General Chat

Well I'm glad you're getting the chance to watch Due South! It's a show for all ages -- me, my mum and both my grandmothers were all devotees. ;)

Some of the Canadian humour will go over your heads through no fault of your own. It did the audience in the US -- for the first few years, it was a coproduction with a US network, but they never quite got it there -- either the type of humour, since it takes a while to figure out that some of it isn't meant to be serious, which you guys will get more of course, or the particular cultural references.

For instance -- we all know who Diefenbaker is named for, right? (I think there were 3 Diefenbakers over the course of the show.)

And there's a character for a bit called Mackenzie King, I think she's a journalist. Probably the younger Canadians didn't get that one, either. ;)

You'll all be happy to hear it's pretty cold here right now, too, and there's snow as of two days ago.

Jean, I must admit Diefenbaker is the highlight of the show for me too :)

Janey, Due South is on Sky television at the moment, we have been watching it again, mainly I must say, to watch Diefenbaker at work, Reminds us of a dog we once had.
My grandmother became a Canadian war bride in the early twenties. Janey kindle helped me find out some of her journey.

Hello again Rita,

Pillows are the least of their problems regarding shortages, it really is terrible that they do not have sufficient clothing etc.

He will be home for xmas, and I hope this will be his last tour, he is only 20 years old and it worries me sick each times he is out there.

How brave the mothers, wives and girlfriends were in WW1 & WW2 not seeing their men for years.......no telephone internet etc.

It is a frozen wasteland here in Wales........truly perishing weather!

Annx

I think they all had more money than our poor Tommy's Rita!, and it seems things never change......my nephew in Afghan even has to fork out for a decent pillow to sleep on! He spends time in the US Naffi....I wonder why??????

Annx

Janey, who needs a teenager when we've got BBC iplayer ;) lol

We've had a rerun of the series lately :)

Good to see you around Uggers :)

Where I grew up, there had been a Canadian base in the war and there were supposedly a lot of girls who did their bit for international relations - must have been very exciting for such a small place. A relation of mine married a French Canadian and that worked out well but there were several babies left behind:)

Thanks for the extra info Janey, interesting stuff! Only half way through the book, have not come across anyone travelling to Winnipeg yet! Most have been to the Maritimes and mostly had very hard life at the begining.

Dads mums sister "ran away" to Canada with her hubby and 1 year old, they left the house for the sailing, calling at a photographers and having their photo taken...then having it sent home to their parents saying they were on their way to Canada!

I also have a cousin out there in Kitchener, he left UK in the 60's. As for the cold weather..........just heard on the morning news that it was -17c in parts of Powys (Wales) last night..........very cold for us!

Ann

Yup Ann -- it's the trip my grandmother made in the late 20s. I haven't quite figured it out yet. How I wish I'd got it straight when she was living -- she was nearly 99 when she died, only 15 years ago, so imagine how I kick myself.

My grandfather seems to have come here first, when he left the military after being in WWI and then Ireland, and sent for her. I do remember her saying she thought she was going to Australia until she got to the dock. And then she got off the boat, got off the train, and found herself in Winnipeg in February. Well, from the passenger record, actually late summer, but it would have been February soon enough. ;)

"Portage and Main in February" (a main corner in Winnipeg) is the dictionary definition of freeze to death in two minutes. I was there once then, I know.

Halifax is the main naval port here; Halifax was a British military post for centuries, and still has the Citadel. It was the site of the (wait for it) Halifax Explosion in 1917, which I think still stands as the highest death count non-natural disaster in history, when a munitions ship exploded.

Oddly, the only person I ever met who was there was my former partner's step-grandfather from California, who was with the US military, and whom I met in Texas about 23 years ago.


As for Mounties, well, I used to deal with 'em through work. Nice enough guys. That Sgt Larry I liaised with for the demonstration many years ago has taken to writing right-wing letters to the editor. I ran into him in an elevator one day, him all dressed up in the full kit (he was always in shirt and tie when I saw him normally). I think he must have been on duty at a Citizenship Court event. I snickered, and said something like "big party?" And he stared straight ahead ... as Mounties are wont to do.

If you like Mounties, and you haven't seen the series Due South, you really do have to find a teenager who knows how to download stuff from the net. ;)

lol Janey....thought you may say that.....I was thinking of keeping the Mounties myself rather than the soldiers ;)

Thanks Janey........will take alook at those, am really enjoying the book, and learning a bit of Canadian history to boot!

So far most of the ships seem to have arrived at Halifax, so for a lot of the women & children there were many days travelling from there, if I am correct to Quebec and Ontario.

Annx

Well, you can certainly have all the ones in uniform -- I don't want 'em!

There were loads of war brides came to Canada ... although probably not as many as the war babies left behind.

My mum's 80 (born 1930), just a little younger than the war bride age, but in her senior cits' apartment buildings in the last 20 years she's known many English women who married Canadians and came here after the war.

Don't imagine they all ended up in sod huts on the prairies, of course. There were a lot of major cities here, and anyone arriving in Toronto or any other city in southern Ontario would have had all the comforts of home and more.

This bills itself as "the authoritative source of information on the Canadian war brides of WWII" ;)

http://www.canadianwarbrides.com/

if anybody feels like browsing. It has lots of references to Melynda Jaratt.

An official website:

http://www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=history/secondwar/warbrides

and stories, radio and television clips from the CBC archives:

http://archives.cbc.ca/war_conflict/second_world_war/topics/1542/

Hello Rita,

That sounds good, might buy that one as I like Brenda Fricker, you should read this book if you enjoyed the film.........I got it from the library.

My mums friend and next door neighbour married an American GI in 1947, my mum and dad went to California to stay with them in 1990! So that marriage survived against all the odds!

I suppose in many cases due to rationing etc...........the grass seems greener...........but in many cases sadly not!

Annx

Rita that was a good film - watched it twice. Also enoyed her in the Land Girls.

Yes thats what I thought, thinking about our 1911 census and the blanked out last column........for privacy!

That's scary Ann, those records are far too recent to be published if they identify people.

Crikey.........am a bit gobsmacked now........read anothert chapter regarding records kept (War Brides Bureau)relating to Brides refused entry or refusing to enter the country as a bride, very sensitive information.

For example.......wife insane, husband cannot be located, VD symptoms,divorce pending, husband does not want wife etc.

They are actually open to the public!
Annx

ahhh, she's diverted then Ann...quick lets start smuggling some in......;)

PS...........You two had better watch out..........she is looking in over on TTF LOL
Annx

Not too sure about the Canadian accent..........a lot of them were French speaking!.......imagine that on top of being away from your family & friends, going to a French speaking location.

Well there were nearly 65,000 UK brides who took the plunge between 1942/46.....over 45,000 of them in 1946 and their 21,000 children!

Annx