A wee taste of Newfoundland

[happy daze john in oz]

Do not know a lot about Canada but on the cruise on the large deck screen they showed some sport from Canada. It would appear they play two lethal games, Ice Hockey, or as it shoul be known how to cut your opponents head of with the stick, and Lacrosse. How to use a sling shot to the best advantage. Enjoyed both.

[John Arton]

If I remember in St Johns NB if you wanted any booze you had to go to the police station and get a permit .There use to be a young guy come aboard the ship with newspapers and he put us onto a sly grog house and I think the beer was not that costly I think the beer was called White horse or something like that that was in 1946

Lou
In the winter of 68/69 I was on the Beaverfir running to St. John NB and apart from the Liquor store there were only 3 places where you could buy and drink alcohol and they stopped at 2200. There was the C.P. Hotel, a cocktail lounge at the rear of a restaurant and the Legion club. With having a bar on board we were swamped nightly with female telephonists and nurses, partying every night from 2000 to 0600 with fresh guests appearing at 2400 every night when the shifts in the hospital and telephone exchange changed. We used to have joint parties with Manchester Liners ships, particularly the "Faith" as it too was a definite party ship. My job as cadet was nightly to trot up the road at 130 to get hamburgers for all the officers on board as everyone turned in at 1700 when the dockers knocked of, until 2000 when the nights party started. One trip we had 21 days in discharging and loading and after 20 party nights boy were we glad to get back to sea for some real rest.
I remember the taxis there being the most unsafe cars on the road with mad drivers, poor brakes and rusty bodies. One of my all time favourite ports despite the bitter cold and feet of snow and ice.
Toronto was another great city. There was a great steak joint up on Yonge street that we all used to use but I cannot remember its name. I was in the C.P. hotel with a couple of other lads off the ship having a drink. It was Grey Cup day when the Calgary Rough Riders met Ottawa Giants for the final of the Canadian Football season. Hundreds of Calgary fans had made the trip in horse drawn chuck wagons and had set up camp in the parks or on the street. Whilst we were drinking in the bar one Calgary fan brought his horse into the hotel, put it in the baggage elevator, took it up a couple of floors and then walked it down the stairs to the bar, tied it up, calmly sat down and ordered a beer for himself. No one blinked an eye, just carried on drinking ......true story.
A few years later St. John NB had a street full of bars with topless go-go dancers etc.
Its main tourist attraction is the waterfall where the water runs "uphill" when the tide comes in. The rise and fall of the tides in the Bay of Fundy is one of the greatest in the world and the incoming tide overcomes the outflowing river to such an extent that the waterfall disappears under the tide.
Canada is definitely my all time favourite country and we would love to do the Trans Canada rail trip in order to see the interior, the Rockies etc.
rgds
JA

[Richard Quartermaine]

Thanks Jacyn. I think this was Sunnyside or perhaps Roncesvalles and Bloor. I lived around that area, When I first went to Toronto I stayed with my Uncle who immigrated to Canada after being demobbed from WW1 in Bradford, Yorks. He was with the post office I think until retirement, mainly in Oshawa I believe.
Here are two more photos, one of Queen Street and one of King or Bloor Streets.
I left Toronto in October 1955 before the subway was completed but did a trip there in 1978 and was amazed at how big it became from 650,000 to 4million!!
Cheers,
Richard

[Jacyn Wade]

Great old pics, Richard, thank you. You wouldn't recognize Toronto now. I barely recognize parts of it, and I've only been gone for 9 years. Definitely not the city it once was, regrettably.

---------- Post added at 01:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:02 PM ----------

I believe from what I've been told Canada is very much like Australia, John - for the most part rugged and beautiful, except I think we're a lot colder in winter. Hockey is practically a religion here but we don't see too much lacrosse these days. Basketball and American football are the other two popular sports.

[Keith at Tregenna]

My plans are to visit Canada before the US, NZ before Oz, that is just me. K.

[Keith Tindell]

Agree with both of your choices there Keith, Canada and NZ beautiful countries. If i was unable to live where i do, and had to move abroad, it would be South Island NZ, just my preferences KT

[robpage]

Just because you are on Englands South Island I expect

[Lou Barron]

Yes Keith post 26 You picked the best place in NZ and that could be Dunedin