DAY TWO – Oba – Sioux Lookout – Winnipeg (and Portage La Prairie)

We think we passed Longlac at breakfast. Still in Ontario for some time to come, we’re looking at stunning blue sky, lights glinting off the still waters nested in the swampy mossy forests. Pine trees on the horizon, continually shifting, dipping and rising with the contours of the rocky substrate.

During the ‘Fresh Air Stop’ (or refueling) a guy wandered past as I broke the rules, taking a photo of the two engines whilst refueling, but my error paled into insignificance as I saw he was smoking a cigarette! Big fuel truck? Maybe that’s why they brought in security later on?

There’s an activities officer for each section. We were blocked from the economy section closer to the engine. But luckily my friend Nadine Cresswell-Myatt has told that story for you!

At the other end of the train Prestige Passengers indulge in their leatherette halls, moodily lit caboose bar, and Dome Car view, plus prestige cabins in their chateaux. Here’s how they live.

And in the middle of the aprox 650 metre long train, there are two groups of three carriages together with two games/activities rooms and two Dome cars, also known as Bubble cars. Therefore, Bublé cars. He’s Canadian, right?

MANITOBA

Afternoon – We’ve crossed into Manitoba Province. One of the staff in the middle bublè read a lecture about Manitoba and decorated with a personal – anecdote is going a bit far – memory about finding his gym teacher smoking a spliff on school camp, and then seeing the dude thirty years later when nothing mattered anymore. Over-rehearsed, his eyes sparkled as he pretended to be the coach, then himself, scared of six-foot-four-inches sports-guy pot-head. And the view went past.

Rain in Manitoba. The landscape rose on its rock substrata. The forests predominantly pine around smooth extensive lakes. Manitoba goes up to Alaska and is the province seasonally featuring polar bears.

Us vegans had a bland quinoa salad for lunch. A new pal joined the gang, Kath, a retired theatre worker from Bristol. She got cheese on her salad and complained of too much lettuce! How can you have too many leaves?

At Winnipeg we had a staff change over. Our car carer apologised profusely he had not been able to get the board for my desk use and informed me he would most certainly wipe my sink, empty the rubbish and give me fresh towels before he left the train. Sure, I said. He checked when I’d be at my dinner call. I left five dollars propped against the window (look, don’t get me started on tips) and it was still there when I got back.

The attendant was in the cupboard next to me, sitting on the chair, bent over his phone. His packed bag was next to him. On sighting me, he leapt up, accosted me in the corridor like a trap door spider, and insisted that now was the time for him to wipe my sink. I assured him it was not, he could relax, and I kept the money!

A lot of people went for a walk in Winnipeg. We were parked there for three hours, I think. Too late to see the Museum of Human Rights but people wandered down to look at the outside, a beautifully lit wedding cake structure. Check out the video about the current exhibition of the Residential School Blanket.

Extraordinary to think Winnipeg is the centre of Canada. Central time! Apparently Winnipeg, even in minus 50 degrees below zero, is still a beautiful town with lots of nightlife and good vibes. So they say.

My new steward was a bright young smiling Holly who would be looking after me from now on. She looked at me in surprise and said, ‘Have you been on before?’ ‘No.’ ‘Well, you have a train-twin somewhere!’ Hi, Train-Twin, whomsoever you are!