Too much 'bus, then Toronto, Boston and Washington DC

We left Calgary at 8:00 a.m. on  Monday.  We arrived in Toronto at 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, all on the same flipping 'bus.  It  was a brutal ride.

Ann suggested that we should break our journey for a restful night in a hotel/motel.  I in my "sweet reasonable dominant male" voice replied that we'd still have to complete the journey by 'bus.  I wish that I had been kinder and more understanding.

I liked the endless Prairie and the Prairie towns,  Ann was not impressed.

We had a break in Regina and ate pizza with another traveler, an Irishwoman named Mary.

We got to Winnipeg at 5:15 a.m. and were turfed off the 'bus so that it could be cleaned and serviced.  We were off the 'bus for over two hours.  It was bitterly cold.  There was not a coffee shop or cafe in sight.  I have never forgiven Winnipeg.

Historic picture of the 'bus station in Winnipeg. It says Greyhound but I suspect that Trailways used the same place.
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As we moved east into Ontario I noted the autumnal beauty, especially in the Lake of the Wood area.

We caught our very first view of one of the Great Lakes  (Superior) at Thunder Bay.

We noted the Sleeping Giant Island.  

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In Thunder Bay we ate a Chinese meal and played the same song over and over again on an old fashioned Juke Box.

"Toronto the Good".  We got there!   We were met by Con, the husband of Ann's friend Pauline.

We feasted with Con and Pauline, had more than enough beer and wine, had lively and funny conversations, and as the night wore on listened to records, with music by Paul Robeson and Edith Piaf.

Con and Pauline (O'Leary)  had cable T.V. with (try to guess) twenty channels.  This was in 1975. We Brits were gobsmacked!  I am not sure if Cable T.V. had reached the U.K. in 1975.

We meandered on by 'bus, to Niagara Falls Canada where it rained all day, to Boston and Marblehead MA, (where my class mate's parents John and Hope Haug treated us like royalty) and in due course to Virginia Theological Seminary  (Alexandria) where we hooked up with some American seminarians who had spent a year or two at my Theological College in England.  (Jay Haug, Peter and Mary Pierson, Phil and Cheryl Tierney). My journal tells me that we had good food, lots of fun and laughter, and some terrific conversations.

Ann and I spent a day in D.C. visiting the sights on a wet and cold day.

Then it was back by 'bus to N.Y.C. from where Ann and I had separate flights to the U.K.

Our "romance" limped on from Oct 1975 until June 1976.  I was excited about my plan to return to the U.S.A. to serve in a parish in Massachusetts.  Ann wanted no part of that.

What was it all about?   I was ten years older than Ann and already ambivalent about my sexuality.  I loved being with her, but I could be a bear and a bossy partner.

I know that Ann was genuinely fond of me, but that she knew that I was totally unsuitable as husband matter  (wise woman).

After my first year in the U.S.A. I returned to Bristol for a holiday in1977.  Ann and I met, saw a movie and had dinner. But whatever spark there had been was gone for ever.   We parted on pleasant terms.

All that was forty three years ago.  

I've worked and also retired in the States.

I believe that Ann married.  By now she must be a grandmother!

In my silly-ass moments I see Ann and I meeting again, rather like a coda in one of Ward Just's books.  But then I remember that when lovers from many years past meet again in one of Just's books one of them dies!

God bless Ann.  Thank you.