Stoney Creek

Today we are travelling from Orillia to Stoney Creek, where Vera spent her childhood years and where her dad is now buried. We have learnt from our mistakes on the journey to Orillia and are getting the direct train from Barrie to Toronto, halving the 3+ hour journey time for the bus and train combination

Before we leave we meet Victoria, the owner and usual occupier of our rented house. We learn that the house was built in 1910, making it ancient in Canadian terms. She also gives tips and recommendations for our upcoming visit to Porto next month.

While we are chatting on the veranda Curtis, who is giving us a lift to Barrie, rolls up with Rachel and Sabrina. At Barrie South Station Vera tries to upgrade her travel card to a Senior's card which gives a 50% discount. She manages to rouse the official behind a closed door in her office, who says she cannot do the upgrade as she is not there. Very surreal

The Go train arrives on schedule, we have our farewell hugs, and are on our way to Toronto and from there to Hamilton. At Toronto Union station we find a friendly customer services assistant who can do the upgrade there and then on her hand-held terminal, no ID or proof of age required. She also directs us to a decent bar where we can wait for our next train. What a contrast with the staff at Barrie 

The next train deposits us at Hamilton GO station and we get the number 1 bus to the Eastgate Square and walk over the border into Stoney Creek and find our nearby B&B

We stayed here on our visit three years ago. We find Marco in the back garden, busy tending to his herbaceous borders. Helene brings us glasses of wine and we spend time catching up on the last three years and Marco tells stories going way back to his childhood growing up on a farm in Italy

All good things must come to an end and we descend to our basement apartment to do a little unpacking before going out for something to eat. There is a Vietnamese restaurant nearby. Neither of has eaten this cuisine before so we venture in to try it.

The food is good but its a bit of an emotionally charged meal: we are 50m from her dad's old apartment and tomorrow is looking set to be a difficult day

Tomorrow, Tuesday, dawns bright and clear. I'm awake early and my first task is to go out and forage food for breakfast. What claims to be a local bakery shows no sign of opening, and there is a roller pallet of flatbreads sat outside. I'm not convinced that this is much of a bakery. So I cross the six lane highway knowing there is a big Fortinos supermarket in the enormous Eastgate Mall. The mall doesn't open until 11am and I walk around the entire complex to Fortinos southern entrance.

The potted basil that they are selling are much larger than anything you would get in the UK. Tempting as these plants are I buy bread and a locally grown melon.

The first task of the day is a visit to the local lawyer dealing with her dad's will. Vera needs to sign a Release form in order to get the rather nominal sum bequeathed to her. She doesn't exactly have an appointment but phoned yesterday to say that she would be calling in at 11. Before we depart there is a phone call from Curtis, who is also the estate's Executor. The lawyer has emailed him a form for Vera to sign and Curtis to witness and under NO circumstances must Vera call in at her office. We have left Curtis yesterday, 200 miles away in Orillia

So without any great expectations we walk through Greenacre Park towards the office. Greenacre primary school, where Vera used to go, is in the process of being converted to some sort of church building.

The lawyer is away on holiday but we speak to the assistant, who provides very little assistance. No Vera can't sign the form while we are here; no she can't print off the form for Vera to take away; no she can't do anything; have a nice rest of your day

Somewhat deflated we walk up the road looking for somewhere that will print the form from the email attachment she has. A pharmacy advertises passport photo printing, but no they can't print documents. Try the local library

We take a trip down Vera's memory lane that is downtown Stoney Creek. Much has changed in the last 40+ years

This is new. You don't often see statues commemorating surveyors, but Augustus Jones has one of the best I have ever seen. The library is next to Saltfleet high-school. Vera briefly attended this before moving to Scotland. It is now under new management, having become a Catholic school

Even for Canadians the library staff excel at helpfulness. As neither of us is a member of the library, or a local resident, all they can offer is a free temporary membership which allows use of their computers and a $1 credit to enable printing at 10c per page. Form printed!

Close to the library is an LCBO liquor store, so we go and get a bottle of wine for later. Queuing at the till, I hear a voice from behind 'Hey, where did you get that rucksack'. This gets us into conversation with Richard, who has the exact same rucksack, it's his favourite, and he has travelled all over, hitching around Europe, walking the Pennine Way and the Coast to Coast in the UK.

He pulls up alongside us in the car park. Where can he take us? He has had lots of help from strangers when travelling and is keen to help others. Vera asks whether he can give us a lift to the cemetery to see her dad's grave. No problem, it's a short drive. On the way we learn that he's a retired attorney, so I mention the problems we had been having earlier in the morning. He is outraged on our behalf

At the cemetery he marches into the works building and finds the people who can help us locate the grave. The three workers in there look to be on their lunch break, but a phone call is made to the City Hall, the information obtained, and we are led to the plot

The grave is somewhat unkempt and rank weeds are growing but Vera is unmoved. Grief is a strange thing: situations that you expect to find emotionally difficult can be easy, but you can then be hit by something completely out of the blue and unexpected

Richard then takes us back to the lawyers office, having looked at the form and completely non-plussed by their incompetence in handling this. Having got Vera to sign the form and me to witness it he strides into the office. 'These are my friends, they have a form for you, please deal with it'. Suddenly the assistant can do things, she takes the form, copies of our IDs, and that's another result achieved

Where can I take you next?

Vera had wanted to visit the house on East 36 Street that she lived in up to the age of five. No problem. Driving through Stoney Creek and Hamilton triggers so many memories for Vera, and she and Richard swap stories of how things used to be 40+ years ago.

We swap contact details and bid farewell to Richard on East 36 Street and thank him profusely. He has turned what might have been a difficult and frustrating day into a memorable and positive day.

This is an old photo of Vera stood outside her house

Fast forward 60+ years. We meet Darren who had bought the house and moved in three months ago. He is delighted to meet us, takes us into the back garden, and shows us videos of the interior

The nearby site of Vincent Massey, Vera's first school. It was demolished three years ago and is now a local park. It would seem that all evidence of Vera's early education is being eradicated.

Two local busses later and we are back in Helene and Marc's garden having a quick pre-dinner beer in the evening sunshine. There is a bit of a reunion meal at the nearby Eastside Marios Italian restaurant. Nine in total: myself, Vera, Bo, Michael, Samantha, Tina, Sophie, Brad and Lycia. I kick myself later for not taking any photos of the event, especially as sharing old photos had been a feature of the evening 

I did manage a photo of this robotic food carrier, that steers itself around the restaurant, taking food to the appropriate table before returning to the kitchen for more

Walking home I see what I at first think is a cat but turns out to be my first sighting of a skunk. It looks very cute and fluffy, I'm sure they haven't done anything to deserve their poor reputation

Because we've achieved so much the day before we can take a bonus trip to Niagara falls the next day. Helene insists on giving us a lift to the nearby bus interchange, saving us a few minutes and a few stops on a local bus. We are catching the number 12 bus

Vera wins her observation badge by spotting this porcupine, lounging on a rock in a garden. It scurries away to its den under a shed before I can get a better picture 

The Niagara River, flowing through the gorge it has cut through the surrounding rock, never fails to impress

As do the falls themselves

We each go our separate ways after lunch:

I visit the old hydro-electric power station above the falls. It is very interesting, in a nerdy sort of way if you enjoy looking at large alternators and strange and exotic pieces of electrical equipment.

You can descend by lift to visit the tailrace tunnel, which took the water exiting the turbines and returned it to the river at the base of the falls. It impresses with its sheer scale, high, wide and about half a mile long

It gives a good view from the base of the falls as the water thunders down from above

The highlight of my visit was this Tesla coil, which uses high voltage currents, arcing through the air, to play music. In this case The William Tell Overture. The picture does not do it justice 

Vera meanwhile is on a visit to Bird Kingdom

This is a three storey aviary that you walk through

Vera's highlight was hand-feeding the lorikeets

We manage to get on the wrong bus returning home, 12B instead of 12. This goes direct to Burlington and at Burlington we jump on a number 12 heading the other way. This turns out to be quicker than getting the right bus: success through mis-bussing. We have had two lucky days in a row

It's now Thursday morning and we say farewell to our hosts. They are pulling out of the Airbnb business but we have their contact details and will be welcome to stay when we are next in town. Next stop Toronto 

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