On the first trip with trailer to the Library

I made arrangements with the powers that be make an appointment to drop off two boxes of books and other items I had catalogued at the Library and to pick up another two boxes of the same. I loaded up the trailer and tried to secure upper box with orange paracord. Unfortunately, it tended to slide forward somewhat. By the time I got the delivery door of the Library it looked like this.

 Thankfully, the two boxes I picked up where of such a size they could be flipped on their sides be placed side by side in the trailer, and thus be secured with a length of old inner tube. This lead to a more relaxed ride home.

It took me about 50% longer to get to the Library than normal and made for a good leg and cardiovascular workout. I must make a note to measure the internal dimensions of the trailer for future reference.

On what this summer's bike trip might be

What with Covid-19 and other issues, I had been wondering if this summer's vacation my be a staycation. Mummy has proposed a trip with Désirée and Dominique from Trois-Rivières to Québec City including bike-based exploring of Quebec City as an intro to bike touring with my brother Philip acting as the sag wagon. The idea is that I would join them in Trois-Rivières having biked there from Montreal.

There is however a problem with this plan: how do I get back to Montreal? The intercity buses aren't running and there is currently no baggage service on Via Rail between Quebec City and Montreal. Obviously, I could bike back to Montreal using a different route but that doesn't overly appeal to me as it means more city biking.

Another possibility that has my interest would be continue on from Quebec City to Jonquière in the Saguenay and catch Via train number 602 back to Montreal as it does have a baggage car. This does have the advantage of increasing the number of Via routes I have experienced as well as the possibility of whales heightened by my recent sighting of Montreal's late, lamented humpback. On the flip side, it will mean a lot of eff-ing steep hills.

On second time lucky twice over

Thanks to this website, I was able to know in advance where Montreal's humpback was likely to be early this afternoon. In point of fact, it was hanging out in the Lemoyne Channel between Île Sainte-Hêlène and Île Notre-Dame. Very conveniently, it was between two bridges between those islands and wasn't moving around much.

 It is in this picture but it is hard to see.

The basic technique of whale watching was to wait for a spout...

...then observe the back as the huge creature sank below the waves. It was staying more or less in the same place, swimming against the current. I watched for about fifteen minutes.

I was hardly the only one there to see the whale.

I then set off to the Canadian Tire I had visited yesterday and successfully bought a bike trailer. I assembled it and rode home just as it started to rain. As I arrived home, one of my neighbours said: "Nice bike trailer!"   "Thank you. I just bought it!

On how no good deed goes unpunished

I decided to buy a bike cargo trailer today. So after work, I unlocked Justin Thyme and walked down the street to a spot where there wasn't a parked car to put the bike on the road. Unfortunately something caught my eye: a TD debit card.

I tried phoning the number on the back, but the first thing I got was a recording saying that due to Covid-19 TD has cut its call centre staff and therefore wait times will be longer. I locked Justin to a railing and went inside to see if I could report the lost card from TD's website but I had insufficent luck or patience to find the appropriate bit of the website assuming it exists.

So I decided I would hand it into the police. There was a station not too far away from my home and almost on my way. So I rode off. Unfortunately, the bike bridge across the canal I wanted to use was unexpectedly closed for no apparent reason. This meant quite a detour. Then when I got to the station, it was technically closed due to Covid-19. I went inside the first door to see if there was a drop off slot. There wasn't, but then a voice came from an intercom telling me that the station was closed. I said: "Okay, but would please you tell me what I should do with this debit card I found?" Whereupon, I was buzzed in and the woman on the intercom came out and directed to a counter. She went behind it and accepted the card and a scrap of paper on which I had written where and when I had found it.

So I set off to the Angrignon Canadian Tire. There was no line up when I pulled up outside. However, as I locked the bike, a half dozen people who seemed somewhat clueless came up to the door and were directed to go in one at time by the guard. I waited behind them. I went in. For some "clever" reason, Canadian Tire seems to have decided that the best thing to do is to make the main aisles narrower by putting a lot things in the middle of the aisle. This made social distancing rather hard, especially as many of the other patrons seemed clueless about doing so.

I found what I wanted then headed for the cash.

There was a very long line up.

And the trailer wasn't pre-assembled.

And I had supper to organize, and people to meet on Zoom later that evening.

I returned the trailer to where I had found it and left. I was startled to see a very long line-up outside. My take was that I had arrived during the afternoon rush, which I would probably have avoided had I not seen the debit card!!!