Lock Out

Bonjour!

Well, after a nice quiet night in and figuring out the dates for the rest of my trip; Dad calls me and tells me that Greyhound East (Quebec and Ontario) is going into a lock down over contract. Quickly, I researched other options. First, I'm leaving Quebec tomorrow night, no doubt. Second, I'm going to Sudbury and will wait to hear what's going on. If the lock out is a for sure thing, I'm giving up Ontario, and trecking home. I'll be stopping in Regina and Winnipeg still, but after Regina, coming home to Vancouver. My ETA as it stands is Sunday, August 16th, 8:50 PM PST. With the trip is it will be, I would have gone 9704 km (approximately).

If for some magical reason the Lock out doesn't happen, I"ll be routing from Sudbury to Niagara Falls, then onto Ottawa, finally Toronto for the trip I've had planned. With that lovely detour, my trip will be anout 11, 678 km (approx), and my eta back is August 28th (I can't remember the time).

But as it looks, I'm going to be giving trouble to Greyhound. I've already let my counter parts in Ottawa and Toronto know this information.

Meanwhile, while trying to find OTHER solutions to my problem, I did the last bits of my Montreal tour. I visited the Montreal Scout house and shop (got a pin), spoke to a lady about my ticket and how Greyhound will go about it (really she had no idea, but assured me I'd get some sort of compensation), and continued on to Little Italy. Of course, I got a little lost finding, but enjoyed the sights when I finally did go the right direction. I also ended up going to the West end of the island (yes, Montreal is an Island). I go all the way over to MacDonald Campus (i believe it's a University).

While at the Scout House I learned quiet a bit about the Montreal Scouts. For one, they have a different program all together (it's not just a "french" verson). They run ages 7-21 (verses our program which is 5-26), and actually changed the "Rover" section from 25 to 21 a few years ago.

The "Cub" program's uniform is a green uniform. The youth in "Scouts" to "Rovers" wear a green shirt with a single pocket and have a yellow with a blue trim necker. Where as the leaders have a green shirt with a blue and yellow trim necker. (Massively wierd if you ask me). They dont have any awards like Scouts Canada (Cheif scout, Queens Venture), and even the bigger awards (like the Medal of Maple) dont exist. They are completely different. The core fundamentals of the programs are kinda the same, but the goals are different.

In our Cubs, we have 6 Stars. Home&Community, Creative Expression, Health, Canada&the World, The Natural World, and The Outdoors. Their Cub program as 5 badges. Creative, Sport, Community, Nature, and Resourcefulness. They also have a few other, but they weren't explained to me. They are; Patt-Cross of the Jungle, Red Flower of the Jungle, Skin of Shere Khan, and Grey Wolf Jugle Trail. I didn't get much information about the other programs aside from their names. They call Cubs " Louveteaux" (which oddly does mean Cubs in French).

A fun fact about all sections, they have a woggle that's a clip on of the Turks braid (WB Lvl 1). It's for all sections).
Here are their programs:
Castors (7-8) -Beavers
Hirondelles (7-8)- Swallows (the same program as a Beaver, and i believe is co-ed)
Louveteaux (9-11)- Cubs
Exploratrices (9-11)- Explorers (same program cubs, but for girls only)
Scouts Eclaireurs (11-14/17)- The Explorers (Scouts)
Intrepides (11-14/17) - The Intrepid (Guides, girls only)
Eclaireaurs Adventuriers (12-16/11-17)- The Pathfinders Adventuers (Co-ed, like venturers)
Scouts Marins (12-16/11-17) - Sea Scouts (Co-ed, like Venturers, but Water Based. Speacial Blue Uniform)
Scout Sapeurs (12-16/11-17) - Fire Fighter Scout (Co-ed, like Venturers, but Fire Fighter based and is done in joint with the Montreal Fire Fighters.
Pionniers (14-17/11-17) - Pioneers (They have a red shirt, and are like regular scouts, i believe?)
Scouts Adults (17+) - Rovers (Routiers)/Leaders (They have a gray uniform)

I spent a good part of my day thinking of a new plan, and trying to find the Scout house&shop. I'll be on the 9:00 pm bus tomrorow to Sudbury. I'm hopign to quickly hit the remainder of Downtown and the Olympic park (as I had originally planned). I'll lock my pack up at the greyhound station, and be on my way to Sudbury like no ones business.

Till I either get to Winnipeg (a joyful 36 hour bus ride) or Niagara (a much prefered 8 hour bus ride), I will be unable to post anything else. With the weather miserable (rainy), and my upcoming journey, I'm off to the kitchette to cook up some pasta and to do some laundry.

Until next time,

Yours In Scouting&Rovering,

Kimberly McGilvray
xoxo