New York, USA; Midhurst, Ontario, Canada; Alliston, Ontario, Canada; Tarascon, France.

From Greg and Flat Mrs Coxhill [made by Addison] in New York, USA

 Hi Addison, A lot of people where we live in Manhattan don’t have cars because it’s easier and quicker to get around using the public transport system (and you don’t have to worry about finding a car park on the street). So when we’re showing Mrs Coxhill around the city we just use the subway train system – it goes to most places and is quite cheap (and free for kids!). However it does get a bit crowded when people are going to and from work or school. Some of the trains go on lines that are above the ground and they have turned one of those lines that is not used any more into a park called the Highline. It’s a cool place to visit and go for a nice walk without having to worry about the traffic and it gives a nice view of the city from up a bit higher. 

 One of the main streets in Manhattan is called Broadway – it goes from the bottom of the island right up to the top and into the Bronx. It follows the original hunting trail that the Native Americans used before European people arrived. Trinity Church has been at the bottom of Broadway on the corner of Wall Street since 1698. The original church was burned down in 1776 when a big fire started in a nearby pub and destroyed most of the buildings in that area. It was rebuilt twice after that and the current church has been there since 1839. It was actually the tallest building in Manhattan back then but now the area around Wall Street is known as the Financial District so the church sits in amongst lots of very tall buildings. When you look up Wall Street from the Hudson River you can see the church sitting at the end. In the Midtown part of Manhattan Broadway goes through Times Square. This is called the Theatre District and it’s always very busy with a lot of people around. This is a big entertainment area where most of the cities shows are based and it is also where a lot of the tourist hotels are. There are so many bright billboards and advertisements all around there that it almost seems like it is daytime even during the night.

 During New Year’s Eve there is always a big party and concert in Times Square which lots of people go to. I usually try and avoid it at that time because there are so many people that you can hardly move and I’m worried that I might get squished. Further up Broadway goes through Lincoln Square which was the setting for a musical show called the West Side Story. Since then they redeveloped that area and now it is home to the Metropolitan Opera House, the New York Symphony Orchestra and the New York Ballet. Do you do ballet – perhaps you will dance here one day!

                                                                   

In your letter you mentioned the MCG sports stadium - one day I would like visit it and go to see a game there. In the United States people don’t play AFL or cricket and they don’t really understand them. The main sports here are American football, baseball, basketball and ice hockey and New York has some of the biggest teams for those sports. The New York Yankees play baseball at Yankee Stadium and are sometimes known as the Bronx Bombers because Yankee Stadium is in the Bronx, while the New York Mets also play baseball but they are based in Queens. Do you recognize the NY logo in the photo of the stadium? A lot of people all over the world wear baseball caps with that logo on them – it is from the New York Yankees

The biggest indoor stadium in Manhattan is the MSG (almost like the MCG!) which is where the New York Knicks play basketball and the New York Rangers play ice hockey. They use the same court for both sports but just lay down the ice for the hockey games on top of the basketball court. My favorite sport here is basketball and we often go to games in Brooklyn where the Brooklyn Nets play. I hope you liked hearing a little bit more about New York! 

Kind regards, Greg & Anne-Marie 

From Mirella and Flat Emily in Ontario, Canada

Hello everyone,

I hope that you all had a lovely break! I am so happy to be a part of this project!  I apologize for my delay, but I have been busy taking care of my grandson, Toby, all summer. Toby is 3 years old.  He normally goes to daycare, but since Covid appeared here in March, his daycare was closed and I was lucky enough to be able to watch him over the summer...until now.  

We spent a lot of time in our backyard. Toby enjoyed his swing set, running in the yard, swimming in the pool, and going for walks. He also enjoyed spending lots of time with our Corgi, Ginny. Many things were closed so we couldn't venture out much.  

I am writing to you from Midhurst, Ontario, Canada.  Midhurst is a small community about 2 hours north of Toronto, Ontario's capital.  We are just 5 minutes from the city of Barrie. Midhurst's population is about 3.000 people. Our community has a lot of greenery, as well as many trees and streams.  We are lucky to have a stream just down the street from us, where we spend a lot of time in the summer and fall.  I will include many pictures of our various adventures in a few following emails. 

In Canada, we started our lockdown on March 13.  Schools and daycares were closed down completely and many people were asked to work from home if that was possible.  Of course, hospitals, grocery stores, and necessary services were able to remain open with new safety precautions put in place.  We have since reopened most services and businesses. School begins next week for the first time since lockdown in March.  

Our school year runs from September to June.  We have Christmas break (2 weeks), March break (1 week), and some other sporadic holidays off (Thanksgiving, Easter, Family Day, to name a few).  Our summer break runs from the beginning of July to the end of August, which gives everyone 2 months of summer vacation.  

We have 4 seasons in Canada: winter, spring, summer and fall.  Each season is relatively 3 months; however, winter is our longest season, as we get snow and cold weather from early October to late March—sometimes winter even stays until April!  The fall officially begins on September 22, but the leaves on the trees are already changing colours. Fall is my favourite season!  We call it sweater weather.  How many seasons do you have in Australia?

Canada is the second-largest country in the world with regard to landmass, with Russia being the largest. We have a population of 37.59 million people and our official languages are English and French. 

We are known for our love of hockey and maple syrup. You can see hockey nets on the streets all year long.  Kids and adults alike love to play hockey on the streets and yell "CAR!" when they see that someone is coming. Many kids play on hockey teams all year long as well. Those games are played on the ice with ice skates.  We are lucky to have basketball courts in our local park, which is converted into an ice rink over the winter for the whole town to enjoy! I will include a picture in my following emails of Mrs. Izzard on a hockey net.   

This week, school reopens for the first time since March 13. I am a grade 1 teacher, so I return to work tomorrow. I am very excited to go back to school, just like most of our students are excited to see their friends at school again.  

I will include some pictures in my following emails of our walk to the stream and our adventures in my backyard.  I hope you enjoy them!

Mrs. Savoia   

 

 

From Linda and Flat Brodie in Alliston, Ontario, Canada

Hey Brodie. 

I hear that Flat Brodie and Flat Host is almost over. I didn’t know it would be over so soon. I would like to give you some more information about where I live
I live in Alliston (population 19,243) Ontario (population 14,745,000) Canada (population 37,971,020). We have had some pretty hot weather here in our summer June - Sept. We start our school year now - actually today and it is actually pretty cool 14 degrees which is cool for this time of year
I am sending you pics of you and me at the dentist and you and I golfing and you and I in Collingwood.  I wanted to go to Collingwood as they have big ski runs and in the wintertime, we have a lot of skiers going down these hills. Hope you can imagine them with snow all over them cause skiers need lots of snow to go fast down these hills
I sent you pictures of my grandson Jeremy in his baseball uniform. Now baseball is over for the summer but now the kids are trying out for the better teams like AAA and AA and select teams. Jeremy wants to try out for the select teams as he thinks those are the most fun
I think this is a really fun project that your teacher got you to do. I hope I gave you enough information If you would like more information about anything please feel free to contact me
There is one more picture of snow I want to show you - it's the snow around our house. 
I will be sending you a parcel but it will probably take quite a while to go from Canada to Australia so you have to be patient.

Your Flat Host Linda Randell

 

 

 

 

Linda wanted to share this video of polar bears that can be found in northern Canada. They are very cute. 

From Flat Mrs McCann [sent by Ella] and Sophie and Pierre in Tarascon, France. 

September 27: We are pleased to tell you that Flat miss McCann arrived in France a couple days ago, a bit late, but in good condition.

We have attached a few pics from our city Tarascon where Flat Miss McCann took a tour.

We hope that all is fine for you there in the Yarra Valley.

Here, unfortunately we have to fight again against the Covid-19 and some cities have to reduce the human interaction severely in order to stop the virus progression.

Not good for the economy, even worse for the morale. Still we remain optimistic and think that this will soon only be a bad memory.

 

Take care of you all.

Kisses from France.

Pierre & Sophie.