lightweight's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member lightweight on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/lightweight en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:04:36 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com BIG MALL!! — Edmonton, Alberta, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1189453920/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1189453920/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1189453920/tpod.html Fri, 28 Sep 2007 17:04:36 -0400 Call of the Mild. One mans jouney across Canada facing the rigours and hardships of staying in hostels with mod-cons in urban centres. A man in search of himself - and a moose!
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Edmonton has a big mall, if you ever visit I seriously recommend grabbing one of their maps you'll need it. I spent a couple of days at the mall, cause there isn't that much Downtown that interested me. But hey I did do some cool things at the mall:

I saw a pirate ship (it wasn't open to go on).

I watched a Sea Lion show (no joke they do shows twice day) and it was good fun and educational.

I didn't get to go on the submarines but I wanted to, they go around the 'lake' so you can see the fishes.

I rode a Segway. The demo organizer tried to convince me it would be a better way to get to work but I worked out it would take about an hour to get to where I used to work which is not much use when you over sleep as much as I do - oh yeah and I'd look like a tit. Apparently the police use them and I'm curious to see them in pursuit of a criminal cause you can't actually shoot from them (they rely on on balance to control motion forward, backward and stopping) and there's no room to adopt a shooting stance. Nor can you dive from it to tackle the hoodlum to the ground (balance again). Saying that though they are fun to go on and I was thinking whether my Dad would like one for going on the golf course as a golf cart(it's one of their variations), but considering the earlier tit comment I don't think he'd thank me. There is also an off-road version (it's got bigger tyres) which I found a funny but I'll see if they have Segways when I get to the Rockies.

I fired a Springfield Armory XD, a 9mm semi-automatic pistol - IT ROCKED, oh my lord, IT WAS SO GOOD! OK I've calmed down a little (I'm writing this a few weeks after the event and I'm chuffed by it all). They have a gun shop there with a range, my instructor was Ian who was actually from Wales originally. I've aways wanted to fire a handgun having fired rifles in at school and in Cadets, I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed shooting. It's worth a go, if I go to Edmonton again I'm ding it again but with a different gun.

After the shooting and the Segway I kept having visions of gangsta's doing drive-by Segway shootings being chased by police on Segways with flashing lights and sirens but never gaining (they all have the same speed) - ok you need to be in my head to see it but it keeps making me laugh and I had to put it down.

I went into a British Shop, cause you've got to really. There were tins of Heinz Baked Beans, Fagots in gravy, old fashioned sweets and an array of soap opera merchandise I ever knew existed for East Enders and Coronation Street. I bought some Corrie sunglasses ($8) case my Ray Bans had got busted, I didn't know it had Coronation Street on the side till the woman behind the till told me, but she lent me a marker pen I could blacken it out. Next door was an Irish Shop , all I can say about that was Tartan and Guinness.

The trip to the mall was through first by the underground train and then by bus, and it is worth it for the view. Like most cities in Canada that I've seen there seems no urgency to use every inch of land in the center or suburbs which results in a lots of open park lands and trees. With Edmonton the city is built either side of the North Saskatchewan River which as resulted in a forested areas along the slopes either side of the river valley - every time I went cross I tried to get a picture but could not do it justice.

The main place for entertainment is Whyte Ave. near to the university which is where Doug (you remember Doug - met him in Montreal) spent most of our time in the evenings, there's a real good pool hall - the Billiard Club. Doug and I spent a lot of time playing pool there, a few hours each time actually. We met Emma, who is one of the best servers ever, she gave us a free drink (our loyalty is easily bought) called a Crispy Crunch (half shot glass of Frangelco and half Creme de Cacao) it tastes like cookie dough. She kept us supplied with Guinness whilst we played the most uncoordinated games of pool ever, by the time eighth game we couldn't remember who was winning overall, and by the eleventh we had trouble with what colour we were, because we spent so much time talking between shots (of pool not alcohol).

I also caught up with Justin and Jim (met them in Toronto) which was great cause I like these guys. Justin introduced me to 23 cent chicken wings at a place called the Globe with 34 different flavors, we tried 9 flavours (10 wings per order). They serve them on plates of 30 wings so you have no idea what the flavours are so you have to play 'What the hell is this flavour?'.

An interesting event occured on the last night I was in Edmonton. I had spent the evening at the Globe cause it was almost next door top to the hostel. I'd gone in there for food and had got chatting to the barman, Kevin. Whilst I was eating at the bar, there is something trajic about sitting at a table on your own whereas at the bar is OK, when they started collecting all the bar stools up. Apparently the place turns into a club in the evening and they get rid of the stools to make way for the bar, so I asked if they wanted me to move to a booth out of the way but was assured that I was ok for another hour and they'd just ask me to give the stool up when it got busy. It got busy but they never asked me for the stool, awesome, I got to sit at the bar all night whilst everyone else stood. Even the few times I left to go to the toilet my pint and stool where still there unoccupied, except once but the kid (student) was really apologetic. Why is it I can go into some places and develop instant 'regular' status, answers on a postcard please.

That wasn't the interesting thing though, after leaving I headed back to the hostel and decided that it wasn't worth going to bed because my train was at stupid o'clock in the morning. I spent the rest of the night talking to Dyan who was on night duty. Outside a young lad was having his head ponded into the asphalt, by the time we got out there the car with the guys who were beating him was driving off and the friends of the lad were calling for him to get in the car (from what we can gather itr was an arguement over highbeams being to high). There was a lot of blood coming from his head and we suggested he come inside and clean himself off, his 'friends drove off'. I got to spend half an hour cleaning the blood of his head and fortunately the cut was worse than it looked and he was able to maintain a coherent conversation even though a little drunk. During this time we were suggesting that he goes to hospital, amblulances are private in Edmonton and as such a bit shit, it would have taken an hour. He spoke to his friends a few times telling them where he was, I even tried speaking to them but they hung up on the phone, yet despite this it was over and hour before his friends turn up with the police.

Statements were made his (older) friends and boss claiming that they were all attacked when in reality they never got out of the car whilst he was being assaulted, they kept their doors locked. They tried to imply that we should have took him to the hospital but we just threw back the facts that we had told him this and had offered to pay for a taxi and where the fuck were they. The outcome was the statements were signed and the police started to leave, at this juncture Dyan noted that the kid wasn't in the lobby anymore, nor was he in the taxi with his friends outside. I went to look and saw the taxi set off and go across the crossroads, stop until the police car had gone by, U-turn, pull up next to the subway, the kid pops out from the subway and jumps into the taxi. It's been going through my head and I don't get it, why? But anyway that was a view of the darker side of Canada.

Other than a hike to the local tech. college to get a course prospectus there wasn't much else in Edmonton but I've been given strict instruction to stop of on way back through so I'll have another look next time.
]]> Jail Time — Ottawa, Ontario, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1188513420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1188513420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1188513420/tpod.html Thu, 27 Sep 2007 20:34:55 -0400 Call of the Mild. One mans jouney across Canada facing the rigours and hardships of staying in hostels with mod-cons in urban centres. A man in search of himself - and a moose!
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

So when I arrived in Ottawa one of the first things I did was go and buy a copy of the The Game (see previous post). As I walked into the bookshop I realised that I had no idea which secton it would be located in so I decided to ask one of the staff. The member of staff ended up being a rather pretty girl, so I decided to only ask for The Game without the banner that goes with it expalining the it's to do with pick-up artists. She didn't even check the computer as she knew exactly where it was and what it was about. It was located in the Mens Studies section which constists of 5 books, situated adjacent to the Womens Studies section which has hudreds of books, as the pretty girl put it 'I think we were trying to prove a point!'

Not only did I have a pretty girl show me where to find a book about how to pick up pretty girls, but a second pretty girl at the check-out took my money for a book about how to pick up pretty girls saying that they've been selling a lot of copies lately (I believe this is what is called small talk and can be an Inicator of Intrest (read the book)) - Why couldn't I talk to these pretty girls after I've finished reading the book on picking up pretty girls?

After this I spent the night in prison, fortunately it is now operating as a hostel.

The Hosteling International in Ottawa is inside the old jail. My dorm was 2 cells knocked together to fit 6 people. They do a tour of the building in the evening and take you up to the 8th floor where they still have the cells, and if you are visiting it is worth doing the tour as there are some interesting tales for the prison. The gaol still retains the gallows (bit where the bloke is hung) and they also do ghost tours as prisoners were hung at the prison officially and unofficially or died in their cells from cold/food/disease. Before the tour guide left she mentioned that people who have stayed there have woken in the night to find someone standing over them who then disappears - this is not something to tell someone who has an over-active imagination. But I went to bed tired (due to the creaking air mattresses at the previous hostel keeping me awake) and was not concerned with this tale (I'm still a little rational).

Any fears of being awoken by vengeful ghosts that haunt the prison to this day are completely unfounded and my sleep was not disturbed by there presence, because I GOT NAFF ALL SLEEP! Firstly there was the creaks and clanks from the metal bunk beds that had been installed in the dorms. I don't know maybe they were trying to add to feeling of being in a prison, you know a true experience of life on the inside - which makes me glad the showers were cubicles and empty when I went for a wash. Secondly the building next door had decided to install a jet engine for running their air conditioning and this would briefly run every 5 minutes or so. I will recommend anyone to stay there but for one night only and then go somewhere else and get some sleep.

Since the bus for Toronto didn't leave till the afternoon and seeing I was awake early (see previous paragraph) I decided to go see the changing of the guards at 10 am outside the Parliament Building. Regrettably they had finished for the season 2 days before apparently the Gods will not permit me to photograph a Mountie. I chose instead to go down the canal and have a look. The canal is called the Rideau Canal (after the Royal Engineer who organized it's construction) it took 6 years starting in 1826 and runs 202km (125 miles) with 74 dams and 47 locks. I went round the museum (yes, once again stand back in awe that I went into a place of education willingly) and also watched them bring a couple of boats through, it takes one and a half hours to do the 8 locks at the entrance to the canal leading from the Ottawa River. The idea was to provide a link between the Ottawa and Kingston in case the Americans took control of the St Laurence river (a main route at the time).

Apparently Ottawa had a bit of violent past with fights between the French and Irish settlers and the numbers of trappers/loggers that would travel there when not working (which brought about the building of the gaol), but those days are now gone. There are other things to do in Ottawa but I was more keen to get back to Toronto and start traveling across the rest of Canada.
]]> The distant sound of drums! — Montreal, Quebec, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1188174180/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1188174180/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1188174180/tpod.html Thu, 27 Sep 2007 20:12:48 -0400 Call of the Mild. One mans jouney across Canada facing the rigours and hardships of staying in hostels with mod-cons in urban centres. A man in search of himself - and a moose!
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Actually the title is a bit of a lie in that the drums were quite close but there was a lot of them.

The Tam Tams Sunday in the Parc du Mount-Royal is regular event in the summer where people gather together in the park and jam. The Tam-tam is a sort of drum (I've got one that I bought in Germany but did not know what it is called) and is the main instrument for the used for this event providing the not only the beat but also accompaniment due to the range of sizes that you can get.

Drums are not the only instruments here, with many types of percussion instrument (provided they are reasonably portable) are used. The basic format is that you have a group of drummers, beating away, stand with a crowd of onlookers encircling them. There is no set order for the gathering so the music takes an organic form, changing as people leave the group to join other circles and new members join the band bringing there own particular interpretation to the beat. Anyone can join in immaterial of skill or talent all depending on your confidence, some making their way through the crowd so that they are in the heart of the action, others preferring to remain in the crowd and play there. People dance with the music if they want, again with some joining the drummers, dancing in the crowd. At one point I saw what can only be described as a dance-off between a drummer and a dancer as they tried to out-pace each other but keep with the rhythm.

I saw three or four groups playing in the park and although they were all playing within there own groups unable to hear the other groups playing, as you move away the sounds merge over the site and different tune emerges. And with people moving in and out of groupings there is no end to the beat as it carries on through out the afternoon. Across the section of the park where this is going on (check the map, the park is huge), there are people practicing juggling, tumbling, tight-rope walking (I ain't kidding), playing Frisbee, volleyball or just chilling out and enjoying the afternoon. The whole feeling is very relaxed as the music lulled everyone into a peaceful and tranquil state, or maybe it was all the pot I kept smelling.

It was at this point I got into a fight!

Yannick and I wandered up a rise in the hill to see what we thought was a football game and in a sense it was, there were two teams but no ball. What really gave it away was the fact that everyone was armed with an array of weapons not seen in one place since the battlefields of the middle ages, or Saturday night down Broad Street in Birmingham. Axes, pikes, spears, halberds, short swords, long swords, double handed swords, bows and arrows clashing across a short expanse of ground, looking a little out of place in the park of Love.

Fortunately the main building material in the construction of these weapons was foam and there were rules - as there should be in all decent forms of warfare. The rules were:
1) You have 2 hit points.
2) A strike to the arm or leg looses 1 point, the body/back looses 2. Head, neck and groin don't count.
3) If you loose you are struck on the arm, you loose that arm and any weapon in it. Loose a leg and you kneel down but can still fight.
4) Once killed you go back to the start line count to 10 and come back in, shouting 'I enter!' or something like that in French. I just made a cry that sounded like it and appropriately French.
5) The object is to get the flag from the opposition back to you end.

No physical contact was allowed such as pushing, throwing, grabbing you opponents weapon or shield charging. I found out about the shield charging one because at one particular stand-off I shoulder checked a guy with a large metal tower shield backwards and was told off by everyone, oops. Needless to say I died A LOT, and started to think that although I had done a few lessons on defense against someone with a knife there was nothing on the weapons or on what to do I were similarly armed. With the aid of a fellow combatent I developed a tactic where I shout loudly and attack and get killed, but whilst my opponent is killing me Andrew (a fellow combatant who died nearly as much as me) steps up and kills him. OK it did mean I spent most of my time counting to 10 whilst waiting to re-enter the fray, in fact if I spent more than 10 seconds on the pitch I was doing awesome, but it evened the odds with some of the pros there.

Some took it very serious and dressed up with samurai, kung-foo, barbarian outfits there was even a guy in full knight regalia. Armour meant that you received 5 hit points instead of 2 and the odds of killing them were remote. The battles raged back and forth with people swapping side to even up numbers (splitters) with little pause once we had returned to our own lines to start the next. Stood next to a group of Aussies I asked whether we were to start because the others were approaching (we could have done with a whistle or something) his response was "Yeah I guess so!". Little could he know the outcome of such an innocent comment. As the lines squared up a metre from each other, eying each other for the first strike, my battle cry rang out "YEAH I GUESS SO!" as I launched myself forward in a whirl of blades.

I died.

I stayed for two hours and eventually made my way off to catch the bus back to the hostel, but it was hard to leave the adrenalin rush was immense. I felt exhilarated by the events of the day and I was covered in mud which is always a good sign.

The next two days would mean that I realized how unfit I am as I had trouble walking, sitting, lying down, as I ached so much. My advice to you all is to stretch before you get in a fight.
]]> Bonjeur — Montreal, Quebec, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1187998080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1187998080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1187998080/tpod.html Thu, 27 Sep 2007 20:10:22 -0400 Call of the Mild. One mans jouney across Canada facing the rigours and hardships of staying in hostels with mod-cons in urban centres. A man in search of himself - and a moose!
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Flew into Montreal, and took the l'Aerobus to the centre of the city where the temperature is higher than Toronto with the added luxury of humidity. Due to the HI Hostel being packed out I had booked into a hostel on the old part of the city, called Le Sous-bois. Although I had the address and had found my way to the road I couldn't find it. I stood in the centre of the pedestrian area looking like lost child until I decided to try the only building on the very short street a hotel, Le Guilleret. As I approched I recognised the number as being the same as the one on my booking form the hostel, but from the outside there was no mention of Le Sous-bois which is attached to the hotel at the back, evidently they like to test their guests 'If your too stupid too find us - you'r too stupid tostay!'.

The beds are all air mattrasses, a form of torture to my mind as I have not liked them since I was a child. The slightest movement produces a creeking and groaning sound that in a quiet dorm disturbs everyone. There are approximately 18 people in my dorm with the mattresses laid on the floors. The whole place has a 'work in progress' look but for the cost I can't really complain, I have a bed.

My main aim at this moment is catch up with Martin at the HI hostel on the other side of Downtown so having found a paper map to use (the lonely lantet guid has a map but it's heavy) I set out walking. The journey is about 30 minutes walking and took me through a few of the areas that Robo and I had walked through on my previous visit, I was still not overly impressed with the city. Whereas Toronto had the tall towers the width of the streets meant it felt, at least to me anyway,that you weren't too closed in. Here in the old part of town the buildings seem to loom over the cobbled streets making it feeling claustrophobic or on Rue Sainte-Catherine (most of the shops, clubs are based on or around this street), in the downtown area, there are always crowds of people (all going in the oposite direction to you)and noise.

Five minutes from the Hostel I was struck by the other notable part of the trip here in May, the rain. Whereas before Robo and I had managed to be ensconsed in a bar when the water came down, this time I was out on the street. Montreal rain is fairly intense, but mercifully short lived and fortunately the temperature of the evening meant my clothes dried out quickly.

I arrived at the hostel and realised the main difficulty with hostels compared to a hotel is that they don't have a clue where their guests are. Yeah they know where the person is sleeping, or at least meant to be sleeping, but on top of that there is no way to get hold of a person within the hostel other than leaving a message on a board or at reception but since people walk in and out all the time without stopping at reception there is no hard and fast solution. I left a message for Martin on the board by the front door and stomped off, Magnum boots are well suited for the purpose. I had checked my emails at Le Sous-bois before I left and there had been nothing from Martin so I had no way of contacting him, this left me at a loose end.

As with Toronto I decided to start with something familier and seeing as I was near the Englsh section of town I went to the Hard Rock Cafe for food and Guinness. We had nicknamed it the English Quarter because along the Rue Crescent are a couple of Irish bars, a bar that advertises itself as traditional London pub (the prices were London like - expensive!) and the Winston Churchill Pub Complex, a grand name for a bit of a dive. As it was I was starved of rock music since the places in Toronto I had visited all played pop, and 90's pop at that, I'll try to find the rock scene when I'm back there.

I spent the evening talking with Mary behind the bar who was shocked that I was not enamoured by Montreal. She hails from Calgary and was relucant to return after her time here studying. When asked for advice on where to go she was a little stumped as I don't think our scenes crossover but she did tell me to visit the Tam-Tams on Sunday. unlike the advice from Patrick for a great place to visit this is not a stripclub but a gathering every Sunday in the park around Mount Royale, so i'll go out there and give a look over.

Up shot of the evening was I travelled back to the hostel and went to bed. Tommorow my mission is to seek out an internet cafe, how hard can it be I kept tripping over them in Toronto.

Note: Internet cafes are rarer than rocking horse shit in Montreal.
]]> Au Revior (I think) — Montreal, Quebec, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1188512700/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1188512700/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1188512700/tpod.html Thu, 27 Sep 2007 20:06:13 -0400 Call of the Mild. One mans jouney across Canada facing the rigours and hardships of staying in hostels with mod-cons in urban centres. A man in search of himself - and a moose!
Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Well I did Montreal. Wasn't too interested in the buildings etc. more the people I met.

Le Sous-bois was a bit basic but did the job for sleeping. I was lucky not to be assigned one of the beds that had bed-bugs that meant several people being bitten. Saying that though I did end up sleeping in 4 separate locations during my stay.

Originally I was in only in for 2 nights as I had hoped to transfer to the HI Hostel on the other side of downtown but they were full, so I was bedded in section E, mixed dorm with air mattresses on the floor. this sufficed for the first night but on the second night, due to a very noisy and restless individual in the dorm who would not shut up, I gathered my pillow and bedclothes and went and slept outside the laundry downstairs. One of the staff did offer me a spare bed that they use downstairs for the night-shift but I turned it down in favour of the floor. Many years of crashing on floors at university had trained me well and my back felt a lot better for it although still not as comfy as the kitchen floor in Dalton Tower, Aston University.

I was next located in section B, which is a predominantly female section, although my ego took a kick to the knackers when I was talking to 2 of my neighbours. They discussed whether they were happy with a male in the section and they agreed that I was no threat AT ALL, I'm nice! Really have to work on my masculinity.

I finally got moved to another bed and remained there for the rest of the stay, and in the course of my stay I have reaffirmed a well known fact about air mattresses, the are damned noisy. Most people have slept on them and will know that you move even an inch and the mattress creaks something stupid, now multiply that by 40 people and you'll get and idea of the dorm.

I would have probably enjoyed the stay in Montreal more except if it hadn't been for the heat combined with the humidity, I was in a personal hell. You move, you sweat! You stand still, you sweat! I guess this is the gods teaching me a lesson for being cocky about the fact that Shazz was feeling cold in Toronto. I will no doubt regret this statement but I didn't come here for the heat, I came for the cold!

The crowd in the hostel are a good bunch, most seem to be foreign students heading looking for accommodation for going to McGill University for a year. The guys I hung around with were:
Kian - German
Glenn - Norwegian
Yannick - French
Russ - American
Doug - Canadian

The second night I was there I had once again failed to get hold of Martin. Due to some space/time/quantum/internet thing every email arrived well after whatever proposed meeting that was contained therein. I couldn't be bothered with a pub so picked up a couple of bottles of wine and went back to the hostel to chill and talk to the people there. I was talking to Yannick when this bloke walks up holding a mug and wearing a Chinese hat and started chatting to us. This was Doug from Edmonton, Canada. He was on holiday and had somehow been assigned the unofficial duty of Hostel Party Rep, with the difficult task of gathering everyone together to go out for the night. The phrase 'like herding cats' is not lost here as anyone who has tried to get a group of sober people to all agree to get ready and go out will know it's not easy - let alone when everyones drunk and having at least 5 different levels of understanding English. But he managed it, somehow. That night I was introduced to the rock scene (or part of it) for Montreal and magic.

The rock scene was a club was called Les Foufounes Electrique. It is 2 level building with the ground being seating areas some inside but mostly outside to enjoy the warm evening air (it was 1am) and entry is free. The magic was that within 30 seconds of getting in there the group we were with (about 12 people) disappeared, whoosh, just like that. Yannick, myself and 2 other french students were left standing in the middle of a relatively empty bar are, looking around for where had they gone, we searched the entire downstairs nothing but we were sure they had come in with us. After 10 minutes of shoulder shrugging and muttering we found out about the second floor above which can only be accessed by paying 5 dollars for a ticket. We paid in the hope of finding our new friends and thus gained entry to upstairs, and there they were apologising for forgetting to tell the new kids about the upstairs. The evening was a blast, Doug wandered around the club, in a form of human Brownian Motion, talking to all and sundry still clutching his mug from the hostel - which had contained Canadian Club (a Rye Whiskey) and coke. He's a great laugh and made friends so easy with everyone it was amazing. He explained his basic tactic to me later, walk up to a group start asking what they are drinking as you're new in town and want to try new beers, after which just keep talking. I vowed to try this method to meet new people (girls!) - I haven' yet I'm a big sissy boy!

I was served by a barmaid with some form of time anomaly in her hearing, which meant everytime I ordered a drink she would bring what I had ordered last time, it went something like this:
- I had a Molson and asked for a Labbatt, she served me a Molson.
- After my second Molson I ordered a Canadian Club and Coke, I got a Labbatt.
- For my final drink I decided to stay on the lagers, I ordered a Labbatt and got a Canadian Club and coke.

Needless to say it was a blast. We chilled and had a laugh. Conversations went on into the morning it was cool, almost like being at uni again except no lectures so you can catch up on your sleep.

The stay in Montreal didn't expand to much really it was mostly chilling out (as much as you can in the stupid heat). I was also waiting for Shazz to turn up because she said she was going to be passing through after Quebec but she never got back to me so there you go.

On the table in the hotel there was a book. A black book with gold edging to the pages and a red ribbon to mark your place, a professional looking book almost like a bible. It was but not in the Christian sense, this book preaches a different faith 'Girls!' or more importantly 'How to pick up Girls!'. The book is called The Game and describes the years the author on the pick-up artist circuit, it became quite a hit around the hostel with males and females alike, although I was openly against girls reading it. They have enough things going for them let alone learning the tactics that may be all that can save me from a life of loneliness relying on friends in relationships to throw a sacrificial single female at me every once in a while out of pity. That hasn't happened yet, I think you've got to be over 31 before it is legally and socially allowed.

I only read a couple of snippets from the book, it's not really a step by step instruction manual more of a autobiography for that period of the guys life. I decided not to buy it though as I felt that this would look a bit pathetic and admitting that I don't know how to talk to women.
]]> VNV — Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1190844360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1190844360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1190844360/tpod.html Thu, 27 Sep 2007 18:07:28 -0400 Call of the Mild. One mans jouney across Canada facing the rigours and hardships of staying in hostels with mod-cons in urban centres. A man in search of himself - and a moose!
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

VNV
]]> The Ex — Toronto, Ontario, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1187828160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1187828160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1187828160/tpod.html Wed, 05 Sep 2007 14:19:44 -0400 Call of the Mild. One mans jouney across Canada facing the rigours and hardships of staying in hostels with mod-cons in urban centres. A man in search of himself - and a moose!
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

My mother would say I "used to be indecisive but now I'm not so sure!" This is because in the space of 12 hours I have changed plans a number of times. To say the staff on reception (through whom I have been arranging accommodation) have been patient with my erratic change of plans would be an understatement.

As I mentioned before I was going up to Ottawa to meet Shazz but since she was going to Quebec for a few days I decided to go up to Montreal and meet up with Martin from my dorm (he flew up there today). I was then going to go down to Ottawa and meet Shazz, but apparently she's going to either Ottawa or Montreal after Quebec so the plan is still in the air. The up shot is that I booked a cheap flight, canceled the additional night that I had booked in Toronto for Thursday, and the nights I had booked in Ottawa and then went about the task of finding accommodation in Montreal. Advise note: Don't do it that way round.

Montreal seemed all booked up for Thursday night and by the time I realized this, so was my hostel in Toronto. After a few minutes of panicking I did find a hostel that had beds available, so the gods are still with me. Next time I'm going to check travel information but not book it till I have a place to stay sorted. This will be vital to remember for my trip to Churchill (2 words - Polar Bears) where I do not want to end up on the street, or in a snowdrift which would be more likely (note to self: buy long-johns for that part of trip).

I decided to fill my day by going to The Canadian National Exhibition, or The Ex as it is known, located at Exhibition Place. Massa had nothing to do so joined me and off we set, walking along the lake-front (nearly wrote sea-front there), where there are marinas and some parks. We agreed that although a picturesque and flat route we would be getting a bus or streetcar back because it took an hour to get there.

The Ex was a bit of a let down as it comprised of a fun-fair, stage shows and an indoor market. The fun-fair had all the staple rides; dippers, spinners, loopy-looper's, along with the test your skill games that are so rigged their difficult to look at without feeling robbed. Saying this the Tom Bishop Trick Riders were impressive if brief and Alexander the Great was entertaining with his puppet show. I found out a bit more on the hockey in Toronto, namely that all the teams have a feeder team that provide players (kind of like a B-team) and that they play regular fixtures between each other. The Leaves team are called the Marlies and is was given a schedule as well as advise on how to purchase a ticket without paying extra over to ticket master. One thing I will do before I go is go to a hockey game I don't care who, the Calgary Under 11's will do, but I will see a game.

I missed out on an opportunity to get into the Guinness Book of Records (another of my 10 things before I'm 30) and play with some Lego, doubly disappointed. They were attempting to get into the record books with the tallest Lego tower, but that had finished 2 days before.

In the Garden section there was a stand advertising the supply of natural stone that consisted of a guy balancing stones on top of each other, his patience and the formations he produced were amazing because the stones were balanced so precariously point on point. Most of the other shows exhibits that I would have liked had gone or were another day, next time I'll get a programme as early as possible.

So we wandered through the market section where they were selling every mod-con under the sun. Some of the Jacuzzis looked deadly, with so many jets and nozzles that you must emerge black and blue from the pummeling, if your not dragged under by the strong current. There were flat bread makers, life energy readers, shoe shiners, pictures, DIY demo's and tons of other tat. We must have looked a cute couple cause we were offered a chance to win a romantic holiday in South America. There was a world fair section that had stalls advertised as "Products of Indonesia/Egypt/France/Canada/USA/China/etc" and any combination in between, except for Britain. The only stall I found with a British product as on the other side of the building, fudge, Go Britain!

As we left the Ex we were approached by a man with a beard who asked if we had seen the Military display and would we be willing to answer a few questions. Being whore for any sort of attention, I said OK.
So he started, "You are a Canadian citizen! And live..."."Nope!" I interjected. I may be whore but I'm honest.
Without looking up from his sheet he stated "You are resident of Canada!".
"I'm here on holiday!" I figured we would be there all day if he was going to go through every permeation for being there, before getting to tourist.
"Oh! Goodbye!" And he sidled away with a look of 'Why did you waste my time like that?'
Evidently I look Canadian but it's his fault for assuming and 'When you assume you make an ass out of Ume' (seek out Bus Pirates on the net and you'll get the joke). Why is it people who do these surveys assume you are already pre-qualified for the first question, "You are Canadian!" "No!", "You are a home owner!" "In this economy!","You are married!" "Why? Do I look depressed!", "You strip naked and paint yourself blue!" "Only on the weekend!". OK I haven't been asked the last one yet but I think it's only a matter of time, obviously I have one of those faces that falls into whatever category they are looking for.

We returned via a street car which are very convenient because you can just flag one down much to the chagrin of the vehicles who become stuck behind it. The Toronto Transport Commission (TTC) who run the street cars, metro and buses do a grand job and the system works, we should get them to do Birmingham, especially when there is a heavy frost and our network stops altogether, although in some cases you don't notice the change in service.

The evening I went and had a few drinks with Conor and Patrick. We played a few games of stick (pool), although I had practiced a lot in the hostel beating all opponents I was still having the problem that the white ball is huge compared to back home. Although this did provide plenty if opportunities for crude innuendos about being British and used to smaller balls. As you may expect I lost, I am going to have to put in much more practice if I am going to become a professional pool player, much more practice. Got to know the guys better and I'm glad I met them, pity I'm heading of the Montreal tomorrow but I'll hook up with them when I'm next back through here.

But as I said in a previous entry about three pubs does not a crawl make, well one city does not make a tour so, onwards to the next destination.
]]> Pubs, lakes and balls — Toronto, Ontario, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1187729160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1187729160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1187729160/tpod.html Wed, 05 Sep 2007 13:53:27 -0400 Call of the Mild. One mans jouney across Canada facing the rigours and hardships of staying in hostels with mod-cons in urban centres. A man in search of himself - and a moose!
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Sunday evening at the hostel is marked with a pub-crawl, although as any true Brit knows:
3 pubs does not a crawl make!

Saying that it was a great way to meet more of the people from the hostel, and it was a good laugh. It has also resulted in my adding to my plans which I have decided to write in pencil from now on.

Shazz from Sydney, Australia is heading up to Ottawa for a couple of weeks and since I was uming a ahing about weather to go there or not (my previous visit was a total time of 2 hours and 15 minutes, something about hotels wanting credit cards for a deposit and me and Robo not having one), we've agreed to meet up there and go wildlife hunting. We did a wander out to the Toronto islands which is where I discovered some things about Aussie winters, 19 degrees C is considered cold and I am a freak because I was wearing shorts and t-shirt in 20 degrees C and not bothered (although this has been refuted by another Aussie). The upshot is I am now also down to visit Australia, a country I had no intention of visiting due to my intense dislike of hot weather (anything above 23 degrees C), but from what I have been told by this Aussie ambassador about the BBQ's and attitude to it all, I am determined to go see.

Jim and Justin are going to show me around Edmonton, Alberta which was on my planned rail route through to Vancouver. Good blokes (although I did have to persuade them against the idea of a pitcher of Guinness to share round and do it by pints - you'd loose the head otherwise) and I'm looking forward to getting out to that leg of the journey. It's hard to believe that I haven't been here a full week yet let alone how long there is still to go.

The trip to the islands on Monday was an eye opener in that when you reach the beech facing out to the lake you can't believe that it is a lake, let alone the smallest of the 5 lakes. The waves crashing on to the beech and rocks were far more impressive than several beeches in the UK I've seen.

Monday evening was to be spent at a baseball game because a group of us had never been, but that comes later because in order to do it properly we decided to get in a proper frame of mind, pickled. We went to the Steam Whistle Brewery which is overlooked by the CN tower, mind you the CN tower overlooks everything in Toronto so that is not saying much. Since I had been there before I had a bit of a head start on the others in what to expect and the free samples that you receive before you start. The tours run every hour from 1pm with the last at 5pm and take just under an hour, I would advise people to arrive early for the tour (more time for samples) and also to do one of the ones earlier in the day because they shut at 6pm and if you take the 5pm tour there is less time for the samples afterwards. It is worth visiting and the beer is very nice, which is a lot coming from a hardened Guinness drinker like myself.

The tickets for the game were purchased and a party was gathered together. Due to a few delays in getting to the stadium we missed the first inning, where Oakland went up by 2:1. By the time we were seated we only just caught the Oakland move ahead by another 4 points. After that the main source of entertainment for this event became apparent - namely everything but the game.

The group of guys who were determined to get everyone on the tier taking part in a Mexican wave and booing anyone who doesn't.

The chili race where three men dressed and chilli's racing between 2 of the innings - red won cause yellow and green were too busy fighting.

The 7th inning stretch in which the crowd, encouraged by a group of 20-something cheerleaders (who can only be that cheerful through the use of something highly illegal), to get up and stretch - the fact that 80% of the audience do so is most worrying thing.

The crazy guy sat in front who maintained a personal running commentary and the throwing of the most inoffensive insults I have ever heard. Some insults were so long the batter had finished before he had and others were plain cryptic "Stop hitting like a 189!"?

A member of staff came up to our section tier and tried to rally the troops "When I say Rios (the batter) you say hit! Rios"
"Hit!" cry the crowd.
"Rios!"
"Hit!"
"Rios"
"Hit! Hit! Hit!" And so on for the next batter.
She was so enthusiastic I got the feeling she may be the mum to one of the players. But the results spoke themselves - they all got caught out. At least they hit the balls but maybe we should have been more specific like "Hit - a home-run!".

And lest we forget the mighty Jumbo-tron TV screen which showed every member of the crowd at some point in the evening but especially when they were showing their 'Happy Dance' or any other dance for that matter, it was like seeing your Mum and Dad at a wedding. Adverts were shown as well as vital information about the team. For example number 17, Lyle Overbay, related the tale of when he was asked to give up his previous shirt number (35) to another team member, and how he sat at home trying to think of what number to have next and there on the mantelpiece was a 17. You are hard person not to be touched by that poignant tale of introspection and a fool not to realize how this effects the team (if you know or care please tell me).

We were multinational group Me and Andrew - British, Martin - German, Yurik - Swiss and Massa - Japanese. But we evidently had a connection that crossed the cultural boundaries, namely we were all masochistic enough to stay to the end of the game. Five innings went by with no score with the only true entertainment as above. The game picked up in the final 2 innings where the Blue Jays made a valiant attempt to catch up in the eighth which left them only lagging by 2 points as they came into the bottom of the ninth (as they love to say in the movies) but unlike the movies victory was not to be.

At least I can say I have been to a game, maybe we weren't pickled enough and that's why we didn't get it. I hope the Hockey is more entertaining.
]]> Day 2 — Toronto, Ontario, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1187446080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1187446080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1187446080/tpod.html Wed, 05 Sep 2007 12:51:40 -0400 Call of the Mild. One mans jouney across Canada facing the rigours and hardships of staying in hostels with mod-cons in urban centres. A man in search of himself - and a moose!
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Woke up - Went back to sleep!
Woke up - Went Back to sleep!
Woke up - Went back to sleep!
Woke ... Look you get the idea!
This is how the first night went. Still it is to be expected new place with other people about.

Started the day buying life's essentials:
- Deodorant
- Shower/Shampoo Gel
- Phone-card
- Collapsible Batten (you never know!)

I also began looking at the time-frame for the traveling across Canada part of this whole endeavor, listen to me sounding I embarking on recreating a pioneering expedition into the wilds. The name I chose for this blog it is based on a book by Guy Grieve called 'Call of the Wild'. What he did was go from Scotland, leaving his family, and live in Alaska in a cabin, that he built himself, for a year on his own in the bush. My friends Bernard and Anna lent me a copy to bring with me, as it is the hard back was a bit tricky to fit in the rucksack so I bought the paperback version when I arrived, good read recommend it.

It's about four days on the train to travel across from Toronto to Vancouver and runs three times a week, therefore if I get of at the major stops (Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Jasper, Kamloops) on the way and catch the next train through I am looking at 16 days to get across there. Seeing as I don't have to be there before the 17th September this means there is no great emergency for me to start out that way. So I procrastinated and put of worrying about it and visited to the Toronto Comic Art Festival on the campus of the University of Toronto.

There were some pieces of the mainstream artwork which I recognized but mostly it was up and coming artists/comics or wannabes (keep following the dream guys) I went through and barely talked to anyone. In the park outside I sat down and decided to write some notes for the log, and delved into a bit of introspection about my inability to small talk at the festival when everyone of the artists/writers there are keen to talk to the public. With this thought in mind I was galvanized into action by the realization that I was sitting on an anthill, and went back in. This time I talked to three or four people about there work and I am going to be looking out for a couple of pieces upon my return. There was also a web-based comic-strip that I liked from www.kidnappedbygnomes.com. So this was a better outcome than if I had done my usual habit of keeping away from people.

There wasn't much left for the rest of the day other than wander around and take in more sights. In the evening I went to the Elephant & Castle with Martin (from my room) for a few beers and had a good laugh. On the way back we passed a film set with police tape cross the road when we saw people pass underneath we followed. One step more step was not taken before we were told off and sent back out into the real world, it appears tinsel town does not want us! The film is called Guns (we didn't recognize any famous faces and I don't think it will be out in the UK) and is about gun crime and in particular a girl who was killed in Toronto a few years back. The scene was of a crowd gathered around a podium for some speeches, moonlight vigil sort of thing, form a city representative and mothers of those killed ( I've got a copy of the script for that days shoot if anyone wants particular names). It was interesting to watch, although not interesting enough for Martin to ignore the call of the toilet.

So I was left alone to my own personal vigil because I have been challenged by Robo with 10 things to do before I am 30 (March 08), one of which was appear as an extra in a movie.
There weren't many real people crowding to see what was happening (1:30 am can do that) but eventually they came to a shot that was to go out over the crowd behind which we stood, the police tape was taken down and the 5 police officers stood in the road (although on 2 were real according to one of the crew - fun game to play spot the copper). The speeches began again for the new shot the words familiar to me now, but this time there was something different.
"SPEAK UP WE CAN'T HEAR AT THE BACK!" the shout went from the back of the crowd.
"WHAT'S THIS ABOUT ANYWAY?"
A drunken individual had wondered in and was ruining things and for once it wasn't me. One of the real cops (or possibly a method actor who was really into his part) moved in and escorted the guy out of the shoot and away. Since people in the extras crowd had turned around to watch entertainment, they were looking in the direction where myself and 3 other bystanders were stood, back where the police line had been. I was unwilling to cross the invisible line, even though the tape was gone, because the woman who had told us not to cross had been keeping a wary eye on Martin and me and she was still around. But one of the crew at the back of the crowd of extras, I think he was there to herd them around, asked if we wanted to be in the crowd rather than stand way back there, and that was how i came to be stood in the crowd at the back and being told in no uncertain terms I was not going to get any money. I clapped when for the first speech personal didn't clap for the second (they only wanted a smattering of applause). Regrettably my camera was back at the hostel so I couldn't take any photos, but hey what do I care - I am a STAR!
]]> Day 2 (A Star is born on the map) — Toronto, Ontario, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1187970360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1187970360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/lightweight/canada_tour_07/1187970360/tpod.html Fri, 24 Aug 2007 11:49:41 -0400 Call of the Mild. One mans jouney across Canada facing the rigours and hardships of staying in hostels with mod-cons in urban centres. A man in search of himself - and a moose!
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The film shoot
]]>