Moxons in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Margaret meeting Penny and Len Moxon of Halifax

On Thursday 11^th June, our 8^th/28^th wedding anniversary coincided with our visit to Halifax – our only port visit on our transatlantic voyage on Queen Mary 2.

We had arranged some time ago – long before we left Sydney – to meet up with two members of the Moxon Society who migrated to Canada a long time ago for work opportunities for Len. He is a retired telecommunications engineer and his wife Penny is a retired early childhood and infants school teacher.  They'd worked in a number of Canadian cities, from Vancouver to Halifax over the decades but decided to retire in Halifax. We immediately established a rapport with them over coffee, finding them very interesting indeed. Like us, they have become very interested in community volunteer work in retirement.

Penny showing Margaret "her" Halifax

Len had really prepared for our visit – as much as he could since we did not know what accessible transport options there were for John in Halifax. There are “pink” buses which are “hop on hop off” with profits going to Breast Cancer but unfortunately the buses were very ancient and not at all wheelchair accessible. And the tour office on board the Queen Mary was not very helpful – they came back with a quote of $500 for three hours in an accessible cab. No way!

So in the end it was “shanks pony” for all of us and that worked out very well. Len and Penny met us before 10 am at the terminal and stayed with us till 4pm. We even walked up to the Citadel – quite a climb for me but John's new chair handled the steep hills with considerable ease.

Len and Penny were able to show us many historic and important buildings and explained much of the history. There are over 300 victims of the Titanic buried in Halifax – sadly the victims who could be found and not claimed by families to be buried elsewhere were transported to Halifax whilst the survivors were taken to New York.

Entrance to Museum with John and Len Moxon

We were particularly interested in viewing the Maritime Museum – not so much to see the Titanic exhibition, but rather to see an exhibition about the Halifax explosion of 6^th December , 1917.  

A dreadful tragedy

Well over 2000 people were killed and 9000 injured when the SS Mont-Blanc collided with the SS Imo, a Norwegian vessel and exploded in the bay. Nine of the deceased were named Moxon, all related. Len has researched and written a comprehensive article about the tragedy and the Moxon family in particular for the Moxon Magazine.

9-10 Moxons listed (one probably a duplicate)

The week before our visit, Len had arranged for the Museum to display the page listing the Moxon family and for the archivist to show us another extremely interesting exhibit relating to Richard Moxon – stored for nearly 60 years and now in the museum. Len's current project for the Moxon Society is to research and document the history of this exhibit. If you want to know more, you'll need to wait – I not going to steal Len's thunder.

After a picnic lunch – purchased at Pete's – on the waterfront, we visited the area which contained many old buildings.  This depiction of a hanging reminded us of the kind of punishment common in the 17th century.

After that, we decided to tackle the hill to the Citadel. The citadel, called Fort George after George 11 of England, established in 1749 as protection from the Indians and later the French. The British citizens of America were not considered a threat by the British at that stage. This was before the American Revolution of the 1770s.

Len, Penny and John contemplating climbing Citadel hill.

Len and Penny had visited plenty of times before, so they waited outside whilst John and I explored it. We did not go into the museum on site, but there was a lift to the top of the ramparts. Students dressed up as redcoats and period costume had been employed for the summer. One poor girl was being ordered to march all day by a young corporal.

It was all downhill back to the port to re-board the Queen Mary 2, thankfully. We had a wonderful day – Len and Penny certainly planned it well for us. I wonder if they had any influence on the weather, which was just beautiful as you can see from the photos.

Both of us got quite sunburnt, we hadn't worn our hats or sun screen.  Naughty us.

Trains and taxis

Amtrak hoist - does the job - manual wind

I'm trying to write this on Amtrak train No 64, on route from Niagara Falls to New York - returning the way we came on Thursday.  It's quite a pleasant journey although too long - we left at 10:18 am and won't be at Penn Station until 9:45 pm, assuming we are on time.  It's also very bumpy - like their "sidewalks", I don't think America maintains its rolling stock or train tracks as well as we do.  Maybe it has something to do with the Americans' reluctance to pay tax??

Meeting other Aussies at the train station

John's space in this carriage is much larger, and therefore more comfortable than on the journey up.  He can fully recline his chair without any problem.  I've also commandeered a forward facing seat with a tray - for the moment - hence my attempt to write a blog on John's laptop. (Did I tell you I managed to smash the screen on my own laptop on our last night in the UK?)

The Amtrak hot spot is working well.  On our return journey we remembered to bring our American power attachments in our hand luggage.

As I said, we boarded the train at 10:18 am at Niagara Falls (ON), and travelled across the river to Niagara Falls (USA) where we were stationery for two hours whilst customs came through the train.  Other passengers are usually asked to get off the train with their luggage and then reboard (they were on the journey up) but this time I think everyone stayed seated.  Neither Canadian nor American customs officers are people with whom to crack a joke!  Hopefully this delay was scheduled - probably was, since the journey back to NY is about an hour longer.

Our unreliable taxi - Central Taxis - do not recommend

We've had the usual dramas with taxis.  Amtrak's contract travel agent couldn't arrange transport from stations to our hotels, so John has taken on that role.  It fouled up on our first attempt at Niagara Falls (Ontario side).  He'd found a taxi company and booked it, but when we arrived, no sign of a wheelchair cab.  Other taxi drivers from that company were helpful and finally he turned up.  He didn't turn his meter on, and said it was a flat rate.  But we got there.

John booked through the same company for the return trip this morning and they scheduled the booking, but no show.  We'd left plenty of time for the journey (our wheelie friends will understand that!) so the hotel was able to find another company to do the job and Elite Cabs turned up very quickly, turned the meter on and charged much less. So if you are needing a wheelchair accessible cab in Niagara Falls, for peace of mind, don't bother with Central Taxis, go for Elite instead.  A third company didn't have any wheelchair accessible cabs.

I wonder what our experience with cabs will be in Boston, Chicago and Seattle?  Our Boston hotel is only a short distance so John can probably wheel himself there whilst I find a regular cab.

Queen Mary 2

Now I know our friends Hazel and Deb will be disappointed with us, but we didn't much like the Queen Mary 2.  I suppose that's to some extent because we had nearly 8 weeks on board the Queen Victoria and found it so much more friendly.  A better chance to meet and maintain contact with shipmates would be one reason.

However we weren't alone in thinking that way.  Lots of people could be heard saying they preferred the QVic.  Somehow the staff were happier, more efficient.  And the layout was much better.   The Wintergarden on the QM2 was very dark, and to get from Aft to Fwd was extremely difficult.

Nevertheless, we had a chance to relax after the driving around England, and read some books.  John was crook for over 48 hours, some infection or other, but recovered in time for our Halifax visit.

Luckily our local GP had prescribed antibiotics for him in case of such an eventuality.  Seemed to do the trick.  I was just happy to de-stress after all that driving - I never did get the feel for driving a five geared van.  But no scratches or bumps at least.

You are probably wondering why no photos in this post or the preceding one.  I have to own up that on our last night in the UK, I trod on my laptop screen and cracked it.  So it got sent home with all the extra stuff we could do without on the Amtrak leg of our trip.  I haven't yet had the time to sit down with John's Windows 8 laptop and figure it out.  This is being written on my iPad.

We made do with our 4 hour free allocation of Slow satellite internet on the ship, but I am now using the hotel's free wifi, and it's FAST!  Hallelujah.

What we've seen of New York so far is exciting.  The poverty amongst many of the citizens around the bus station on 8th Av and West 40 th street is on full display.  I'm looking forward to seeing the lights around the theatre district at night.  But we are currently experiencing a thunderstorm and John has gone to bed (6 pm).

We have a bit of rearranging the furniture in our room - had to get the bed lowered.  First attempt was useless, I sat on the bed and the mattress sank right through the bed frame.  So the men brought the bed base back and took away the frame - now manageable but now too low.  Will need to use the old pillow under the mattress trick to help John transfer.  Always something.  Never ever straightforward, however much planning goes into the design of a room and the fit out.  Mind you, the fit out and placement of furniture is usually done without considering wheelchair access.  I have a bedside table and reading lamp, but John doesn't.

I sent a chair away, it was too big to fit by the bed as a bedside table for John's CPAP machine and other odds and sods. However it was quickly replaced with another thinner chair.  Service is good, but the poor fellows were run off their feet fixing things for guests.

It's only at times like this, reorganising things, that we say " in some ways it would be good to be home", where everything is in the right place and we can go to bed and rise the next morning without drama.

Oh well, hopefully tomorrow our routines will be sorted, at least for 5 days and we can get on with exploring.

On board ship transatlantic

I won't be able to post anything more until we are in NY due to snail speed and Dreadfully expensive Internet on Board Queen Mary 2.  Enjoying it but can't help comparing it to Queen. Victoria which is inevitable since we got to know that ship very well over Eight weeks.

John I'll in bed today, but nothing to worry about.  Heavy seas for 36 hours.  Only one third of way at moment.  Looking forward to meeting Len and Penny Moxon, Society members in Halifax on Wednesday.

Had some marvellous times in Dorset with my Dear cousin Linda ( nee Tucker) and her husband Peter, and more happy and fun times in Southampton/ Brockenhurst with yet another John Moxon; and again with Paul and Ange (4th cousin) who always overwhelms us with practical help and love.  And fun times.

Back in touch when we have our USA Internet sorted out.

Thank you all for reading.