This is my hotel, taken during a dry spot, and actually my room is to the right of the red and black sign and the Canadian flag, (Immediately above the trees Silver Birch which are native here I think) and on the first floor up.all of that brick building s the Mount Royal Hotel.
And that is a horse and carriage for a tourist ride .- white across the road.
Well, the weather has not improved at all really over night. What a bummer.I read the NZ news and hear of huge storms balling Christchurch with wind and snow dumps and low temperatures, and then wind gusts in Welliington. power is out to 30,000 houses. So I Viber home and then Skype to find that ours is one of those houses. Eek !!Andrew has it in hand and there are lots of of candles and they have a log fire.
Well, they are having their experiences.
I think about Guy in Christchurch, and,after I have checked out, decide to email home while I still have the hotels Wifi and concentrate on that.
I have the bus to get to at 3.05, and I have ordered a local taxi, as it is wet out there, and, despite the eccentric station ladies suggestion of rain being just water, I do not want to sit, wet, in a Greyhound for 6 hours, to Kelowna. I type an email, aware my blog is way behind, and then, I tune in to those about me, and realise that we have weather issues of our own. The joys of eavesdropping.
A group of four, two couples one English pair and an American host pair, are debating what to do. They are part of Mount Royal hotel, my hotel, and have checked out too, but they are prevented from getting to Jasper, a beautiful mountain tourist place because their road is washed out.They are frustrated and contemplating signing in for another night, to try again in the morning.
I jerk myself into reality. Go to the desk and discover my different road to BC totally different direction, is also shut !
Indeed had I turned on the telly in my room, I would know that there is a road washout at Canmore 5 minutes away, the very road I travelled yesterday! And actually the swift mountain river has cut off Canmore and has diverted right across and through the highway.
Meanwhile, Sandra, has responded to my earlier cheery email to her, by asking me about the weather here, and I am forced to reply it has been foul. Furthermore, the Greyhound is cancelled unless otherwise announced.
It appears people like my good self have woken up to the facts and are inquiring about booking in !!
Yikes ! They are being turned away. But I have already checked OUT !
I go back to chat with the thwarted Jasper people. I am not sure who they intend to blame. It is obvious to me that it is not Godin their view. It has to be the hotel. I like these people but they are being unreasonable plonkers right now. Nothing changes in the travel world. I think of the Ferries and how they get blamed if they do travel and have a bad trip and if they don't travel and the plans are wrecked. And in Contiki a no win service applied as well. But what to do ? we consult and I decide that I will cancel that taxi . . Water indeed, and try to rebook at least a night and I do becausevwevgetbpreferential treatment as we were here last night, and Ensconced in a new room, I switch on the tele . .CTV, which is going to be my companion and source of shock and horror for the next while.
A dramatic tragedy unfolds as the rainfall causes rivers tourist their banks and swell.Alberta is an evolving tragedy, quite predictable but unstoppable and even by their standards unbelievably quick .
The river Bowmis even to carry a whole house away, bouncing downstream and colliding with a bridge.Its all a blur, as to what happened when, over the next two day but 70000 people were evacuated in Calgary, no option, and the army are brought in (1300) troops. the flooding is way worse than June 2005, which was a momentous flood.
It's now about survival , for a lot of people.
I feel so greatful to have a warm hotel but my plans were to be at Sandra and Gary's tonight. I don't see a quick resolution to the problem as news comes through, about washouts. Here in Canada under pressure a river just diverts and can take out a whole highway or motorway. The big rigs are all backed up, oh the television has it all, and there are the personal stories, and dare they say it , but the Stampede is due very soon. It is critical to Calgarians, a money earn etc but the floods are rising, up to the tenth rung of the rodeo fence or something.
Hilariously the Greyhound answer service ISNOT updated and is pronouncing the weather dry and hot.
So. I hang on and when I do get through it is always someone who sounds Mexican, but with poor English.
Someone later suggested the call centre might be out of India, it seemed logical,as Banff did not come into their repertoire. What a waste of my hotel phone money, as they seemed to confer and II suspect were checking their maps.
In the course of the day I talk to various hotel bound ( stuck), travellers, one a truckie with 30 tyres on his truck and trailer unit which he just abandoned and walked. He suggest a low priced eatery called the Old Spaghetti factory. I will remember that.
Meanwhile Sandra has said that she would fetch me. If they allowed her through. Well they won't . Both sides of the Rockies have washouts. But anyway do you know how far it is. - 6 hours by bus ànd 500 + kms. No way .
We are land locked. I am in the worst spot fair access .
And it is steadily raining and of course I think about the run off.
I keep the TV. news on (muted) and check through the night.
It's pretty darn depressing as the washouts increase. Oh who's idea was this Andrew?
Let me join the moaners and bleaters of which there are plenty of every Nationality, downstairs, in the foyer. We are right near the border, so really an insight is to check BC 's road conditions as that is where I am headed. That is helpful as Banff is geographically in Alberta, and that seems more dire in its flooding and road reports. There is a sense of each province being a entity in its own right, an observation that was echoed by Sandra later. Anyway sleep sleep. .
This is actually a view of Banff Avenue the Main Street.It is taken on another day . The yellow car is a local cab. I tried a fabulous ice cream brand this day called Moo. Numerous flavours,and very nice.
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