::alio!::

Trip Diary Final Installment

9 August 2008: 5:45 PM (NST)

Weevil Wars Again!

They were in the package of rice I hadn’t yet put into a jar. I find myself wondering when I bought that rice and if that’s where they came from to begin with . . . they’d managed to get into the oats as well, but John and Sue ferreted them out and we believe we might be weevil-free.

I set up my office today, did the laundry, and put the majority of our clothes away. I just have my dresses, Andy’s dress shirts and suit, and all our coats left and then that is done. John and Sue and Andy helped me install the shelving, then took the shelves out of the shed and used them as our new pantry – that was when they discovered the weevils.

In other news, we have been trying to figure out St. John’s garbage disposal system. This month, it’s every Wednesday. Next month, it’s every Wednesday for the first two weeks and then it’s every Thursday for the next two. It changes every month, apparently. And the worst part? St. John’s does not recycle. Not one jot. I can’t get my brain around it, and it’s going to be a mental block throwing cans and jars and paper in the garbage every day. That’s RETARDED.

9 August 2008: 8:30 AM (NST)

One Great City

I managed to get the kitchen all unpacked yesterday, while the other three did the living room and our bedroom. So far, there have been no breakages. Which doesn’t explain the huge crack we heard when all the boxes were sitting in a pile at the Italian Place. But I’m sure something will explain that later.

Rogers guy comes today at 11, so we should have some new updates for you then, and pictures. My camera is definitely broken, so you’ll have to wait a spell to get pictures of the new place. There’s some kind of electrical short between the lens and the viewfinder. The icons on the screen work fine, as does everything else, but you get these moments of purple static, and, if you take a picture during these moments, the picture is of purple static. I think it has something to do with the night I charged it in the tent trailer and everything was damp. I think some dampness got into it and what it needs is to be taken apart and laid under a heat lamp. But we’ll check the internet first and see.

Another thing we need to check on the internet is what day garbage day is here, and what kind of recycling goes on in this joint . . .

It feels so weird to realize that we just moved in here the day before yesterday. We only returned the truck yesterday (U-Haul refused to refund us for the extra fees we paid due to the size of the truck, so they’re getting a very legal letter from me – as soon as I have internet and an office).

But this place is AWESOME! Our apartment is ridiculously nice. It’s old enough to be interesting but not too old to be falling apart. It has its quirks – most of the windows are winter windows and only open a crack – if they’re not painted shut – and the lino in the bathroom is trying to escape – but they’re manageable quirks. The living room is cozy, our bedroom is massive, and the kitchen is a very workable space. We have a real dining room, and I get my own room! We’re going to try to set that up today. Andy and I have been sleeping in the office on an air mattress the past two nights, so we’ll have to relocate to the dining room when we set up the desk and shelves and such.

Not only is our place awesome on the inside, but it’s awesome on the outside. We have our own driveway, a private entrance (thank god!), a little wooden area where we can put our barbecue, and we have a backyard and use of a shed for storage. Then there’s the location to consider. Campus is literally across the street. My building is a beeline from here, about 400m. Less than half a block from us is a plaza with a Shoppers Drug Mart, a CIBC, a Tim’s, an A&W, Pizza Hut, a local pizza place, a Save Easy grocery store that sells President’s Choice products, a farmer’s market and a fish market that run all year, a dentist, a barber, and a law firm at which I’m hoping to become employed. There are also various specialty and gift shops. Then, even closer to us than the plaza is a 24h Subway, which will be good for exam time, and a gas station that sells local-brewed and really tasty beer.

In the other direction is a slew of hotels and bars, and we’re about a five-minute drive from the Avalon Mall, with a Sears and a huge theatre. We figure we can walk there in about twenty minutes, and then cab back with our loot, if we have any (which we won’t, because we’re poor), because cabs are dirt cheap here, like Montréal.

This weekend we’re going to putter about and organize more things around the house, and take the ‘rents on tourist-y little trips. Monday is the GET STUFF day where we travel about town, picking up things like a dishwasher (we’ve saved up for this one) and a pantry (turns out we have so much kitchen stuff there’s no room for food, and we need to buy a shelf to keep our food). Tuesday Andy and I will go to get me registered at school. When I tried to register, it told me I couldn’t register for one of my courses online, and then it told me that the other one didn’t exist. Hm. I also want to set it up so that not only my tuition, but Andy’s tuition, comes out of my university paycheque. Everything else I get from them goes straight to my line of credit.

Breakfast now. Updates later.

8 August 2008: 9:15 AM (NST)

Weeee’re Heeeere!

Arrived. Keys were in the mailbox. Unloaded and discovered new pizza joint AND met with landlord all in 5 hours. Slept.

Casualties of the move so far: my toolbox sat half on and half off the wheel well the whole way here and subsequently has a wheel well shaped dent on the bottom. Also one of the boxes of books inexplicably got wet. Only two books are damp, and I’m trying to flatten them out.

Boxes everywhere. Internet tomorrow. Today – trying to make sense of it all.

7 August 2008: 12:45 PM (NST)

Last En-Route Post

I’m almost out of batteries and we should hit St. John’s in a few hours.

Yesterday, of course, it rained. But Andy saw his first moose as we were driving along. She was a huge cow, bigger than any of the bulls you’d see in Algonquin Park.

What else . . . ? Yes. Rogers only recognizes digital signals and there is only digital signal strength in St. John’s, so as soon as we hit the island, John and Sue lost signal and that’s why we couldn’t reach them. We ran into them in the end, though, and spent a lovely evening admiring baby finches and other wildlife in a lovely little park.

Just came through Gander, where I got a keychain for my favourite Newfoundland Dog’s collar. Other than that, the sun appears to be trying to emerge. I don’t want to get my hopes up.

More later when I have battery power.

6 August 2008: 1:30 PM (NST)

Multibrook, NL

Toddling along TCH #1 . . . you know how many brooks there are in this province? Aside from the very obvious Corner Brook, which I don’t think we actually crossed, we have driven over about twenty variously named brooks. And there’s more to come. We briefly discussed the differences between creeks (which we deemed were either wide and slow moving or narrow and deep), brooks (which were anywhere from 5 to 40 feet wide but very shallow), and rivers (which implies something a little larger and swifter), but then our debates came to naught when we crossed over River Brook and we got confused.

Right now we’re actually headed into the unknown. We led the way out of the ferry and we were going to call John and Sue when we were ready to stop for a break (we didn’t sleep well, nor did we eat breakfast), but our walkie talkie has died inexplicably and both John and Sue’s cell phones are off. So we stopped in Corner Brook for an argument and some food and, much refreshed, have continued towards our campsite in the hopes that they passed us and we’ll catch up to them on the way, or that we’ll meet them at the site and yell at them for leaving their cell phones off. Of course, that would be easy if we didn’t have the vague guideline that Notre Dame Provincial Park is approximately halfway between Grand Falls-Windsor and Gander. But there’s also 100km between those two cities, so we have a wide swath of unknown territory (and Quebec-quality roads) to contend with, as well.

Now Andy is idly wondering if his parents are off the road somewhere and dead, but I think it’s simple negligence, forgetting to turn the cell phone on. If they don’t show up at the park by 8 we’ll send in the cavalry.

6 August 2008: 9:00 AM (NST)

Happy Birthday Andrew

We made it! We are on the Rock.

We arrived in North Sydney at 5:30 yesterday and then found out our ferry was delayed two hours. We didn’t end up setting sail until just before 3:00 in the morning. I nearly shot myself waiting 9 hours to get onto the ferry, especially when it looked like our boat was actually half an hour early and then it turned out that it was another boat altogether and it left the dock after unloading. It was another 90 or so minutes before we were able to cram ourselves, sardine fashion, in the bottom of the moving city that was to take us to the Rock. I took a sleeping pill, so I slept okay, but it was a bumpy passage at times. This morning I dragged Andy up onto the deck. He wouldn’t go into the bow section because there was no railing, but it was so windy out there that I was soon driven back inside. And, of course, it was still raining.

Now we are driving, in the rain, through the loneliest set of misty mountains we have ever seen. It’s beautiful and sad at the same time.

5 August 2008: 2:00 PM (AST)

Slogging towards Sydney

I don’t remember the mud being this red when I was a kid. But it is, and it’s everywhere, because – you guessed it – it’s raining again. I don’t believe that there is such a thing as maritime dirt – just mud . . .

We had a lovely coffee with Eric and Nancy this morning and now we are en route to North Sydney and our ferry. Right now we are passing through Pictou County, with Pictou, New Glasgow, Stellarton, and Trenton – supposedly the birthplace of steel. I have my doubts.

Cool place we just passed – Melmerby Beach. Say that five times fast.

I feel that our pictures of this trip are going to be a bit of a disappointment for you folks. I’m sure you’re expecting a little more of the scenery, a bit of the culture. But we’re really just flying through. I’ve only bought postcards once – didn’t even have a chance in Dartmouth and we were there for the longest. It just hasn’t been that kind of trip. I’d like to have a trip where we can see things on the side of the road and stop and take a look, but when you’ve got a deadline and a 200L gas tank that needs to be filled every two days you really can’t afford to take your time . . . more when we get closer to Sydney and find out if we’re still on schedule.

4 August 2008: 10:00 PM (AST)

Hometown at Last!

We arrived in Halifax and the sun was finally shining – it was amazing. I think we all got a bit sunburnt setting up. I can’t access the site internet anymore – maybe I can only get it during the day – but that’s where the previous post came from.

Just got back from Janet and Trevor’s. The chowder was amazing, as was the company. Trevor gave us a nifty tour of Halifax and Dartmouth, and I got to show the Floods all the places I spent my time as a child. Christopher and Claire were both at home, so we got to exchange pleasantries with them.

Did get a spot of bad news, though – Janet told us that they were having engine troubles with the Port-Aux-Basques ferry and everything was delayed. After some hemming and hawing, however, we confirmed our reservation and they told us that the 2330 ferry was actually scheduled to leave on time – so cross your fingers.

Tomorrow is coffee with Eric and Nancy. Eric is my brother’s godfather and an old Navy friend of my parents’.

And . . . that’s it – for now. I promise to get those pictures up when I can – I know that there’s only like three and they’re kind of random. The internet connection was super slow and the program that I was using to upload froze, so that’s all you get for the next little while.

Posted by Ally at August 9, 2008 04:43 PM