Funny how memories can be triggered by a scent or even a taste. In my case, a box of Harvest Crunch cereal. Every time I eat it I am transported back to the time my brother and I made the trip across Canada by train. Yes, those were the days when the train went the width of the continent; the early days of Via Rail. We were living in England, my brother just graduated from art school and wondering what future to pursue; me jobless and searching for life. A family trip to Canada to visit relatives and memories was proposed and we jumped at it.
Our early childhood was spent in Toronto. We had seen snippets of Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia but never explored the sheer scale of the country. There was no doubt in our minds, the only way to do it was by train. With next to no money in our pockets, we bought 21 day passes for Daynighter accommodation in Montreal and, to save money, also purchased some non-perishable food to stave off starvation along the way. One of those items was, of course, a box of Harvest Crunch cereal.
Those were the days when meals on charter airlines were served in little plastic containers with plastic cups and cutlery. Knowing that we would be travelling, we stuck them into the carry-on (carry-off) luggage and so were well equipped for frugal picnics on our train trip. Every morning we went to the snack bar and bought a carton of milk. Every morning we poured milk and Harvest Crunch into the little bowls that we had purloined from our flight, and ate it with our filched plastic spoons.
We met some real characters on the trip across this great land; the gracious English woman who was returning to her home in BC. The disturbed mother who took her kids into the washroom and gave them a belting, although they behaved impeccably. The party types who passed a bottle and got off at every stop to smoke; people who stayed on and read for the entire trip, or those who departed in the middle of the night. We saw some extraordinary sights. A chair and table set up for train watching somewhere in the middle of Ontario’s endless rocks and lakes and trees. The striations of colour in the landscape. The dusty, heat-baked windswept corners of Winnipeg where we were allowed an hour to stroll. The swathes of prairies undulating wheat as far as the eye could see. The mind-boggling Rockies, passage through which held us spellbound for the entire day in the observation car. Vancouver, so overwhelming a city that, after a day on the island, sent us scuttling for the safety of the train and the return journey. It was the last time my brother and I spent any extended time in each other’s company without family and hangers-on and oceans between us. It all comes back clear as day when I dig in my spoon and savour the first bite of that Harvest Crunch cereal.
Quaker® Harvest Crunch®
Clo Carey Feb/20
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#write28days Feb5
Teetering on the Edge 