It's tough up North

We have left the States behind and have arrived in Canada, the first two stops have both been quiet, Saint Johns which we arrived at on Sunday and has a City Ordinance that no commercial business may open before noon. It was like stepping back in time to boyhood in the 50s the only thing open was Church and the Pub opening at noon for 2 hours. There were a few places of local interest open, mainly connected to the sea. The population is quite sparse and many places of value to visit lie a good way inland away from the Bay of Fundy which has the largest tidal range in the world of 25 metres. Both places we have visited have Pink visitor buses, old London Transport Routemasters run in conjunction and raising money for Breast Cancer research, a percentage of every passenger use goes to that extremely good cause. On to Halifax which is a mammoth working harbour, with a city that reflects its connection history and dependency on the sea, again it is one of those places where much of the scenery and interest are way outside the city limits. Someone perhaps unkindly commented "That it will be nice when it's finished"  After all the hub-bub of the States it is hard to get used to the serenity and open spaces of Canada. As today is a seaday and we had towards the St Lawrence seaway on route for Quebec and that part of Canada that is quintasentcialy France I thought I would update you on some of the passengers we met early on in the piece. The Salmon is getting pinker around the gills the further North we get and the curve in his hook becomes more pronounced we get closer to the spawning grounds by the day, I hope my  analogy is not to accurate as if I remember correctly they keep swimming upstream, spawn get caught by bears or end up dying by beaching themselves. I will keep a couple of buckets of water on stand by and get ready to rush him to one of the four on board swimming pools. Talking of pools the pack of three hunters regularly can be seen stalking the various watering holes onboard were unsuspecting males go to rest and take on refreshment, they attempt to cut the odd male out of the herd and proceed to attack as yet without success despite being decked out in their finest mating robes and tribal adornments, when they have had an unsuccessful hunt they turn their attention back to quaffing large amounts of Proseco and turning upon their secondary prey the Waiters who only young are prepared to dangle bait and flirt with the pack but are too experienced to get caught and know the exact moment to run away. Also around the waterholes the lesser spotted Zimmers and Wheelchairs gather later on after sundown initially appearing normal in behaviour, after several hours here they seem to get edgy and difficult to control and quite raucous as they attempt to go off and roost for the night, woe betide any unweary traveller who should get in their way!!!