Tag Archives: home depot

Thursday 4th September 2014 – OLD HABITS DIE HARD

Indeed they do? I’m at it again, even in the USA.

overnight parking rest area interstate 87 new york state usaThis is where I spent last night – on a motorway service area on Interstate 87 up at the top end of New York State. This is what it looked like at about half an hour after dawn because I was up early. I’d had something of a restless night.

But you can see why I was happy to stay here. The surroundings were beautiful and the smell of pine essence was overpowering. There wasn’t too much noise either, which makes a change for a motorway rest area.

crushed cars on trailer rest area interstate 87 new york state usaI wasn’t alone on here by any means. There were plenty of cars about, as you can see on this trailer. Most of the overnight residents on here were Canadians heading south – I hardly noticed a lorry from the USA. It’s something about which I’ve often wondered – where do lorries from the USA park up overnight because you don’t see them parked up in every lay-by as you do in Europe.

Mind you, you don’t see many lay-bys either in North America, something about which I’ve often commented.

I found a Home Depot (eventually) and I’ve bought a couple of things that I needed. I had to go to a second one though for an angle grinder (passing by a Walmart on the way where I left half of my shopping and had to go back for it).

It was quite exciting in this second Home Depot. According to the Home depot computer, there should have been 6 there but there were none on display. Eventually I found someone who confirmed that they had some but he couldn’t find them either. Eventually he located them up on the top shelf, so he fetched a ladder, climbed up and passed one down to me. Then he started to descend the ladder. “Aren’t you going to get the others down then?” I asked. “Either customers will walk away empty-handed or else you’ll be climbing back up that ladder again”

One of the things that I’ve been moaning about too is the price that I’m having to pay these days for hiring vehicles. The idea of buying one to keep in North America has often gone through my head but finding the right kind of vehicle has always been an obstacle.

wholesale cars for sale new york state usaI wouldn’t have any problems here though. There must be a thousand vehicles here, many of which are Ford Ranger 4×4 pickups and prices start from about $4800 which is reasonable.

They are all bulk-buys from Government institutions, such as the Police as you can see, and the owner reckons that he has about 100 new vehicles every week. Anyway, I have a card from him and I shall be giving the matter some serious thought.

From here I’ve been on Highway 9 heading east towards the Maine coast but I’m not making very much progress with things that there are to see.

hogback mountain 100 mile view vermont usaThis is the view from Hogback Mountain in Vermont. This particular spot is called the Hundred Mile View, so-called because you can see for 100 miles from here.

It’s probably true as well, becaus that mountain right over there in the distance looks rather like the big mountain at the back of Millinocket in Maine, although I bet that it probably isn’t.

This area was quite an important ski area at one time but rising insurance premiums and falling snow levels … "DECREASING SNOW FALL" – ed … due to global warming have caused its abandonment.

1933 Pontiac new hampshire usaThis is a 1933 Pontiac saloon parked up in New Hampshire and it’s for sale for … errr … $19500, a price that stopped me in my tracks. I stopped to take a couple of photos and the owner came out for a chat. He’s totally rebuilt it from the ground up – one of many that he’s done because he’s 76 and been doing this for 60 years

It’s not for me though, because it’s been rebuilt to modern standards with a “350 V8” engine, a modern auto box, hydraulic disc brakes and all that kind of thing. There’s probably very little that is the original vehicle which is a shame if you ask me, but that’s how vintage vehicle “restoration” is carried out in North America.

From here I came across a camp site just as the sun was setting, so I’ve stopped here for the night on a pitch with a beautiful view across the lake. It’s a lovely place to spend the night, as you will soon find out.

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Monday 25th August 2014 – I HAD A LIE-IN THIS MORNING …

… yet even so, I was up and about by 08:05. And after breakfast, I set about packing everything.

And despite everything that I had done, there were still one or two things that I could not find and led to me having a good search around for everything. I reckon that I’ve now found everything that I’ll want, but if that really is the case, it will be a first.

Plenty of room in the suitcase for a change so in an amazing departure from the norm, I’ve cut up a couple of strips of that space-blanket insulation, 1.50m x 1.20m.

There’s a good reason for this. I’ve been using tarpaulins as curtains in the Dodge but that’s not particularly efficient. If I cut each sheet of this insulation into 2 strips 60cms wide and obtain some double-sided tape from Home Depot, I can stick this insulation onto the windows to blank them out and this will be much more appropriate, as well as keeping the temperature in the vehicle a little more comfortable.

Anyway, with all of this insulation in the suitase, the suitcase is very full but doesn’t weigh all that much.

Apart from that, I’ve sorted out the washing, tied up the onions and the garlic, put the shallots in a panier and did some tidying up and cleaning too.

I’ve also has Rosemary, Liz and Cecile on the phone.

Anyway, now I’m off for an early night because I’m going to have an early start tomorrow. There’s quite a bit to do tomorrow and then we’re radioing.

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Sunday 29th September 2013 – THE BRITISH ARE COMING! THE BRITISH ARE COMING!

strawberry Moose Roy the Ranger neilson's farm saratoga battlefield new york USANo reason to be alarmed, though. Strawberry Moose and his faithfful artillery crew, namely Roy the Ranger, have manned … "personned" – ed … the guns and are ready to repel all boarders – and a few day pupils too by the sound of things.

I’m deep in the Hudson Valley near a town called Schuylerville and while that name might mean nothing to most people, it used to be called Saratoga and that might mean a whole lot more because the battle here, in October 1777, put the writing on the wall for the British occupation of what is now the United States of America.

artillery hudson river saratoga battlefield new york USAFor four months of the year the St Lawrence is frozen over and the only way to send supplies to Montreal and Lower Canada is up the Hudson Valley, over the portages around the various lakes and then down the River Richelieu to Montreal.

At Saratoga there’s a bluff overlooking the Hudson River and whoever controls this bluff controls all of the upper Hudson Valley – a fact perfectly well realised by the rebels, and only belatedly by the Imperial power who had failed to stock up with supplies. The rebels made it here first and as winter started to draw on, the Imperial forces realised that they needed to move them off the bluff in order to restock themselves for the winter.

So on October 7th, 1777, the Imperial forces attacked and after a fierce fight, were pushed backwards off the bluff and right into the arms of rebel reinforcements, and that was that. This was the first nail in the coffin of Imerial domination of the 13 colonies.

So that was how I spent my afternoon, and a beautiful afternoon it was too and no mistake. So much so that I ran completely out of time. luckily though, although the visit cost me all of $5:00, the Tourist Information service gave me a campsite list and so I was able to find the campsite that I missed in the dark last night – must remember to finish earlier in the daytime.

Regular readers of this rubbish will recall my preoccupation with roundabouts in North America. When I fist started travelling here, finding a roundabout was a major achievement. Nowadays, though, it’s the “in thing” for towns to have roundabouts, almost a status symbol, for here at Malta on Highway 9, they have two in quick succession.

road accident malta highway 9 roundabout truck overturnHowever, it’s all very well having roundabouts here, but it’s another thing completely about drivers knowing how to use them, as this truck driver has discovered, and he has come to a sticky end as he tries to turn off Highway 9 to go up to Interstate 89 and Montreal.

On a neagtive camber like this with a high centre of gravity like that, a dead stop at the “Give Way” sign and a slow and careful drive around would have been much more appropriate than showing off the handling capabilities of his rig. At least the cab hasn’t gone over, so he’s not hurt, except in the pride department, and also in the wallet I bet, because there were several of New York’s finest in attendance.

Why I was down here was for the huge Home Depot that I encountered last night. There was a sale on and so I stocked up with cheap tools – not rubbish but heavily-discounted stuff including a Ryobi all-in bit collection, the type that sells for about €35 in Brico Depot but here reduced to just $6:00. I can do all sorts of things with that.

lock 4 champlain canal new york usaMy route is going to take me along the side of the Champlain Canal – the 19th Century water route between the Hudson and the St Lawrence. While much of it has been abandoned to due navigational improvements on the Hudson, there are still several locks along the route that are used.

This is lock 4 and I watched it being used by a pleasure boat, sadly the only type of traffic along here these days with commerical freight long-gone.

Ironically though, I’ve had lengthy (and I do mean lengthy) chats with 3 people today and they have all featured one thing in common – the scepticism of their Government’s foreign and militarist policies. All three of them have been as cynical as I am about all of this.

There’s an undercurrent of dissent running through the USA and people seem to be only able to express their discontent to foreigners. It really is just like the Soviet Union in the 1970s here, only that the authorities use ridicule and ostracism as a punishment instead of imprisonment. And believe me, ridicule and ostracism are far more devastating a punishment.

But yes, 50 years of fighting Communism, and now they have installed the worst aspects of it here in their own country? There’s something fishy here, and I’m not talking about the contents of Baldrick’s apple crumble.

-4

Saturday 28th September 2013 – I’VE BEEN TO HEAVEN …

… this morning, and it was by mistake. I’d crossed over the river from Lebanon, New Hampshire, to White River, Vermont and I wanted a place to park in order to photograph the sign.

The bridge was under repair and there were queues of traffic about all over the place and so I nipped onto an industrial estate to park up, but I became somewhat distracted instead.

old cars 1932 Hudson white river vermont usaThese three vehicles here, the older of which is a 1932 Hudson, are three of about 20 or 30 vehicles from the 1930s and 40s that were lying abandoned all over the place.

I’ve no idea what they are all doing here but it’s certainly something of a tragedy to see them lying about like this – for some of them, there’s not very much left to save and for others, something needs to be done with them pretty quickly if they aren’t going to end up like the others.

It also begs the question, if these are outside, what might there be lurking around in a warehouse or industrial unit around here? If these are simply the donor cars for other projects it would be extremely interesting to blag my way in for a nosey but there was no-one around to ask. But it does bring back old times when I used to do this kind of thing in France with Nerina all those years ago.

quechee gorge vermont usaJust down the road from there is the Quechee Gorge on the Ottauquechee River.

It isn’t quite the Grand Canyonof course, but it’s the best that was on offer around here. Hordes of people from everywhere and, much to my surprise, much of what seemed to be on offer was free. Maybe the USA is “The Land of the Free” after all, after all that I have been saying. I’ll have to change the script a little.

mountain scenery vermont usaI’ve been travelling steadily south-west through the mountains and there wasn’t really very much to see because with overhanging cliffs and forests and the like there was never a clear view. But somewhere along the highway between Londonderry and Manchester there was another one of these rear-view mirror moments as I crest an enormous rise.

That’s where I’ve come from, right over there in the distance. That far ridge is probably 40 miles away and this is really the first proper glance that I’ve had of it. It was worth the wait, even if the image can’t do the view any justice.

This image is rather sad, though. It’s Troy, in New York State, my destination and where I hit the Hudson River. This is civilisation and a sign that my holiday is drawing to a close. This time next Saturday I’ll be somewhere over the Atlantic if we haven’t crashed on take-off, and I’m not looking forward to going home. I wish that I could stay here.

However I did have a stroke of luck. The Lady Who Lives In The Sat-Nav directed me into town past a huge Home Depot and so I took the opportunity to go for a wander around. I did a few errands there but I also made another Ryobi purchase.

I don’t know if you remember that a while ago I broke my Ryobi flourescent light. Here in the USA the model has been discontinued because they have now launched a similar light but powered by LEDs, and all for $19:99 too, and that’s a bargain in any currency.

And I’ll probably have to use it tonight because I’ve left it late to find somewhere to sleep.

-7

Tuesday 17th September 2013 – BRRR IT WAS COLD …

… this morning. Winter is here by the looks of it. Mind you the beautiful clear sky had a lot to do with that – all of the radiant heat disappearing through the night. But I really ought to stop complaining and get on with some work.

Still, you can’t keep a good man down, and not even me, and so I was off down the road into the gorgeous day.

southern new brunswick moncton trans canada highway 2Skirting the edge of Moncton and climbing into the hills at the back, some of the views were terrific and it was a total pleasure to have had a good day to see them for a change.

This is a view from the top of a bank somewhere along Homestead Road and somewhere down there is the truckstop where I spent the night, and of course the Trans Canada Highway as it closes in on Moncton. It’s a shame that the photo can’t really do any justice to the image but, like I said, it was something to be able to see clearly today.

In Moncton, it was largely disappointment. Princess Autos, the big motor factors, had nothing that was of interest and even if they might have done, the staff, while helpful, know totally nothing about their stock and so they were of no help at all.

UPS doesn’t have a budget freight service and the guy there suggested the Post Office for me to ship back a few things, but Home Depot did even better. A Ryobi plus One impact bit driver and two lithium batteries plus charger for just $119. You can’t even buy the batteries for that in Europe, and the bit driver costs more than that alone.

shediac fishing port new brunswickFrom there it was to the seaside, which was why I came down here anyway. This is the fishing port of Shediac. It’s only half an hour or so from Moncton and it’s one of the most beautiful places in New Brunswick. Strawberry Moose and I had a really good wander around and he made quite a few friends, both animal and human, more of which anon, and I took plenty of photos.

From here, we followed the Acadian Trail northwards. The Acadians were the original French settlers of the area and after the fall of Nouvelle France to the British they were obliged to take an oath of loyalty to the British Crown. Many of them did so of course, but some refused and those were deported to other French possessions (such as Louisiana, where they became known as “cajuns”) in North America, although once tensions had eased in the Maritime Provinces many of them filtered back

new brunswick beach grande digueIf it weren’t for the fact that the water here is absolutely freezing even in High Summer (this is the Northumberland Strait between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Isle – no Gulf Stream here) this would be a splendid place to come. There are lots of little beaches (but like in most areas of North America, quite a few of them are private) and lighthouses and all of that kind of thing to entertain the tourist.

Unfortunately, the tourist season is very short and Sunday was the last day for that and so there isn’t much that is open to the public right now, but who cares anyway? I’m enjoying the weather and the sea air.

bouctouche new brunswickSome of the small towns are quite pretty too. This is Bouctouche, a little further north along the Arcadian Trail, and the photo was taken from the steps of the large church.

The bridge is comparatively modern and at the side of it you’ll see a ramp down into the water and on the other side of the river, heavily overgrown, is another ramp. That seems to indicate “ferry” to me because even as late as the 1980s there was nothing like the number of bridges that you see today and the whole route was punctuated by ferries. A water-borne paradise and I for one am disappointed that it’s all gone.

But Bouctouche, or rather the huge Bouctouche sand dune, is where I’m heading. There’s a big car park quite discreetly hidden amongst the trees and that is where I plan to have my overnight stop.

-3

Wednesday 30th May 2012 – MY LAST DAY …

… in Canada for the moment. I won’t be back for a while.

And after a good night’s sleep in my expensive motel, I’m ready for anything

On the motorway back into Montreal, I notice a huge Home Depot at exit 94. I’ll make a note of that because the ones in the city itself are a little “restricted”. But for now, the huge Walmart, Canadian Tire and Home Depot across the river from Quebec are currently in the lead.

At my little storage unit at Jarry I unload the Dodge and stack everything away for the next time. I’m leaving my heavy winter coat here because I’m hoping to be back in the autumn.

The guy in charge of the unit tells me of a car wash place in the rue Jean Talon and sure enough, it comes up trumps. There are three Eastern Europeans there and they washed, vacuumed and valeted the Dodge to within an inch of its life for just $23. It now looks like something that has just come out of the showroom. I don’t think that I have ever rented a car that has looked as nice as this even when it’s been new. This car is spotless now.

And down the road I found a falafel restaurant that served up a plate of chips and a falafel wrap with a can of pop for all of $7:00.

I need to fuel myself up as well, never mind the car, for the return journey because I quite often have dietary issues on the plane as you know.

air france skyteam aeroport pierre trudeau airport dorval montreal canadaHere’s my plane for the journey back home.

We’ve had the usual stress issues at the airport again, but on a more positive note, this time we had free internet and a pile of electric plugs to help pass the time and that’s a change from the stinking reception that I have had in Dorval in the past.

And it gets better than that too. On the aeroplane one of the films was Some Like It Hot and then we had a whole pile of albums by Hendrix, Springsteen, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin and Neil Young.

I’ll fly by Air France again, even if I don’t ever get to sleep.

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Thursday 26th April 2012 – THIS PHOTO …

laval rocket on lorry montreal quebec canada… had me tickled pink, as it clearly had several other people too. Because there really were some people who believed that the rocket really was being carried on the trailer of this lorry.

I went out for an early morning constitutional, like you do, and noticed the rocket on display on a plinth across the motorway. And so I waited until a convenient lorry drove past.

I had meant to go for a closer inspection after breakfast but somehow, Brain of Britain forgot.

I was up and about early – and by “early” I mean 04:00. So that gave me plenty of time to catch up on my notes and photos of yesterday and even some from 2011 too. Can’t take a shower too early.

And yes, we’re back in a Quebec motel. The C and F on the taps doesn’t stand for chaud and froid like you might think. It means “Cold” and “Freezing”.

But the towels were something else completely. So luxurious! I had no end of trouble trying to close my suitcase when I left. Makes a change from some motels where I’ve stayed, where they actually stole the towels from the guests (and YES – I have had this!).

Shopping was next. And never having been to Laval before, I had done my research. It didn’t take long to find the Canadian Tire, Walmart and Home Depot, located quite close together down the road.

And a Dollar Store! They had packets of seeds on sale at three for $1:00 – including some sweet corn! I was tempted by that kind of offer – after all, growing crops at my altitude is challenging – but seeds destined for the short Canadian growing season sound just the job to me.

Finding a bank was something else, though. No trace of a Scotia Bank (where my UK bank has an arrangement) in the vicinity so we had to resort to the telephone directory and the Lady Who Lives In The Satnav.

I’d seen a supermarket – an IGA – on the side of the motorway last night driving down here, and I’d made a mental note. But seeing it was one thing – finding my way to it was something else completely.

All of that took me until lunchtime, would you believe. And those raisin buns that I had bought in the Dollar Store were delicious. Went down a treat

This afternoon saw me at my storage box at Jarry. Regular readers of this rubbish will recall that I rent a storage box in one of these self-store units. Just 1m³ but I keep my bed, my camping stuff and my fittings for the Dodge in there.

I spent most of the afternoon fitting out the Dodge and then hitting Highway 40 east.

Straight into the rush hour.

If that wasn’t enough to be going on with, the temperature suddenly plummeted 10°C as I sat and watched, and we were greeted with the most tremendous downpour. Nothing that I had ever seen in the Auvergne came anywhere close to what we were having just then.

And with the traffic having sat stationary for about half an hour we were joined by a pile of fire engines, ambulances and police cars. That prolonged our stay.

We eventually moved off, four lanes compressed into one – in the rush hour – due to a major fire on the hard shoulder. And it was black as pitch, torrential rain and freezing cold.

I slipped off the motorway, wondering if it would be quicker to advance by going via Repentigny, but a Motel welcoming sign greeted me with rooms reduced to a special price “for tonight only”.

copulatum expensium, as we Pompeiians say. I needed cheering up.

So here at the Motel des Pinions Rouges at Bout-de-l’Ile it gave me an opportunity to charge up the Ryobi batteries that I had bought in Home Depot, and to cook myself a meal in the slow cooker.

I’ll organise myself better tomorrow.

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Wednesday 21st September 2011 – I’VE BEEN …

… in the USA today. But it was not without difficulty.

At Smugglers Road or whatever it’s called, they don’t issue entry permits, so I had to come all the way back to Centreville – so much for the shortcut.

And at Centreville, a tiny border guard had a real panic attack when I followed him into his office – accusing me on “invading his personal space” which is great coming from someone who earns his living searching people’s luggage. And the credit card machine to pay for my permit, so I had to leave my passport and credit card as hostage until I came back.

wind turbine bridgewater maine usaFirst stop was at the petrol station on the corner of US 1 at Bridgewater, Maine. And this looks quite impressive, doesn’t it? A lovely big wind turbine right by the convenience store here.

And as for fuel, it’s $3:89 per gallon, not all that much cheaper than that place near Fredericton – Keswick or some such name

mars hill windfarm maine usaThis is my next-door neighbour – the Mars Hill Windfarm. There are 28 wind turbines here, built by one of my former employers, and each one has a theoretical capability of producing 1.5 megawatts.

Totally impressive beasts they are, and I am proud to have them as my neighbours. But to find them from the USA side of the border wasn’t all that easy, surprise as it might seem. They had me running around a bit.

From here, I went into Presque Ile and the Lowe’s D-i-Y shop. And this is where I made a sad discovery. Ryobi tools are only sold by Home Depot, and the nearest Home Depot is 3 hours away in Bangor.

cooks florists presque ile maine usaOn the way out of Presque Ile, I noticed this sign outside the local florists, and so I had to stop to take a photograph of it. Sad as it might be to see this sign, I’m relieved that at least it’s not just the UK that is suffering from a lack of basic literacy skills.

Still, I don’t suppose that I should be too catty about their sign should I?

double eagle II transatlantic balloon flight launch site presque ile maine usaThis was one of the things that I had come over to the USA to see. It’s the site of the take-off of Double Eagle II, the balloon that made the first successful transatlantic balloon crossing (the fourteenth official attempt), and the site is only a short drive from Presque Ile.

It left here on August 11 1978 with a crew of 3 and crossed the Irish coast on the evening of 16th August, and finally came to earth in northern France the next day

mg midget bridgewater maine usaFrom here I went back to the border but I ended up being sidetracked once again.

This old MG is sitting on someone’s lawn on the back road to the border and so I was obliged to take a photo of it, poor thing. I can’t think why anyone would leave it here like this, given the value that a car likie this would have either as a restoration project or as parts.

But if it stays here much longer, there won’t be any of it left to do anything with.

Finally back at the border, I picked up my passport and credit card so I could then go back to Rachel’s. But that wasn’t easy either as the guy on the Canadian side of the border was also really grouchy and grumpy.

I just don’t know where they dig these people up.

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Thursday 15th September 2011 – I HAD …

… an absolutely excellent nights sleep last night. Out like a light although I did have to get up to go for a gypsy’s in the middle of the night

This morning however it’s not as gorgeous as all that as far as the weather goes because there’s a low hanging cloud or mist all over the place. Its all grey and overcast and misty damp and clammy not very nice at all.

Nevertheless I managed to make my way to Home Depot where I managed to purchase my weed control blanket, but not a brush-cutter. There was nothing suitable so I’m going to have to see about getting a second hand one. I managed to organise a few other exciting bits and pieces while I was there, including some cheap metal shelving clips that will make nice and ideal straps for holding solar panels on the roof of the car.

I had an interesting chat with one of the sales staff there. He’s called Danny and comes from Croatia. And so we had a good chat about Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia and places like that, reliving old journeys that we had made.

And then down to the University of New Brunswick where to find my way around campus I stopped a girl but she didn’t understand any English. So when I asked in French she didn’t understand any of that either so I asked her what language she did exactly speak thinking that I might summon up something and she said Persian. So how she is going to study in New Brunswick at the English-and-French-speaking University is anyone’s guess.

Its Doctor Chang with whom I need to speak about my wind turbines and he’s not in, as you might expect and so I’m going to have to come back here again. I hope that he will talk to me because judging by the leaflets that I saw about what he has been doing he could be an extremely useful person to know.

And I heard that lorry that sounds like an old Foden 2-stroke diesel when it’s slowing down so I dashed out to see, and it’s a Western Star. Thats not too much of a surprise as at one time Western Star had a major interest in Foden junior’s ERF lorry manufacturing business down the road in Sandbach.

But what has just come around this corner here at these traffic lights is something that I haven’t seen for I haven’t a clue how many years and that is a Honda 6 When was the last time I saw a 6-cylinder Honda. Of course we are talking motor cycles here, in case you are wondering.

legislative Office of Conflicts of Interest Commissioner fredericton new brunswick canadaSo with a couple of hours to kill, I can go for a wander around Fredericton.

This white building is the legislative Office of Conflicts of Interest Commissioner, and that’s an enigmatic organisation if ever I heard of one. I wonder what he does and what cases he’s considered during his tenure of office.

But it is a nice building, isn’t it? I could live in a place like this with its nice round turret

maison jewett house fredericton new brunswick canadaHere’s another nice building almost next door on the corner of King Street and Secretary Lane. And it also has a nice round turret of the type that would appeal to me.

It’s the Maison Jewett House, whoever Jewett was when he was at home if he ever was. Ahhh – yes, he was a local doctor and, strangely enough, he wasn’t the first owner of the house. It’s now being used as government offices

war memorial fredericton new brunswick canadaI always like to have a look at war memorials and Canadian ones are quite surprising to a European such as myself.

In Europe, there are usually at least 5 times more victims recorded for World War I than there are for World War II but here in Canada, the numbers are about equal. However, that’s rather misleading. The population in Canada was much smaller in 1914 than it was in 1939

anglican christ church cathedral fredericton new brunswick canadaThis is the Christ Church Cathedral and while I’ve seen many bigger cathedrals than this, I’ve also seen one or two smaller ones.

If you think that it’s small and that you might have seen it before, it’s said to be a copy of St Mary’s church in Snettisham, Norfolk and having seen the church when I visited my friend Lorna who lived nearby, I can see the resemblance.

The cathedral was built between 1845 and 1853, and its claim to fame was that it was struck by lightning on 3rd July 1911. it did make me wonder what they had done in the cathedral to have incurred this sort of divine wrath.

railway bridge across saint john river fredericton new brunswick canadaThere used to be a railway line or two here in Fredericton but today it’s one of two provincial capitals (the other one being Charlottetown on Prince Edward Isle) to have had its railway lines ripped away.

The track bed is now a riverside walk and the bridge across the Saint John River is a walkway and cycle path.

It was on here that someone wished me a “good evening young fellow” so there’s clearly a vacancy for a good optician in the city.

legislative assembly building fredericton new brunswick canadaDown along Queen Street is the Legislative Assembly Building for the Government of New Brunswick.

It dates from 1882 and replaced a previous building which, for the benefit of those of you who have not yet come to terms with life in Eastern Canada, was destroyed in a fire in 1877. The dome, by the way, is over 40 metres high.

To the left is the old Education Building dating from 1816.

york county building fredericton new brunswick canadaFredericton is actually situated in York County, New Brunswick, and over there is the old York County Building of 1855

It also served as the County Court back in the old days, and what was unusual about it was that back in the early days it had a market underneath with the Court buildings on top. I suppose that if they set up the stocks outside, the spectators wouldn’t have too far to go to find the rotten fruit and vegetables.

fredericton new brunswick canadaDespite what you might think, this really is a lighthouse. The Saint John River used to be navigable to paddle-wheelers as far upriver as Perth-Andover. There were 21 lighthouses along the river, and this one at Fredericton was the farthest north.

12 of them remain today, of which 7 still serve their original purpose, such is the volume of pleasure traffic that might be found on the river

st dunstans church tow away zone fredericton new brunswick canadaThis is something that really gets on my wick.I always understood that Christians were supposed to turn the other cheek, forgive people their sins, and pardon the wrong-doer. I read nothing in the Bible that states that sinners and wrong-doers would be towed away.

It’s this kind of hypocrisy that brings the church, Christians and Christianity into disrepute. Didn’t St Paul say something about “be not afraid to entertain strangers, for thereby, some have entertained angels unawares”?

museum officers square fredericton new brunswick canadaThis is Officers Square where there is a museum that preserves relics of life in the area in bygone days.

It has a considerable military significance and every day tourists can witness the Changing of the Guard, followed by, at the Royal Canadian Bank down the road, the Guarding of the Change.

There’s also going to be a stage here for the Festival tomorrow.

As far as the festival went, I was at the Hoodoo House tonight.

First on stage tonight was a guitarist called Morgan Davis, and he started off by giving a pro-active demonstration of playing on a cigar box guitar.

Next up was Geoff Bartley, who plays like an early T S McPhee when he lets go and ups the tempo, which is unfortunately something that he didn’t do all that often. But he did let rip with a superb version of Chuck Berry’s “Nadine is that you”.

Rambling Dan Stevens certainly lived up to his name. He a real rambling blues singer who sings just like an old blues singer should. His version of “My Baby Don’t Need No Loving” was excellent and the jam that he did at the end with Geoff Bartley was magnificent.

The main group tonight is Joe Murphy, Garrett Mason and the Water Street band, with a keyboard player who looks just like Mini-Me
. Murphy did a lead-guitar type of thing with bottle neck slider and his guitar fell to bits in the middle of it.

They are pretty good and they really rock when the mouth organ player pi … errr … leaves the stage. He spoils it after a while. You can have far too much of a mouth organ. If he’s not there they are really tight and they really rock. I quite enjoyed them.

And now we have torrential rain storming down outside and one of the venues has been flooded out. I won’t be going for a late-night photography walk-around tonight I’ll tell you that.

And thanks to Dave and his wife from Nottingham and now New Brunswick who looked after me so well here this evening. They have given me quite a few hints to follow up.

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Thursday 1st September 2011 – I’VE BEEN SHOPPING TODAY AS WELL

I had a good night’s sleep for a change at the Howard Johnson Motel – no antics in other rooms to wake me up this time.

With there being a late check-out time, I spent a while programming the phone that I bought yesterday and catching up with another few things. Then off to Canadian Tire for a leisure battery and a small solar panel, and Home Depot for a few other bits of DiY stuff including a cheap Ryobi plus one drill and set of batteries.

I had a meeting with a couple of people afterwards where we talked wind turbines, and then off to IKEA where I bought a kiddies’ bed and found a cheap mattress in the bargain bin, plus a saucepan and one or two other things.

I hit the main road at rush hour, as you might expect, and a slow crawl took me south of the river and now it’s dark. I’m heading towards Trois Rivieres to find a place to park up and then I’ll start my real journey tomorrow.

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Friday 7th January 2011 – Ooooh – look at that!

plasterboard insulation bedroom les guis virlet puy de dome franceNow, doesn’t this look impressive?

Yes, the wall with its plasterboarding firmly in place.

You can see where I’ve had to fit the plasterboard horizontally – I didn’t trust myself to cut a piece (with 40mm of insulation glued to it) just 3cms wide – discretion was the better part of valour here – and it doesn’t look too bad at all. Just imagine what it will look like with a new window there.

To be honest, I’m quite impressed with how it has all turned out.

But there are a few things that have made a big difference, even if we don’t include some proper studding.

  1. cutting the plasterboard. Simon taught me how to do simple sheets but I’ve been struggling with these sheets with insulation backing. But not any more – my tenon saw went through it all like a knife through butter and did an excellent job
  2. forget hammering nails and other messing around. I bought a bag of 4.2x80mm screws specially designed for plasterboard and while they were expensive they did a perfect job and I wish I had used them in the attic.
  3. when I was in the USA at a Home Depot, I found a pack of 4 screw bits specially designed for plasterboard screws. These bits have a kind-of capped head that stops the screw at the required depth and puts a little countersink in the board so that you can fill over the head. A pack of 4 cost me $4:98 and it is easily the best investment I have ever made from this point of view.

Yes, having the correct tools and equipment has made a world of a difference to all of this.

12 volt domestic electrical circuit cable trunking plasterboard insulation bedroom les guis virlet puy de dome franceNeither the plasterboarding on this wall nor the one on the left is finished though, and there’s a good reason for this right now.

The plasterboard is only 2m50 tall and the wall is 2m80 high. It’s in the 30cmsat the top where I have run the trunking for all of the electric cable, and now I need to cut sheets of insulation to fill over and around it. Once that is finished off, I’ll fit some plain plasterboarding over the top, with the section for the front wall being castellated to fit around the beams.

Of course being Friday it’s POETS Day – i.e. Pi… errr … Push Off Early, Tomorrow’s Saturday and so I finished at 17:30, had a good wash and shave, and prettied myself up all ready for the shops tomorrow. And I have a list of things that I need for the room (starting with the windows of course).

But I’m as impressed with my plasterboard wall as I am with my galvanised steel dustbin.

Ohhhh – and I almost forgot. I told you that everywhere warmed up this last couple of days. Well, I’m having another night – in early January too – with no heating. In my little room the temperature is 13.6°C. Hardly the Cote D’Azur I know, but it’s still warm enough to sit here. In fact I’m not sure whether it’s to do with the temperature outside or whether it’s anything to do with the fact that the insulation on the wall in the bedroom is starting to do its stuff.

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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.

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Thursday 8th October 2010 – A BIG RED BOX …

… has now appeared in the back of Casey (in case you are wondering, Casey is the name of the PT Cruiser – with a registration number of BBKC 458 it could hardly have been anything else now, could it?) and the big red box is full.

For having been to a Lowe’s yesterday afternoon and the huge Home Depot and Walmart that were right on the US-Canadian border at Covington (they must have heard me coming), I now have

  • 100 drywall pattresses (cost $22 the lot)
  • 25 wall-mounted pattresses
  • 20 white sockets – the standard colour
  • 10 ivory sockets
  • 10 red sockets (regular readers of these pages know that I’m heavily into colour-coding for different usages)
  • all of the fascia plates (they say that they are unbreakable – obviously they haven’t had me in there for a while)
  • about 50 3-pin plugs
  • a few extension leads and all kinds of other exciting American electrical stuff
  • one partridge
  • one pear tree

The reason for this of course is that when I do 12-volt DC electrical circuits running off solar panels and wind turbines in Europe I need to use plugs and sockets and the like that cannot be mistaken for anything else and which can handle high amperages.

There are no American fittings in Europe so no-one will mistake them, and as American current is 110 volts instead of 230 volts and so more susceptible to voltage drop, they use thicker cable to compensate – and the thicker cable will handle higher amperages.

So now I have a full stock on hand and I shall be shipping that back to Europe in due course and so when I get back I can get on with what I’m supposed to be doing – ie earning money to compensate for what I’m spending over here.

You’ve no idea how rampant inflation has been over here since I last visited. Petrol in the States for example costs $2.80 a gallon in most places, and as there are only 16 fluid ounces in an American pint instead of 20 in a European pint, an American gallon is just about 3.65 litres. And $2.80 a gallon is a far cry from 2005 when I was paying $1.45 and an even farther cry from 2001 when I was paying $1.10.

motel usa canada borderCheapest motel I’ve found so far has been $45 – last night, stranded in the wilderness miles from civilisation I paid a whopping $69, and that motel was nothing to write home about at all. It just happened to be the first one that I came across after looking for half an hour.

Gone are the days from 2002 when I paid $25 per night and in 2005 when I was stopping in a respectable chain of modern motels at $33 per night.

With millions of Americans out of work and rampant inflation such as I am noticing, no wonder there are thousands of people being turned out onto the streets. The States is nothing like the Shoppers’ Paradise it used to be.

But in Walmart I also bit the bullet and bought a new digital dictaphone. The Olympus that Rhys recommended wasn’t carried and they had a whole selection of different ones. not one of which did everything that I needed.

In the end I bought a Sony at $39 which does not have a direct connection to a computer (which is strange and disappointing – I’ll have to rig up a cable through the headphone and mike sockets and see what I can do about getting some speech recognition software) but it does have a “pause” facility (which puts the “record” on standby for an hour), 2gb of memory, a unidirectional microphone facility as well as the more normal omnidirectional mike – so if you switch it into unidirectional, it just picks up whatever is going directly into the mike and none of the background noise, a noise reduction facility that cuts out high-frequency interference.

All in all considering that there wasn’t much choice, I’m well-impressed with it and it’s doing the business.

sprite musketeer caravan usaMany years ago, driving through Canada, I saw what I was convinced was a Sprite Musketeer caravan althougb I didn’t stop to photograph it and I rather wish that I had.

But here on the side of the road in northern New York State about 8 miles from the Canadian border I come across a very sad Sprite Musketeer caravan that originally came from a company down in Oswego down the road according to the sticker on the chassis.

So there we are. They were definitely imported officially into North America.

police barrage escaped convict new york state usaA few miles further on, I’m caught in a police road block. There’s a prison not too far from here and one of the convicts, by the name of McCann, has made a bid for freedom.

The police have a quick glance inside Casey to see if he’s hiding under the seat or in the boot, but once they have satisfied themselves that he’s not in here, I can carry on with what I was doing.

exporail montreal quebec canadaI’m now in Canada, approaching the suburbs of Montreal, and this looks interesting.

It’s the old ALCO railway works, apparently, now transformed into Exporail, a railway mseum and it’s chock-full of railway engines and other relics. I’ve no time to look at it today, but this will be high on my list for the return journey.

montreal quebec canadaI’m on the southern shore of the St Lawrence River here and there across on the far shore is the city on Montreal.

I’m staying over here because there’s much less traffic and much less congestion. I don’t have the time to be caught up in the traffic today. Every hour that I waste on the road at the moment brings the snows of Labrador that much closer.

ethanol factory varennes quebec canadaI can still stop and take photos though if I’m quick. This is a huge ethanol plant on the edge of Montreal and the steam that’s pumping up from there is really impressive. It gives you an idea of the heat that the plant is generating.

Ethanol is becoming much more important as a renewable energy source and is slowly being added to petrol in an attempt to reduce the amount of fossil fuels that we consume. There will be more and more of these plants sprining up in the future.

nuclear power plant sorel tracy quebec canadaBut never mind new technology for the moment – here’s a bit of old technology to be going on with. On the outskirts of Sorel-Tracy I encounter a nuclear power station.

It’s something that has taken me completely by surprise because Canada, and Quebec in particular, must be up there amongst the top three countries in the world for producing hydro-electric power and so I would have thought that a nuclear power station, particularly one situated in between two major urban centres, would have been the last thing that they needed.

docks sorel tracy quebec canadaBut then Sorel-Tracy has a huge mineral-refining plant and so it must need all of the power. It must need all of the minerals too and there are some big ships in the docks being unloaded, as well as one or two awaiting their turn outside.

But I’ve found an impressive motel here – $60 Canadian it has to be said, but it has all mod cons including a microwave so tea has cost me less than $2 – a couple of tins from the supermarket next door.

If I’m spending all this money on motels I’m going to have to economise on the eating – no restaurants for me – and I can see me buying a $30 microwave for where a motel doesn’t have one if these prices keep up.

Of course, many of you know that the eastern part of Quebec, from roughly the centre of Montreal, is French-speaking and here in my shower room the taps are marked with C and F.
“Chaud and Froid” I hear you say.
“Rubbish” I retort. “It’s cold and freezing“.

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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!

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