An early wake up call to listen to my collaboration session at 5.30 am with my tutor and classmates. I managed to reveal where I was by saying to everybody good morning instead of good evening. Lots of suggestions that I should go and get a coffee. The session was good and helpful in giving me some guidance on how I should be writing my essay which is due next week.
After the hour I popped back into bed for a few hours and finally arose at 9.30am. Claire went out to do a bit of shopping or rather something in particular that she had her eye on. I sat back at the desk and continued working on what I hope is a masterpiece. But in reality will probably be a very average essay after 20 years out of the game. Claire returned with a coffee and the morning ritual had begun. Who doesn’t have a coffee as part of their morning ritual eh?
This was out last morning in Ottawa and we quickly packed up the suitcases and checked out. An Uber was booked to take us to the train station where we’d catch a train to Kingston for the next leg of our trip. This leg really is the reason we came, Claire is Matron of Honour for a school friend who lives in Kingston. The Uber driver was interesting to say the least, for one he had a skateboard in the boot (trunk), he dressed like a skater too! I reckon when he isn’t getting uber jobs he is doing half pipes down the local skate park. Once he figured out we were Australian, he seemed to have a morbid fascination with the dangerous animals of Australia. I tried to move him off the topic three of four times but it kept coming back to sharks and how many people they ate a year. He then went into listing sharks and asking if we had them. Luckily I’ve watched Shark Week one or two times on Animal Planet so was able to answer the majority of his questions. I’ve probably done a disservice to ever Aussie that will get in his cab going forward because he will expect them to have a conversational understanding of sharks of Australia. Interestingly he asked me if we have any Megalodon sharks which have been extinct for over 2 million years. I said ‘yes of course’. He seemed impressed.
The train station seemed very efficient, it must have been built and operated by Germans. They loaded the train at least 30 minutes before we were due to go, weighed our cases. And had a few laughs with us. I know what your thinking….had a few laughs with us, they can’t be German! The train itself was large and comfortable and sold beer. They are a bit like a plane with full internet connectivity and movies/tv shows. Unfortunately I couldn’t find Sharknado.
As we travelled across this beautiful country it got me wondering, why can’t planes be like this train. Its got plenty of room between seats, you sit in twos and some people go backwards. Why exactly are planes so uncomfortable? I presume its a cost thing and they attempt to heard as many people in as possible. But for 20% extra would you be willing to pay for an extra bit of comfort? Trains feel like a mode of transport from a bygone era but what better way to traverse a country. Our internal trips in Canada are both by train and if this one is anything to go by I think it will be a most pleasant experience.
We were nicely picked up at Kingston station by the bride to be before being dropped at our Air B&B accommodation in the middle of Kingston. After having a brief walk around Kingston I would relate it to somewhere like Williamstown in Victoria. Its on the water (in this case Lake Ontario) has a bit of seaside vibe and is full of tourists. What did surprise me and surprised me in Ottawa was the amount of homeless people on the street. I sometimes walk round Melbourne and think we have a problem but it is a greater one over here.
Its nice finally having a kitchen and being able to cook for ourselves, so off we went to the local supermarket. The supermarket resembled a large IGA and was pleasantly familiar. This is one of the shopping expeditions when the tables are finally turned and I get the opportunity to go a little crazy. I wandered off, such is my way and when Claire finally caught me (in the crisps section), I’d already got in the basket, half a kilo of bacon, a giant lump of Monterey jack cheese, a half loaf of white bread and a large two litre bottle of Canadian Dry. This sort of shopping explains why we always go and do the main shop together at home. After I assured Claire this was just my way of soaking up the Canadian culture and was as important as visiting galleries and museums ( I don’t think she believed me for a second) we headed to the tills to pay.
As we walked out the supermarket, my eyes picked out the bottle shop over the road. In we went and upon a first look around found no craft beer. As we tried to walk out, this girl who worked there stopped us and asked what we were looking for and why we hadn’t found it. We told her we couldn’t find any craft beer and which point she yelled at the top of her lungs for an assistant to come over and take us to the craft beer section. We weren’t going to be allowed to escape the shop without buying something it seemed. Luckily enough we’d missed the craft beer selection completely and once lead by the shouted out assistant, I happily purchased a couple of cans that were local to the area. I should at this point explain, that cans over here aren’t Australian size. Most beer cans appear to be 473ml.
A quick down of one of those beers and then onto a BBQ at the pre-martial couples apartment that overlooks Lake Ontario. We Looked into the horizon as the sunset (the other side of the building) and I even got to try yet another new beer. The 2 minutes back to our Air B&B certainly beat the 20-25 minutes we were walking from anywhere in Ottawa.
Tomorrow I might finally don my running gear and get to put some kilometres in my legs. Its been a couple of weeks since I have and a lot of beer and bad food has been drunk in the meanwhile so I’m not sure how I’ll go but its better than the alternative of doing nothing I suppose.
IJS 20/07/2017