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Thursday 11th November 2010 – I’M BACK …

… on the road again and tonight will be my last night in North America.

This morning was rather confused though. According to Casey’s temperature gauge its 14°C outside – yet again!

This gives the lie to this idea about severe winters out here in Freezing Cold Canada doesn’t it? it’s flaming mid-November – what is the weather like in France … "it’s just as " – ed.

Mind you it’s below freezing and its snowing in Labrador.

I have just seen now on the other carriageway of this highway – heading in the direction of Windsor a vehicle that I am absolutely convinced is one of the big Fiat 125s.

If it is, and I cant think what else it could be, it gives a lie to the old story about “Fix It Again, Tony”, doesn’t it?

And quite a bit later somewhere on the road to Niagara Falls I saw an XKE – an E-type Jaguar – heading towards me. This was one of the late-model hard-top coupé version, and when was the last time that I ever saw one of those?

It wasn’t a convertible, though. And when was the last time I saw one of those?

And it was round about this point that I remembered that I had forgotten to take a photograph of the Ambassador Motel where I’ve been staying just now. I’m not doing so well, am I?

My road took me towards Hamilton and the airport there. And, more precisely, the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum based at the airport.

bristol fairchild bolingbroke canadian warplane heritage museum hamilton ontario canadaThe Museum tells us that its mission is “To acquire, document, preserve and maintain, a complete collection of aircraft that were flown by Canadians and the Canadian military services from the beginning of World War II to the present …”

Such as this Bristol-Fairchild Bolingbroke, which we Europeans know much better as a Bristol Blenheim.

This is a reconnaissance version, as you can tell by its elongated snout.

bristol fairchild bolingbroke canadian warplane heritage museum hamilton ontario canadaWhen I say that this is “a” Bristol-Fairchild Bolingbroke, I’m being somewhat economical with the truth. It is in fact “many” Bristol Bolingbrokes.

When they were taken out of service they were sold off for scrap and the shells were very popular with farmers as chicken coops and the like.

Even today, you can still find them on farms and in scrapyards, and a total of eight of these “wrecks” have gone into assembling this one.

supermarine spitfire Mk 16 canadian warplane heritage museum hamilton ontario canadaNo prizes for guessing what this one is.

It is of course a Supermarine Spitfire, and the cockpit and a few other bits and pieces tell you that it’s a late-model one too.

As I suspected, it is indeed a late-model – a Mark XVI from April 1945 but which never saw actual combat.

douglas dakota dc3 canadian warplane heritage museum hamilton ontario canadaAnother aeroplane in here that never saw combat – although it certainly was old enough to do so, is this one.

Again, no prizes for guessing what this aeroplane is. It’s a Douglas DC3 – the legendary Dakota.

It’s always been a civilian aircraft – not a converted C47 “Skytrain” like so many were. She first flew in 1939 and spent the war years flying for Eastern Airlines.

westland lysander canadian warplane heritage museum hamilton ontario canadaNow here’s an aeroplane that I’ve been looking forward to seeing.

It’s a Westland Lysander and you may be surprised to learn that I’ve never seen one of these “in the flesh” before.

Built for an Army Co-operation role, there was a mix-up over the specifications and it turned out to be totally unsuited to the task.

canadian warplane heritage museum hamilton ontario canadaHowever, its slow speed (stalling at only 65 mph), very short take-off and landing requirement and rather spacious interior soon found the aeroplane ideally suited for another role.

These were the planes that, painted black, used to fly out in the dead of night to land in lonely fields deep in Occupied Europe.

There, they would put down Resistance leaders, bring in supplies and pick up evading or escaping airmen and the like

north american mitchell b25 bomber canadian warplane heritage museum hamilton ontario canadaHere’s another fine example of military aviation – the very-much unsung B25 Mitchell Bomber.

Not very successful against front-line German fighter opposition, their deployment was much more common in the Pacific and Mitchells were the first Allied aeroplanes to drop bombs on mainland Japan.

This one didn’t though – it wasn’t built until 1945 and so missed the war. It was discovered on a airfield in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1975, patched up, and flew in to Hamilton under its own steam for a programme of restoration.

fairey firefly canadian warplane heritage museum hamilton ontario canadaI reckoned that this was a Fairey Fleet Air-Arm machine but wasnt sure quite what it was. Subsequent enquiries revealed that it’s a Fairey Firefly.

These were carrier-based fighters (hence the fold-up wings) and were two-seaters. They carried a navigator because it’s much more difficult to concentrate on navigation over the sea – with no reference points or landmarks that a pilot might immediately recognise.

Although dating from 1943, this one is a “peacetime” 1951 model and comes from Australia.

Loads of other aeroplanes here, but there was only really one that I was interested in seeing of course.

air museum hamilton ontario canada avro lancasterThe museum is the proud possessor of one of the very few remaining Avro Lancasters – and furthermore one of the only three that still flies.

My interest though was from another point of view entirely. I blagged my way in to see the assistant-director of the museum with the express purpose of talking to her about KB882.

Her response was frightening. “Ohhh – we could use it as spares for ours!”

air museum hamilton ontario canada avro lancasterThat is what I call sinister and that will be an even worse fate than that which it is currently experiencing. I rather wish that I hadn’t said anything now.

Don’t forget – KB882 flew over Germany on wartime missions – it has far more history than the one here.

I’m coming round more and more to the conclusion that the only hope for the future for KB882 is that if I put my money where my mouth is and buy it myself.

air museum hamilton ontario canada avro lancaster flight deck controlsI went off to seethe … "is this a typing error or a Freudian slip?" – ed … aeroplane and had a wander around inside it and a sit at the controls.

That has to be one of the highlights of the voyage.

It cheered me up a little – but only a little. I was definitely shocked to the core.

air museum hamilton ontario canada avro lancaster upper gunnerI actually felt quite sorry for the poor people who spent all of their air-time crouched over these guns.

It can’t have been very pleasant for anyone to have sat here behind your twin .303s watching someone with a couple of 0.5mm cannon and a barrage of 8x.303s coming swooping down towards you and knowing that you might as well just throw stones at them for all the good that your defensive armament will do.

air museum hamilton ontario canada avro lancaster tail gunnerbut the position which no-one wanted to occupy – unless he was a complete psycopath – was the rear gunner.

Night-fighters did most of their stalking from the rear and it’s inevitable that the rear of the Lancaster is going to be the first aiming point of the night fighter.

I don’t care what anyone says, the Mark I eyeball was never as good as the Lichtenstein radar carried by the nightfighters and the first warning that the rear gunner received was a fusillade of cannon shells and machine-gun bullets.

air museum hamilton ontario canada avro lancaster bomb bayThe museum was in a hurry to close (have I been here THAT long?) but I had just enough time to stick my head inside the bomb bay.

Just imagine one of Barnes Wallis’ Bouncing Bombs or 10-tonne “Grand Slams” stuck up there!

But I had to go. So much more that I wanted to see too but here they were, throwing me out.

But what a place it is, though. A museum curator who “knows the price of everything but the value of nothing” – that’s a harrowing thought.

Makes me wonder what else have they cut up at that museum that they are keeping quiet about?

And now for my last night in North America, which I’m at Fort Erie.

peace bridge buffalo new york usa fort erie canada Port Erie is just like Windsor – a Canadian city with a big American City just across the River Niagara there.

That’s Buffalo over there, and we’ve been there before – and it seems like 100 years ago now.

But here we have a railway museum, the start of the Welland Canal (that enables ships to by-pass the Niagara Falls) and a few other things too;

peace bridge buffalo new york usa fort erie canadaLike a big bridge – the Peace bridge of 1927 in fact.

Named to celebrate 100 years of peace between the USA and Canada, construction started in 1925 and was opened to the public on 1st June 1927.

At the time, it was the only bridge between Niagara Falls and Minnesota across the Canada-USA border that could take road-going vehicles.

peace bridge buffalo new york usa fort erie canadaAs you admire the colour changes, let me tell you that the bridge is built of 9800 tons of steel – of which 9,000 tons is in the structure and 800 tons as reinforcement in the concrete.

Altogether, it’s 5800 feet long, which is about 1.1 miles in real money and it spans a river where the average current is about 10 mph.

That’s actually quite a speed for a river.

canadian customs facilities peace bridge buffalo new york usa fort erie canadaSome of the most spectacular Canadian customs facilites are here too. That building down there never dates from 1927 – I promise you that!

It incorporates the toll plaza apparently and dates from 2005. There are 14 lanes for cars and special facilities for lorries, of which over 4,000 pass through every day.

As a result, the facilities are often overwhelmed and there is talk of some kind of pre-clearance facility similar to the European TIR idea.

I found a motel at a reasonable price and I put a tin of beans in the slow cooker before I went on my ramble.

On the way back I went to look for some chips to have with them but would you believe … in the whole of this town near where I’m staying where there are three or four fast-food places, there’s not a six of chips in sight.

And so I sulked off for an early night.

I’m off to Toronto where my aeroplane will await me at 20:50. And I’m already depressed about leaving Canada. I shall be inconsolable by the time I get back to Europe.

Wednesday 10th November 2010 – GOOD GRIEF!

I’ve seen a few things today that have opened my eyes!

Actually, I knew that this kind of thing went on, like we all do, but I never expected to see it first-hand.

It started easily enough here at the Ambassador Motel and then I headed off across the border. There was the usual unpleasant scenario at Immigration – something that always drives me mad of course, and then off to find a Home Depot.

Having come off the free-way in Detroit, I did have to say that this is not the area where I would like to brandish a camera about.

And consequently I am not going to show you any photo of the car that’s parked up here on the left that looks like someone has pumped two bullets through the rear window.

Yes, The Lady Who Lives In The Sat-Nav ought to be an option for “salubrious area” and “insalubrious area”. This is not the area that I would have chosen to have driven.

armed police stop car detroit usaI arrived at the Home Depot for more stuff and stepped straight into a drama.

A car pulled into the car park, closely followed by a couple of cars containing some of Detroit’s finest.

The car stopped and the aforementioned in the vehicles behind leapt out brandishing firearms and the like and what happened is what I would euphemistically describe as a “police interaction”.

I went into the Home Depot and bought some stuff in the Ryobi sale – an alligator saw, a compressor and a flash-light.

detroit city centre usaI knew where the mail company offices were, because I’d looked for them whem I was here in early October.

I shot back into town and packed up all of my stuff for shipping across the Atlantic.

And how things have changed since the last time that I was in the USA shipping stuff abroad.

windsor ontario canadaPicking myself up off the floor, I headed off for a look around the north end of the city.

From over in Windsor – which is over there – I’d seen a little island in the middle of the river.

That’s on the USA side of the border so I went over there to have a look – and the view of Windsor was quite impressive

detroit michigan windsorThe view of Detroit isn’t too bad either, is it?

It looks quite an attractive modern city from here, but that really does belie its true appearance as you know.

That square mile of the city looks quite attractive, but the rest of the place – well, you’ve seen for yourself, haven’t you?

ambassador bridge windsor ontario canada detroit michigan usaThere’s also a good view of the Ambassador Bridge – or, at least, there would have been had the weather been better.

And make the most of the view too, because it won’t always look like this.

Plans are afoot – and have been since 2004 – to replace the bridge and by the time that you read this, the proposals will be well advanced and land is, even as we speak, being bought for its construction.

The Gordie Howe International Bridge may yet become a reality

Fuel was next, and I had the somewhat delightful privilege of seeing a petrol station attendant who was actually barricaded into his hut and his only access to the customers was via a CCTV camera.

Most unpleasant.

I tell you now – I wasn’t sorry to be back across the river in the comfort and safety of Canada. I could feel the stress and I’d only been there for five or six hours.

Tuesday 9th November 2011 – NO PHOTOS TODAY, FOLKS.

And that should come as quite a surprise to most people, what with me being in Canada and all of that.

But there are several good reasons for that, not the least of which being that I’ve not done anything worth talking about today.

This motel is quite cheap, as I said. And there are good reasons for that. It’s a little shabby around the edges and it’s right by a main road so it’s rather noisy.

But then again I’ve paid more money to have a worse night’s sleep than I’ve had here so I’m not surprised, and it doesn’t worry me too much. When you are on the economy plan, Value For Money is everything, as we all know.

First job today was to empty Casey, throw away all of the rubbish that has accumulated and do my best to make him look presentable. And that’s a hard-enough battle as it is.

Next visit was to the shops. I’m planning on posting a pile of stuff back to France as you know, so I may as well make the most of the packages by putting other thins in it too.

But that ground to a halt, for the simple reason that if I’m going over to the USA to post things, then shopping in the USA will be so much cheaper.

I’ve been letting the photos and the notes off the dictaphone lapse a little too, so they have been receiving my fullest attention too.

All in all, this has been a day of “mending the nets”.

Saturday 23rd October 2010 – YOU WOULD THINK …

… that I would have learnt my lesson by now, but not a bit of it.

Does anyone still remember my voyage around Wyoming in 2002 and how I hardly had any sleep the first night due to having chosen, in the dark, a motel right next to a railway line?

travellers motel halifax nova scotia canadaSo here I am, on the outskirts of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and there’s the Canadian Pacific main line between the industrial centres of central Canada and the largest port on Canada’s eastern seaboard, and it passes right underneath my window.

My excuse, back in 2002, was that it was dark, so I’m going to have to think of a pretty good excuse for this one though as it was broad daylight when I arrived here.

But then again, at the first place (a cheap B&B), no-one answered (they had clearly heard all about me). The second place was full. The third place – I took one look at it, made my excuses and left. Yes, even I have principles and scruples even when travelling on a low budget.

And so a convenient motel with kitchen unit at $69, and that will have to do. At least I can cook some food and that will save me something.

bed and breakfast country harbour nova scotia canada october octobre 2010However, this is where I spent last night and I will say now that if I can ever find better value than this bed-and breakfast for just $45 per night all-in then I shall move in permanently.

Like everyone else that I have ever encountered on any of my voyages around the Maritimes (with the exception of those people in that museum – The Rooms in St John’s), the proprietors were extremely friendly, helpful and knowledgeable.

Furthermore, although they were Anglophones, the guy here had been a copper in Québec and so was perfectly bilingual and also had some kind of empathy with the Francophone communities around here.

They moved here about 30 years ago and in that time they reckon that not a week has gone by without someone leaving the area to move elsewhere, such has been the consequence of the collapse of the economy following the decline of the fishing industry. They recounted a long, almost endless list of local businesses that had gone – the loss of the local grocery stores being the most painful and now they have to travel miles for their food supplies.

It sounded every bit as depressing as the stories that I heard when I bought my house to the Auvergne in 1997

road sign sober island nova scotia canada october octobre 2010Now I have seen some strange place-names on my travels, that’s for sure, but the one just here is definitely the one that takes the biscuit to date.

It intrigued me, why they had singled this island out for special attention by giving it this particular name. The idea that there might be drunken islands lurching around in the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast here was rather a sobering thought.

But then again, maybe not. This coast is infamous for the amount of maritime accidents, collisions and sinkings of vessels and all that kind of thing, and that might explain it.

hawk sheet harbour nova scotia canadaI had another leisurely drive along the coast today and nothing remarkable stood out (well, not that I am admitting to anyway) but I did encounter a mystery.

At a wharf alongside a river in a small town there was a ship (well, I think that it was a ship) that looked like it had just been raised from Full Fathom 5 after 50 years in the deeps. A rusting old hulk would have been embarrassed to have moored alongside it

So, with the silliest question being the one that is never asked, I headed off to the library. After all, librarians know everything.
“Ohhhh – that thing” she said. “They sailed it into here about 4 years ago ….”
“4? Or 40?”
“Definitely 4 or so. And it sailed in from Newfoundland” She replied. “And when it docked the people aboard ‘scattered like rats’ and they were gone. The police searched the ship thinking that there might be drugs aboard but they found nothing at all”

hawk sheet harbour nova scotia canada“So what’s it doing moored up there?”
“No-one knows” she replied. “But it’s a private wharf and as long as the mooring is paid the owner of the wharf doesn’t care about it”
“So who’s paying the mooring fees?” – I mean, you have to ask the question.
“Now there’s a good question” she repled.
And good question as it might be, she didn’t give me any answer.

What has taken my by surprise just here is that I came this way in the winter of 2003 when I was quite ill, and I made no comment whatsoever about the railway museum at Musquodoboit. Was it not here then? I ask myself. How would I not notice a railway museum? I really must have been ill.

yard shunter musquodoboit railroad museum railway nova scotia canada october octobre 2010Another thing that has taken me by surprise here is that for once in a provincial Canadian railway museum there is actually a locomotive. I mean it’s not actually a locomotive in the same category as a Pacific 4-6-2 or a Garrett articulated 2-8-8-2, but it’s here and not being turned into a thousand baked bean tins and that’s something, I suppose.

I’m having to really think if I have seen another engine before at a wayside place like this, and I can’t say that I have. There was the steam locomotive that was a stationary exhibit on the waterfront at Windsor but that was about it I reckon – "it was as recently as Baie Comeau actually" …ed

And so here I am in Halifax. I’ve been here twice before, in 2001 and 2003 and on both occasions I was rather ill, and so this evening I’ve been out taking pics – after all the ones that I took on those occasions with cheap compact digitals just didn’t work out at all.

halifax by night angus macdonald bridge nova scotia canadaThis photo is much better.

It was taken from up on the Angus MacDonald Bridge, the bridge that goes across the Straits between Halifax and Dartmouth. That’s Halifax down there, with the Canadian Navy’s Eastern seaboard base in the foreground.

It really was quite eerie walking around here in the dark retracing the steps that I had taken in my previous visits when I was trying to take pictures like this armed with nothing more than a cheap basic compact digital.

Here, with a top-of-the-range DSLR and an optional-extra zoom lens that cost a lot of money at last I’ve been able to make some of the pics look like something useful.

And if you want to see more of the photos that I took, your wish is my command

Monday 4th October 2010 – ENTER THE DRAG … UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Monday today. everyone is back at work or back at University, and so it’s time for me to be moving on. I rescued Strawberry and prepared to enter the drag … errr … the Untied States.

And another 3-hour grilling too – it really annoyed me. It reminded me exactly of when I used to go to the Soviet Union – exactly the same grilling and exactly the same reason – “the interests of National Security”.

The USA spent 50 years trying to destroy Communism and then went to install exactly the same system of controlr there. I’m waiting for some high-powered American politician to admit that maybe the Soviets had a point. But I’m going to have to wait a long time. When was the last time that you met a frank and honest politician?

michigan central railway station detroit usaFirststop for any transport fan has to be the Michigan Central Railway Station in Detroit.

Built in 1913-14 a long way away from the city centre as a deliberate attempt to pull the development of the city down to that end, at its peak it handled over 200,000 people per day, by far the greater majority of whom came by the tram network.

But the Depression dealt the expansion of the city and also the tram network a fatal blow and passenger use melted away. On 6th January 1988 the last Amtrak train pulled out of the station and that was that.

When I arrived here, there was a copper standing outside talking to some people and so I asked him if it was ok to photograph it. After all, you never know. This is the paranoid nation called the United States of America.

I asked him what they were planning to do with the station, and he replied
nothing
So now we know.

dereliction and decay detroit michigan usaBut the Depression hasn’t yet finished with Detroit.

Frankly, with all of the industry collapsing or moving away, the city is dying. And it looks like it too. Everywhere that you go, buildings that aren’t demolished lie abandoned and looted and the place looks something like Fallujah after an American offensive (and nowhere have the Americans been more offensive than in Fallujah).

This is the view across Roosevelt Park from the station. And it was this photograph, as well as several others, exhibited elsewhere, that let to the epithet “ruins photography” being hurled at my work. Still, I’m not here to please everyone – I’m only intending to please myself.

fiesta auto insurance advertising mascotBut some of the citizens in Detroit have managed to maintain their sense of humour despite everything that the world has thrown at them.

Here’s a walking advert for an auto insurance company, and he was pleased to make the acquaintance of a fellow-traveller. The scene certainly brought a smile to the faces of many people going past and makes a change from ruins photography, doesn’t it?

michigan ohio state line usaI wasn’t long in Michigan. Just a little further down the road is the Ohio State Line and I stop to take a souvenir photoin order to celebrate our crossing.

This is now much more like rural USA, where I am hoping to be. I find urban areas so depressing, even affluent ones. But I’m not too sure about the 45mph speed limit. I hope that that is only a local arrangement.

All around the southern shore of Lake Erie I’ve seen loads of signs “say no to wind turbines” – all identical and all supplied by an organisation financed by the coal owners of the USA.

davis besse nuclear power station oak harbour ohio usaBut I haven’t seen a single sign against the nuclear reactor just here at Oak Harbor.

And that’s so surprising too seeing as in 2002 a large corrosion hole was discovered in the reactor head. The plant was closed down for two years “for maintenance” and the owners were fined a total of $33 million.

I think that that would worry me much more than a couple of windfarms. I just don’t understand the mentality of Americans who are so “suckered in” by corporate business-speak.

county court house port clinton ohio usaThis is the County Court House in Port Clinton, a beautiful little lakeside town on the shore of Lake Erie (or it would be beautiful if there weren’t a suspect nuclear reactor just down the road)

What impressed me about the Court House is that it’s been extended (the USA being what it is, it’s hardly surprising) and although you can see the join, they’ve built it in stone, and matching stone at that.

port clinton county court house ohio usaThey’ve clearly done their best, which is more than you can say for the UK. had this been on the other side of the Atlantic, a classic building such as this would have been totally disfigured by a glass-and-concrete monstrosity.

But while I was taking this photo a lorry clattered over the railway line behind me. I couldn’t believe it at first – thought that I was seeing things. I’ll have to look into that.

lake point marblehead lighthouse ohio usaThis is Marblehead lighthouse, with a beautiful view of the amusement park at Cedar Point which I have managed to avoid.

It also has a beautiful view of the city of Sandusky, which I have also managed to avoid, and they say that from the top of the lighthouse on a good day, you can see the tall buildings of the city of Cleveland 75 miles away, although why they think that that might be a selling point for tourists I really have no idea.

quarry marblehead ohio usaMy road in the gathering gloom brings me into the town of Marblehead and its famous quarry, and overhead conveyor that takes the crushed limestone all the way down to the harbour, where it’s loaded into lakers and shipped off to wherever.

There’s only one motel around here and it’s quite pricey, but it’s too late to go to look for anywhere else that might be more suitable to my budget.

mar lu motel marblehead ohio usaMind you, it’s well-appointed and comfortable, and good value for money if I could afford it, and the view out of my front door is probably worth a couple of extra quid anyway.

In order to bring my buget a little under control, I had bean burritos for tea. It’s a long time since I had them – New Bern, North Carolina, in 2005 as it happens. And they were just as nice and tasty as I remember them too and filling.

I ordered two and with some chips and a salad from Arby’s and a huge mug of raspberry iced tea it was delicious. And it filled me up.

Sunday 3rd October 2010 – SOUTHERN POINT

pelee point ontario canadaPelee Point is the southernmost part of Canada, and that is right here. if you look closely at the water, you’ll see the current flowing from right to left, on the right-hand side of the photo, and the wind blowing the water from left to right on the left-hand side of the photo, because the cind just here was wicked.

And when I’d finished taking the photo, I dipped my hand into the water just as a little celebration.

katherine ayers pelee point ontario canadaThat’s where I’ve been today with Katherine and her friend Adam. I’m moving off tomorrow and I did promise that today I would take Katherine to wherever she would like to go, and she has chosen well.

It’s not particularly a student-type of place so I don’t imagine that there will be any tours out from the University to a place such as this. Nevertheless, it has to be an essential item on any tourist agenda.

goose outfits for sale ontario canadaI was puzzled by this sign though. I know that it isn’t all that far from Halloween but I couldn’t understand the reason why anyone would want to be selling goose outfits.

There was a Round The Horne sketch that featured Julian and Sandy and a goose outfit with a trapdoor for laying a golden egg, but I’m sure that it can’t be anything to do with that.

kingsville ontario canadaFrom the south end of Pelee Point there’s a view right across the bay to what I think might be Kingsville, where I was the other day and saw that Ford Cortina Mark II.

There wasn’t anywhere to take a decent photo of the town when I passed through, so this will have to do, although it’s come out rather blurred. But never mind.

canadian pacific railway locomotive windsor ontario canadaOn the way back, in the driving rain, because it was, we had to stop at a level crossing to let a train go by. It’s presumably on its way to Windsor and then under the tunnel from there under the river and into the USA

I’ve never seen a Canadian Pacific locomotive before so I had to take a photo, even if the raindrops didn’t do me any favours.

Having been woken up by a flight of geese passing over my motel (it’s “that” time of the year already) I made my excuses and left, in order to have a nice quiet evening to prepare myself for the road.

This last few days hasn’t ‘arf passed quickly.

Saturday 2nd October 2010 – THE WEATHER CHANGED …

home depot windsor ontario canadaAs you can tell from the photo here. You can also tell that I’ve found my spiritual home part II – a Home Depot. It didn’t take me long, did it?

You can see Casey over there on the left, reversed into a parking space. And here I had an unusual encounter – someone actually came over to me and asked me why I had reversed in. I replied “because I can – I’m a European”. But the real answer, as everyone knows, is so that I can make a quick getaway if I spot any of my creditors approaching.

I’ve stocked up with a pile of electrical fittings – you ought to know by now that I use North American fittings (the plugs and sockets) for my 12-volt DC domestic circuit – and a few other bits and pieces that will come in handy back home in France.

I’ve also bought a SatNav. If I’m going to be here for a lengthy period wandering around in all kinds of obscure places, I’m going to be struggling for accommodation. I’ll have a few addresses gleaned from tourist information places, but I’ll need to know how to find them. I don’t want to be driving half-way around Labrador in a snowstorm late at night. And I’d have a mobile phone too if I could – but that’s far too complicated to arrange just like that.

I’ve also had a strange but interesting encounter in a Zellers shop. Grandma, Mother and daughter aged about 18, if that, dressed in headscarves and … errr … traditional dress. remembering my unfortunate encounter back in 2002 and how it set me back a little in 2005, I went to seize the initiative and interrogate them.

Apparently they are Mennonites, and believe that man is snbordinate to God, and Woman is subordinate to Man

So now I know.

nash rambler american estate windsor canadaOld cars a-plenty too, far too many to post here. But this one is exciting.

If you came with me when we drove through the Utah Desert in 2002, you’ll recognise this as a Nash Rambler American. But this one isn’t as good and has no running gear. But being an estate version, this is an extremely rare version.

canadian national pacific 4 6 2 steam locomotive river front windsor ontario canadaI went off down to the waterfront this afternoon and found my steam locomotive. It’s an old Canadian National 4-6-2 “Pacific” called “Spirit of Windsor” and being “restored” by the Southern Ontario Locomotive Restoration Society.

But restoration here, as in the USA, consists of nothing more than slapping thick coats of gungy black paint all over the rust.

detroit michigan usaFrom the waterfront, there is, as you might expect, a really good view of the city of Detroit. That’s the USA across the river of course.

And I discovered all kinds of things along here too, including the remains of the old car ferry that used to cross here before the tunnel was built, although how it managed it I really don’t know given the volume of marine traffic along here.

motel windsor ontario canadaAnd so back to my motel to pretty myself up ready for my meal with Katherine.

And you can see why I feel quite at home here too. It reminds me very much of Liverpool, or my garden anywhere that I have ever lived. There have always been a few cars parked up on bricks in my drive of course.

Katherine and I found an Indian restaurant where there was a running buffet – all you can eat for … errrr …$6.99 a head. And it was the best Indian meal that I have ever eaten outside Stoke on Trent. After that it was to Tim Horton’s for coffee along with dozens of other people – what a way to spend a Saturday night!

Friday 1st October 2010 – I HAD A DAY OUT TODAY

old car deerbrook ontario canadaThe aim was to go to see Lake St Clair, the “forgotten lake” of the Great Lakes network. But I didn’t get far

I mentioned yesterday that the whole of this area seems to be littered with interesting cars from a bygone era, most of them awaiting some care and attention. This car, dating from the early 1930s I reckon (not that I would know) that I found in Deerbrook was in surprisingly good condition for an unrestored model.

I saw dozens like this – spoilt for choice.

view of detroit michigan usa across lake st clairOn the shores of the Lake, making maximum use of the telephoto lens, I can give you all a good view of the city of Detroit, probably 15 miles away across the water.

And you can tell the kind of weather that we were having, just by looking at the waves. There was quite a vicious wind blowing around here. No wonder that wind turbines are so popular in Ontario, although I bet that there won’t be so many in the USA. No businessman there can control the supply of wind.

river thames lighthouse cove lakeshore lake st clair ontario canadaI’ve found the River Thames – but not the one in London (UK, not Ontario) but the one that flows into Lake St Clair. and much to my excitement (I’m funny that way) it has a lighthouse too.

The Thames River lighthouse here in the town of Lakeshore dates from about 1838 (that’s the date that the first keeper was appointed) with a grant of £1000 from the Government of Upper Canada.

river thames lighhouse cove conservation area lakeshore lake st clair ontario canadaIts claim to fame was that the family that supplied the keepers of the lighthouse from its inception until as recently as 1950 claimed direct descent from Jacques Cartier.

The whole area is now classed as a Conservation Area, and you can see why from this photo because it really was a pleasant place to be, especially in the sun.

river thames lighthouse cove lakeshore lake st clair ontario canadaAnd while I was walking around, admiring the view of the lighthouse and the lake, I fell in with a fisherman. He told me that this is one of the best places in the world to catch muskies, which apparently are fish that bear a close resemblance to pike.

He (the fisherman, not the fish) comes from Hamilton – that’s Hamilton, Lanarkshire, Scotland, not Hamilton Ontario, although you never would have guessed judging by his accent.

wallaceburg ontario canadaMy journey took me to the small town of Wallaceburg. I can’t go any further than this unfortunately as the Great Satan is just up the road and I shall be visiting here in a couple of days time.

Wallaceburg was formerly a major industrial centre, renowned for its glass, and was also the birthplace of what became more famous as the Lee-Enfield rifle.

The story goes that the industry here in the town and the agriculture of the neighbouring rural area were so important that lakers struggled all the way up the Sydenham River to here in order to load up.

Beautiful as views of the town might be, it’s only skin-deep because the southern shore of the river is nothing like the previous photo. It’s not always a railway line that divides the poor from the rich, despite whatever Tracy Chapman might have to say on the subject.

But then Wallaceburg is no longer master of its own budget, having been absorbed into the the municipality of Chatham-Dover.

cornfield agriculture ontario canadaI mentioned the agricultural produce of the area. Heading back to Windsor down the main highway, I drove through the Southern Ontario prairie.

It’s flat, as flat as the eye can see for miles around in all directions with not a single hill to relieve the monotony. The roads are totally straight and run for miles, and you are just surrounded by corn.

But while I was busy doing something else, I actually saw a diesel train and even more surprising, it was pulling four or five passenger carriages. Now as I was busy I didn’t get the chance to photograph it but the fact of it being a passenger train was totally surprising.

There are two railway lines into Windsor by the way, one from the Canadian Pacific and the other from the Canadian National. Now I could understand that if they served different townships on their way but they run parallel to each other just a mile or two apart which seems a strange thing to me – it’s just duplicating resources and bringing no benefits to anyone.

taj mahal Gurdwara Khalsa Prakash windsor ontario canada I also encountered the Taj Mahal – in actual fact the Gurdwara Khalsa Prakash Sikh temple somewhere between Tecumseh and Windsor.

There’s quite a large Sikh community in Canada, about 1.5% of the population, and like most non-white populations in North America they have suffered considerable discrimination, particularly in the early years of their arrival 100 or so years ago.

Immigration received a further impetus in the 1980s as Canada welcomed Sikhs fleeing from persecution in India, but this has led to a number of “incidents” taking place between the Asian communities in Canada, culminating in the attack on Air India Flight 182, widely credited to Sikh extremists.

But now I’m back in Windsor, in a really delightful evening. The weather is beautiful, very windy but hardly a cloud in the sky. I’ve been lucky with the weather so far but the locals think that it might break in a few days.

Tomorrow, depending on what time I wake up, I’ll go for another wander around. I’ve seen a steam locomotive on a plinth and that must be worth a photo. Tomorrow night Katherine and I are out a-dining. Doubtless Strawberry Moose will want to come too.

Thursday 30th September 2010 – 2nd DAY IN CANADA …

ambassador bridge windsor ontario canada detroit michigan usa… and I’ve had my first run-in with the farces of Law and Order.

Here I was, taking a photo of the Ambassador Bridge – the big bridge that goes over between Windsor and Detroit in the USA, and a copper pulled up. He told me to stop taking photos of the bridge
“Why?” I asked
“Because the Department of Home Security doesn’t like it” he replied
“But isn’t the Department of Home Security an organisation from the USA?”
“Yes it is” he replied
“Right” I said. “Tell the Department of Home Security to f$@µ off!” and I carried on taking photos.

Yes, the United States of America getting the Canadian Police to do American police work on Canadian soil – that’s a weird situation isn’t it? Whose country is it anyway?

But then as someone once said to me, when you are living next door to a well-known paranoiac who is armed to the teeth and has no intention of obeying the law, then you’d be a little wary too.

But I’ve been in Canada less than 24 hours and all my illusions about the country have been shattered.

fog and mist shores of lake erie ontario canadaI set off this morning quite early and drove down to the shores of Lake Erie, which was swathed in fog and mist.

First thing that I encountered was an abandoned railway line. Apparently the Beeching Cuts in the UK were nothing compared to what happened to the Canadian rail network in the 1980s and a huge proportion of Canada’s rail network was lost.

Admittedly much of it was unnecessary duplication, with three railway companies building transcontinental railway lines within 20 miles of each other, but an awful lot of it wasn’t.

lighthouse lake erie port glasgow ontario canadaMy road down to Lake Erie took me to the little harbour of Port Glasgow. This is a huge pleasure marina with all kinds of leisure activities going on.

There were several people around here and I had a couple of quite interesting chats – a fine way to pass the time. And the weather was now quickly improving – the sun was out and the heat had burnt away the fog.

dutch barn lake erie ontario canadaThis brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “Dutch barn”, doesn’t it?

Just as in France, there has been a wave of Dutch farmers coming over to Canada. Land in the Netherlands is difficult to find and is frightfully expensive. Many young farmers have crossed the Atlantic in the search for a place of their own.

And this place is up for sale, with an estate agent named Verbrugghe – just as in France, the Dutch have started to capture the Estate Agency market.

oilfield lake erie ontario canadaThe whole of the shore of Lake Erie are covered in wind turbines, and I must have had to dodge about three or four lorries coming down these narrow roads carrying assorted bits.

But there’s also a small oilfield here. I counted about 20 small pumps and I’m sure that there must have been others that I didn’t see. I’ll have to look into this oilfield and see what’s going on.

ford cortina mark II 1600GT kingsville ontario canadaAnd old cars too – there are plenty of those around here in southern Ontario.

A casual observer might not find a Mark II Ford Cortina to be the most exciting of the cars that I could have depicted as an example, even if it is a 1600GT, but I have a very strong affinity with British Fords, going back to my childhood. And when I had my taxis, I had nothing but Ford Cortinas, but the later Mark III and IV versions.

do not push lorryI was intrigued by this photo. I wonder what this “Do Not Push” on the back of this lorry is all about.

It does make me wonder what it is that Canadians have for breakfast, if people are worried about them being able to push lorries around. But whatever it is, I’d like to have a plate of it. It could come in handy with what I need to do back home.

fisherman st clair river windsor ontario canada detroit michigan usaIn Windsor I found a cheap motel, parked up Casey and went for a walk along the riverfront where there is an impressive view of Detroit, ships passing by, and fishermen trying to find something worth catching.

The weather had turned out nice in the end.

So while I was waiting for Katherine to finish her classes (I’d arrived a little early) I wandered off to take a photo of the Ambassador Bridge and for my confrontation with the farces of Law and Order.

Wednesday 29th September 2010 part II – WELL, HERE I AM.

embassy motel kitchener ontario canadaIn a motel on the edge of the town of Kitchener in Ontario. $62 plus taxes and you don’t get much for your money.

But having been into the city, tried unsuccessfully to withdraw cash at three banks with three different bank cards and missing my way back to the motorway, I was ready for a good sleep. Mainly because I hadn’t had one on the plane.

Some blasted infant started to scream the moment the plane took off from Zurich and didn’t stop until we landed at Toronto. And at one time it was screaming so much that it gave itself a nosebleed. I was thoroughly fed up with that.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been up, showered, dressed and breakfasted before 08:00 – I’ll tell you that. And up before the alarm as well. Well, breakfasted after a fashion with the rest of the biscuits from my bag – and no coffee either. With the prices that they were charging I’d need a mortgage for that.

And on the airport shuttle bus some American got on board with two of the biggest suitcases I had ever seen, even bigger than mine – while his wife stood and watched him. I couldn’t resist it –
“Wouldn’t it have been easier just to buy the kids a ticket?” I asked him.

And as the bus pulled in to Charles de Gaulle Terminal 2 his wife stood and watched as he struggled one of the suitcases off. And he had to hurry to take the second one off before the bus pulled off to the next terminal. If she had been my wife she would have had a smack in the mouth by now. It wasn’t so much the standing and watching that did it for me – she may well have been disabled or something, you can never tell, but it was the way that she was harassing him while he was trying to do it.

Once inside the airport we are subjected to what can only be called "Skyway Robbery". I’d already lost some dosh in a vending machine at the entrance and it took me ages of wandering around the concourse before I found some nice friendly woman with a coffee trolley who sold me a nice cup of hot steaming strong coffee for a very respectable €1:70. Yes, it can be done, but you need to persevere.

The final words that I gave to Strawberry Moose
before we parted were
“Are you going to be all right, stowed away in the suitcase?”
“Just bung me a bottle of whisky” he said “and I’ll be absolutely fine”
“Badger off!” I exclaimed. “I know you! We won’t be halfway across the Atlantic before you start singing bawdy songs”
“Once we’are halfway over the Atlantic it won’t really matter. They aren’t going to stop in mid-air to search the baggage now, are they?”

airbus 320 swissair paris charles de gaulle france zurich switzerlandHe did ask me though if we were flying by Lear Jet but I did explain that it’s spelt L-E-A-R.And in any case, it was a nice, comfortable Airbus 320 that took us over to Zurich.

My only complaint was that there was nothing for me to eat. somehow my request for a vegan meal doesn’t apply to snacks served on short-haul flights.

air canada boeing 777 zurich airport toronto ontario canadaThey said that out plane from Zurich to Toronto was a Boeing 777. Mnd you, it looked more like a 767 to me but I suppose that they ought to know.

And as we flew over Greenland I had my vegan meal. Couscous and roasted vegetables. Not as nice as Liz’s but then again, nothing is.

But you missed all of the excitement. When we were at about 20,000 feet we had the safety announcement. And one of the things that they said was “if you are sitting by an emergency door you must be able to open it”. And I didn’t see the point of that – they didn’t half yell at me when I tried.

air canada flight overtaking thomas cook flight mid atlantic oceanAs well as that, we had another exciting incident. I always understood that there had to be a good vertical and horizontal clearance between two planes on the same course ever since those two airliners collided over the Grand Canyon years ago.

But there’s not much in the way of separation between us and this Thomas Cook flight that we overtook in mid-Atlantic.

But that’s enough of that. I remained inconspicuous for the rest of the flight with my head down. And at least the skriking infant drowned out the bawdy songs coming from the hold.

air canada boeing 777 coming into land lester b pearson airport toronto ontario canadaWe made it in one piece as far as Toronto where the screaming brat finally shut up. I’d made the most of the journey by watching a couple of Hopalong Cassidy films and the new Robin Hood. At least the headphones kept out the screaming.

And the queue into the country was miles long. Half a dozen flights from Europe had come in at the same time as, as usual, the airport wasn’t prepared for them

chrysler pt cruiser casey lester b pearson airport toronto ontario canadaBut good fortune followed me to the car hire place.

They didn’t have a compact car so they offered me an upgrade. After much negotiation we settled on a Chrysler PT Cruiser. Ive always loved these vehicles, ever since they first came out. They reminded me very much of the Ford Anglias and Prefects that my father had when we were kids. And it’s been a lifetime ambition to drive on. So I was more-than-happy with this.

driving into the sunset, going west you might say, from Toronto Ontario CanadaAnd so in my Chrysler PT Cruiser which I have named Casey (check his numberplate) Strawberry Moose and I head off into the sunset – going west you might well say, along the motorway in the general direction of Windsor, Ontario.

I’m looking for a cash point and then I’ll be looking for a motel. I won’t be doing all of the trip tonight. I’m thoroughly exhausted after the events of today.