The Squamidian Report – Oct. 10 / 15
 
Issue #698

Including:
The Ontarion

Hi All,

This is one of those weeks where absolutely nothing of interest has happened. In some ways thats a good thing, sort of like the old saying “no news is good news”. But it does make it hard to come up with anything of interest to write about. Perhaps I've written so much over the last few weeks that I've emptied my brain.

One thing that did happen will be of some interest to some of you, and others will simply roll their eyes and immediately loose interest. That 'thing' is the fact that on this past Tuesday, I made my 300th trip up the gondola. No wonder they all know us by name. Lets see now, 300 trips up also includes 300 trips down and at approximately 2 horizontal kilometers each way, that equates to 1200 horizontal kilometers of gondola riding. And at approximately 1 kilometer elevation change, that equates to 300 kilometers of vertical climb, and 300 of vertical decent. Thats pretty cool.

One thing that is definitely weird about that place is not the place, but the tourists that visit. Half of them walk around with their heads buried in their personal electronic devices. I don't think they look up long enough to actually see anything. Others just seem to scurry around in order to be able to 'do' everything, and never actually do anything. We were standing on a small wooden foot bridge on our usual morning walk, watching a sap sucker flit from tree to tree as it called out. A herd of tourists came charging along. We attempted to point out the interesting little bird but they would have nothing to do with it. They put their heads down to avoid eye contact, determined to keep moving. Perhaps they figured we were some sort of local native bush people, trying to mug them. Oh well, their loss.

Anyway, it is very very good that Greg is back and he has a lot to talk about so there is no need for me to get overly wordy.

And just to keep reminding everyone, next week is #699 and you know what that means!
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT

Hello Everyone
Guess some of you have been wondering where the heck I got to all last month. Well, it was time for Carole and I to take the trip of a lifetime. We’ve been talking about a trip to Europe since we were first married almost 43 years ago and finally decided to go for it! As it turned out, Adam was able to take the time off work and enjoy the trip along with us and by doing so garner a much needed rest as well. About 8 months ago we began planning the trip and just toying with the idea of making the vacation one that included more than just a trip to one country. Carole was born in Belfast Northern Ireland and has been telling me how beautiful and interesting that country is for as long as we’ve known each other. We said when we were first married that some day we’d make the trip across the Atlantic to Northern Ireland so she could actually show me just where it is that she was born and we’d tour all the beautiful sites of Ireland that most of us only hear about or see snippets of in the movies or on the international news. In the planning stages of such a trip, we decided that there were other places we’d both like to visit as long as we would already be on the European side of the ocean. We decided that while over in Ireland we’d plan to move on to France and visit Paris to see the sites there as well. We also figured that seeing the sites of London England together would complete our trip of a lifetime as we call it.

Carole and her family had visited England when she was a child but she didn’t remember very much about the details they experienced back then. She’s been in Canada for 50 years since immigrating here in 1965 with here mother, father and three brothers. Once we got well into the planning stages of our venture it became more and more exciting to Carole and I as well as to Adam and that’s when we decided to make the trip as a family. The research and planning that goes into such an adventure is amazing indeed. It took us hours and hours of searching the Internet and reading up on all the history of the three countries we intended to visit. We didn’t just want to hit the trendy tourist spots that we all hear about but wanted to make sure we visited uncommon sites and places of interest. Carole of course being from Northern Ireland had some great insight into areas and geographical spots that she was able to take us to see and experience. Places like the beaches and seaside landscapes she and her family vacationed in and explored when she was a child. We were privy to the inside scoop as you might say. Since she still has family in Ireland you might think that we’d be staying with automatic accommodations but that wasn’t the case. Her aunts and uncles are all quite old now and her cousins have all moved to other countries and distant parts of Ireland that made it inconvenient to travel to see them. We did however contact her aunts and uncles while in Belfast since they have been and still are living in their original homes.

The travel plan consisted of five different air flights to enable us to visit the places we wanted to see. We began with a flight on Sept 1st that took us from Toronto Ontario to Heathrow Airport in London England. We landed there early in the morning after an eight-hour flight and had a two-hour lay over until our flight to a municipal airport in Belfast NI. Upon our arrival in Belfast we had arranged to pick up a rental car for our use while in Ireland. Adam volunteered to do the driving and I was just as happy to have him do so since it gave me the freedom to enjoy the surrounding sights as he drove. We made it safely to our hotel destination in central Belfast by shortly after noon. Our flight from Toronto had been delayed an hour before take off from Pearson and that put us a tad behind by the time we got to Ireland. We had anticipated the weather being a little cool and a lot rainy in the British Isles but were pleasantly surprised. Upon our arrival in London the weather was foggy but that fog had cleared by the time our short flight to Ireland was about half way across the Irish Sea. We had barely passed over the western coast of England when the clouds parted and we could see the east coast of Ireland. The flight was supposed to take approximately one hour and ten minutes but with the right winds it only took us about 50 minutes to make the crossing. As I said, the weather in Northern Ireland was sunny and sitting at 15c. When we checked into out hotel we found that they had booked us into a totally self-contained apartment in an adjacent building to the hotel, which they had just purchased and newly renovated. What a pleasant surprise that was, since we had expected to be in a single room with enough beds for three adults.

 The apartment consisted of two large bedrooms, a living room and a good-sized kitchen with, of course a large (Lavatory) or as we call it washroom. We had under ground parking and were located on the second floor of the complex. This made it very convenient to come and go from our accommodations. There were several tourist type sights we wanted to visit as well as many of the childhood locations that Carole remembered and wanted to introduce us to. We spent the first day driving around Belfast just soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying the sights that Carole remembered from her childhood and was able to point out to us. For 42 years I had been enjoying what Carole called “an Ulster Breakfast” which she lovingly prepared for me and for Adam once he was old enough to enjoy and appreciate it’s content. An Ulster Breakfast is of course unique to Belfast and consists of eggs, back bacon and sausage as well as “potato-farls” (sort of a potato pancake that’s fried) and soda bread, once again fried potato mash with flour incorporated. Of course it comes complete with a pot of tea. This particular breakfast is only to be found in Belfast and is not an Ireland wide meal! There is a distinct difference between Northern Ireland and the south “Republic of Ireland”! The south of Ireland is the most commonly portrayed “Ireland” we are used to seeing in Hollywood Movies. I’m sure you will all remember the Bing Crosby movies with the old Irish priest played by Barry Fitzgerald! Well, the accent spoken by Barry Fitzgerald in those movies was a typical “Southern” Irish accent and is not representative of the whole of Ireland. Actually Ireland is divided into two distinct areas, Northern Ireland and The Republic of Ireland (the South). They each have their own government as well as their own currency. The North is still affiliated with and governed by England and is loyal to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The south is predominantly Catholic and is not at all interested in being associated with British Rule. When we drove from Belfast down to Dublin in the south we had to make sure we had “Euros” to spend since they do not accept “Pounds” from the North. The south used to have “Pounds” of a different style than “British” pounds but several years ago switched to the Euro when most of Europe did the same. Britain and Northern Ireland retained the British Pound as their form of currency.

Before I get us to far south, I’ll stop here for this week and continue our saga next week in The Ontarion Report!

We’ve been home since October 1st but I’ve been trying to recover from this dastardly cold I picked up in England and haven’t been able to shake yet. It’s getting better but I’m still hacking and coughing some. Hopefully it’ll be gone by the time I’m writing the next Portion of the “Trip” series!

That’s all for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now … Greg

PS: Something To Think About>
When flying in a commercial airliner are you continuously breathing all the germs that others within are coughing out? Hmmmm…..?
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Have a good one..
the doug
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