Home From Canada

[Unimatic1140]

I arrived home safe and sound. The truck came home from Canada empty, no vintage Inglis or Viking I didn’t realize it was Labour Day in Canada this weekend as well as Labor Day here in the US, so appliance stores were closed on Monday for the holiday as well, which means I will have to go back and do some more hunting on a non holiday weekend, maybe this winter. I did make that possible score up in Fargo and I hope to be able to see what the guy has in the next month or so.

Winnipeg is a beautiful city, it is a forest of American Elm trees. Jon and I both a big lovers of Elm trees, they are my favorite so I was in heaven all weekend.

The link is to a few of my boring trip photos if anyone is interested in seeing a Canadian Prairie City. On my way up I got off the highway and detoured along some dirt roads right along the US/Canada border and I took this picture. In taking this picture I had to make sure that my feet stayed on the US side of the boarder, as to make sure I wasn’t breaking the law…

http://automaticwasher.org/cgi-bin/00ShowCollectionGETD.cgi?photoshow=02@International%20Marker.jpg&dir=/COLLECTIONS/_YWG

 

[tlee618]

Robert thanks so much for sharing those great pictures. Winnipeg looks like a beautiful city. Can you imagine what that place must look like when the fall colors take over. It must be unbelievable. I am sure that you had a great time. Terry

 

[scott55405]

Thanks for the pictures. What a beautiful city that is. I don't think I've ever even seen pictures of it before.

 

[rickr]

Very nice photos Robert! Canada is very nice. I have thought about moving there. The elm trees remind me of Fort Wayne in the 1950's and 1960's. We had many streets here that were lined with elms,including the street I now live on. They were so thick it was like driving through a tunnel. That tunnel effect would go on for miles on some streets in the older parts of the city. In the early 1960's the Dutch Elm Disease came along and wiped out all the elm trees in Northern Indiana by the early 1970's. There were two large elms right in front of this house that died and had to be cut down. The city planted maple trees to replace the elms,as the maples are a fast growing tree. Too bad they were not near as nice as the elms,with the roots breaking up the sidewalks,the sap dripping on the parked cars,and of course the blasted seeds that fall everywhere and start "maple weeds" all over the place!

One of the nice things I noticed about your pictures is there is NO litter anywhere! Everything is nice and clean. I have been to Toronto and noticed how clean everything was there as well. What is up with some Americans that they have to throw soda cans,fast food wrappers,cigerette butts and even used condoms all over the parking lots,highways, and city streets of the USA?? No wonder the British refer to us as their "hillbilly cousins" Litter bugs should be ashamed!

 

[westytoploader]

Robert, LOVE the pictures! Thanks for sharing!

Canada looks very nice...those elm-lined streets remind me of some of the Minneapolis photos you posted of your neighborhood in a way! The houses are beautiful as well, and that would be neat to have your brick rancher right next to a high-rise apartment complex!

Rick, I noticed the exact same thing...very clean. I agree with what you just said about the littering problem here, especially when I look at some parts of Houston!! OY...

 

[roto204]

Wow, I got this increasing sense of wanting to live there as I looked at the photos...

Thank you for posting those!

 

[petek]

Robert.. if'n'when you're going back to Winnipeg you can always take a look ahead of time in the Bargain Finder / Buy and Sell, online... www.bargainfinder.com then click on Manitoba to see what folks are selling, I just noticed a Hoover Connie there for $10
Check out the appliance / washer/dryer section and also the
Antiques and Fine collectibles because sometimes folks put the vintage stuff in there.
You can also pick up the paper copy of the Bargain Finder at most convenience stores,,it comes out every Thursday.

 

[peteski50]

Canada

Robert,
Real nice pictures - looks like you had a real nice trip.
Peter

 

[kenmore1978]

no litter in Canada

When I was in Toronto in the Seventies, the I was immediately struck by the cleanliness of the city. And the people were SO friendly! A friend and I were walking with our luggage and a couple pulled over of their own will (we werent hitching) and offered to take us to a movie theater where we could kill time till our train left. Once at the theater, the manager offered to let us keep our luggage in his office while we watched the original "Airport"

 

[mayken4now]

The Elm trees are awesome! Thanks for the shots.

Steve

 

[spiraclean]

Hi Robert,
I am glad you had a safe trip.
Thanks for sharing your great pictures, those Elm trees are just beautiful.

All the best.
Hugh

 

[gansky1]

Wow, just look at that clean city! The elms are truly beautiful, our streets used to be lined with them as well - mostly gone now. Did you buy some Canadian detergents to bring home? Thanks for the pics - always good to see how the other half of the continent lives.

 

[gizmo]

I love that old Safeway! That photo stimulates many memories for me.

There are Safeway supermarkets here in Victoria, Australia too. The city where I grew up, Frankston, had Australia's first Safeway. It was SOOO advanced when it was built in the early sixties, it had a rooftop carpark, when shopping you would take the groceries through the checkout, then take the trolley (kart?)of groceries to a check in counter, where the groceries were loaded onto a conveyor belt which went upstairs to the carpark. You would climb the stairs to the carpark, drive your car to the checkout window and an attendant would load the groceries into your car! Occasionally the staff would let me ride up the conveyor belt with the groceries, such fun for a six year old! The building is still there but no longer a supermarket, Safeway moved into a mall nearby.

That Safeway logo (the big S in a red square) changed in the late seventies to a similar S in a circle, then when Safeway were taken over by Woolworths, they changed to a lookalike logo for Woolies stores, the word "SAFEWAY" in red with a green line above and below. So I haven't seen that logo for about 20 years.

That same design of building, with the wavy roofline, is common for Safeways in the suburbs around Melbourne. I am amazed they are the same as the companies have always been completely separate, Safeway and later Woolworths/Safeway used to pay a license fee to Safeway USA for the name and logo but they are 100% independent,Aussie owned.

The elms are very "Melbourne" too, as unfortunately are the elm leaf beetles which have devastated them in the last 10 years or so.

Canada is high on my "must see" list, unfortunately is is a very long list...
Best Wishes
Chris.

 

[air-waycharlie]

Great pictures

Robert,

Wonderful photos and the Elm trees are really something. I too, was impressed at how clean everything looks which of course made me wonder looking at all those homes and apartments, what kind of vacuum cleaners do those folks have?

(I just can't escape the vacuum curse!)

Charlie

 

[Unimatic1140]

The Beautiful Elms

Yes I just adore Elm trees. Minneapolis used to be just like Winnipeg with millions of Elms lining the streets. While we were able to save thousands of Elms and we still do have quite a few residential blocks of lined with Elms, Winnipeg has done the best job I have ever seen of saving their elms. Literally hundreds of residential blocks are lined like in those pictures. You can see the rings on all the trees where the city vaccinated the trees against Dutch Elm disease. It appears to have worked rather well there. Of course one has to remember too that from Dec-Feb Winnipeg is the coldest major city in the world and that might help keep the beetles in check. They average about 5F to 8F cooler than we do here in Minnie in the winter time. Being a winter lover, that’s another reason why I like it there.

Yes I like going to Canada, and with their new same-sex Marriage Legislation I figured I should go up there and spend some of my hard earned dollars, it’s the least I can do. Rick, I too have checked into immigrating to Canada. If the political climate of the USA doesn’t change somewhat in the next decade or so, I will definitely be packing up the washers and moving to a more sane, safe, more fair place. I’ve been following Canadian politics for over a year now and I just can’t believe the differences in our governments. While it certainly isn’t perfect, it a huge improvement, at least in my eyes.

Of course a lot can happen in a decade but its nice to see there is a place to escape to if things don't change for the better.

Another interesting observation I made in Winnipeg, just like I did in other places in Canada is there is no visible poverty stricken areas and no visible areas of over-the-top extreme wealth. It seems to range from lower middle class to lower upper class, considering I probably will always be somewhere in the middle too, its fine by me.

Another odd thing for an American to see is there are no suburbs there. Driving into Winnipeg you go from absolute country and pass a sign that says welcome to Winnipeg, the freeway ends and suddenly your in the city and the density skyrockets over the course of 1/4 mile. Its really cool.

 

[swestoyz]

Elms

Hey Robert,

Looks like it was a fun trip, even though the back of the Dakota was empty. And thanks for sharing the photos. I myself have never been to Canada. Looks really nice, I can imagine that river in the winter!

It is funny you mention the Elms, and shared those beautiful pictures. I can vaguely remember them being around here in NE Iowa when I was a little kid. They used to line the downtown Parkade in Cedar Falls. They of course are long gone. But, this last weekend, my parents had to take down the last elm I've seen in the state, right in their back yard. The tree had finally died. It was sad to see the stump when I stopped by...

 

[appnut]

Robert thank you for taking such breath-taking pictures. Ya got me all excited for nuttin' tho, not the right polar bears & bears LOL.

The elm-lined streets blow me away, I've never seen anything like it. Looking down the streets of your shots, reminds me of driving through the outline of a cathedral on & on.

I can't fathom no suburbs, just doesn't seem right. Was nice to see the single-family homes.

The lack of poverty & poor is definitely a perfection. but the lack of upper-class and walth, ... that explains some appliance marketing things I've noticed. One, the POD with the Canadian Kenmores, that "TOL" just is upper-middle line to me, kinda blah knowing what we had here. And I"ve looked on the Canadian sears site and various lines of appliances. Their TOL simply is at best something say my Kenmore 800 of childhood vs. a lady Kenmore. Same with various brands. Explains, there just isn't a large amount of income base to justify offering anything more expensive.

 

[appnut]

Now don't get me wrong, I do love the recognition and affirmation Canada's laws have given us. My generation, the hippie generation, love and respect and individuality were some of the ideals sought after. Almost 40 years later, it's not changed much despite "All YOu Need is Love". Yes I would love to see us in this country have more respect and affirm us for ourselves. But there's still bigotry, hatred, and discrimination not just for us, but for minorities, physically challenged, and thelist goes on, even with affirmative action. I actually do see hope of more tolerance and understanding with Austin's generation than I ever have in my life. As I learned in therapy, if ya can't solve what's wrong whre you are, just what makes you think you can escape the asme thing going somewhere else? Ya gotta solve what's wrong before you move on.

 

[rickr]

I don't know about the appliances,however I can tell you that there are lots of people in Canada that are very wealthy. Take a look at a few photos of Toronto. It takes $$$ to build a modern, progressive city like that. The older homes around the Toronto area are worth big $$$ also. They are very well maintained and hold their resale value. Most big cities in the US have their share of urban blight and decay. It is not even safe to walk the streets at night in many large American cities. You can safely walk anywhere,alone,at anytime of night in Toronto. I have done it many times.
I have a friend in Windsor also,so I visit there sometimes. We usually take a boat on the river when I am there. I look over at the Canadian side and see well maintained older large homes with manicured lawns. I look over to the American side and see Detroit. Abandoned and gutted buildings,litter all through the streets,ugly billboards,beat up junk cars,and grafitti spray painted everywhere.
Perhaps we could learn a few lessons from other countries,and put that knowledge to good use here in the USA.
The way the Katrina tragedy was made much so much worse than it should have been by whatever reason, tells us that we have much to learn about a lot of things.