Winter Wonderland

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First day on Via train 001 to Winnipeg and all I can say is holy SHIT, I woke up in a Christmas card. Violet sky, black lakes, snow, snow, snow... The train has an OBSERVATION BUBBLE, my new favourite place. My fellow travellers all seem hospitable despite their being wizened crazies. The train attendants remind me of Peter Sellers, each of them. Utterly despise my Hitachi piece of sh*t camera which refuses to do what I want it to (refuses to be a Canon). If Kian (old favourite camera) was here I'd be in heaven. As is, I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with every botched photo op. This place is beyond awesome, it's been snowy woodlands since dawn and it just keeps rollin'. Elated.

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Hornepayne (!!!), 3pm

I'm better friends with the Hitachi after a couple of hours of relentless snapping in the bubble. I'm now in the much prized back seat, looking forward to some decent shots of the arse end of the train snaking along. We're now stuck in some kip for an hour. Been loving black and white setting because these towns are just so bleak. Winter wonderland is behind us, it's been getting increasingly bland and desolate. The snow hides the ugly so well. Something eerie and Chernobyl-esque about the landscape now, it's all dead trees, yellow evergreens, wilderness, brown, BROWN, no animals... I imagine life in this town is a real bitch sometimes. Dinnertime. Crisps, an apple, breadsticks. ...Woooooop.

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The Extensive Unfinished List of Things Canadians Love
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-Reusable water bottles
-White trainers
-High waisted nineties jeans
-New Balance
-Naming streets 'maple' this and that
-No Frills/ President's Choice
-Calling all types of pasta 'noodles'
-Being subtly righteous/ moralising
-Completely glossing over social problems like smoking
-Reusable bags
-Reusable anything
-Carrying their kids around in wagons
-Huge cars
-Talking to strangers
-Ranch dressing (what the f*ck even IS it)
-Processed cheese
-Processed everything
-RUINING mozzarella
-Blending loads of supposedly different cheeses into some generic pasty cheese hybrid
-Shopping 'smart'
-Politics
-Thinking themselves secret radicals
-Goretex
-Being obliging
-Retiring
-Retiring in apartment blocks
-Dressing naff
-Naming their kids 'Madeleine'
-Maintaining their taches
-Hiding
-Staying in
-Sobriety
-Carbs
-Kool-aid
-Beef gravy and cheese curls on french fries... aka 'poutine'
-Team spirit
-Their flag
-Touting their flag on day bags
-Day bags
-The North Face
-Being the Germany of the Americas
-Queuing
-Stationary & correspondence
-Cheez Whizz
-Hamburger Helper
-Kraft Dinner
-Monosodium glutamate
-SATAN.

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