Bang to rights in Ottawa

12 May 2020 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Canadian birthday adventures Tags: , , , ,

Originally when we planned this trip we were going to travel from Montreal to Toronto by train, but while searching for accommodation a little hostel popped up on my search that seemed far too interesting to ignore. So we decided on a pit stop in Ottawa.

We stayed in the Ottawa Jail Hostel, first opened in 1862 this was the city lock up for many years. Centrally situated this hostel has been cleverly converted to accommodate many a weary traveller. There are 4,6 and 8 bedded dorm rooms,  deluxe double rooms with en-suite facilities. We however had one of the double cells, converted from original cells there are single and double rooms. They are very bijou, furnished with ether a single bed or bunk beds, a table and clothes rail, it really is like being in prison! if you are claustrophobic I would probably give them a miss. Showers and toilets are shared but cleaned on a very regular basis. One of the original inmates of our cell was Patrick O’Shea in 1886 serving time for theft. Included in the room price is a very substantial buffet breakfast with cereal, eggs, fruit, bread, bagels, cheese and lots more on offer with unlimited tea and coffee to wash it all down with. A word of warning though, there is no lift in the original part of the prison and there are 6 floors!

Ottawa is the constitutional and political capital of Canada and the centre is very compact and easy to explore on foot. The 2 days we had there were the wettest of our holiday, so it kind of hampered our enjoyment of the city, but only a little bit because we’re Brits and won’t let a bit of rain put us off!

We had a good nose around the parliament buildings for free,  in a bid to try and stay a little drier. We did want to climb the Peace Tower but unfortunately it was closed for restoration work. The sun did make an appearance long enough for us to explore Byward Market, have some lunch and buy some delicious goodies to prepare later in the hostel’s kitchen for dinner.

 

Next ……. road trip to Toronto

Montreal Marvels

30 Apr 2020 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Canadian birthday adventures Tags: , , , , ,

Every four years a great sporting event happens and the highlight for me is the gymnastics. In 1976 I was only 9 years old but I do remember watching Nadia Comaneci get the first ever perfect 10 in the Montreal Olympic games.

Our lovely hotel was only a hop, skip and jump away from the Olympic Park, so that was our first port of call when we arrived in Montreal. After a quick pose in the Place Nadia Comaneci we made our way to the main stadium with the intention of taking the funicular to the top of the tower. The stadium boasts the highest inclined tower in the world standing at 175 metres. Just a short ride affords the most amazing panoramic view of the Olympic park, Botanical gardens and the rest of the city.

While exploring the old town we discovered the most beautiful cathedral I’ve ever seen. The Notre Dame’s interior is absolutely exquisite. I won’t be able to do it justice by describing it, so just look at these photos.

From a roof top terrace enjoying a little tipple or two we noticed a very large mound of greenery in the distance looming over the city. This is the Parc du Mont – Royal and it’s huge, it’s the site of an eroded ancient volcanic complex. The walk to the top is a steady winding incline that seems to go on and on forever. Or if feeling more energetic there are very steep woodland paths and staircases to climb. On either walks you are treated to beautiful scenery and trees galore in shades of orange, red, green and yellow. Our reward for getting to the end of the long and winding road was the amazing view from the Belvedere Kondiaronk lookout in front of the Chalet du Mont Royal. It seemed like we were on the very top of Montreal and couldn’t get any higher.

I was wrong….The highest point as it turns out is the 46th floor of the Observatoire Place Ville Maria. The floor to ceiling glass panels ensured that the 360 degree views were phenomenal. We spotted a pretty roof terrace on the 44th floor and decided to take a closer look. It was part of the restaurant and it was time for another drink, well apparently they are none too friendly in this establishment if you only want a drink.

As with Quebec be prepared to speak French or at least try.  Montreal is a fascinating city with a good metro network. As we were staying for only 4 nights we only saw a small part. Good excuse to return.

Next stop Ottawa……

Quirky Quebec

29 Apr 2020 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Canadian birthday adventures Tags: , , , , , , ,

Our journey started with a very turbulent flight to Montreal, I think we only had 3 hours of smooth flight in the whole 7 hours. I must admit I enjoy a bit of turbulence so it didn’t put me off my film fest.

18 hours and a bus ride later we had arrived in Quebec. My heart sank a bit on the taxi drive to our hotel as it seemed quite a way out of town. The Bate’s motel lookalike had a very comfortable room and a lovely warm swimming pool to relax in. Once we got our bearings and worked out the bus routes it was all good.

bates motel

The best part about our location was our close proximity to the Montmorency Falls, it was just a short bus journey away. Situated and protected in the Montmorency Falls Park, the waterfalls are 83 metres tall, that’s 30 metres taller than Niagara Falls. The sight and sound of the falls from the suspension bridge is breathtaking. For the brave (and slightly fit) tourists there is a staircase all the way down the cliff to the foot of the falls.  The 487 steps are more than manageable on the way down, but I found the ascend just a little more challenging, fortunately there are quite a few places to stop and take a well earned breather. The park around the falls and the main house are stunning, and we were so lucky to see it in autumn.

Quebec is an exceptionally pretty French city, Vieux Quebec is a UNESCO world heritage site and this so well deserved. It’s full of beautiful architecture, quirky shops and cafés and divided into the lower and upper cities. These are connected by either a steep walk or by the funicular. Travelling down the cliff at a 45 degree angle and track is 64 metres long, it was first opened in 1879. Originally it was propelled by a water ballast system, but converted to an electrical system in 1907. It’s a lovely way to get to the lower city and port, but I still felt the need to challenge myself by taking the picturesque steep walk back up.

While on our day out to the falls we saw the Queen Mary 2 sailing into port in the distance. So on our second visit to Vieux Quebec we knew we needed to make our way to the port to get a good look at this beautiful ship. When we tracked it down we noticed a smaller less elegant boat offering a return trip up the Saint Lawrence river. I don’t usually like boats as I tend to feel sick just looking at them. But the on-board tour guide was so entertaining and knowledgeable that I didn’t feel the need to frequent the loos to vomit at all. It was a very relaxing journey that returned to port just as the sun was starting to go down, giving the city a lovely magical glow.

Quebec is an amazing place to visit but a word to the wise, it is a predominantly French speaking city, it is everyone’s first language. There are many people in the shops, cafes and restaurants that do speak English, but it is not guaranteed. I brushed up on my school girl French as soon as I booked up our trip, also quite a few holidays in France helped me to remember. They really do appreciate you trying to speak in French if you can.

Next stop …back to Montreal

80 fabulous years young

29 Apr 2020 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Canadian birthday adventures Tags: , , ,

In March this year my mum turned 80. Some of my merry band of followers may remember me writing about my adventures doing fifty fabulous things to celebrate reaching my half century.

Funnily enough my mum didn’t think she would be able to come up with 80 things to do to celebrate this significant birthday. Just as well given that we are now in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic.

But luckily we did manage to celebrate with a week long agenda of outings and family gatherings including a surprise party, ten pin bowling and lunch at the Ivy in Winchester, before the lockdown commenced.

But the best bit of luck was booking our big trip away last year before all this madness began. While discussing possible birthday treats we decided a big holiday would be fabulous, both of us had always fancied visiting Canada.

So a plan was hatched ….. three weeks in the east coast, visiting Quebec, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara Falls and finishing off over the border in Manhattan.

The next few posts are about our adventures in North America and bits of local information which might entice you to visit this amazing part of Canada.

To squeeze or not to squeeze

04 Mar 2020 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , ,

We’ve all seen the adverts on TV for pads for bladder leakage for women. I have always found them to be irritating, but the most recent one particularly gets on my nerves somewhat. It has various women talking about their little “accidents” and leakage saying that it’s perfectly normal and the solution? wear a pad! I know it’s a commercial but nearly all the women are relatively young, believing it’s acceptable to regularly “lose a couple of drops”, are they going to wear pads for the rest of their lives?

Yes bladder leakage is a problem, particularly following pregnancy and childbirth, the pelvic floor takes quite a bashing to say the very least. It’s no wonder weakness occurs. Also as we age, even if we haven’t had children, the pelvic floor weakens.

But the pelvic floor is a group of muscles which can be strengthened with just a little bit of daily effort.

When I started my nurse training back in the 80’s at the age of 18 the best bit of advice was given to me by the head of the School of nursing, when she was giving a talk to all the new students. She said that we could prevent becoming old ladies that wet ourselves by simple doing regular pelvic floor exercises from that moment on.

At that time she suggested holding a wee mid flow for a couple of seconds each time we used the toilet, things have moved on a bit since then. Although this is still a good way to find your muscles so you know what to exercise.

A quick Google search led me to this simple regime:

Squeeze the pelvic floor as quickly as possible, rest for 3 – 5 seconds, repeat 10 – 20 times. Repeat exercise twice later in the day.

Interestingly the makers of these pads also have exercises on their websites, starting simple as above and progressing on to include abdominal exercises. It’s just a shame they don’t mention them in their ads. exercises here.

I am aware that not all bladder leakage is caused by weak pelvic floor muscles and the solution is not as simple as doing daily exercises. I am not suggesting this is a fix for everyone.

But if it is the cause of the problem then surely it makes sense to raise awareness and promote these exercises rather than just advocate the wearing of pads. Especially if the problem is caused by pregnancy and childbirth in early/mid adulthood, that will result in a long time wearing pads for something that can be fixed with education and effort.

I think that this education should start earlier, get it into the school curriculum to start children, boys and girls,  thinking about taking responsibility for their wellbeing in adulthood.

 

toilet

 

 

Just say yes

29 Feb 2020 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , ,

Over the years I have become a fan of the TV show “Say yes to the dress”. If you have yet to experience the delight let me enlighten you; there are bridal salons in New York and Atlanta, these are the 2 original salons to open their doors to the cameras to film brides choosing their dresses for the big day. We the audience share in their journey of trying on usually over-priced gowns while often over analysing their choices and crying buckets of tears.

Since the early days of Kleinfelds in New York other shows have cropped up in locations such as Las Vegas, Canada, Ireland and here in England hosted by Gok Wan and David Emmanuel.

The brides come in all shapes and sizes and from all different backgrounds with varying budgets and tastes. One of the most common denominators though is the entourage, a lot of the brides that feature on the shows, especially in New York, bring enormous groups with them to help them select the perfect dress. She usually wants them all to like the one she picks, not just have an opinion on how it looks on her, but actually love it as much as she does. These entourages can sometimes be as many as 20 people, how on earth can anyone expect that many people to all love the same dream dress. This evitability ends in tears and a lot of the time the bride will leave without selecting a dress, because she doesn’t seem to have the backbone to stand up to her friends and family and go with the dress she loved in the dressing room before showing it them.

Another common theme is the mother; often the mum will have a fixed idea of how she would like her daughter to look on the big day. A lot of the time on these shows they usually imagine their daughters in princess style ball gowns and often that is so far removed from what the bride has in mind. This makes for a very difficult situation because these brides are looking for their mother’s approval and set themselves the almost impossible task of keeping everyone happy.

The most tricky situation in my opinion is when the mother is paying for the dress and wants the bride to wear only a dress that she likes, regardless of whether her daughter actually likes it or looks good in it. This sometimes escalated into the mother refusing to pay for a dress because she does not like the style, even if her daughter looks beautiful in her choice.

Her choice… surely if she is able to choose her life partner, then she is quite capable and should be able to choose her own gown.

As a mother of 2 wonderful sons I am never going to experience this special time between mother and daughter. But if I did have a daughter and I was paying for her dress, I would want her to have a gown that makes her feel beautiful and fabulous, and most importantly her choice.

Ultimately surely your daughter’s happiness is the most important factor.

 

 

 
Happily ever after

A life less ordinary

23 Feb 2020 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , ,

I don’t know about you but I find it quite annoying when non celebrity folk are referred to as ordinary. I’m talking about you and me, who are not members of royalty or famous for being on film/TV for singing, acting or presenting etc.

For example when the Queen’s honours are announced it’s usually reported about celebrities who get honoured for simply doing their job or for the amount of charity work they do because of their high profile status. It’s much easier for them to make a huge impact in charitable causes because of their ability to mix with fellow influential and wealthy individuals.

Then the “ordinary” members of the public who have been honoured may get a mention in a small column in the paper or a foot note on a social media post. But these people have to work considerably harder and jump through many more hoops to achieve enough to be worthy of such an honour.

But in my view no one is ordinary. We all have personalities, skills, interests, professions and quirks that make us unique and stand out. We are all capable of doing extraordinary things on a daily basis and many of us do,  through our family life, work, hobbies, sports or voluntary activities.

Last week I had the honour of helping a group of old friends by helping with the dressing for the local Gang Show. The Bristol South Scout District produce a Gang Show every year and is written, organised and produced by 3 members: Dave Wall, Catherine Elkins and Sue Lewis who I have known since my scouting/guiding days in the 80’s. The show is made up of a cast of cubs/brownies, scouts/guides, explorers and leaders. There is also a small backstage army of ex scouts, leaders, family and friends who do the scenery, costume, props, dressing, sound and lighting.

Every year they put on a fabulously entertaining show that is fantastic value for money. Everyone gives their very best, works hard and support each other through each production. Working backstage as a dresser is very rewarding and just a little bit manic at times.

This is a big commitment , 4 evening performances and a matinee on Saturday, also 6 months of planning, writing and rehearsing. This is in addition to the time given up for running of the cub/brownie/scout groups alongside family and work commitments of the leaders.

Not so ordinary members of the public me thinks.

 

Just let me be me

18 Nov 2019 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , ,

 

make up

I’m sure that many of you have seen this post do the rounds on Facebook. It crops up quite frequently, a lot of the time posted by women. Sometimes, although rarely, posted by men.
I can usually ignore posts that annoy me, I tend to not waste time thinking about them or commenting on them. But this one really does get on my nerves every time I see it and read some of the judgmental comments that people write.
Please don’t misunderstand me, everyone is entitled to their opinions and I respect that. But this particular make up debate goes on and on and is often instigated by women.

If I didn’t wear make-up I would look at best homeless and at worse close to death.

Whose opinion is that? Mine.
Do I feel pressured into wearing make-up every time I leave the house? Never
Does it really matter to anyone else if I wear make-up so I feel I look better? No
Does that make me vain? I don’t think so.

I admire women who go without make-up, either all the time, or who just wear make-up on special occasions. Because it is their choice, as it is the choice of women who want to wear it every day.

Do I think that some women would look better with a bit of make-up? Yes
Do I also think that some women wear too much make-up or sometimes get it a bit wrong? Yes for sure.

But it is not my business, I would never  judge them or make them feel bad about their choices. I keep my opinions to myself unless asked for advice.

We women need to stick together, support each other and the choices we make. We are all doing the best we can and we should be bigging each other up, not judging or criticising.

In the words of Tanya from Mamma Mia-Here we go again, we should be bolstering…..
So please bolster !

tanya

Who is Nathan Moore?

14 Nov 2019 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , ,

Who is Nathan Moore you may well ask. That is what some of my friends were asking on Facebook and when I returned from my Butlin’s 80’s weekend in September.

Who is Nathan Moore? My chalet mates, aka Lisa, Liz, Karen and my sis in law Sharon, were discussing when we were trying to decide our Saturday night of entertainment. We knew we wanted to see Jason Donovan and sing “Especially for you” to him. On the stage before him was this Nathan Moore. After a quick stalking session via Google we discovered he was part of the boy band Brother Beyond and we only recognised one song from their hey-day in the 80’s. We did debate giving him a miss after branding them as one hit wonders.

But we were all ready to go out in our retina burning bright colours and crimped hair, so we thought we would give him a chance.

80's chicks
We staked our claim right in front of the stage as we were preparing for the wait for Jason and wanted pole position. We didn’t even stop off at the bar and went in shifts to protect our spot, we were so committed.
I am happy to report that in fact Nathan Moore is a fabulous entertainer, he did sing that one song we knew, ( “The harder I try”, in case you were wondering), but he also performed many other tunes so well and dare I say it……he was better than Jason! He also did photos at the end which of course Sharon and I had to do.

 


I know a lot people give Butlin’s a wide berth believing it to be a manky and dirty place swimming in Norovirus. But this is the second 80’s weekend I’ve been to in Minehead and I found it to be very clean. These events are very well organised, entertaining and good value for money. I highly recommend giving them a go.

A tale of two boy bands

10 Nov 2019 Leave a comment

by Carole Gardiner in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , ,

This year I was fortunate enough to see 2 boy bands play live. The two occasions could not have been any more different, even if I planned them to be.
I need to tell you about the second event first. My bestie tart friend Jane and her daughter Phoebe invited me to go with them to Birmingham to see Westlife. I’ve never really considered myself to be a huge fan of theirs but not able to turn down a night away, I was all for it.
But oh boy I was not disappointed, they put on a fantastic show and I sang along to every song so I must be more of a fan than I first thought. They also did an outstanding Queen tribute which was an unexpected treat.
The three of us had a fabulous time filled with music, alcohol and a lot of laughs.
A word to the wise though, if you need walk alongside the canal to go to and from your hotel, it’s probably best not to knock back as many of the 2 for 1 cocktail combos as we did, it made it a bit tricky to safely negotiate the sometimes narrow paths and little bridges.

 

 

The first boy band story is very different. This was definitely a case of being at the right place at the right time.
As soon as I discovered Take That was coming to Bristol I knew I needed to be there. I must admit I wasn’t their biggest fan in the 90’s but they have grown on me over the years. Their stage presence was legendary and I wanted to be a part of it.
Unfortunately I fell at the first hurdle when trying to get tickets, it was a combination of not being fast enough and not waiting long enough on the phone. But not to be put off, I remembered dancing around Hyde Park a couple of years ago outside the Summer Festival, where they put on a fantastic show which I could just about see on the big screen, through a gap in the fencing.
So armed with our prosecco supply my bestie George and now friend Emma planned to listen from a park next door to the stadium. I assumed lots of people would have the same idea, but as it turned out we were the only three sad Muppets there, sat on our camp chairs sipping warm fizz from plastic cups.
It soon became apparent when the time came for Rick Astley to be on stage that we couldn’t hear a thing and George needed a wee. So we packed up and headed to the stadium with the intention of finding a better vantage point.
And then the miracle happened……. While George was in a well-known fast food outlet using the facilities, Emma and I were approached by a man selling three tickets for £20. Our faces must have immediately taken on looks of suspicion as he went on to explain that he was the driver on an organised bus trip and not all the passengers had turned up. He just wanted to get some of the money back and not waste the tickets. As we were still not convinced, he proved their validity by getting George through the barrier. Emma and I wasted no time stowing our camp gear in the storage area and getting ourselves onto the pitch.
The night could not have been any better, we could not believe our luck. We were in time for the last Rick Astley song, he was fantastic. Take That were out of this world, they really are the greatest showmen.
So take that chance, plan something small, it may turn into something bigger and much more than you ever imagined.

 

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