Tuesday, September 8, 2009

When it rains in the Peg


My usual reaction to rain is to write the whole day off. This proved to be a big problem in Glasgow (I tried my utmost not to leave the house), but it's generally a pain when travelling. Now that it's pouring in the Peg, what do I do all day? I expected two things of the city: friendly people and lotsa wind. Winnipeg, you delivered on both. The wind actually came in handy this morning as I was walking to breakfast and soaked my only pair of jeans. On the way back to the hostel to dry off, the rain stopped and the wind blew my pants dry. (Winnipeg - you da best!)While packing, I had the briefest of hesitation over whether I really needed the extra weight of a rain jacket. It seemed a little extravagant. Lucky for my future self, I reasoned that over a month it would likely rain at least once. It proved to be a typical Halifax day here in Winnipeg: torrential downpour in the morning, misty showers all day, brief spot of sun in the afternoon and now it's thunder storming. Sweet, sweet nostalgia.

The downtown is a curious mix of elegant brick buildings from the early 20th century and skyscrapers. I've never seen so many ghost signs in a city before. Last night, trying to avoid sitting in my hostel room alone, I braved a bar alone that had a remarkably similar feel to Ronnie's. (I would never, under any circumstances, go into Ronnie's alone.) I got a beer, spread my maps out on a table and pretended to look incredibly absorbed. Within minutes, someone ambled over and asked what was with all the maps and pretty soon I was drinking with Zeke and Ron (the Ron who's now following this blog). I'm pretty sure this has never happened or will ever happen in Toronto, so the Peg has impressed.

5 comments:

  1. what a surprise

    your blog is as narcissistic as your cringe-worthy editorials

    sorry to break it to you, but you aren't the only upper middle class white kid to go on vacation.

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  2. well i was going to say that i'm enjoying your posts but now shamespiral has changed my opinion with her witty yet entirely jealous and anonymous drive by snipe. kudos to you SS.

    on the real though, DSC03015 is my favourite ghost sign.

    also, what's wrong with ronnie's other than the fact that it's turning into a haven for night club rejects and hipsters that can't remember if they're being sarcastic or not?

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  3. Yay, hate mail! You've made it!

    Denise

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  4. Haha. Yeah, I feel very loved as soon as someone takes an anonymous potshot. It's weird, this shamespiral person is saying the exact same thing that so many ppl said on the globe article, basically scolding me for relating my experiences. It's okay. They don't "get" it.

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  5. Whoa, get a load of Shamespiral with the breaking news! What a truly insightful comment! Go jump in a lake!

    Laura, you've actually made me want to visit Winnipeg in the near to distant future. That's a pretty impressive feat. Keep it up!

    Love, Bridge

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