Settling Down for the Winter

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Ok so we have been pretty slack in updating the blog- sorry! Here is a bit of an update leading on from the last entry:

After enjoying our time east it was time to head back to the west. We had a couple of days in the big smoke in Toronto. Whilst it was good to see, neither of us were overly impressed by Toronto as it is just one BIG city but didn’t have too much appeal for us (unless maybe we were loaded and could go out on a big shopping spree, which for the record we aren’t). We experienced some temperatures that made us feel we were back home 31 C and so humid! Whilst in Toronto we didn’t do too much apart from wander around, go to an amateur comedy night and visit the Steam Whistle Brewery which was a lot of fun and we managed to score quite a few Pilsners out of them- always a good thing.

We then planned on stopping off at Winnipeg again to break up the long bus ride but the bus had other plans and after a food stop in Dryden in Ontario the bus broke down. After a while we were told that another bus would have to come from Winnipeg so all up we would have a 5 hour or so wait. Of course not too many people were happy with this as it was in the evening so we would arrive in Winnipeg in the wee hours of the morning, which for a lot of people meant a mini crisis. The most significant was a couple needing to be in Vancouver at a certain time for a cruise. We were promised a bus to meet us in Winnipeg at 3.30am then it changed to 5am then it never showed so we all had to wait til the next scheduled bus which was 10am so basically lots of waiting and lots of grumpy people, but the manager of the Greyhound depot gave us compensation in the way of free tickets oh and a free ‘greasy spoon breakfast’ at the local diner, so we felt we scored as we were promised a new discovery pass (worth $800) each and we weren’t even the grumpy ones!!

Anyway after all the kafuffle we ditched staying in Winnipeg (as it was the morning by the time we arrived anyway) and thought what the hell what is another day on the bus and went all the way through to Calgary for a night (just for some sleep and a shower as we had been on a bus for almost 2 days). Emma's ankles had other ideas though and due to all the sitting around decided to protest and swell up to look like elephants ankles!! We had a few days to kill before meeting up with Karl’s parents so we headed to Fernie to check out whether we thought this would be the place to spend the winter. Fernie is in B.C. but also close to the Alberta border and only 45 minutes to the US border. It is a pretty small town surrounded by mountains and is renowned for getting huge powder dumps. We both really liked the town straight away so decided to suss out accommodation and jobs whilst there. We were warned that accommodation would be especially hard to find this year with the closure of some condo buildings that residents usually rent and no staff accommodation is provided in Fernie. The ski hill is a 5 minute drive from town which is pretty close compared with a lot of other ski resorts in Canada.

We then met up with Karl’s parents in Calgary who came over to Canada for a well-deserved holiday. It was great to catch up with them and we spent the following day traveling to Banff and Lake Louise. We drove through quite a bit of snow which was a bit of a surprise but very beautiful and the scenery was quite different to when we first came through there as there was a lot more snow on the mountains this time around.

Next stop was Vancouver just to pick up our snowboarding gear and all the other stuff we had left in storage whilst traveling around. After spending the weekend there we hopped on different buses, Karl headed to Calgary seeking some temporary work concreting as there is big boom happening there. Emma went back to Fernie to try and get a place to call home for us both and a job, preferably serving (waitressing) as that is how you can make decent money when busy due to tips. It was only about a week when both were sorted: a basement suite in a very central location with a lovely couple for landlords living above and a job serving at a fine (well not too fine really) dining restaurant. The shifts are pretty minimal at the moment though so for the meantime she has also starting working at a Canadian chain called Tim Hortons which is basically a coffee and doughnut store with a few soups and sandwiches thrown in. It is so busy that they consider it ‘dead’ unless the line is out the door and drive through is surrounding the building, well at least the days will go quickly I guess?! Karl has been working with a young crazy crew in Calgary but came a couple of weekends to Fernie for the job fair and an interview for a job as a Maintenance guy for one of the resorts on the hill….and he got it, yeh! So he starts in late November so will probably stay in Calgary til mid November.

The weather has not been too cold yet and a few weekends ago it was a lovely sunny day so Emma got to go on a hike up Mt Fernie with some friends she has made here which was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. There is snow on the Mountains, which is a bit of a tease because the season doesn’t officially start until December 8th.

So that is about it for now, there probably won’t be too much more to tell until the season really starts.

P.S Couldn't resist including an email Karl sent to me and his family, we all got a good laugh out of it so hope you all do too! Here it is:


Hey there,

Thought I'd send you off some mail in the life of a Canadian concretor.
Well it all starts in my dorm room when just heading of to sleep nearly there now ( around 11pm ) a rather large bloke enters the room with his usual comment ( large fart nearly following through each time I'm sure ) then the bloke tries to find his way to his bunk thank god that his isn't sleeping above me I say to myself as he continued to toss and mutter to himself through the night, must be off his head and lots of it. Anyway got a little sleep and much needed as i have a big day ahead, wake around 5am have some B'fast and make a load of food for the day and off I go. Today is a little different then most as not having any work from my usual employer ( sunning himself for a week in Mexico ), so I'm making my way to a spot that I've heard of around the hostel it is called 'Cashes Corner' , I've arrived at 12th Av and Centre St but where is everybody, is this it? is this the right spot? Mind you it is early, 6.30am, I thought that I was running late but slowly but surely men of all shapes and sizes come into view, so I guess this is it so what now?

Man it's cold too, should of checked the weather DAMN It O' well. Staying in one spot or should I say walking round in circles trying to warm up and looking around like a chook with it's head cut off for any buyers of the proud Australian labour, this is ' Cashes Corner' cash for labour, Hmmmm I think now as the half pissed and coffee swilling blokes start to gather in larger numbers ( had heard no. reach into the 50s mid summer at the corner) how many have we got at a rough count around 35 I reckon, shit and no trucks yet but wait who's this bloke, should I move in, no way he's driven pass the best labour and is now down the end of the block, about 5- 10 blokes approach. what the? so tis is how it works hmmmmmmmm after all that nobody got anything- makes me feel better . By the way what time is it shit it's only 8am where's the sun, I need the sun!!! Are here she comes as more blokes huddle in the sun. In the end I waited till 9.30 and by this stage many blokes had come and gone due to the large number of other blokes and as they kept on saying one after the other "not much happening" so I headed off home for some warm tv, 'soft' I know, but the body said get me the hell out of here and the mind soon followed.

Home back to some some what normal people, down to the tv room and watch the end of the morning news the weather on great. how cold -9 this morning bit of a cold snap "wholly shit" I say out loud too that's bloody cold.

After a little snooze I thought I'd better make a visit to my other life, the gym the I've joined for the month. And what a world it is from the poor blokes this morning freezing to the high end business people in their latest brand name gear with their personal trainersand odd looks as I always seem to get as I pop out of the lift ( man I've never seen so many trainers ). Do as a hard of a work-out as my body will allow as I haven't done a thing in near 9 months now (strength what strength). Finish the work-out and head off to the hostel.

Find out that there is work on for tomorrow bring it on!
So that's a little update, Em's doing fine working 2 jobs and having way to much fun in Fernie, can't wait to get there. Each day as it comes though.
What else has been going on?

Karl Pumpa

Managing Director
Concreting Canada
4th Avenue S.E.
Calgary AB

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Photos

Fernie- Three Sisters
The mountain in the background here is the called the Three Sisters. I went for a walk along this creek.

Hitching a ride
Our broken down bus and karl's solution!!

Toronto
The famous Toronto Tower

Windmills
There are hundreds of these on the way from Calgary to Fernie.

Fernie
This is the main highway running through Fernie.

View from Mt Fernie
The reward of this view made the intense hike so worth it

Autumn Colours
Seeing the trees change colour has been really pretty.

Comments

[david jenkinson]

hi
your making me envious ...karl what a great adventu thanks for the excellent travel stories OZ.wide concrete dave