Sleepless in Toronto

I have already mentioned how the temperature was 30C one day and then 0C the next. So now I can tell you that the next two days followed the same routine! Hot and humid last Monday then cold and bleak the next! The temp on Sat 26th was only a decimal point or two from being the hottest ever April day on record.
Megan worked Monday and I picked her up at 5 pm and we drove down to Toronto where we were going to spend the next few days. My step-son Ryan rents an apartment near the city and was kind enough to let us make use of it while he is away all week working away from home in London, Ontario.
The first night was sooooooo hot in that apartment. We had to leave the windows open and sleep under just a sheet. The bedside clock kept me informed of how much sleep I was being deprived of. It's so difficult coming from a farm where my neighbours are kilometers away and there are very few sounds other than birds, crickets or the babbling of the creek 300 meters away, and then trying to sleep in an environment where there is only Noise and not sounds. The sounds of aircraft approaching the Toronto International Airport could be easily drowned out when a freight train goes by about a kilometer away, Fire Trucks criss-cross the neighbourhood, young "#@$%&#" drive past with "Boom-Boxes" blaring in their cars. When these sources of noise are not all happening at the same moment you don't have to wait long until they are! One might think that it would quieten down around midnight. City people think it actually does. It's just that they are used to it or they are tone deaf to the constant "drone" that a city produces.
Hmmm. As I was saying, my neighbours at home are kilometers away. Here in this old house, converted into apartments, we discover that the people in the "Attic" apartment above us, don't sleep at night!!!! At 1 am someone noisily walks up the staircase to the attic apartment. For the next 2 hours, voices can be heard, footsteps going back and forth across the room above ours and for some reason, boxes were being discussed as they are dragged back and forth across the floor! At 3 am a female's voice can be heard talking back up the stairs to the room as she descends the stairs to leave. Oh, no. Now she stops at the front door to continue the conversation from ground floor to the person at the door of the attic apartment. (3rd floor). At 5am the garbage truck makes its rounds. The petrol engined vehicle revs uncaringly as stops in front of each house.
Daylight breaks and the traffic noise builds. There are numerous "speed bumps" (traffic pacifiers) in the street below and whilst they might slow a vehicle, the vehicle tends to accelerate away from them and make noise.
The bed itself was very uncomfortable too so consequently we were both walking wrecks the next day.

All the houses in this neighbourhood
have been converted into rental Apartments.

My ANZAC DAY

April 26th every year is revered by Australian and New Zealanders where ever they are around the world on that day - ANZAC DAY. Every Australian and New Zealand City and regional centre holds a Dawn Service and a March to remember all of those men and women of all our combined forces that actively participated in defending our country, our freedom, and freedom of other nations from aggressors.
ANZAC DAY was proclaimed for this date, the anniversary of the landing of the ANZACs at Gallipoli in 1915 and the first commemorations were held in 1916.

I spent my ANZAC DAY quietly at the house listening to ABC radio from Sydney via the Internet. The day was already completed in Australia and so I listened to the ongoing stories on air.
I knew I'd be away from home on this special day and so I brought with me my Australian Flag. I displayed it proudly in the front window all day as I strove to learn more about feats which clearly outnumbered the defeats of our diggers in all wars.
I challenge all Aussies and Kiwis to learn more about the feats of our diggers because we are only learning in recent years that ANZACs achieved far more than what they were given credit for because of the British influence (indirect control) of suppressing history because of (1) blunders by their Military Leaders and (2) major feats by our diggers overshadowing efforts by their own much larger forces and of other larger forces. French historians and villagers (close to the Western Front) reveal that the Battle of the Western front was only won after the efforts of a smallish compliment of Australians. Many a village in that part of France have monuments and adornments on public buildings thanking the Australians for their freedom.
The Australians went on a night raid under the command of an Australian, and kept going!!!! They freed more than a hundred villages, thousands of allied war prisoners and captured 29,000 German soldiers in the process of destroying their strongholds. It is humbling to hear the details but disturbing that this history has been kept quiet. Some of our greatest military feats have gone uncommemorated all these years. Not even our War Memorials record it on their monuments but I believe there are moves afoot to right that wrong.

And from those battlefields of the Western Front comes the poem "From Flanders fields," from a Canadian Soldier, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, penned in his note book ....

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

John McCrae (1872–1918)

And of course, we can all recite the following without script. It is the 4th verse of the 7 verse poem "For the Fallen" by Laurence Binyon (1869–1943)

"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them."


"Lest we forget"


All about Anzac Day
The Australian War Memorial website

Whether the weather be here or there.

When you live in rural Australia, the first greeting you have with people you come into contact with is invariably about the weather! So I can't help myself to comment on the weather experience here.
Warm weather crept into the system and the snow has gone from general areas with only remnants visible on the ski slopes. I suspect it is now over until next year but mother nature is known to throw up some curve balls that keeps the conversations going in the townships.
We were having a few days of drizzle rain but as dawn broke on ANZAC day (a day of remembrance for Australians and New Zealanders the world over), we received a shower of large hailstones. Some areas not too far away (Barrie) had golf ball sized hail. It was getting really warm and soon we had lightning strikes quite close by.
The point I wanted to make here was that the temp got up to 27 deg C on Saturday but on Sunday it took until sometime in the afternoon for the temp to climb above the zero mark! When we arose on Monday, it was already 15 deg at 7am and mid afternoon it reached 30 deg. Goodonya Momma Nature!
When I was about 5 years old, growing up at Sans Souci in Sydney, I remember hearing the old neighbour, Mr. Tucker, state "You don't need to light a fire until ANZAC DAY". I've observed over my lifetime that that is pretty accurate. Similarly, in Crookwell it is about 3 weeks earlier. Brrrrrrr, I don't want to think about it!
Speaking of Old Mr. Tucker reminds me.........
When I was young, even in my early twenties, virtually everyone seemed old. Many a time, I've come across photographs of people I used to think of as really old and yet while I was looking at these photos, I was already past the age they were in the photo! Never thinking of myself as "old" I do realise plenty of young people will think of me that way. As long as I can still be considered a friend, regardless of age, then I'll feel comfortable with life.
I often reflect on a line from the anonymous Verse "Desiderada" .......... "gracefully surrender the things of youth" ......

More than one delight.

I picked up Megan from work at 5pm and we headed down to Bradford. The area Megan lived when I met her. She still has her son Daryl there, many friends and of course our little grand daughter Taylor.
I had been going to tell you earlier that the insurance company wouldn't allow me to drive the car when i first got here. The guy advised Megan and Daryl that I needed an international license to drive it. I wouldn't accept that off hand because I'd already researched that with the licensing laws of Ontario as a guide, a long time ago. So we had to wait until after Easter when the guy was back at work. Megan spoke to him and he again restated his knowledge. I told him to go and check because I reckoned he was wrong. After a 5 min wait on the end of the phone, he came back, apologised, and said I was correct. I could drive. He said they must have changed the laws recently. I told him that it was still the same as it was more than a decade ago and probably since Henry Ford was around.
An international license is only issued in the country you come from and is only applicable here IF you are staying longer than 60 days, and are not becoming a permanent resident. i.e. on a Visa after 90 days.
Anyway, after a short stint at the wheel, Megan took over so I could Rubber Neck at the scenery etc. It was raining lightly, as it did for the next few couple of days we were away in Bradford.
We stayed 2 nights with long time friends, Kym & Brian. (They refer to it as the Bradford B&B). It was great catching up with them although Megan has seen / stayed there many a time since she had become and Aussie.
The next day we took Daryl and his (gorgeous) delightful girfriend Stacey out to lunch at the Mr. Greek restaurant in Newmarket to celebrate his 25 th Birthday.
While in Newmarket we took the opportunity to visit the very large Costco store. It is a store where you need to hold a yearly membership to shop there. Businesses as well as indivduals. Membership can include additional photo ID membership cards for your family. Personal membership is $55 / year per family. You can buy at wholesale prices..... Yea, Yea!
I was astounded at some of the prices for TV's, Computers, Accessories, and the like. I didn't bother looking too much in the food department or the clothing sections. Just call me a IT nerd! Lots of stuff but no, not everything or every brand.
Later in the afternoon, we went to visit our grand daughter Taylor for an hour after school. Oh boy, is she a sweetie or what? Such a live wire at 4-1/2 and she's been that way all of those short years.
Every home we have visited since I arrived in Canada has at least one dog living in the house and all but two have been extra large dogs! Our grand daughter, the smallest person I've met here, has the largest of all dogs! A Newfoundlander. It's name is Mas (something) but Maz for short. Not that he's short at all but at least he's gentle. He is like a Grizzly if you let him jump up on you.















When we left I had to scrape my molten heart off the floor.

Back at Brian & Kym's there was a power outage that covered the whole district and it was out until 8:30 pm. In the meantime, we dined on cold meats and salad. Seeing the kettle wouldn't boil, I had to settle for a cold beer. What sacrifices we have to make at times.

Megan's other friend we intended visiting was not available and so we went "window shopping" as I still call it or Malling the more modern term.
Megan took me to a Cafe' where she often has breakfast with the boys. It is the same kind of deal as "The 5th Wheel" diner near Milton (closer to Toronto). We each had the regular breakfast from the menu. 3 eggs (cooked any fashion), 4 short sausages, tomato, pile of potato fries and 2 slices of toast. That cost $4.99 each. We also had coffee in bottomless cups. i.e. they keep refilling it for you as it gets down. The total came to $15.10. I did not need to eat another thing that day before going to bed and I didn't. (It might have been all the fatty grease? Probably explains the appearance of a high percentage of Canadians. Please note that I didn't say all, nor mean to offend anyone).










We took a different way back to Meaford for the most part.

Where along the Bay?

Whilst this visit is primarily a reunion it is also a chance to discover together what style, size and location of house we agree on. So we have cast our net a little further afield from Meaford rather than be blinded by what has brought us to like Meaford already.
Fifteen km to the east is a town called Thornbury. Whilst it doesn't have a very large or attractive shopping centre, it does have a very appealing housing sector which also adjoins Clarkesburg. I could probably live there.
There are a few hamlets along the bay between Thornbury and Collingwood as well as many holiday cottages along the shore. The escarpment is only a couple of hundred meters high but it is adorned with ski slopes that are owned by the many resorts or clubs. The highest would be on "Blue Mountain" which shouldn't be confused with "Township of Blue Mountain"(and the Municipality thereof)





With Megan working in Collingwood we bypassed there as we can look there another day. So we ventured further east around the Bay to Wasaga Beach. It stretches a considerable distance but not back from the bay very much. It didn't take us long to decide that it is NOT the place for us. It is more of a "summer holiday" haunt when the population at least quadruples. So it's bye-bye bikini girls :(
I didn't even bother to take any pics in the region.
The other disadvantage of Wasaga Beach is the horendous traffic delays in the holiday season. Especially for those needing to commute to work.
So we have narrowed things down a bit already and that has got to be positive in my mind.

Thornbury & Heathcote

I'm writing this blog a week or so after the event and I've just discovered a mix-up! It has been confusing when using the dates on the images to group them to a days events. It suddenly hit me now that the dates are based Australian times with the date changing during our Ontarian day. I'm not going to try and change things now and not that it has had any effect until this day. As my brother would say, "Who cares?"
It was actually the day before that we drove into a carwash. Being winter, there weren't any Bikini Babes washing the car for us. Yet the 'lass' that cleaned ours was a smashing sort don't you think?





We had to go to Thornbury for a visit to Megan's doctor. Whilst she was there, I wandered around a little old hardware store. It was amazing. There was such a variety of stock and plenty of it. It would have been 1/3 of the size of one of our Crookwell hardware stores (JDs) but contain every bit as much stock and variety. Not electrical goods though.
We also drove out to friends' farm at Heathcote. At the farm, Lori has a horse arena where she teaches Hunters and Jumpers. She also competes as a Show Jumper herself.





The Arena construction is very common place on farms here I've noticed. They are commonly used for Hay Sheds and Machinery Sheds.






Most horse floats are like the one shown using a gooseneck coupling that pivots on a mounting in the back of a pickup truck. Some a lot bigger.

Between the house and the arena, they have a handy bridge across the stream. I thought I should make sure it was safe to use by telling Megan I wanted to take her photo while she stood in the middle of it! As you can see it proved safe enough for me to use.


Back in Thornbury, we went down to the Harbour, or Marina. All along the Georgian Bay shores are resorts catering to the Skiers in winter and the summer recreational activities of aquatic sports, golf and the like.

Easter Sunday and Monday

The earlier part of Easter Sunday was quietly spent.
Ryan and Daryl were on there way up for Midday Dinner. Well it was more like mid afternoon once they arrived and we settled into the tucker!

Ryan lives in a rented apartment in Toronto and Daryl has his separate apartment beneath his father's house on the outskirts of Bradford.

I hadn't seen Ryan since he and Daryl were holidaying with us on the farm at Crookwell in March of 2000. Daryl has been back to Crooky a few times since. In the meantime, Ryan has added two members to the family; Adan, now 7 and Taylor 4-1/2.

Last year Daryl had a terrible work related accident in June. He (and we) are very lucky for him to have survived it and recovered to the extent he has. He still has some way to go and attends physio Mon, Wed and Fri each week along with other doctor and specialists appointments that are ongoing but not as frequent. It's the first time I've seen him since.

I'm 5'5" tall and weigh in at 76 kg. (167 lb). Daryl on the other hand weighs in at 118 kg (260 lb). Ryan I can't detail BUT I can show you a photo of a formidable scrum front row combination (Rugby) with me as the "hooker"!

Click to enlarge!

They are both lucky that when I feel they need a fatherly "clip across the earhole", there is never a chair or stool nearby! ;)

We had a wonderful time over the meal and I look forward to many, many more. All too soon, they were on their way home again. So it was big hugs and handshakes and and one more photo.

Daryl Mommy Ryan

On Monday, Megan and I went to Collingwood. She needed to attend a 3 hr Orientation function at her work. So she dropped me in the main street and I wandered up and down Hurontario St. I was told that ALL the shops would be open on Easter Monday as here it is only a holiday for Banks, Government Departments and associated agencies. However, the majority of the smaller businesses were closed!

For many months I regularly visited a website that has a webcam link where the camera focuses on Hurontario St., and also across toward the night ski-ing lights at the Blue Mountain resorts. I had a pretty good idea where it was located and I was spot on! It was not a tiny little webcam like you have on your computer as you can see in this picture.





Soon Megan was picking me up we went to one of her friend's place for lunch. Afterward, we payed a visit to Walmart to see what it was like here in Collingwood in comparison to those I'd visited 11 years ago. We had the opportunity to purchase a hair clipper set which was a leading brand and with a greater assortment of comb attachments than I'd previously seen anywhere. With that investment in a 110 volt appliance, I just have to move here to Canada permanently to use it! The next morning, I was sporting a fresh No. 1-1/2. Just the length I'd like to be keep it cut to every week. (If I learn to manage 'mowing' it myself!).

Easter Fri & Sat.

Megan worked on Good Friday and Sat. My Friday was similar to the previous day ...... exploring the neighbourhood on foot.
I familiarised myself where some of the services and facilities were located. The hospital on top of the hill with the landmark Water Tower (every town has one with their name on it) and there is also the Heli Pad for the Hospital / Emergency Services.






Just down the hill from there is the Agricultural Society's (showground) Fair Grounds. The society was established in 1855 and a bronze plaque adorns one of the entrance gateposts lays testament to that fact. Being actively involved with the Agricultural Society in Crookwell this was definitely a place of interest with a pang of disappointment.








The facilities on the ground are very modern but there are only a few to talk of.






Megan attended the last fair and had warned me that it is barely comparable to that of the Crookwell Show or most other Ag Shows.
I'd be guessing but I think the larger building in the picture above is conjointly used seasonally by the Ag Society and the Curling Club and hired for other occasions.

Across the road is the Meaford and St. Vincent Community Centre. Whilst it is known as the Arena because it has Ice Hockey and Ice Skating, it also has a sign relating to Dancing. So it is a multi-purpose building.

Walking Meaford

The first couple of days I was actually in Meaford, Megan had to go to work. So I was able to wonder around the town, take photos, and browse through some of the stores.
I'm an avid user of Google Earth (& maps) and have studied every feature of Meaford that I could over the past months. I was able to know my way around prior to arriving but I also had a chuckle to myself when buildings weren't as I'd "assumed" from the satellite images. Buildings I thought were multistory might now be discovered as being a single story etc. Having said that, it was pretty accurate overall.
An icon in Meaford has to be the recently renovated Meaford Hall or Opera House as another name for it. The renovations cost in the vicinity of $7M. I'm yet to look inside but I have see some beautiful photos of it's interior. The main hall might seat 250 people in proper fixed theatre seating. There are a number of other varying sized rooms for other types of functions and dining. A laneway is all that separates the Meaford Hall from the Old Heritage Listed Fire Hall building. (Fire Hall is the same as what is called a Fire Station in Australia). It is no longer in use as a fire hall.Most Australians are probably like me and initially wonder why the shops don't have awnings like in Australia. I'm yet to have it confirmed, but I suspect it is because the weight of snow buildup being too much for an awning? Obviously people are rather exposed during rain! :( I guess another mini icon of Meaford might be the Big Apple. A tourist information booth strategically placed in front of the car park and next door to the BIG ICON. Meaford is Apple Country and most of the agriculture in the region is Apple, Beef and Hay.
The Big Head River empties into Georgian Bay at Meaford. It is a relatively fast flowing river (unlike Lost River that flows through or farm - a creek or brook by any real term.)The waterfront around the mouth of the river has been developed and a nice harbour formed from rock walls.Fishing is popular all year round but only from the walls or the foreshore during winter months. I've read a lot of references to the Big Head River at Meaford in fishing blogs from the USA. All boats are removed from the water during the "frozen" months. There are lines of leisure boats and expensive pleasure cruisers on land all around the harbour shores.Meaford Municipality has around 11,000 population with around 6,000 in the town itself. Area of Municipality is 588 sqkm. i.e. Pop Density 18.6 people per sqkm. Comparing that to the Upper Lachlan Shire (of which Crookwell is the largest town at around 2,ooo pop), the population is 7,300 and the land area is 7,100 sqkm giving a pop density of One (1) person per sqkm.There is a distinctly different style in houses between Australia and Canada. Or anywhere for that matter. Meaford and the Georgian Bay region have a mix of old and new. The older homes are very distinctive and many have been standing for well over a century. As would be expected, the more modern homes are on the outer edges of town unless there has been a pocket of land not previously used for housing.These first few days in Meaford have been spent soaking up the ambiance of the place.