Category Archives: princess autos

Thursday 27th September 2018 – I’VE BEEN FEELING …

… much better today.

That is of course a very long way from saying that I’m feeling good, or even well, but it’s certainly an improvement over the last three days or so.

And one thing that I have noticed is that these spells of ill-health are becoming more frequent, deeper and lasting longer than they did before;

of course, I knew all about this because I have been told. But it’s still rather disappointing to see myself sliding slowly into the abyss. Getting ready to see my forebears, I imagine. And we’ll all be stoking the fires together. But at least I’m more fortunate than Goldilocks. She only had three.

I did know that I would be feeling better though – my sleep could have told me that. Deep and intense, turning over slightly whenever I heard a noise, and then going back into my deep sleep until the alarms went off.

There had been an interesting voyage too. Being short of money I’d gone to see what work was available at the local pub and they had offered me three nights a week as a pianist. I took it of course, even though I couldn’t play, and it wasn’t until I was due to start that I reckoned that I really ought to withdraw. The pub itself was set in a large, kind-of abandoned quarry, well-worn down and surrounded “up on top” by cheap local authority housing.
A little later, I wanted to take a shower, but the bath was full of dirty clothes. I mentioned it to Rachel but she told me to go ahead and just walk on them. That’s how I take a shower when I’m on the road anyway, washing my clothes in the shower around me.

It took me a while to organise myself, which is no real surprise, and then having done all of the preparation, I was off. Strider and I haven’t been on a voyage so far this year, so we hit the road and headed to Fredericton.

Not for any good reason, but because it was there, it was a place to go and I couldn’t think of anywhere else.

Once Strider warmed up, he ran really well. But our persistent misfire has come back and the fuel consumption has deteriorated again. I suppose that he’s getting old like I am. 10 years old now, he is.

First stop in Fredericton was at the Value Village. I’ve talked about these places before. In Canada there aren’t Charity Shops like there are in the UK.There’s just one big one and everything is centralised.

My treat today was a pile of books, some of which I’ll bring back to France and the rest I’ll leave in Strider for if I ever return. I dunno.

After that, it was Home Depot but since I no longer live at the farm there’s nothing there that excite me these days. Princess Autos came up with a circuit tester for the new tow hitch. Need to make sure that Strider’s electrics are up to the job if I’ll be towing trailers.

Scotia Bank next, where my account took a substantial hit. And for a couple of good reasons too, but I’ll talk more about those in due course.

I called at a Subway for a rather late lunch and a rest, and followed that up with a coffee at Tim Horton’s, as I was feeling a little under the weather by this time.

There was still time to go to the Bulk Barn. I’d noticed in Montreal that Gram Flour was really cheap there and I can’t usually find it in France. So I bought myself a kilo and I’l smuggle it in at the border if I can.

On the way back, I came by the scenic route, across the Saint John River and along the north shore, where the roadworks that slowed up Rachel and me last year are still going on.

Roadworks everywhere in fact and it took an age to get to the cheap petrol station at Keswick to fuel up.

On the way back I stopped off at Mactaquac to photograph the dam there but instead was greeted by a car fire, with various fire engines, police and ambulances around trying to look busy. Rather sad, that was.

From there, the return was quick enough but I still hadn’t finished because I had to run up to Centreville for some whipping cream.

Hannah was the chief architect of tea tonight. They had all kinds of fishy things and I had a pasta with veg and tomato sauce. But Hannah excelled herself with the falafel. A mix out of a packet but delicious nevertheless.

We watched TV for a while until everyone decided to watch this anatomy programme. And once they started talking about surgery and operations I beat a hasty retreat to my room. I can’t be doing with any of that.

Now as tomorrow, I wonder if the improvement will continue or will I have a relapse? I’m on the road to Montreal tomorrow night so I’m hoping that it will be good.

We shall see.

Monday 28th August 2017 – I WONDER IF …

saint john river woodstock NEW BRUNSWICK canada aout august 2017… you can guess where the Saint John River might be.

That’s right – it’s over there where all of the cloud is. Late August and already we are in the cold early mornings,
the rapid heating and the resulting condensation.

It’s not looking good for the autumn – but then I say that every year and I somehow seem to manage.

hanging cloud lakeville NEW BRUNSWICK canada aout august 2017And it’s not just along the river either. Everywhere there was a patch of water there was a hanging cloud hovering in the vicinity.

Down there in Lakeville, for example, where there is, as you might expect, a lake, there was a large patch of it and I was drifting through patches of fog all through the morning.

I’d had a good sleep last night and even been on my travels but once again, I’ve no idea where to. And it didn’t take long for me to pack up the last remnants of my stuff and hit the highway.

Just Strawberry Moose and Yours Truly to start with but by the time we got to Woodstock we were half a million strong.

international chevrolet reo speedwagon woodstock NEW BRUNSWICK canada aout august 2017Remember last year when I saw that old car here in Woodstock?

Well, we can do much better than that today because we don’t just have one old car, we have three old lorries.

And quite interesting lorries they are too.

chevrolet international reo speedwagon woodstock NEW BRUNSWICK canada aout august 2017The flatbed lorry on the right is an “International” and the pick-up in the centre is a Chevrolet.

And we’ve seen these Chevrolets before – out on the Outer Banks of North Carolina back in 2005.

The one on the left with the tyre issues is the most exciting though. That’s an REO Speedwagon.

It’s amazing what you find in the backs of the barns occupied by these old potato farmers you know. All kinds of treasures are in there.

At Fredericton I bought an entire Walmart – including a slow cooker because Brain of Britain has left his other one in the lock-up in Montreal. How clever is that?

The Value Village came up with a few odds and ends, but Home Depot and Princess Autos (there’s one in Fredericton now) had nothing of interest.

lunch stop highway 7 NEW BRUNSWICK canada aout august 2017From there I drove on towards Saint John and stopped for lunch at a convenient lay-by.

I was joined by a couple of locals who told me the legend of the maple Tree here but I didn’t pay too much attention. I was half-asleep with fatigue.

In Saint Johns I soon found a motel. Rather expensive and needs a good coat of paint but it had a microwave so next stop was Sobey’s and a bag of spuds.

I went to the Dollar Store for a microwave dish too and a few other bits and pieces, and cooked myself potatoes, sausages and beans.

But the beans left over from last year were nasty and found their way into the rubbish. I reckon that I’ll bin all of that stuff and buy some new.

So now I’m off for another early night. No need to go to the hospital as Ellen has now been expelled so I can pay my insurance and move on.

Monday 19th September 2016 – YEEUUUCCCHHH!

That was how I felt when I awoke this morning. One look through the window to the heavy grey sky outside was quite enough for me.

But my night wasn’t as bad as I expected. I was out pretty quickly but soon awoke. But not for all that long. And once I’d gone, I’d gone and that was how I stayed until 05:10. And having been for a walk on the parapet I was out once more until the alarm went off at 06:00

I’d been on my travels too – back to my days in Brussels. I was living with someone, but I can’t remember who the girl was and we were sharing a room with one of my former colleagues from those days as well as someone who used to hang around Pionsat football club. And who should turn up to see us but Anne-Marie, one of the girls with whom I worked and with whom I was quite friendly. This was followed by being back in Crewe and I had bumped into a couple whom I know who live on the Wirral but the husband comes originally from Crewe. They were living down at the end of a very tight cul-de-sac in Crewe that was crowded with cars. We were talking about house repairs and they were having to dig a trench six feet deep at the side of their house to shore up the foundations. I mentioned that I had a digger that they could borrow and although they said that they had already borrowed one, I could see the woman’s eyes light up when I mentioned it. They asked where it was because when they had been around to my house it wasn’t there. It suddenly flashed into my mind that Terry had borrowed it to take to Normandy, but that was not what I was worrying about. What was concerning me was how I was going to pull the trailer and digger through the maze of cars that were parked so tightly in the cul-de-sac.

There was no point in being in too much of a rush to be out of bed, and so I wasn’t. It was another bit of a lie-in. But when I did finally leave the comfort and safety of my stinking pit and had breakfast, I just sat on the comfy sofa and that was that.

About 10:00 the weather showed no sign of improvement and so I decided to go for a drive. Moncton and its shops were beckoning me and I may as well go this morning instead of on the way home. Who knows? The weather might be different by the time I come back.

It was an uneventful drive down there. The Salvation Army c&me up with a couple of books, for which I received a 10% pensioners’ discount. I must be looking my age. Value Village came up with a few more (but it’s not Pensioners’ Day there until tomorrow), and Princess Autos supplied a few more toys to take back home with me.

But at Home Depot, Ryobi came up trumps. They have a new design of portable Ryobi Plus One portable air compressor and I can find some use for that back home. That will suit me.

vegan chicken burgers sobeys shediac new brunswick canada september septembre 2016On the way back home, I called at Sobeys for some more shopping. It costs a fortune to do your shopping here.

But I did have some good luck there – they had some vegan burgers (complete with bread) that tasted like chicken. Not that the taste meant anything to me, but it was a change from my usual diet and it just goes to show the range of vegan food now on offer here in Canada.

I was right about the weather too. It had changed, just as I predicted, but changed for the worse. It was now absolutely streaming down. I had my butties right here in my room.

It might have looked better a little later and so after I’d had a bit of a crash-out, I went to the beach and sat under my shelter there, where I ended up chatting to a fellow traveller from the Motel. But I wasn’t out long. The weather opened up again and even under my shelter I started to become even more wet than I usually am.And so back to the hotel I headed.

I tried these new burgers with my beans and chips, and they weren’t too bad at all. I’ve had much worse than this.

So now let’s see what tomorrow brings me. That’s my last day because on Wednesday morning I have to leave. I have a choice of places to go, a choice of directions to take.

I just hope that I have another decent night tonight.

Monday 21st September 2015 – IT WAS COLD …

… last night in Strider. Firstly, the temperature had dropped outside during the night, and secondly, the aluminium sheeting provides nothing in the way of insulation – in fact quite the reverse. I’ll have to do something about that because the condensation was terrific too despite the rear window being ajar.

But as for the bed, it was indeed comfortable enough and once I did manage to drop off I was fine except for the noise from the lorries that awoke me every now and again as they went moving about the lorry park.

This morning I fitted my shelf up in the roof. It took ages to do as it had to be cut really fine and so I took four or five goes to cut it precisely to size, and then I screwed a front batten to it to stop the tins and everything sliding off. I’ll put the saucepan and the tin opener up there too so that they are to hand.

After a coffee and an internet at Tim Horton’s, I hit the road and headed to Moncton. First stop was the Salvation Army thrift shop where I picked up a book, a CD and a tin opener, seeing as how the one that I have doesn’t seem to want to do anything.

Second stop was not the second stop at all. Princess Autos is just opposite the Salvation Army thrift shop, but not any longer. It’s all closed down and they had the builders in. However the builders directed me there and although they didn’t have what I wanted, I ended up with a 19mm spanner (at last), a set of offset ring spanners and a big set of torx and torx-E drive sockets.

Value Village was a disappointment. I ended up with just a (rather expensive) book although it did produce a decent old saw and a tenon saw. The saw that I have is rather flaky and I need to do better. God second-hand tools are much better value than cheap new stuff, that’s for sure.

At Home Depot I bought a pile of insulation as well as a couple of sets of screwdriver bits for back home, and then I went off to have a look at the new music shop that has just opened across the car park.

And then I set off.

railway line across freeway dieppe moncton new brunswick canadaYou may remember a while ago that I wrote something about a railway line that crosses the big freeway at Dieppe (just outside Moncton) on the level and made a comment about the M25 in the UK.

So just so you know that I wasn’t pulling your leg about this, Strawberry Moose took a photo of the railway line as we passed over, so that you know that it’s there.

covered bridge tantramar marshes new brunswick usaOne of the things that I’ve been trying to do as I pass by here is to find a way across the Tantramar Marshes. There’s the freeway of course, but finding another road is not easy. This time however, with the aid of The Lady Who Lives In The Sat-Nav, whom I told to take the quickest way to Amherst without using the Freeway.

She found me some exciting roads, including passing over this delightful little covered bridge across one of the many drainage ditches that criss-cross the marshes.

The Tantramar Marshes have been described as “The Largest Hayfield In The World” and quite rightly so.

largest hayfield in the world tantramar marshes new brunswick canadaYou can see from this photo that I took from the ridge on the northern edge of the marsh that it lives up to its name. Especially at this time of year when the “rolos” are everywhere.

The marshes were originally drained by the first Acadian settlers here so that the hayfield could be created, and you can see everywhere the traces of the old drainage ditches running through the fields. You can also see traces of the old Acadian dykes and I took you to visit the remains one of them a couple of years ago.

wind turbines amherst nova scotia canadaMy route took me past the wind turbines across the border in Nova Scotia (there’s not a one in this area in New Brunswick) and down to the site of old Fort Beausejour. This is situated at the head of the Bay of Fundy where I would watch the sun set.

But as for this insulation, it’s no good. It’s far too thick, far too heavy and not flexible enough, so it would do for the roof. I’ll have a go at the sides tomorrow but I’m not hopeful and I can see all of this going in the bin even though it cost a lot of money.

I’ll have to think again about this.

Monday 15th September 2014 – ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Next morning I troll off early towards Antigonish. It’s a long way away and I have plenty to do en route.

It’s quite an uneventful drive at least as far as Fredericton where I stop to pick up my purchase from Saturday. And in due course I’ll post a photo of it and tell you all about it.

Back on the road south-eastwards and at a certain moment a few miles south of Fredericton, I’m surprised by three tanks that drive over a bridge across the Trans-Canada Highway. And I don’t mean water tanks or that kind of thing, but proper great big self-propelled armoured machines with long guns. I wonder what’s up with them.

david alward campaign bus smashed window trans canada highway moncton new brunswick canadaJust gone past me is a campaign bus for one of the candidates in the forthcoming elections and if you look very carefully on the nearside you might see something black flapping in the wind. It seems that someone has put out one of his windows, and the driver has covered it over with a black plastic bin liner to keep out the rain, but that’s burst now due to the air pressure as he’s been driving along.

And as we approach Moncton it seems to be brightening up now. We have blue skies and there might even be some sun about to make its appearance. It makes a change from the grey miserable misty morning that we had.

I struck gold in Princess Autos. They are having a sale and I bought an 25-inch power bar for $9:99, a set of 22 spanners, 11 metric and 11 AF, for $12:00, and a tyre pressure gauge for $0:99. An absolute bargain, that all was.

The only downside of this was that they didn’t have a cheap set of sockets to go with the power bar. But these were unbelievable prices.

And at the Salvation Army Thrift Store down the road they gave me a senior citizen’s discount on the CD that I bought. I’m not sure whether to be pleased of humiliated.

And on the Trans-Canada Highway, which is effectively a motorway with dual carriageways, just outside Moncton there’s a railway level crossing. And there’s another one too just a mile or so further on, by the Dieppe and airport turn-off. This isn’t something that you see every day on a motorway. We would have endless amounts of fun with a railway level crossing on the M25 in the UK.

wind turbines wind bent tree fort beausejour tantramar marshes new brunswick nova scotia canadaBob Dylan once sang “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows”, and that’s certainly true around here, isn’t it?

I’m at my lunch stop and you can tell that we are at the border between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia because tthere’s a pile of wind turbines down there taking full advantage of this screaming wind.

Where I am is actually in New Brunswick and there’s not a wind turbine in sight. I know that I have a “thing” in favour of wind turbines, owning four myself, but this lack of wind turbines in New Brunswick is just plain absurd.

fort beausejour new brunswick canadaWhere I am is actually at Fort Beausejour and we’ve been here before, haven’t we?

It was freezing cold then in the middle of winter so I didn’t stay there long. And I didn’t stay here long today either as I was in quite a rush – just long enough to take a couple of photos and eat my butties. I’ll have to come back here yet again.

I made it to Antigonish right to the minute and Hannah was bang on time too. We went for a meal and a really good chat and she told me all about her first couple of weeks at University. She’s the first of our family to go to university straight from school by the way, and she’s at St Francis-Xavier University, the best University in Canada if not the English-speaking world. I don’t know about anyone else but I’m intensely proud of her.

The downside of this is that I have left it far too late to find a spec for the night and I’ve ended up in a wickedly-overpriced motel. Still, you can’t have everything.

Tuesday 13th September 2011 – HERE I AM …

overnight parking spot southern new brunswick canada… in my overnight parking space just off the motorway and this morning I reckon that I am just about to witness a major accident.

There is a car just driven up the slip road towards the highway on the westbound side and now he’s had a change of mind – he doesn’t want to go down there now and he’s reversing back down the slip road despite other vehicles actually trying to drive up there. And that can only have one outcome.

Yes transfer the New Brunswickers to Tennessee and neither the New Brunswickers nor the Tenesseeans would notice the difference

That wasn’t such a good night that wasn’t because I was being eaten alive by something or other all through the night. Not only that, we had a load of traffic on the motorway although that didn’t disturb me all that much and then we had two diesel trains that went past in the night. Obviously there’s a railway nearby with a few level crossings in close proximity. The truck that was parked in front of me also cleared off too at about 06:00 but of course you have to accept that.

But it was the insects eating me that was the problem. I’m just covered in bite marks. I probably let them in at the swamp at Irving’s. Who was it who said something about Arctic Canada – 9 months of snow and ice and 3 months of mosquitoes?

bjs moncton new brunswick canadaI went off into Moncton to find some coffee. And I also found the Motor Auction – it’s in Mountain Road opposite no 1758 and takes place on Wednesday at 18:00.

Princess Autos didn’t come up with much of interest except a 760-watt digital sine wave inverter complete with USB port, all for $74 dollars which is less than 50 quid and that is astonishing. Zellers and K-Mart were practically empty – of customers, staff and stock. It doesn’t look to me as if they are long for this world.

So I headed north on Highway 126 and picked up the railway line. And while I was idly passing the time of day hardly concentrating on what was going on, I encountered head-on the VIArail train from Montreal to Halifax. It took me completely by surprise and I didn’t have the camera ready.

12:02 it was, so it looks as if the train sleeps over in Halifax – there won’t be enough time for it to turn round and come back the same day

Onto Highway 116 because, despite whatever The Lady Who Lives In The SatNav wants to tell me, this is the road to Fredericton and that’s where I’m going.

salmon river new brunswick canadaHighway 116 is apparently known locally as Salmon River road, and so I imagine that this river that has been running alongside me for the last 20 minutes or so is actually the Salmon River, although don’t quote me on that.

Whatever it is, it’s quite pretty but there isn’t anywhere to pull up clear of the road to admire the view. My stomach thinks that my throat has been cut right now.

ripples internment camp fredericton new brunswick canadaThis is a suitable place to stop and make my butty, and I’m glad that I found it. I’m just on the edge of a small town called Ripples and this where I am is the site of one of the 26 Internment Camps in Canada during World War II.

It was originally a work camp for the unemployed during the depression but in 1940 it began to be used to house German and Austrian civilians. Later, Canadian citizens whose affiliations where suspect came here too.

Possibly the most famous, and certainly the most contentious inmate of the camp was Camillien Houde, mayor of Montreal. His “crime” was to call upon all Quebeckers to resist conscription and this was deemed to be sedition.

Although this is controversial, it needs to be looked at in the context of events at the time. There’s no place for looking at history through modern eyes. Leaving aside the question of conscientious objection to war and killing, which is quite another matter, one can understand the lack of willingness for Canadians to involve themselves in the Boer War (an “Imperialist” war against “fellow colonists”° and World War I (a European War involving the UK’s pledge to Belgium), it’s difficult to understand the position about World War II

That really was a World War, with German shells and torpedoes landing on Canadian soil and Canadian civilians being killed while going about their normal business. Everyone was involved in it, whether they wanted to be or not.

Add to that the fact that the Nazis were well-known to infiltrate disaffected minorities and use their disaffection as a way of undermining their national Governments. The Sudeten Germans, Danzigers, the Flemish, the Croats, the inhabitants of the Baltic States.

No-one can find any proof to confirm that Houde had been “got at” by the Nazis, but one can certainly understand, given the tenor of the times, why the British were very suspicious of Houde’s position which reflected that adopted by so many covert pro-Nazi groups in Europe

ruins ripples internment camp fredericton new brunswick canadaIt’s possible to wander around the camp but although there are little signposts everywhere, there’s very little in the way of remains to see.

There are a few however if you look long and hard. I imagine that this is part of a fire hydrant or some such.

But there’s a delightful story doing the rounds about how well the inmates ate here. Not in terms of the volume of the food, but the fact that a couple of chefs of some of the finest hotels in the Maritime Provinces ended up being interned here.

saint john river new brunswick canada20minutes down the road from Ripples I come to the Saint John River and there across the river is the city of Fredericton, the provincial capital of New Brunswick.

This is a beautiful small town – I drove through here in 2003 and quite liked the place, so I was determined to come back. But it won’t be today as I have a lot to do.

Firstly I’m off to the Mactaquac Provincial Park about 15kms out of town. That’s a headland where the land has been flooded by the Mactaquac Dam and is now a golf course, forest and primitive camp ground.

There are no rooms anywhere in any motels in the city, and I’ve been told that during the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival, the police clamp down on any informal camping in the vicinity of the city.

I suppose that a little bit of luxury won’t do me any harm, and I might even manage a shower. It’s been a while.