ClareJ76

Despite Christmas being over 3 weeks away, December started with two Christmas parties! First was the work bash on 4th which was an Oscars themed evening. Good fun, and I tried my first herring from the Julbord (it was OK, but not my favourite!), but I did feel a bit like I needed to be a responsible adult... at least until the staff went home and Sara and I went elsewhere The very next night, we had the Meetup Christmas party at the Liffey... I wasn’t feeling in much of a party mood but it would have been awful to miss it! For various reasons (mainly that Bhavik dropped the ball), Simon and I ended up having to find a venue for the do with only a week to go. Thankfully we managed to sweet-talk the ... read more

At last, a beautiful sunny day! My last day in Canada and the day of my trip to see the legendary Niagara Falls - I couldn’t have asked for better weather. I decided to go with a tour package as the public transport options to the area aren’t brilliant and I did have a plane to catch that evening! Because I’m lazy, I organised the tour through the hotel and ended up with CU Tours. Possibly not the cheapest, but it seemed to cover the major sights. We were picked up by our minibus bright and early and off we went. Our driver/guide gave a running commentary as we went - half of which I ignored as I was just watching the world go by! But there were some interesting snippets (which I clearly can’t remember ... read more

Before I left Sweden/UK, I was telling people about WWOOFing and how we were planning a stay on a hippie commune and on a ranch... Well, Ro fitted in the commune before I got to Canada (fortuitously as it turns out - not sure I would have been prepared for the public nudity involved in showering in the middle of the lawn) and ranches seem to be rather too popular. I tried to get us on to one for this, my last farming week, but Linda Proudfoot regretted to inform me that although we sounded “adorable” (have I suddenly turned into a fluffy bunny on the phone?!) she had no room at the inn. So Gordon got us instead. Lucky Gordon. Gordon is an artist and farmer who runs The Art Farm in Duntroon, Ontario. He ... read more

The bus out of Grandview was much fuller than the one we got on the way out there - the perils of travelling straight after Thanksgiving I guess. So Ro and I sat cramped for 5 and a half hours with our hand luggage on the floor under our feet. I’m not entirely sure why the “express” service between Grandview and Winnipeg took longer than our slow service on the way north, but I am learning not to question the Greyhound way... At least the sun was shining and we could stare out of the window at the endless prairie skies, and view Riding Mountain National Park in daylight! Still didn’t see any wildlife unfortunately. To make our pick-up most convenient to Chris, we wanted to be let off the bus at Headingley rather than Winnipeg ... read more

Not content with a 17 hour marathon journey yesterday, and clearly missing Winnipeg airport already, Chris, Ro and I headed back there shortly before 9am on Tuesday in search of a Greyhound. A very friendly and helpful man behind the counter relieved Ro and myself of $52 apiece, in exchange for a 5 hour road trip to Grandview, Manitoba. Five hours sounds like a long time, but when you have years of catching up to do, the time passes very quickly! Undoubtedly we entertained/irritated the entire bus for most of the journey with our various stories. But we were happy and no-one actually complained. Besides, Mimmi the elderly lady sitting opposite us was far more irritating with her extremely loud mobile phone conversations for the first hour... half were French-accented Canadian and half were weirdly-accented French. ... read more