FlamingText

Winnipeg, Pt 1

Dre's Place
Today we left Thunder Bay and are driving from Ontario into Manitoba, land of ten thousand lakes and ten billion mosquitos. An hour outside Winnipeg Des calls the number we have for our billet and talks to Dre, who will be hosting us at her house. She tells Des that she has our room ready and has some scotch, vodka and various mixers waiting for us when we arrive. She apologizes in advance for the state of her house. Des thanks her and hangs up.

"Sounds like Dre likes to party."

As we pull into Winnipeg we call again and she brings us in for a landing. We drive down Main Street through a section of town where the streets are lined with boarded-up warehouses. There are large numbers of people milling about on the sidewalks who don't appear to have anywhere else to go. Past this is a strip of small businesses and community gathering places: the Video Cellar, Love Pantry (where leopard-print thongs never go out of style), the Polish Men's Association, the Knights of Columbus, Rotary Club and the Russian Orthodox Church. Past the Santa Lucia Pizza shop we see our turn and hang a right onto a wide tree-lined residential street right out of the nineteen fifties. There are kids out riding their bikes and playing hide-and-go-seek (or some modern derivation) at dusk. Past the Jumbo Foods corner store we spy our address and park the van across the street.

As we disembark with our bags, we see that our host has been waiting for us on the porch. She comes over to greet us as we walk up the path. She is wearing a black tank top and paint-spattered cut-offs. Short brown spiky hair framing a ruddy, beaming face.

"Welcome to Winnipeg." She says.

Posted by flamingbanjo at August 2, 2004 11:04 AM