of CBC Radio 2 as we know it.
It was hard to fight back tears today as I listened to the men and women of a Canadian institution become unwillingly silent. Some of them had trouble, too, as they signed off for the last time. The hardest one was Jurgen Gothe, host of my favourite DiscDrive. He's been doing the show for 23 years, so I've been listening ever since I came back from England in 1985. He's been the one continuous factor in my life as we moved across the country, and the final comfort as I finally left my family to come to Newfoundland. He was a link to home - a very comforting voice spouting out his odd tangents for over two decades. On the last episode today his producers did a review of the progression of DiscDrive over the years. It was very funny and very sad all at the same time.
I know that CBC is trying to gear its music towards younger listeners, but the fact is that younger listeners aren't going to listen to the radio, especially not the same radio station their parents listened to. Even if it's not full of classical music anymore. They're going to listen to their iPods, and if they want Top 40, they'll tune into a local radio station for that. The thing is, with cutbacks to education, kids aren't taught to appreciate classical music anymore. They view it as boring, not beautiful.
I grew up with CBC2 and classical music. It was always on in my house. Always. It's the first place I turn to when I want the news or something to listen to. And now it's over. It'll never be the same.
Yes, I'm talking about myself.
Turns out I can't count - and I forget things.
When we rented our last apartment, we paid first and last month's rent in one cheque. Because we were only in the apartment for half of July, the first month's rent was only for two weeks, and then we tacked on the full amount for the last month. Forgetting this, I wrote the landlord a further twelve cheques for every month we would be in the apartment - including the last month.
The landlord, of course, being the kind of person she is, didn't mention this to us that she had an extra cheque, and then, when we had left town, she cashed it. So I'm out $1350, and they have a lot of money that doesn't belong to them. This amount pretty much covers Andy's tuition for this term, which we were kind of counting on.
I wrote an email to her son about it, painting myself as a moron and oops - I think your mother got confused and cashed it. So we'll see what I get back. So far, no response.
We're thinking they're going to give us trouble because we refused to fix the washing machine. It would have cost $250 to fix it (and the thing was a fire hazard) when it was $50 to buy a newer, better one off craigslist. So fine, they can take $50 off my cheque. But I still want the other $1300. We're also thinking that they might give us trouble about the sink in our bedroom, which spontaneously disintegrated two days before we moved out. The pipe under the plug just snapped because it was so old. We didn't tell them because frankly they'd been giving us the stink-eye for the past three months for no reason, and, well, it was two days before we moved - we were a little preoccupied.
I'm more than miffed that she was so sneaky as to wait until we'd left town before cashing that cheque (I wish we hadn't actually had any money in the account at the time - then we'd only be paying fees on a bounced cheque). But I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt that, you know, I DID write her a cheque for that amount and she had every right to cash it, and perhaps just got confused as to how many months I'd paid for.
Cross your fingers. I'll let you know what happens.
Precisely a year from today I will be Mrs. Andy Flood. Today is T-minus 365 days until my wedding date, and therefore it is our negative first anniversary.
I always thought it was a little weird to be able to predict a milestone like that. Like there's no way I'd be able to tell you when my first child will be born, or when I will die. But I can tell you when I will get married. Odd.
Andy and I figured the day couldn't go by unmarked, so we're doing a little bit of celebrating. We tried to sleep in this morning, but woke up at 8 anyway, as usual. We went and got apartment insurance today. Holy crap it's expensive here. We're paying more than twice what we paid before, for a third of the coverage. Then we went shopping for some work shirts for me (didn't actually find too much that I didn't feel too old or too poor to wear), and caught a matinee of Wall-E, which we enjoyed. And we did all this by walking.
We'll have a little champagne with our dinner (leftover spaghetti) and watch some downloaded television before turning in. How boring, I know, but I think it will be nice.
Wedding presents are wedding presents. First anniversary is paper. Second is cotton. Third is leather.
What do you get someone for their negative first anniversary? A Dishwasher. It arrives tomorrow. So it's our Dishwasher Anniversary.
So of course this morning I was unnecessarily nervous for my job interview. I had the job when my resume arrived at the firm. I am an ideal fit for a job they had only just started to think about filling.
It was only a formality, really. I spent about 15 minutes with the C.O.O. of the place (yes, they're THAT big), then I waited 10 minutes or so for the current librarian to turn up at 10. In that time I gazed through the 10th floor view of the harbour in the sunshine. Then I went in to the library with Luke, the fella I'm replacing, and spent an hour with him just going through stuff.
The deal is that I don't officially start until after 19 September. I'm going to go in for three Wednesdays before then, on the 3rd, 10th, and 17th, and spend the day with Luke in the library, learning librarian stuff. He's leaving on the 19th so after that I'm on my own. We're spacing out the training because different stuff happens in the library at different times, and so it's better for me to experience it as it comes, rather than do it all in three days and perhaps miss something.
I get to make my own schedule and it's flexible, as long as I get everything done that needs to be done every week. I will likely work all day on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, because that's Luke's schedule now and that's what people are likely used to. It helps because I have class on Tuesdays and Andy has Thursdays off class, so it's handy for me. I'll be working between 16 and 20 hours a week and I will be paid $17 an hour.
My job? I am the librarian for Cox & Palmer, Barristers & Solicitors. The place is big enough to have its own library, and I sit in one corner of it and make sure everything is in its place. I receive books, I order books and periodicals, and I find stuff for lawyers when they want it. There's a million tiny random things I do (and that's why it took Luke an hour to explain them all) so I think it'll keep me busy, but I can't see it being stressful. Luke says he spends about 80% of his time at work by himself, which I think I will like.
Now, because it's such a prestigious and large firm, I'm going to start using pseudonyms for the people I work with when I discuss them. Otherwise you can just look them up on the internet. Luke is a different story, because he's leaving and I won't see him much, other than the three training days. But as I start to suss out the social structure in this place you can bet you'll get some commentary. It'll just be deliberately vague and anonymous for you. Can't have a repeat of what happened last time at my little firm . . .
Now I just have one more month of financial dependence on credit. At least it's not another month of financial uncertainty.
For now I think I will continue to sit around in my underwear and diddle around on the internet. It's nice finally living in a place where I don't necessarily have to wear pants if I don't want to. It's not like Andy minds.
I have a job interview tomorrow at Cox & Palmer, one of the larger law firms in the city. It's for a librarian position, so it will be interesting to see what I get to do. The lady who called me asked me if I wanted that one or a clerk position, both part time, and so I chose the librarian one, for a change.
The interview is at 9:30.
Now I need to go get my haircut and figure out what I'm going to wear.
More news as it comes . . .
Spent the morning GARDENING.
And I actually ENJOYED myself (Mum, Dad, don't freak out).
Our front path was totally overgrown with turf and the hedge was taking over, so while Sue attacked the hedge, I went after the turf, transplanting it other places it was needed. Then we went after the crab grass at the edges of the property while John and Andy finished up the mowing job we started on the LAST day it was sunny.
Hot dogs for lunch, then we went mini-putting. For once, I didn't totally cream Andy, but actually lost to him by two points. I attribute it to a bunch of obnoxious ten year olds who were playing behind us and whose parental escorts were too busy conversing to notice.
Tonight we're going to try to make it up to Signal Hill before the fog rolls in, because John really wants a view from there at night.
It's finally sunny. FINALLY.
Other than that, things are getting a might complicated.
According to school rules, there is a limited number of hours I can work off campus while receiving money from the university. Until someone tells me what that is and how I go about finding a job, I can't look any further for a job, and finances are dwindling.
Also, this kilts for the groomsmen thing is getting more and more complicated by the second. Not only was it hell on wheels to get all the measurements in on time, but now the kilt lady wants full payment in advance to confirm the booking. I know I won't be able to get that out of the groomsmen so early, but I sure as hell don't have it. She also wants driver's license numbers and security deposit information on all the guys. Yeah. Like that's going to be easy. Not to mention that the cost keeps going up and up. Everything has to be rented: the sporran, the sgian dubh, the shirt, the coat, the kilt, the belt, the shoes . . . you have to buy the hose, and who's ever going to wear that again? It started out as being a reasonable price, like $120, and now it looks like it's creeping up over $200, which is a lot for something you don't even get to keep.
So the new plan, once we run it by the groomsmen, is to get tuxedos at Moore's. There, the groom's package is free with four groomsmen packages, the price is much lower (between $70 and $120), and there's much less stuff to rent and subsequently lose. I can just imagine the groomsmen playing with their sgian dubhs and leaving them stuck in the grass at the Pavillion. The best part is that we can drag four of the groomsmen in at Christmas and have them professionally measured, and then they give us a special number, and Tim, who's in BC, can just go into a Moore's in BC and give them the number and they'll take his measurements and send them along.
Chris will just have to play the pipes in a tux . . . I wanted kilts but it's just getting way too complicated and it's driving me nuts. I don't think that weddings have to be this difficult.
In other news, my camera is apparently not worth fixing, and they've discontinued the model. So I can still use it, it's just that every second photo turns out as purple static. I'll just use it until it dies and hopefully I can find another camera that does all the stuff I like and ask for it for Christmas . . .
(Pictures of our apartment will be up on Flickr in a second, by the way.)
We went to Dildo yesterday, as well. It was a little disappointing. Sure, there was a fibreglass replica of a 30-foot giant squid that washed up on Dildo shores in 1933. There was also an intriguing museum cobbled together by the Dildonians of all sorts of weird things that Dildonians do. And, of course, there was the obligatory photo with a statue of the original Captain Dildo.
BUT THERE WERE NO TASTELESS SOUVENIRS! I got postcards, but they're just cheap, double-sided photocopies on cardstock, and not phallic at all. We were very disappointed. But John bought a Dildo shirt, anyway.
In good news, the list of stuff that is close to our house keeps getting longer. Everything is within 1km, and most of it is even closer:
Grocery Store
CIBC
Shoppers Drug Mart
Dentist
Hair Salon (x2)
Chiropractor
Baseball League and Diamond
Flea Market (every Sunday)
Fish Market & Fish Store
Farmer's Market (all year round)
Tim Horton's, A&W, Pizza Place (x2), Mexican Place, Sketchy Bar, 24h Subway
Camera & Photo Store
Travel Agency
Gas Station that Sells Beer Until ELEVEN every night
Law Firms (x3 - let's hope one of them hires me)
SCHOOL
Nice Park for Dog Walking (x3)
Veterinarian
And then within 2km we have the Avalon Mall, with a huge theatre in it, and a host of other stores.
IT'S AMAZING!
We'll probably hit Signal Hill today, just because it's sunny for the first time.
Officially met one of our downstairs neighbours today. She's the first person we've met who is bugging out of St. John's in favour of somewhere where it doesn't rain - she's going back to YORK. Ugh. Give me rain any day. Or today. Because of course it's raining today. But they've invited us down for a BBQ whenever they get it going - they'll give us a shout.
Also discovered that there are two families of ducks who live across the street, and every day the moms take the babies into the front yard across the street and they eat grass - then they go home.
ALSO found out that I can't register for school until the end of August, because everyone in the Anthropology department is on vacation, and no one at the Registrar's Office knows what to do about my predicament. One thing I did manage to find out was that the reason I couldn't find the second course on the web listings was because it's offered NEXT term. So I only have to take one class per term. This means I can pretty much guarantee myself a full time job. And the course is offered on Tuesdays from 2 to 5, so I can totally work that out. I just need to find out when my office hours will be and then I'll be set.
Finally. I'm sitting at my new desk (Andy and I traded) in my new office typing on my new keyboard (say good bye to carpal tunnel!). I just need a new chair to make this little room complete. Kitchen chairs just don't have the slouching capabilities that a good office chair would have . . .
So officially, the Epic Road Trip August 2008 is at an end. But while John and Sue are here, it still kind of feels like we're just playing house and we're on vacation. Plus, we still haven't made our day trip to Dildo, NL, yet. Rest assured I will record THAT visit for posterity.
Now that we're mostly settled in, though, the responsibilities are starting to creep up. We have a whole bunch of stuff that we need to purchase (like a chair for me). We need to call the electric company and switch the house into our name. I have to register for school and set it up with the Cashier's Office that they'll take my tuition and Andy's tuition off my paycheque. And I need to find a JOB. STAT.
So much for summer vacation . . .
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.
4 August 2008: 10:00 AM
Hicktown Jamboree
Just got the hell out of Dodge from the weirdest campground we have ever seen. TNT Campground was really nothing more than a trailer park, filled with carousers bent on a weekend of mischief and noise. It wouldn’t have been complete without the cheap fireworks, drunken arm wrestling, and straw cowboy hats worn with torn muscle tees. Classy joint.
“And there’s cards,” said the very pregnant girl at the desk. There was also a dance, complete with live music performed by the TNT Crew. Which didn’t end until 11:00. Which was fine, because that’s when the torrential downpour began. I didn’t think it could possibly rain harder than it had the night before but I was wrong. This was sheets of water, buckets falling on us for hours. The campground was a marsh this morning and we all got soakers taking down the tent trailer and pushing it out of the sodden grass.
So we left Angus in the care of his two friends in Fredericton yesterday. It was kind of nice to be able to spend a little bit of time in one of the towns we were passing through. I even had time for the first time on this trip to stop and buy some postcards and stamps for my grandmothers. This has not been the kind of road trip where you take detours to look at things, so it was a change to be able to take the time to walk around the area. Especially since Fredericton has municipal WiFi, and so I was able to post my past few entries. Upload speed was retarded in its slowness, so you’ll have to wait until I get to Halifax tonight to get the pictures from the past few days.
Tonight we have dinner with my old across-the-street neighbours in Dartmouth, Janet and Trevor. Janet and my mother wrote and published a cookbook together when I was small, and we provided a bed and a washing machine for their daughter Claire when she was in Ottawa last summer, being scouted for the Fury Soccer Team. She goes to Queens now. I hope I get a chance to see their son, Christopher, when we’re there. He goes to Kings, so he should be nearby. We were playmates when he was 4 and I was 8.
I should also be able to register for school when we get there, as today is my assigned day. I only have two courses, and I’m pretty convinced they won’t fill up, so I’m not worried about not registering at 7 this morning, which was my assigned time.
Of course, we can only do these things provided we actually arrive in Halifax. After leaving the campground we followed signs for Moncton, only to find ourselves on a shitty potty windy highway called 112. It leads to the 2, which is what we want, but it takes its time getting there, and gives you a bumpy road on the way. So every fourth key I type has special emphasis as the bumps in the road drive the computer into my fingers. To top it off, it’s raining again. And my camera is still randomly static-y, although less so than it was before. I left it in the cab of the truck last night, along with my computer, because it’s less damp.
It’s easy to write a lot when the writing costs little effort, so I’ll stop now before I have verbal diarrhea all over the page. More later – if we make it to Halifax.
4:40 PM
Made it!
Just a post to say the road was horrible and it rained like you would not believe. Then, in town, we nearly ran over a family of ducks, because we couldn’t stop, and then the sun came out. Now we’re off to Janet and Trevor’s.
3 August 2008: 10:00 AM
Somewhere in New Brunswick . . .
Will it ever stop raining?
It is so damp that the screen on my camera keeps switching to static and I am afraid that the battery will short out.
Last night after my last post we went for a little walk between rain storms. We ended up in the parking lot, admiring my parking job (right between the lines, bitch) and then we headed to the playground for some hijinks.
Then of course it started to rain. We retreated to the trailer. It’s been raining the whole trip and so we haven’t really had an opportunity to enjoy the camping aspect of the trip. No fires, no marshmallows. It’s more like we’ve just been living in a tin box for the past three days.
Angus is lucky, though. Tonight he will spend his first night in h is new (if temporary) home. His part of the epic road trip will be over.
As I write we are actually hurtling down the New Brunswick highway, at the astonishing speed of 94 km/h, toward Fredericton.
More when we arrive.
2 August 2008: 5:55 PM (AST)
In Which Alison Drives Across Québec
We have arrived at Edmundston, NB, just missing an epic downpour that forced 200 campers at a nearby campsite to be evacuated.
I drove today, and I gotta tell you, Québec roads are the shittiest roads in the country. The very second we crossed the border it became smooth as silk. But then it started to rain and it got very hilly and that wasn’t super fun at all. You try braking, on a wet road, in a vehicle that weighs several tonnes, down a 9% grade . . . I got a little tense towards the end.
I did, however, manage a couple of amazing feats of dexterity in that monstrosity. We lost our way twice, and so had to turn around. I had to make a right-angle turn left onto a road that was on a grade and tilted and managed not to roll over OR end up in the ditch on either side, even though Andy seemed positive that I was going to kill us all. Earlier, I also managed to make a U-turn in a U-Haul. That impressed my father-in-law, the only man ever to successfully parallel park a school bus, so it must’ve been pretty good.
We arrived here around 2:30 and changed our clocks ahead an hour, then headed into Edmundston for some supplies. It’s not the bustling metropolis we were expecting. Most buildings in the downtown core are for sale or rent. It’s also deserted at 5 o’clock on a Saturday and so it took us some time to locate a grocery store.
One interesting thing to note about the bilingual province of New Brunswick is that, unlike Ontario, everyone seems comfortable with both languages. Not just that everyone speaks both languages, which they seem to do with ease. But instead of enforced bilingualism, like in Ottawa, where every sign has both languages, here it’s more of something that’s assumed. Some signs are in English, some are in French, and, seeing as most of us can understand both, it’s not really necessary to have them both in the same place at the same time. It seems very relaxed.
We’ll head out early tomorrow. John and Sue will keep on to just past Moncton (we can’t camp in Moncton due to an Eagles concert) and set up camp, and Andy and I will take Angus to Fredericton and help him settle in before joining John and Sue in the evening.
Angus’ friends should have internet, so hopefully I can upload at that time. Until then . . .
1 August 2008: 6:45 PM (EST)
Taking the Mastodon East
There is a mastodon painted on the outside of our epicmobile.
I’m sitting on a camp chair typing in the drizzle at the campground in Montmagny Québec. WiFi is actually provided at this site, believe it or not. I refuse to pay for it so you won’t get this for a while, but it seems fitting for this place. There’s an enormous RV across from us with a TV on the OUTSIDE of his vehicle. Which is on. And no one is there to watch it. How decadent.
Today was pretty mundane. After breakfast with my parents at The Diner, we met up with Andy’s parents and his grandmother and great aunt and sister for a rather tearful (on my part) goodbye. We headed east, stopping in Casselman for gas. It cost $241 to put 191L in the monstrosity.
The drive was boring and very bumpy. U-Haul vans have an Easy-Ride Suspension which means that the cab of the truck is set on a set of springs and they bounce vigorously on every bump. So do we. We made friends with a beetle named Willard and quickly learned the dimensions of the truck as we wended our way through Québec construction. That’s really about it.
It’s pretty cold and the rain is ever-threatening. I can’t really come up with more to say. More bulletins as events warrant.
Peace.