CDT Training in Vancouver & Trip to Quebec

Well Alice and I started our adventure on Sunday by flying to Vancouver and then spending two hours driving out to the cow poop smelling community of Chilliawack. We checked into our rooms and were delighted to find bath tubs in both but unfortunately we were at the top of stairs. Do you know how hard it is to pack two very large heavy suitcases up numerous flights of stairs? We deserved the bathtub after that.


Our first day was good, we had Rene and Catherine who were excellent instructors, very encouraging, helpful and informative. They each gave us great tips for arming that should help us get through the next stage.

Overall the week went well, we worked hard, we fell hard, pulled and found muscles we didn’t know we had. We were also lucky we weren’t at home because of all the bruises we got Len and Marty might have gotten in trouble.

So by Thursday Alice and I had passed our learning demos and we only had to complete the Subject Movement Course on Friday. This turned out to be a very good course, it turns out that we probably won’t escort people very often but we did here some great stories from a couple of inland officers who have escorted people back home all over the world.

So we got out early on Friday and it was back into Vancouver to return the rental car and get to the hotel room. We stayed at the Sheraton by the airport and I must say that the beds here are the most comfortable beds I have every slept in. It was like sinking into a really big feather pillow and it kind of just enveloped you. The pillows and the bedding were also incredibly soft and crisp. I spent half the night trying to figure out how to get the mattress in my suitcase so that I could take it to Quebec with me. Alice and went to a great little Asian restaurant just a block from the restaurant. Len always says that you should try little out of the way places and this was it.

On Saturday morning we were on the road by 8am and off to the airport and on the plane to Montreal. We managed to watch two comedies, one about baseball with Amy Adams and Clint Eastwood and the Guilt Trip with Barbara Streisand and Seth Rogan, both were quite funny. It was neat, the plane and a screen in front of each seat and you could pick which movies or TV shows you wanted to watch. Hopefully it is a similar system on the way home because I already picked out what I wanted to watch next

We landed in Montreal, got our bags and then got a cab out to Rigaud. We had to get a van so that we could fit all our bags in. We of course did not have the exact address for the college but the driver just put Riguad into the GPS and I told him that once we got there that I would be able to find it. He was a little crazy with his driving, not quite sure how fast he was going but both Alice and I were a little concerned but he got us there in one piece. As soon as you turn off the freeway to Riguad you can see the college up on the hill.

So we got there, got our bags and then checked in. It is a little different that the last time I was here, the staircase in the main entrance way is gone and has been replaced with sliding doors that we have to scan in and out with, high-tech security. Alice and I got our rooms and it worked out that they put all the afternoon class on the 6th and 7th floors. I think that I am in the same room that I was in when I first came to Riguad. It is either this room or the one next door. We were too late for dinner so we ate down at the Subway at the bottom of the hill. We then got unpacked and tried to make our rooms comfortable. Alice has never been to Rigaud before and she complained that I never told her that the rooms were so depressing, she said that these rooms make a college dorm room look five star. The beds on the upper floors are a ¾ bed and quite hard, someone told me to put my extra blanket on the bottom of my bed and that would make it more comfortable so that is what I did and when I got back in my room today, the maid had nicely given me a twin foamy under my mattress pad so now I am really comfortable.    

      So we tried to stay up late so that we could get on this time zone, we also tried to sleep in. We both got up a little later and then went for our first breakfast, which was okay. We then walked down to the Metro and the dollar store to pickup a few suppleies, came back, did some laundry and then I went for a massage. Alice’s cousin Ryan who works here at Riguad and who I used to work at Kingsgate with arranged for me to get a massage here at the college because the CDT training gave me a Charlie horse in my butt and a sore shoulder. I must say it was great and that I will probably use her again. The afternoon weather was a little blustery and rainy so we stayed in, watched a little TV and just gabbed.  This is the view of the new firearms centre from my room.    

  Supper was good, had ginger beef stir fry and salad. We decided to go for a walk downtown but it started to rain just as we started so we decided to explore the campus. We found that they had changed the library into the CDT gym, nice to workout with stained glass window in the background. Came back to our rooms, phoned my Mom to wish her a Happy Mother’s day and my Dad a Happy Birthday, talked to my hubby and puppy and then started working on the blog, posted it and then went back for a bath. I try and stay awake again, since I am going to be staying up past midnight for the next three weeks, I have to start sometime. Hopefully I will have internet access in my room by Tuesday so I can try and post nightly.