The Wild West

Hallo,

Well it's been a while since I've posted as I haven't really had the time to sit at a computer and write. As this shows...I'm alive (still).
Here's a debrief:
- It's been raining. A lot.
- The view from our blocks in Sundre would have been amazing if it weren't for all the rain clouds in the way.
- The camp is relatively small...which is made smaller because our tents are all squeezed into a space created by the "bear fence" surrounding them.
- A bear fence consists of a single wire plugged into a power source. It broke. Often.
- Dogs are better for warding off bears.
- We've now moved on to a camp near Edson where bears are a greater threat and we have no bear fence.
- Our camp space is smaller than that in Sundre but we've adapted.
- We have a highway on one side of us and cows on the other.
- Cow tipping won't happen. I hope.
- We've had a lot of truck break downs and trucks getting stuck. It seems like we've received a lot of lemons this year. Oddly enough the trucks always seem to break down after getting into town.

That's all I have time for right now unfortunately. I will start posting pictures soon! Hope you are all well.
xoxo,
F

Back to the Bush

Some pictures from planting last year.


Short Update:
Barring any more snow, we will be heading out to Olds, then Sundre tomorrow in order to start planting by the 17th. Fingers crossed!

Calgary, eh?

After a short stay at home, I'm now out west- Calgary to be specific.
First Impressions of Calgary:
- Very nice parks
- Many bike paths
- I don't think it's possible for a city to be more spread out.

I've heard rumours that this is a "suburban" sort of city and now I see what they mean because it doesn't feel like a busy city in the way London, Toronto, Sydney, etc do. That said, it means there is an awful lot of green space which is nice.
We went on a ~20Km bike ride today in order to run some errands for treeplanting. For those of you who have known me for a while you'll know that things with wheels + hills don't like me, so it was a big deal for me to go on hills on a bike after years of not doing so. As you can see, I've survived to tell the tale.
About halfway through our ride, when we had reached our first destination, we encountered proof that it is no longer winter: it is Construction, also known as "spring and summer". We also acquired a flat....about two seconds after coming across Construction. Not a coincidence unfortunately. As luck would have it, it was the back tire.
The next half hour or so was spent finding the hole in the tube (because we pulled out the big staple before thinking we'd need to mark the spot), buying an only slightly iffy $3 patch kit, applying said patches...twice, and wrestling the whole thing back together. Thankfully, it did the trick and the patch job made it the 10clicks back.
Now it's time for me to sleep which I'm looking forward to; sitting is a bit painful after spending so much time on a bike today.
Another day, another adventure.
xoxo,
F

P.S And just because, these are pictures of a walk in the valley at home before I left.

Eating a concrete donut. Spelunking


Spelunking again. It's what happens when rocks don't skip.

London in 5 hours

Some guide books have suggested plans for touring London in as little as a week, three days, two days, or a day. We made up our own schedule and toured London in under 5 hours. We left Cambridge on an early morning bus and arrived at our B&B near Heathrow at about 1:30pm so we knew we had to pack everything into a short amount of time. I think we did pretty well.
I should also mention that it was a long weekend and London seemed to be even more crowded than Paris, if that is possible. We were tempted to take one of the many tour buses but chose instead to walk which would not only keep us more awake but save us 25quid.
After arming ourselves with some caffeine to combat our lack of sleep, we started out at Victoria station towards the ever famous Buckingham palace.
We carried on from there through St. James Gardens.
...and on to Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, and surrounding area.
From Westminster bridge we saw the London Eye (but didn't go on it) and continued to walk along the Thames river all the way to...
...the Tower of London. In the process we passed St.Paul's cathedral, Millennium Bridge, and London bridge.
From the Tower on London we spotted the Tower bridge but were, unfortunately, a little too knackered to get closer to it to take anything more than the duty "I've seen it" picture.
An even clearer sign that I needed sleep after the enjoyable, albeit speedy, tour of London was that these signs:
kept looking like this:
...and I had a brief moment of wondering why there were so many public toilets in buildings that didn't look like...well I caught myself on that and did realize they say "To Let" vs "To Rent" or "For Lease".
You will be glad to hear that we did catch up on our sleep to then fly out of London the next day and we are now back in Canada. It's very odd being back and in many ways it feels like I was gone but a few weeks. The trip on the whole was amazing and, if I were to go back in time, I'd make the same decision. I also highly recommend it for anyone else to do :)
Now I've got one somewhat serious concern to do with being back in Canada: traffic. I think I need to carry this picture around with me:
because after Australia (look right), Korea (look everywhere and try not to cross roads with any traffic on them), and the UK (look right), I've got an automatic reaction to look right. The same reaction I used to have in looking left that I overcame in Australia.
It's good to be back.
xoxo,
F

P.S I should add that I will be heading off to treeplant soon and have decided to continue with the blog as a way to update everyone (and thus providing you with an alternative to thumb twiddling when bored).

Tea, Scones, and English Weather

Mathematical bridge in Cambridge


Hallo!

It's been a while since posting and I'm sorry for that although it just means I've been really busy and running around (having fun). Now on with the story.

After Paris, Jess and I flew to London. One thing I have discovered is that despite the geographical proximity of France, England, and Scotland, it can take a full day of travel to get between them. Getting from Paris to London and then to Cambridge was no exception and it's for this reason I feel like I've spent too much time in airports as of late. That said, I like flying despite the time it can take getting to airports, checking in, being misdirected (twice), going through security, waiting for the plane, and boarding.


England!............France!
The flight from Paris to London made me realize, or perhaps prove my theory, that I am a horrid person to fly with if one is afraid of flying. Here is why: Turbulence worries or scares edgy fliers. Turbulence makes me laugh, particularly when around said edgy fliers. As awful as it sounds, it's similar to the situation we've surely all found ourselves in when someone has a comical fall and we all want to laugh even though we are also sympathetic. Unfortunately, not only do I laugh, I make comments that (in hindsight) are inappropriate such as "did you see the wings flapping?". As a warning to anyone who doesn't enjoy being several thousand feet in the air in a box with wings, please don't ever tell me that you feel safer in a bigger plane because I will be quick to point out the following:
- Bigger objects make for bigger crashes.
- Bigger planes tend to have more variables that can go wrong and cause problems.
- Bigger planes make for more people which makes for more people trying to esca....I won't finish that one.

Like I said, don't fly with me if you are not 100% happy to be up there no matter the weather, etc.

Once in London we carried on to Cambridge to visit family friends that I hadn't seen in 9 years time. We had a great time walking around, doing a bit of shopping, having good catch-up visits, a lot of laughs, eating good food, and drinking tea. I made a successful purchase of an umbrella on the first day because the forecast was for indefinite rain but we were pleasantly surprised with great weather for the rest of the trip!
The Orchard where we went for tea and scones.
Just as the French make the best croissants and baguettes, the English make the best scones, crumpets, and tea. These scones above were served with clotted cream which is an unfortunate name but it tasted delicious...just so long as you don't look at the nutrition facts. If you do, it still tastes delicious but comes with a side of guilt. What you don't know won't hurt you(r conscience).
xoxo,
F