Convalescing in Calgary

Congrats to Will & Kate!  Pro royal or not, it's great to see two young folk that have managed to expose and restore some of the "great" that makes Great Britain. It seems like most bods got out there and celebrated in true British style. Millions going into London to cheer the happy couple on.  Some choosing more local celebrations at organised street parties and impromptu afternoon tea gatherings. All bringing families and like minded friends together for a right old knees up. Which is all good. The extra day off work also sounded a winner too, especially as the  arrival of spring seems to have brought some great weather with it.

For us it was Calgary, which seemed a typical North American city. We've decided that you don't really come to Canada for it's cities as the real beauty of this country is most definitely within it's wilderness.  Most Canadian cities merely act as gateways to these huge mountainous playgrounds and Calgary tops the list of these average Canadian cities for being, well average.

The name Calgary, meaning 'clear, running water' in Gaelic, comes from Calgary Bay on the Isle of Mull in Scotland.  Originally a cowboy metropolis it exploded into a brand new city of steel and glass in the late 1960s due to the discovery of oil which has been found in vast quantities across Alberta.We were more than happy to just kick back in average Calgary, especially following our recent rumble in the Rockies. Fe with a sore head and me with the beginnings of a cold, ahh rubbish.  It was time to drop down a gear, cook up some good food and generally take it easy.

Shame though that our chosen hostel for these next few days wasn't all that great. Far too many bods permanently living at the place, which from experience totally changes the mood of hostel from traveller hub to student digs style accommodation, minus the obligatory damage deposit.  Here the majority of the residents seemed to be comfortably over sized Brits who were constantly talking a good game of trying to make a fresh start in another country, but failing miserably.  Probably due to the fact that they were carrying on just as if they were back in there home country. In keeping job hunting to a minimum and drinking themselves stupid every single night of the week. All making for a pretty dull fellow hostelers. 

What we could hear the same conversions going round and round. Nobody had any money and that it was soooo difficult to find work at the moment because of the late season weather change. Surely if some of this lot actually left the common room for a while it might be a start at getting something fixed up.  Although with a job secured I can only imagine how much more drinking would then be achievable!  I think Jeff, the owner of this place, who even puts laundry on for guest if they leave it outside the laundry room, better start increasing his building repair budget as this place was being used, heavily, day in day out.

 

Thursday to Saturday marks the trading of Calgary's newly built farmers market. Only this year it moved to new permanent premises at the Blackfoot Centre after spending 6 temporary years at the more accessible downtown location of Currie Barracks. The ABC Farmers' Market Society was founded in April 2003, as a non-profit society. The "ABC" in the society's name is for the "Alberta" and "British Columbia" farmers who make up the society.  The society consists of an 80 per cent majority of vendors who either make it, bake it or grow it. This is one of the many ways the society maintains its status as an Alberta approved farmers' market.The original downtown market opened in 2004 and had been a great success. The market prides itself on providing a venue where Calgarians and worldwide visitors can get the best local food and products available. 

We had mixed views after our visit to this large barn style operation.  There were plenty of plastic being used for most packaging and carrying. The food on sale all seemed local enough but most was being used to produce the more typical American fast-food style dishes. There were plenty of free tastings to be had but everyone only needs so many meat patties and nacho style chips whether their locally produced or not!  And then there was the new out of town location. Transport links that run direct to the new venue do not run at weekends all resulting in a very over crowded, hi-viz jacket managed carkpark, with most customers arriving, two up in the biggest gas guzzling 4x4 trucks this side of Toronto.