Tottering Into Cyberspace ... and Vancouver ...

9th Oct '09
... on my Train Legs. After 4 nights and 3 days aboard The Canadian from Toronto, stopping at Winnipeg (cold and sunny), Edmonton (warm and wet), and gorgeous Jasper (bright sun to driving rain in 30 secs) nestling in the snow-capped Rockies. 40 minutes was not long enough there, VIA Rail, are you listening?
Obviously, because this is a trip of a lifetime, we had fog on the first morning, followed by dank dark rain through the dank dark swamp, and the densely packed forest of dark firs, and tall, wonky minarets of the bigger ones trying to pierce the clouds. It was punctuated by murky-looking pools and lakes, which were transformed by occasional bursts of sunshine that lit up the green trees, sprinkled along the forest edges with golden Aspen and reddening Maple. I asked Billie (hi Billie) who makes this journey twice a year (unaccompanied, and 92) if she knew what the forest would have looked like in 1897 when my grandparents made this journey. "Oh, these are the new trees, " she explained, "Back then the old trees would have been fully mature." That made me think; perhaps all they saw was menacing, claustrophobic forest surrounding lifeless-looking swamp. What a gloomy start to their life together, and I stared out of the window (looking for moose, as you do) wondering how she would have felt, knowing she'd left her beloved family back in New Brunswick and her teaching in Halifax. She'd just married a man she hardly knew who was taking her all the way to China, and as a lowly British Consular staff at that time, the government wouldn't pay his passage home on leave for at least 5 years.
While I was in Montreal, before my train trip, with my cousins, 2 more came for a family get-together. These were dedicated amateur genealogists and had so much information about the Murrays; their cleverness, their compassion, their work ethic, I couldn't keep up with who'd married who in 1822, but I did try, like a good Murray should! But failed because of jetlag, you understand.
I made notes on the train, and made death-defying descents down the ladder from my upper berth, scraping my shins in the semi-darkness as the train bumped merrily along at 80-ish mph. And I made friends. And they were really good company. I told them about the WCMT and the opportunity they have given me. My first breakfast companion knew all about the Boxer Rebellion and had read about the siege of Peking in 1900 (this is so unusual; I think it's a first for me, meeting someone who is not an historian) which my grandparents lived through. The next day I met 2 Canadians who loved the UK and especially Cambridge where I grew up (I just happened to have some photos with me!).
A lot of time was spent in the last observation car learning to take pictures through double glazing without internal lights reflecting. I got some good photos, and a lot of big trees, especially when I had the zoom on, which would pop up for a nice close-up in the second it took for the shutter to come down. As soon as I've learnt how to put them on my blog, I shall.
Time is ticking away on my hotel computer. On the last morning as we approached Vancouver my neighbour in the next berth sat down and said something like-- Was your grandfather a Chinese labourer who built the CPR railroad all the way to Vancouver and survived? But you're blonde and don't look Chinese, I thought. When you've been listening to your iPod, looking sadly out of the window, I thought, poor thing, she must be thinking about her grandfather all those years ago working with his pick-axe --. !!
Chinese Whispers relayed down 21 train carriages, and an awful lot of people tottering off the train believing everything they'd heard. I thought I was getting some funny looks!
Next stop, Shanghai. Must fly.