Our journey to Vancouver was
13 ½ hrs in a near-new 787-8. We had breakfast in Brisbane’s Air New
Zealand airport lounge prior to departure. We had a lovely three-course brunch on
the plane. Later we had another small meal before landing.
We had a small window of time
to get from one plane to another to get to Toronto, rushing a little through
customs and along the long corridors as our plane was late arriving. Thankfully
our next plane (an old 777) to Toronto was also late (it had come from Sydney,
Aust), so we waited in the Air Canada lounge. We departed for Toronto 45 min. late.
The business class area in
both planes was right at the front of the plane behind the pilots, to the left
of the access door to the plane. Our seats were very comfortable, with lots of space
and room for our feet and bags. The service was great. The seats lie flat to
make a comfortable bed, but neither of us got the sleep that we wanted (so
suffered a bit from jet-lag in the couple of days following).
We were picked up from the
Toronto airport (Monday evening – our second Monday because of the dateline!)
by our friends, Jackie and Lorne, who took us to their place in Tillsonburg
about 180 km (1½ to 2hrs by road (mostly Freeway)) away and mid-way to Detroit,
USA.
[Toronto is on the shore of Lake Ontario. This is the region of the
Great Lakes – five in all (Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron
and Lake Superior). The lakes lie on the border between USA and Canada. Lake Ontario is the last one before the water travels via the St Lawrence seaway to the Atlantic Ocean. Canada
has a great many lakes and waterways.]
Tillsonburg is in a rural
farming area, with many acres of corn, wheat and soy bean crops, dotted with
farm houses and barns. Tillsonburg is a medium-sized town of about 15,000
people. Jackie and Lorne live in an O'55s community, with lovely three-bedroom
(and smaller) houses, lots of gardens, and no fences. Most homes have a
basement, with various configurations for extra living or storage and
entertainment. Jackie and Lorne’s basement is empty – no walls to make
rooms. Their home backs on to a nature reserve with tall trees, and often they
see a fox, or some deer (we didn’t see either). They have a lovely long back garden,
with pretty flowers in garden beds. A naughty rabbit chews some of the flowers
at times, which annoys Jackie. The front of the house faces a very large field
of soy beans, so their outlook is always good. It’s a great, calming place to
retire! Mind you, in winter it is ALL covered in layers of snow! Brrrrrr!
 |
| Lorne and Jackie outside their home |
 |
| Long back garden |
 |
| Pottery poppy made by a friend of theirs |
I googled their address that you gave us after you left and was wondering about their backyard, and if the paddock across the road was empty still! It looks like a newish estate they're in.
ReplyDelete