first on the list – oh yes, you’ll love this one fan, a tale of torment & woe. For her first few days in ‘big school’, I drove Wendy into the city & dropped her outside the office building on Jasper Ave in downtown Edmonton. We decided to do this until Wendy got her parking pass – Directors get that sort of thing you know! It’s almost like being ‘A’ based – for those in the audience who work at the Aussie Embassy. For those that don’t, call them at the Embassy for an explanation.
Anyway, I drove Wendy in for a few days but her pass appeared much quicker than she expected, & was thus forced into the unprecedented step of ‘driving to work’! Again those in the audience who know Wendy & I well, will know her reluctance to get behind the wheel & drive to work. I was her personal chauffeur for about six years! There she is, pass in hand & finally having to admit she will drive herself to work. I did the final drive into town and met Wend after work for some dinner. After which I carefully showed her the way to the car park – some 5 mins from her office – and drove out of the car park & home.
The following morning my little Director heads off to ‘big school’ under her own steam – scary stuff fan. I got a call from Wendy some time later, telling me she had finally got to work, but had got lost coming out of the car park & took a full twenty minutes to find her office. To say I fell about is something of an understatement, but I did try some sympathy……….. After telling her how to get from said car park to office, we rang off. I felt sure she would now be ok……………., but oh no!
Sometime after 6pm that evening I received a call from Wendy on her cell phone. I figured this was just a call to say she was on her way home, & I should slip into something comfortable for the evening……….. “I’m lost”, were I believe her opening words. For the men out there, Edmonton is laid out in a grid pattern not unlike DC or most major cities in the US, so in essence, very simple to get about. Edmonton has numbered Streets – running N/S, & numbered Avenues – running E/W. Additionally, there are a few named streets/avenues – simple stuff huh?
Thinking like a man, & understanding this simple grid system, I asked her where she was. Not a clue, came the response! Here is the picture folk, busy Friday night homebound traffic in the Provinces capital, wife is lost, still driving with cell phone clamped to ear! Not good fan, not good. After the initial response I told her to tell me the street/avenue at the next junction she passed. With that info, I quickly worked out that she was about four blocks from her office heading north, out of town. We live out in the south west! Having sorted that out, I got her to make two quick left turns to put her back on course and then, as she approached Jasper Ave a quick right. It was like a light had been turned on, “ahhh, I recognize this bit………..” I’m pleased to report that from there my dear wife made it safely home. However, up until a day or so ago she was still getting lost coming out of the car park by foot - got to love her all the same.
We also got to meet the neighbours a couple of weeks ago - both sets quite different from the ‘crowd’ in North Oxbow Court, but ok in their own ways. To one side we have a couple with a 10/12 year old son/daughter – couldn’t tell with the jacket & hat on and didn’t understand the name. Neither did I catch the ladies name, it sounded like something very ‘tree huggerish’ or French– if you know what I mean. I must ask again some time. She is obviously ‘vertically challenged’, & resolved to stand on a piece of fencing in her yard to talk to me over the fence.
Even with this assistance, she was barely able to look over the top. She had been curious to see the dogs, and was a little taken aback by the size of our ‘girls’. As a sort of apology for way the garden was systematically being destroyed by two galloping Newfies, I said I would have some work to do in the spring. “Yes’, she agreed, “it had been a lovely garden in the summer” – emphasis on the ‘had’ I seem to recollect. I hope we have shed loads of snow between now & spring – covers a multitude of damage.
On the other side, we have a very laid back couple, Norm & Holly. I soon discovered Norm – also vertically challenged or just plain short – has his own tyre business, with a couple of outlets in Edmonton. We had only just met out on the drive while I emptied groceries from of the car, & he came over to introduced himself. Not only that, but promptly invited us round for cocktails at about 7pm on the Sunday evening.
Sunday evening came round & we went round for ‘cocktails’, this turned out to be a euphemism for getting stuck into what ever you liked! Turns out Norm & Holly love entertaining & frequently have a house full. They are also very generous hosts & not at all backward in dishing out the booze in copious quantities. Not that I drink you understand!!!!! I only mentioned that my ‘tipple’ was single malt whisky, & for the remainder of the evening I was forced, forced I tell you fan, to sample about 6 different bottles of Scotland’s finest ‘falling down waters’. Wend played safe & stuck with G&T’s – several of.
We further discovered that our neighbours have no kids & way too much excess cash, which they love too spend. Without providing an inventory of all the ‘toys’, they have amongst other things a cabin on a lake, a newly acquired house in Palm Springs, his & hers snowmobiles & jet skis……… These guys are living life LARGE & good on them. On top of all that, they are a smashing couple & we look forward to getting to know them better – and trying the snowmobiles of course!
We have just bid farewell to our first brave visitors to the frozen north. Dave & Dawn hitched their Huskies to their sled & headed north on Thanksgiving, spending a little over a week up here. We spent the weekend together, before they headed off to look at some of the most spectacular scenery in Alberta on the ‘Icefields Parkway’. Prior to doing that, Wendy felt duty bound to show her very dear friend the sites of Edmonton and take her shopping to the West Edmonton Mall (WEM). To the non shoppers amongst you, that will mean absolutely nothing. To the ‘shopaholics’ out there, this must be a mecca. Now before going any further, I want to establish that my comment re mecca was not intended as a racist slurr against the Islamic religion. So I don’t expect to be dragged off to the Sudan, placed in jail or face a firing squad! To continue!
I declined the shopping trip to the WEM, even though it is either the largest or at least second largest mall in North America. Even though it has over 880 shops, an indoor fun park, ice rink, water park & theme hotel – I resisted. However, I did nearly crack at the thought of Sears and a stock of Craftsman tools…………………….!! On the Sunday with temperatures at about -12’C/10’F & a mighty northerly wind blowing, we took our guests sight seeing – what a giggle! I’ve never seen any two people looking so damn frozen! I’ll try & post a photo or two to demonstrate what I mean – I’m sure D&D won’t mind.
On the Monday, I took the intrepid frozen travellers to the airport where they collected a hire car & set off on sight seeing for a few days. We arranged to meet up again at a wonderful log built hotel, just outside of the beautiful Jasper National Park. Take a look at this link folk:
With Wend at work & guests gone for a little while, I set about my household admin duties. One of which involved getting the recall carried out for my bike, before they it could be registered/inspected & had Alberta tags issued. I picked a lovely sunny day and a bracing -6’C/21’F, and then rode the six & a bit miles to our local Triumph dealer. When I got inside, the service manager told me that I was now officially a Canadian! No one else would ever ride a bike in these conditions…….. I still have to ride them to be inspected, but that will be another story.
As we are rapidly approaching the festive season, I feel moved to dispense some words of wisdom. As Ben Franklin once said – “In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria”. In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 litre of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. coli) - bacteria found in faeces. In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop. However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer (or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting.
Therefore, as the season of eating drinking & making merry draws close, remember these words of wisdom when you are offered a drink & consider: Water = Poop, Wine = Health!! Merry Christmas and stay healthy!
Ok folk, that's about if from this edition of 'Letters from Canada', but I would like to leave you with one last bit of 'sillyness'. I claim no responsibility for the following link, which came via my dear daughter 'Pooh. However, if you laugh as much as Wend & I did, it has done it's job - enjoy:
Take care folk & as always, 'Good night & may your God go with you'.
Me n er.
Me n er.
1 comment:
YAHOO! Always exciting to hear the Blackwell's adventures! :) Miss you guys!
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