Happy Canada Day!

It's been a bank holiday weekend here in Canada as the country celebrates Canada Day. Unfortunately this weekend has been a bit of a washout to say the least. I planned to go out on Saturday with Rachael but we ended up postponing until Sunday as torrential rain all day made doing anything a complete waste of time. After our plans had been canceled I went straight back to bed and didn't move until about 3 pm...which was bliss.

Robert and I ordered a new Samsung (front loading) washing machine and tumble dryer a couple weekends ago at Sears, they balls up the delivery last weekend, but thankfully it arrived this Saturday...Not that I had much to do with it, as I was sleeping. The machines are beautiful. So much bigger than the washers and dryers in the UK. They are very hi tech and unbelievably quiet. We figured it was about time we bought rather than keep on renting the cheap and rather crap appliances we had as part of our rental package as it turns out we have paid for the damn things twice over by renting them, and the top loader washing machine with the agitator kept shredding my underwear even on the delicates setting (which they aren't...delicate that is...lol).

Sunday, I was up and out early Rachael, we were determined to get out and about come rain or shine as we took a break last weekend from photography. We had a couple of leads on places we wanted to find, the first was an abandoned textile factory, we located it no problem, what we didn't plan on was bumping into anyone else there. We had been scoping out the perimeter for a while when another car pulled up, we though we might be in trouble, so we pulled out the old map and started our fake pointing & 'oh dear we're lost' routine (badly I might add). Then out of the other car comes a rather glamorous mum a dad and 3 kids, off they go with their iPhones, walking the perimeter...Doing the exact same thing as us and if at all possible looking even more conspicuous than us. we finally got out of our car put on our rubber boots and started walking round with our cameras in the opposite direction until we were face to face with them...they said hello, we said hello and that was that! That's the thing about Urban Exploring, you never know who or what you will find.

After the factory we moved on heading in the general direction of Annapolis Royal, we found another lovely old house on route which a a superb 'falling down' barn behind it as well as a tiny little crooked hut/shed. The owner came and chatted to us for a long time and the little shed was in actual fact his Great Uncle's old workshop where he made harnesses for horses. I found it hard to believe that something so small was a workshop. (Both of these finds you can see below).

After stopping briefly in Annapolis Royal, we headed to our next location, we found the house we had been searching for, pulled on our rubber boots and headed up the very overgrown path to it. The front door had a panel missing at the bottom. Rachael enquires, 'Can you get through there?' to which I reply, 'I don't know, do you think I can get through there?' She says 'yes', so off I go, what transpired was a bit of a mess to say the least. My boobs and I could not manage to get through the opening, my arse was stuck in the air and all I could hear was Rachael laughing. I reversed out and she decided to have a go, with a bit of effort she made it through, I must say I was impressed as at one point it definitely looked doubtful. I ventured round to a side window and chatted to her on the inside while she poked about, but there wasn't that much to see in all honesty and the floor was really rotten and damp, so I urged she come back out...NOW that was funny! She came out backwards, with me hanging on to her legs and guiding them toward the crooked front doorstep, arse in my face, and me then grabbing on to her waistband to ensure she didn't slip. I all but lost what little strength I have in my arms laughing so hard...Honestly if I could have stepped back and watched the entire episode of 'two fat ladies and a hole in a door', it would have made great viewing for sure.

Once back at the car we took off our boots, Rachael had managed to step in something very unpleasant and the whole car stunk. we trundled on our way trying not to breathe too much, and then we heard a knocking sound.
We stopped to investigate and my exhaust pipe had come loose at the back end from its bracket, and was bouncing around. We knew this wasn't good especially as we were at least 2.5hrs away from home. We phoned Rob and he said to try and secure it, so we headed (very slowly) to the nearest garage. having bought some bungy ropes, I approached an older gentleman who was in there paying for his petrol, I asked if he could help and out he came, took a look and said he knew the neighbours behind the garage and would go and see what he could find, he fixed us up when he came back with a coat hanger and some pliers. What a lovely man! All fixed up and no longer in fear of the exhaust dropping off, we decided to check out one more house, sadly it had fallen down, but we did find one other on route, I was just changing my footwear once more when I saw a tick on my leg (I think it had been there for a couple of hours), me being me started shrieking and Rachael had to get off me.

It was the weirdest thing, as I had been talking about ticks to her earlier in the day after reading an article about a woman who had lime disease for 4 years without being diagnosed. In 3 years bumming around Nova Scotia in sports sandals and short trousers I had never given them a thought before, then suddenly I talk about them and get one which made me super paranoid! Rachael found it very amusing...But not so much this morning when she told me that she found three on her today...!
So all in all quite the adventure.

The Barn with the Star Gazing Window :o)

The Old Workshop!

The House with the Hole in the Door!!!!

The Abandoned Factory where we didn't expect Company!