Oh Canada, Mr Plough will sure miss you!!

• Wheresdaznow's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from Calgary

Trip Start Dec 26, 2006 Previous
Entry Trip End Dec 25, 2007 Next
Entry

  Calgary, Canada
Tuesday, January 16, 2007

So here I am back in Calgary, same house but a lot quieter given that Raj, Devina and Nyah are lapping up the sun, beach and wine back in SA, Nyah not so much the wine in case Family Services gets wind of this, she is a champagne toddler through and through. The first winter storm hit in Calgary on my return resulting in temperatures of 25 degrees below zero plus add on another 12 degrees for wind chill giving a grand total of 37 degrees below zero. So what is a man to do but sit back, put the feet up and channel surf through about 60 cable TV channels. We watched Frasier, Seinfeld, Married With Children (still comedy gold after all these years), Groundhog Day (Bill Murray at his best), Friends (well 15 minutes until I realised it really is not that funny), Family Guy and Southpark for my animated fix and Take-Home Chef (Aussie Guy Curtis Stone from Surfing the Menu goes up to random hot babes in US supermarkets and ends up going back to their place and cooking for them and their friends, including the girl whose best friend was a dwarf and had to be lifted onto the chair) and the Weather channel

01 - Welcome to Kananaskaus

. Lets just say I am addicted to the Weather channel as rather than like home where it rarely changes from sun to cloud and back to sun (no need to worry about rain), over here it snows, blizzards, ices, hails resulting in cities coming to a crawl. At least in Calgary they have lots of sun and blue sky, which is great even if you can't leave the house for fear of keeling over in the cold before you reach the end of the driveway. I did brave the temperatures the other day and in an effort to get out and get a breath or two of frozen minus 22 degree air I had to dress in the following:

Jocks. Check
Bonds long sleeve. Check
T-shirt. Check
Long sleeve thermal. Check
Long sleeve icebreaker. Check.
Long John Thermals. Check
Jeans. Check
Two pair of goretex knee high socks. Check
Jacket. Check
Another Jacket just in case first fails to warm

02 - Blue sky day in the Rockies

. Check
Fleece neck Warmer. Check
Scarf around Neck. Check
Thin wind proof gloves. Check
Ski Gloves. Check
Beanie. Check
Rossi Boots. Check
Key to get back inside on return less I freeze to death. Check and Double Check.

So how did it go I hear you ask. Well apart from being the only idiot out taking an afternoon stroll I managed to complete a full circuit of the Citadel in a very quick 15 minutes with the last five minutes questioning how the hell people possibly live in these temperatures as I began to lose all feeling below the waist and realised my nostrils had completely frozen over...nothing runs in these temperatures. Meanwhile over in Australia Raj, Devina and Nyah are kicking back on Robe Beach in plus 28 degree temps. Yeah nice one indeed!

Which brings me to today, my second last day in Canada. Raj's sister Nisha took me up to a place in the Rockies to meet her friends who lived in a cool log hut in the snow (where else would it be, downtown?) and we walked a few trails in the snow for an hour with the most awesome views of the Rockies

03 - A man and his mountains

. As a minor heatwave had hit reducing the temp to a balmy minus 10 degrees it was pretty comfortable provided you kept walking and had not drunk a cup of tea and two cups of coffee in the three hours previous. Muns ten has the effect of reducing all bladders to pea-size so half way through I wandered into knee deep powder snow to paint the snow a nice yellow colour. Remember kiddies, no running with scissors and never eat yellow snow.

Where to now, well on Tuesday 16 I fly into Guatemala City and the beginning of what should be an amazing journey. I am booked into Spanish School in Quetzaltenango (Xela or Shay-la from now on) and begin my four weeks in Spanish School and my staying with a local family on Monday Jan 22. I have no idea what awaits which I guess explains the butterflies in my stomach. I am flying American Airlines to Dallas, with a five hour layover to recover my bags from terminal unknown, before connecting to Guetemala City, home for 16 and 17 Jan before I bus to Xela on the 18th. I am being collected at the airport when I arrive as it will be around

Thanks to EVERYONE for your email replies and I will endevour to get back and ask a few 'hows ya father' style questions personally rather than the bulk group email. I trust you are enjoying the heat (unless you are without airconditioning in which case, good luck!) and having a great time in wherever you are and whatever you are doing! I am always up for a few pictures, incriminating or otherwise (thanks Ollie and Craig for Aspens first birthday bash pics) as it is good to see what is going on. When I work out how to send with my digital camera I will fly a few across to you all.

Until next time......

Cheers, love and happiness to you all

Darren 'its all about the layers' Hall

Big shout out to Aspen on reaching the first birthday milestone on 28th December...trust you got your share of cake buddy before Rogan swooped in for the kill!

Same big shout out to my godson Aston and I trust the move went smoothly to your new digs, swimming pool and all. And tell your old man he needs to give the whole English Cricket team thing up and support the real-deal.

Slideshow Print this entry Share Calgary hotels

Previous Entry Next Entry