Canada, Strolling Churchill

 

 

From walking the streets of Churchill on a Thanksgiving Day afternoon, I would never imagine the underlying social problems that occur in towns like this.

As a retired teacher from here told me this town is socially dysfunctional.

 

 

 

Knowing that I myself have been dysfunctional a few times in the past and knowing that I am not done, I don't think it is necessarily a bad thing. How boring would Thanksgiving family dinners be if there were not at least one dysfunctional family member.

All that aside, I enjoy my stroll through Churchill which is very quite on this holiday afternoon. Past the Tundra Inn, I wander the town streets finding a place I could play bingo on a Tuesday night.

 

 

 

 

Next, I am cautiously walking the shores of Lake Hudson trying to avoid having moist polar air breathing down my back.

 

 

In a few weeks this stretch of coastal real estate will be completely frozen and covered in snow and ice.

For many here, this will be a welcoming sight.

Burrrrrrrrr!

 

 

 

 

Enterprise.

A ship sailed here, the long (wrong)way from New Foundland. Instead of going West, an eccentric sailor went North then West then East.

 

 

 

 

A Maple Leaf is flapping in the wind as I approach another interesting spot in Churchill. I am standing where a slave woman arranged a peace settlement between her people and the Cree Indians. Her actions led to the establishment of the First Trading Post here in 1717.

Interestingly, all of the town's major facilities are housed in one building that in January or February it is easy to understand why. You can go to school, stop at the post office, visit the doctor, go bowling or take a swim and do it all in one place.

 

 

Churchill Train Station

 

To experience all of this you might have to come to Churchill by train since flying here, the only other option is very expensive. By train you arrive here at the station which is pretty much in the center of town and I am told has nice displays and exhibitions of the area.

 

 

Unfortunately, the station is closed today as the train only arrives on three days of the week, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in town, I am sitting at a bar and I over hear an American and a Canadian having a conversation over a few Standard Lagers.

 

 

 

 

The American is puzzled, “I don't understand why the Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving Day since the Pilgrims did not land in Canada.”

In response, the Canadian says “Well you see, Thanksgiving here is a time when Canadians gather around with family to thank God that we are not Americans!”