The USA is colder than Canada, who'd have though

Even the cement mixers get festive

Right so I left Canada for a bit... and went to about the most Canadian bit of America possible, Vermont. So first thanks to Lauren for putting up with me for a week, quite an impressive effort. It was a pretty cool time, although started badly, protest on the tracks meant I didn't arrive at Montreal until around 3.45 in the morning, unfortunately at this time I couldn't find a bed not that would've been much point anyhow. This meant I went to a 24 hour McDonalds for a couple of hours, had a bit to eat and read A Feast For Crows, so not all bad, then I waited at the station for a few hours before I got myself driven over the border. Getting into America was as fun as normal, I wonder if my prints have changed since the last time they took them?

Shooting fireworks from the hip sometimes works

I was there for New Years, so went to this thing called First Night in Vermont. It was this mixture of music, comedy and drama, not exactly the best quality ever, but still not the worst thing I've ever done either. This band called Frenchy and the Punk weren't exactly my kind of thing musically but they were at least pretty good entertainers. The best part was the midnight firework show, on a lake, in the snow.

The mountain before my camera froze

I also went and enjoyed the fact the place was covered in snow. Did some sledding (strange word to spell, I want to write sledging but it definitely wasn't cricket), this was pretty awesome, steering was challenging and going from the top of the hill was a lot of fun. Or at least it would have been if I wasn't following someone down, which meant I was essentially in an icy blizzard and totally blind and, of course, half way down I realised I was heading straight at a small child, so had to bail and roll down the hill. I also went snowboarding for the first time in a few years, it was great fun. The fact I had forgotten how to turn didn't put me at too much of a disadvantage, picked it up fairly quickly and perfected the fall and roll back onto my board fairly quickly. The main point was that it was below -30°C, which isvery cold for those of you that don't know, my scarf froze and I could feel ice forming in my nose. Still at least I won't be complaining about it being cold in the UK any time soon. The slopes were pretty empty and the runs were fun so it was a pretty amazing day, although I couldn't get many pictures as the batteries in my camera froze.

I spent some more time around the ice as well. I saw a girls high school game, it was nice to be right next to the ice even if it wasn't the most engrossing game ever. I also went and spent a little more time skating, going in a straight line is getting easier, although I feel my turns need a little more practice. Also I should point out that Ben and Jerry's is from Vermont and I went on the factory tour and got free samples, for this reason alone I think Vermont is a pretty amazing place.

Fixing trains canadian style

And now for the train rant, I have complained about trains a fair bit in my recent blogs and this time I just want to say that they also go ridiculously slowly and it's just depressing a journey should not take longer by train than it does by car and yet somehow they manage it. Also the carriage leaked so we got to fix it with bin bags a duct tape which was kind of cool at least.