Saturday 31 July 2021
Around the World with Bradley: Canada: Travel home
Three young Canadian girls having breakfast. Which is a bottle of coke.
One of them asks us for a cigarette. She wats
to borrow a cig. I’ve only just started smoking and really need a smoke.
On the plane an air hostess with big hair
speaks to us. As the plane is de-iced.
Air hostess: What is the gap between these
two?
Air hostess: Do they have the same father?
Air hostess: What a beautiful baby.
Air hostess: Why did you wait so long? I
couldn’t do that. You know you miss it and don’t miss it. You know what I mean.
The getting up at night.
Air hostess: What do you do?
Air hostess: Where do you come from?
Air hostess: What were you doing in Canada?
She gets out a photo album of her two sons
which she has handy. With a blue cloth cover and ribbons.
Me: Any emergencies on the plane?
Air hostess: Yes lots. Mainly medical. People
travelling are so old nowadays.
LA international airport: Attention travelers.
You are not required to give money to solicitors. This airport does not sponsor
their activities. I repeat.
Announcement: Please maintain personal belongs
with you at all times. Do not leave your baggage unattended.
Announcement: Unattended baggage will be
promptly removed by law enforcement officers.
Check-in clerk: Have you had your luggage at
all times within your sight?
Check-in clerk: Has anybody given you a packet
or parcel to carry?
Plane to Dallas: Males wear baseball caps.
Plane is full of Americans chirping away the whole trip. Standing in the aisle bending
over talking. The sales reps for Mary Kay Cosmetics are going to Dallas for
annual conference. Impeccably groomed. Hair make-up.
Calgary airport is full of white cowboy hats.
One man wears two.
View from plane. Mountain ranges. Snow or less
snow and more trees.
LA airport. Need to wait 6 hours. Aussie
accents appear. He’s one. Look at him. They look different. Quietly confident.
In the lounge a couple of Aussies start
talking. Laughing telling stories. Not emotional. Not crying, dancing abusing
singing not religious. Practical. Want to be nice blokes.
On the plane American passengers wear masks.
American toilets have wrap on the seats.
Flight back: Very tiring. Everybody comes up
and says: What a beautiful baby.
American lady: He’s so beautiful you could put
him in a commercial.
Hobart: Zombies. Half-dream like. Half recognize
our house.
Around the World with Bradley: Canada: Travel home
Arrive in Canada
Fly from Calgary to Edmonton. Landscape split
in two. Rockies to the west. Right is flat prairies. Crossed by roads and
fences. Rockies are white snow and dark shadows. Beautiful and dangerous.
Each paddock is mowed of ploughed differently.
Snow settles in the deeper spots accentuates were tractor has been. Light
covering of snow everywhere except for the roads.
All the fences straight. At right angles.
Square blocks of paddocks. A few trees, conifers remain around houses and
roads.
Leave Canada
Temperature -12. Pack squeeze push my suitcase
shut. It is possible.
George checks the cows and fills the van with
gas. He comes in dressed for the outside. We are dressed for inside. He puffs
and drops of moisture hang from his nose and moustache.
Outside the air has form. It beats. It is
solid can feel it. The cars idle and warm up. We wait inside.
Pam has two sets of car keys. In winter leaves
the car idling, locks the car and go inside to shop.
Drive to Edmonton. Frost. The trees have a
white frosty appearance. The frost hangs on the bare trees.
Couple of coyotes in the snow covered ploughed
field. Scrouging around looking for field mice.
No birds apart from ravens, owls. Birds flow
south migrating like some of the people. Silent frozen lakes. Devoid of birds.
Static.
Pam: It is good to have some friends in
Athabasca who are not Christian Fundamentalists. 50% of the population goes to church.
Robert is the only one in his class who does non-RI. He wanted to do RI before
Christmas because they were making Christmas Trees.
Edmonton Greyhound Bus Centre: Get lunch at a
burger place. Robert/Neyland geta baby burger.
Stacey gets a teen burger. I get a grandpa
burger.
Grandpa burger: Bun with three burger patties.
Teen burger: two burger patties and cheese.
The bus is full of single sole travelers. One
person occupies two seats. Sits by the window and feet on the other side.
Nobody talks apart from one lady in the front seat who spends the whole trip
talking to the driver. The heating is incredibly hot. Scenery is everchanging
quilted paddocks. Snow varies light, moderate and heavier near Calgary. Starts
snowing. Whisps of snow flying and swirling.
Calgary the snow is more visible against the dark
buildings. All the pedestrians hurry. Legs pumping. Heads bowed. No browsing.
No shops face the street. Malls contain the shops. in Edmonton the highway is
lined by rows of warehouses and family restaurants. Warehouses for computers,
fishing equipment, food, clothes, office stationery etc.
On TV is a comedy program called 22 minutes. A
section called America talks where a Canadian reporter goes ton Des Moines Iowa
to interview the locals.
Canadian reporter: You know Air Canada has
these propellor planes and they’re talking of getting jets. I don’t feel
comfortable. I want to look out the window and see something go round.
The Americans all laugh at the Canadian
reporter. The Canadians watching TV all laugh at the Americans. Cause we sucked
them in. We are not really that stupid.
Around the World with Bradley: Canada: Shopping Mall
West Edmonton Shopping Mall: The eighth wonder of the world.
800 shops.
Shop selling black leather gloves; tattooist; body piercing; specialty shops.
Galaxyland:
indoor amusement arcade. Mini golf; go
karts; ice skating rink;; dolphin show; dolphins jumping out of water; standing
on their tails;; giant wave pool with numerous water slides;, beach patrols;
bungee jumping;
Virtually
empty; post-Christmas; kids back at school;
Ice skating
rink in the centre surrounded by shops.
I skate
with trepidation. About 6 locals young guys skate expertly. Racing each other;
I skate
tentatively unsure if I can stand; Two young guys skate in front of me missing
me by about a foot. They look at each other and laugh. I don’t flinch. I don’t
alter my style, They wanted me to jump back. To be frightened. they then leave
me to skate alone. A few more slow laps of the rink and one guy skates beside
me: You need to lean forward. Stick your bum out. You get better balance.
I don’t want
to speak. He won’t understand me. I nod.
Later we
watch a figure skater. Easy naturalistic graceful and difficult.
Lunch:
Burger place. American 50’s style. Nice burgers,
Teenagers
dress like Americans. No gloves. No tooks.
Shop
selling pictures: We enter and lady grabs us and says: What exactly are you
looking for.
A minute
later: What particular one are you looking for. Perhaps I can help.
Around the World with Bradley: Canada: Around Athabasca
Robert loves the van. The van has controls in the back for the heater. Robert continually adjusts the controls.
Drive up
the highway. Flat wide. Many pickup trucks. Buildings solid, square with flat
concrete roofs.
No gardens
No leaves on trees. Snow melts and reveals dead brown grass, slush and dirt.
The snow
without wind is quiet. Clear blue sky. The snow covers and suppresses
everything. Blankets the life out of the landscape. The light from the
buildings fight back. Lights indicate people and heat.
Afternoon
drive to Athabasca School. Take off our shoes and boots when entering the
building.
Beautiful
open planned spacious building. Music room with stained glass windows.
Sign: This
room is free of peanuts and peanut products.
Sign: Due
to allergies hair spare; perfume is not to be worn in these buildings.
Pam: Lack of testosterone at school. No male teachers.
We go to a
sport shop to sharpen our skates.
Sport shop:
Rows of hockey sticks. Skates, ice hockey uniforms, ice fishing lures. An auger
for drilling holes in ice, ice shoes, bait, hunting apparel, no guns, rod for
ice fishing.
Around Athabasca you can hunt for white-tailed deer, moose
and elk. No caribou . No long horned sheep.
A licence to hunt a long horned sheep will last a year and cost
$100,000.
George: You
can buy a license to hunt deer. To hunt a moose your name goes into a raffle.
The winners win a license to hunt a moose. Can also hunt ducks.
Trading Post Shop: Heads of deer. Horses foot door knockers.
Animal skins. Leather jackets. Boots from pelts.
Café for
morning tea. Cinnamon rolls and cinnamon muffins.
I receive a
tea pot full of hot water. I pour it into my cup and then see a dry tea bag
sitting on my saucer. Waitress knows I not Canadian.
Ice skating
at an outdoor ice skating rink. At Colenton. Wooden pine fence. Open air. Large
spacious. We can watch other skaters. Local kids. Expert. Racing and comparing
skidding stops. The air is brisk. I shuffle around.
In
Athabasca a lot of the locals seem to be staring at us. Somehow we are dressed
differently, behave differently or they know everybody in this small town. And
don’t recognize us.
We meet Brad. A friend. A young farmer. Full time. All full
time farmers have inherited the family farm. No new young farmers coming into
the business.
Brad: Its tough because we don’t get the subsides and help
they get in the USA. No protection for us. We are left to ourselves.
George: There are the Boards which distort the market in
Canada. Milk, cranberries.
Brad is relaxed. Slow talking. Whole life lived on a farm.
Farms with his father. Getting into beef. More money.
Go to Athabasca to look for arts and crafts. Can’t find any
or any interest. Native Friendship Centre
gets thousands a year in grants. Not interested in promoting art and
craft.
Friends of Pam: Loss of services. Loss of jobs in
agriculture. All the children leave Athabasca.
Pam: At a funeral the local MP (a token Indian) turned up in
sneakers and windcheater. Lack of respect. Declining standards.
Go with
George and Pam to university lunch room. Salad, pancakes, waffles with
strawberries in a syrup to be eaten with the main course. Eggs, bacon and
sausages.
Around the World with Bradley: Canada: The farm
George has a daily job. Check the cows. Looking for any standing back; not eating; drooping head; ears not upright; not alert; bad gait.
Locates two and separates them from the main herd. Takes
them to a pen. Takes temperature. Inject with oxytetracycline. Isolate all the
sick ones. A couple are getting better.
Back to the herd.
Heath feeds the cows a mixture of silage, barley, oats.
Needs to be adjusted going by computer programme. This winter so far eight cows
been lost. For difficult ones get a second opinion from vet. Haemophilus has
killed two cows. That’s $1000 gone. Cows are money in the bank. If they survive
winter in fall they will be sold off.
Heath and
George de-horn the cattle. Drops of blood on the snow. They enjoy the physical
work. It warms them up. Big variation in horns. Lot don’t have any
horns.
-12 outside. Very cold. George goes inside to change his
snow boots. Leaves boots by the fire to warm up.
Branding iron to stop the bleeding of the cows.
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