General Chat

Hi Persey


I don't know about the wood stove!

We first rode a train across Canada back in 1972, and there wasn't a wood stove then!

OH did a sabbatical year in Palmerston North back in 1992/93. Daughter had just graduated from high school, so she took a year out and went down with him. I stayed up here, and just went to NZ for December and January. We rented a car for about 3 weeks just after Christmas and drove down to and round South Island. I did find Queenstown a little touristified!

OH didn't buy or rent a car for most of the time they were in Palmerston .... they took their bicycles with them from here and rode them everywhere. Occasionally he rented a car so they could go further afield on weekends, to Napier for example. When it was time for me to leave ..... we took the train up to Auckland, and that is what they did in May when it was time for them to leave.

Daughter was allowed to register for a Maori weaving course at Whaka in Rotorua, and she rode the bus to there and back. It was the most wonderful 2 or 3 weeks that I think she had ever spent up to that point. She even visited with some of the women in their homes.



sylvia

Whenever one of my children were fidgeting around I used to say stop being Gidget the fidget. Probably my youth seeing those Gidget movies with Sandra Dee or Deborah Walley and then the TV show with Sally Field before she became the Flying Nun.

Sylvia - my in-laws traveled on the trains in Canada many years ago - and somewhere I remember them having slides and my father-in-law was warming his hands by a wood - burner on the train - would that be correct? My husband's aunt lives in Calgary.

I am a real Railway Kid - my dad worked for the railways here in NZ and we traveled all over the country by train (for free). I thought it was the norm (we did not own a car), One day I would like to do the Rocky Mountain train ride, and I have also got photos of a steam train going up through Alaska which also appeals to me.

The railways here also owned a steamboat which operated on our Wakatipu Lake (Queenstown) so we did all three arms of the lake and this was well before Queenstown became a tourist Mecca and did not have the hillsides covered in posh apartments and hotels. Progress has taken the simplicity out of it all - but the tourist industry makes big bucks for the country.

Glad you are out and about safely now Liz - just be careful - I can fall over things that aren't there.

Persey

Hi all,

Jill nice to see you posting, I remember you from a while back with your sheep! What a picture you painted of Minty lol

Norma, I am glad you saw that J. Lumley programme, it was wonderful wasn't it?

Theresa, your name always makes me smile, I have a friend from Norfolk who now lives in Miami, when we first met working together she got the nickname Bridget the Midget from the record of the same name, cos she was so small lol and your name always reminds me of that time lol

Norwich has lost most of it's snow, well from our garden and cul de sac anyway which means most of the rest should have been washed away by the recent rain and milder weather, as we were hanging on to the icy stuff after other roads were clear. It means I can now safely walk to the shop and not be scared of falling, still don't feel 100% since my fall before Christmas on the black ice on the road further up from the culdesac which leads to the supermarket.

take care all,
Lizxx

No wonder we get such a bad name abroad is it?

Hi everyone

Jill ........ love your ram story! Pity it has caused the cancellation of your trip to Iceland though.


Heavy rain and high wind warnings for this afternoon, overnight and tomorrow morning. We are being assured that the temperatures will drop early next week, and then the snow making machines can start making snow again. The temperature has to be aorund 0C for them to work. At the moment, there is more grass than snow on the local mountains! Whistler, where most of the outdoor events will take place, is in much better shape.

Theresa ........... no, no steam trains, much to OH's disgust as he is also a steam train buff.

But the sleeper, dining and dome carriages on The Canadian, the train from Toronto to Vancouver (or vice versa), are the original 1950s aluminum and steel ones. I think the sit up cars are also original but I'm not sure of that. There have been a few updates, like a shower installed in each sleeper car, and new carpets etc, but basically they are the original classic cars.

We did have a laugh last year when we rode that train.

This veddy English couple got one, with their even more veddy English son, his wife and their 2 children about 2 and 4. Son and family were living in either Los Angeles or San Francisco, momma and poppa were visiting, and this was their trip on the train.

First was hearing this great commotion about "how could we possibly manage without all our luggage, and why are these compartments so small, we can't possibly get our luggage in here".

Yep ................. they had absolutely refused to check any of their luggage at all. Ended up, the parents crammed the 2 children in the same compartment with themselves, and stored their bags in what had been intended to be the children's sleeping place (actually that wouldn't have been such a good idea either with such young children!).

Then grandson was allowed to do whatever he wanted ............ which caused some problems up in the dome car ............... or at least he did until we had a change of crew in Winnipeg on the 3rd day, and the long time employee in charge of the lounge car (hence the dome) came and laid down the law to the parents. Peace and quiet.


But then the grandparents laid into OH and myself about how terrible the train was, how old the cars, how small the compartments, how they had been misled about the facilities, "there isn't even a hairdryer supplied!", etc etc.

OH thumped me in the side (literally!!) to stop me telling them how much smaller compartments were in newer cars, both in Canada, and in Australia, where we have also ridden on The Indian Pacific and The Ghan.

They didn't get it that the fact that the cars are original is a large part of the advertising campaign.


I hate to think of the stories they told on their return to England!

Be good

Ann, just saying a quick hello to you all on here. Hope you are all well.It looks as though the snow is going, lets hope it stays away.

My daughter and son-in-law had a budgie called Minty, he was white with a bit of blue, he was lovely.

As I guessed, Jennie will have to go on the other medication after the reaction she had last week with the one she's on. She has an appointment at the hospital in two weeks time, I'm not looking forward to her going, but Jennie seems to be taking it in her stride, as she always does.

Speak to you all soon. Love, Sallie.x

Jill your story with Minty the Ram reminds me of a joke I heard many many years ago.

Two men talking,

Bert to Fred.. "Do you smoke after intercourse?"


Fred to Bert. "I don't know... I've never looked!"


First time I was told this joke was a winter afternoon many many years ago>
One of my friends laughted so much, that she fell over, on the icey pavement.

Then she couldn't get up again because it was so slippery!

oh TheresaAkaBridgetTheFidget what a fabulous experience a ride with reindeers or huskies sounds just wonderful. Can you imagine little ones who still believe in santa, it must be so magical to them and to have your own elf......well thats just the icing on the cake lol

Theresa, we have fog here in Glos too, nasty looking stuff.

Quite a lot of out snow has melted today. However, we now have fog, it is damp and miserable out.

My sis-is-law, husband and thirteen year old son went to Lapland in the winter on 2008-09.

They loved it, were assigned their own elf to show them around for part of the time. Outdoot clothing was supplied by the holiday company. They could go on a ride pulled by huskies or reindeer. Si-in-law said it was well worth the money, even her teenage son loved it.

Sylvia, are any of your trains steam trains? Some members of my family are steam buffs. Any chance of travelling on a steam train and they are up at the crack of dawn.

Lucky old minty. (We used to have a small poodle called Minty).

We watch Countryfile on TV and part of it is Adam's farm, he keeps rare breeds, mainly sheep. The other day he bought a new ram, when he released him from the trailer he went belting off in the direction of the large flock of sheep - all his Christmases come at once!!!!!

Ann, It was a standing joke around here that Minty (ram) was spending all the next day sleeping and having a smoke under the trees after his activities :))
The Northern Lights plus Ice Hotel were the main draw to skiing in Lapland, still there is always another year :)

x Jill

Hello everyone,lovely to see some fresh faces on here.

Glossy Ann,I really haven't had any experience of snow.Sometimes anything seems better than this horrible heat.I appreciate what you're saying though,"Be careful what you wish for" lol.

Congratulations on your up and coming Golden wedding anniversary.I hope that you have a lovely time in Jersey in August,and that the weather is kind to you.

It's been quite nice today,much cooler.It's much easier to go to sleep when it's like this.

It's now after midnight here,so I'd better get some shut-eye.I didn't get to bed until about 2.30 am this morning because I was working on my tree and didn't realise the time.I will look in tomorrow.

Good night. Best wishes,Margot.

well don't know how everebody is going on with the snow but I am happy to say that all our snow miraculously disappeared during Sunday night. It actually rained most of the night and by Monday morning it had disappeared
Isn't it funny how we all get so excited when it first starts snowing but give us a week and we are all happy to see the back of it.

How wonderful going to Lapland - sounds all fairy tale.. get to see the Northern Lights.
We finally received the program with Joanna Lumley - was shown here a couple of weeks ago.
Did you ever see the movie "Lovers of the Arctic Circle?" It would rank as one of my favourite movies.
When I was a youngster my uncle had a lamb that would jump fences - he called her Yvette - named after Yvette Williams - she won a gold medal for the long jump in 1952 at Helsinki. She was our first woman gold medalist.

Perse

Sylvia you train trips sound great, And the small case will be very useful. I have a small roller that I use as cabin baggage when we go to tenerife. As we travel via Madrid I didn't want a larger one to manoeuvre across Madrid airport.

Hi Jill, Lovely to see you on here. Hope you will be able to get a holiday later. Chuckling at your impatient ram!!!

Hello all, I have been around for years but don't post much when I can get on the site :)
Its warmed up over here in France but with it we now have drizzly rain and with three big dogs, muddy floors. We are usually heading off about this time of year to ski in Canada but this year will be giving it a miss due to the exchange rate making it far more expensive than the last few years.
We were going to Lapland this month but things are on hold due to a poorly dog plus our lambs are due from next month as the ram got fed up and jumped the fence to be with his ewes :)) so us planning for Spring lambs went by the board :))
Will try and join in more this year

xx Jill

more rain today ............ instead of the showers that "they" said we would be having!

temperature over 10C


Hopefully, cooler temperatures will return early next week, then they can start making snow up on the mountain.


Had a few hours at the local mall ..................... my treat to myself is to have a cleaning lady come once every 2 weeks. I make her coffee, then go out for 3 or 4 hours. Have lunch and a mooch round the shops.

Today I found an 18" rolling suitcase which I have been looking for for months ............. most of the ones that I have seen before have been 19 or 20" but I wanted that smaller one. It was on sale ........................ and I saved $150 on the full price!!

We've found that the smallest possible case is what we need when we ride the train across Canada, as we are now doing quite regularly either going to or returning from visiting our daughter. We now have 2 18" rollers, one for each of us.

It is a 6 day trip ......... which means 1 night in a sleeper from Halifax to Montreal, a day train from Montreal to Toronto, then 4 nights from Toronto to Vancovuer. The sleeper cabins are pretty small, but one does need supplies for 6 days ...... even if it is only clean underwear and a couple of clean tops!!

But, oh it is such a relaxing way to travel .......... and the food is fantastic!!

We are just booking our next trip ............... the baby is due March 30, we plan to fly over there on April 8 or 9, then take the train home leaving on April 19.



sylvia
xxxx

A little more snow here overnight but it has already melted on our patio. We wont be going out though, I seem to find plenty to keep me occupied (including not getting up until 0930 to the disgust of the birds waiting to be fed!) And still don't have enough hours in the day.

Kathleen, it is snowing here too (West Midlands in England). Looked out at around 7am and saw that we had a sprinkling of snow. It has snowed again since, so everything is covered again.

I don't think that it is as cold as it was a few days ago though. But I haven't been outside to check!

Will stay in today and try to finish-
1) The jigsaw puzzle I've been doing.
2) The book I am (still) reading from Glossy Ann's Reading Group.