Terry & June
Trip Start
Oct 04, 2010
1
5
12
Trip End
Oct 04, 2011
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Saturday, October 16, 2010
[ria] Before we embarked on our 3 day Greyhound bus ride we stocked up at the bus terminal, preparing ourselves for the journey that would follow, for me this was buying more cigarettes (I will give up in Mexico Mum) and for Steve this was sweeties, honestly the joy in that lads eyes when he scanned the shelves at the bus terminal kiosk and saw that apparently Nerds in Canada are still going strong bettered the look on his face at the top of the Empire State, so he indulged…He insists that they have 5% of the daily carbohydrate allowance, this may be true but anything that looks and tastes a little like neon plastic does not sound good, no thanks – I will stick to the cigarettes.
The bus ride from Montreal to Winnipeg was endless, but not too bad – the scenery was incredible, we went around Lake Superior for most of the journey, pretty big that lake – not that Steve would know as he fell asleep pretty much straight away after his sugar rush:
Ria: Do you want me to wake you if we go pass any beautiful scenery?
Steve: No
Ria: Do you want me to wake you if we stop at KFC?
Steve: Yes
Unfortunately I did not get many good pics, partly because the bus driver drove over 50mph and I am just not used to that speed and secondly my camera was in my bag and as I am not the Colonel I had to wait until Steve woke to get to it.
We went through some crazy places with wicked names, Blind River, Thunder Bay and my personal fave WaWa…but to be honest their names are as interesting as the places get.
We were on the bus with some interesting folk, one guy in particular who had been on the bus since Halifax, Nova Scotia (6 days total ride time)who started our first conversation by telling me that before getting on the bus he had to quickly go and smoke a gram and take his two last pills, this did make me a little worried that this journey was going to be horrendous – but I was relieved when he told me that that it was just because the police were searching us all before boarding and someone he knew got caught on this journey with 2 grams and a machine gun – we chose not to sit next to him..although , we did give him a lift with us in the taxi when we arrived in Winnipeg… he was a lovely guy, you should never judge! However he said that he would meet us at the ice hockey game that night, we decided that if we did see him we were gonna tell him that we had an 11pm curfew – his offer of showing us the sights of downtown Winnipeg is just too much to ask of someone with a drug addiction and gun wielding friends. Thankfully as soon as the ice hockey was over we pretty much ran away from the MTS centre until we knew we were safe, so we never bumped into him or his friends.
We went to see the Manitoba Mooses play the Grand Rapids in the American Ice Hockey league, it rocked! We got the standard beer, candy floss (although they call it melting candy or sumin?) and hot dog and sat back and watched the surreality unfold. it's a bit like wrestling on ice, with lots of games in between – naturally it was right up our street. It was honestly like that Budweiser advert where they say if Americans had invented football/soccer…every time the game slowed down then on would come this guy running a dance contest or quiz with the mascot, or 'cam guy’ would turn on smooch cam where if they showed you on the big screen you had to pucker up to your beloved, I was gutted we were not shown..then they have other games such as human puck (3 men running around dressed as ice hockey pucks), or chuck the puck where we all had to throw pucks into a hot tub to win it, honestly I was giddy! It was some crazy stuff – we loved it. Unfortunately we lost, however they may have been better at hockey, but the Mooses kicked some Canadian ass when it came to the fighting – which there was a lot of! So ice hockey rules!
[steve] I hate buses. Ever since getting 4 buses a day to get to College in Wales I have hated them. Spending time spread over 3 days on one was pretty painful, spending it with delinquent youths who couldn't afford the flight made it a little bit more exciting. Travelling around Lake Superior was impressive...going by Ria's photos. I must have slept a lot as I went to sleep when a old driver (who clearly hated his job) was driving, and woke to a women driver (who could have been on the mullet top trumps we had) and got told we'd had 2 drivers in between. I decided to sleep after listening in to a guy from Jamaica's conversation about how he grew lots of drugs, and how good it was - when the other guy saw me smiling at it I closed my eyes and dare not open them. Listening to Simon & Garfunkel singing about the Greyhound bus they make it sound a lot more romantic than it is.
I forgot to bring any books but thankfully Ria had packed 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' which Lucy had bought us. Wow I couldn't put it down.
We arrived in Winnipeg on the 16th early in the morning and luckily the hotel we were staying in for one night said we could get in early. We got a taxi there, dropping off one of Ria's smoker delinquents on the way. We were staying in a right posh place! On a private road so it seemed. We were met at the door by the owners, a couple who I nicknamed Terry and June. They told us to take our shoes off and gave us a few house rules before letting us get to our room. We dumped our bags, and then both (me more-so) got ridiculously hysterical as we saw a bed. A very nice bed at that. One of those old beds that's really high up, that you sink in the middle and with about 30 cushions and covers on! Very welcome. We had shower/bath (i had both, just because I could) and then passed out in bed. We awoke at 2pm hungry and decided to explore Winnipeg and get some grub. Terry caught us just as we were leaving with the hilarious 'Good Morning' comment, laughing just that little bit too long. I caught sight behind him what looked like a photo of Cheryl Baker?? I tried but couldn't see a Chris Akabusi picture. I hurried Ria to get out. I'm scared of Terry and June. We went to this ok restaurant for yet more burgers, we were a bit sick of burgers after every bus stop but didn't seem much choice in Winnipeg. We headed back to Bates Motel and chilled before going out to the Ice Hockey.
Since we were saving money by walking there and back sketchy Ria was worried that her smoker drug/gun wielding friend would be there to show us the sights of Winnipeg. The only plan of action we could come up with if we saw him was to run away from him.
The Ice Hockey was amazing. Very surreal. There wasn't so much interest in the game itself from any supporters, all they seemed to care about was if they got their face on the big screen or if they could catch the tshirts being shot out of guns by very excitable girls. Me and Ria don't condone violence but we were shouting like anyone for a punch up between players! There were quite a few, much to our excitement as Ria was quickly trying to zoom in the camera to get a close up. A great experience, but if the Premier League was to get like what with the influx of American owners, id follow the Championship! We quickly exited the back door, and ran home.
Before going to bed I checked Terry wasn't hiding in the cupboard, and made Ria sleep on the side of the bed with the mannequin dressed in Victorian Clothes with bird feathers on its head??!
I awoke early to watch Everton V Liverpool on Iraq and Dutch TV on the laptop. Definitely the highlight of our travels so far! A dutch commentator shouting GHHHOOOOAALL also makes it sweeter!
Breakfast was a strange affair, no 8 - 11am. Just 8:30 prompt (luckily weekend was later. I believe weekday was 7:30). There was only one table, for 6 people - all the guests. All of us a little unsettled making small talk as Terry stood behind us looming over whilst June did everything. Terry tried to settle us by saying there was a guest in the attic room who doesn't come down for breakfast at weekends. Luckily I had a mouth full of strawberry's as in my head I said in reply 'That's because he's up there in your mothers dress rocking in a rocking chair'!
Everyone made a quick exit from breakfast, and we showered, packed and got the hell out of their.
As we made our way to the taxi to the train journey, I wanted to, in Alan Partridge style shout back at Terry and June 'Mentalists' but I knew we had to come back to Bates Motel in a week. Being eaten by a Polar Bear was looking like a more inviting option.
Song of Day 12 - Jeffrey Lewis & The Junkyard - Roll Bus Roll
Song of Day 13 - Super Furry Animals - Ice Hockey Hair
Song of Day 14 - Theme From Z Cars
