18hr punk rock hayride in a snowstorm

18hr punk rock hayride in a snowstorm
Current mood: ninja

Hey, it's Anna here, Die Mannequin's roomate, confidante, coat rack whore, and bringer of merriment. I've lived with Die Mannequin for yrs and am accompanying them on tour as their merch maiden and blogger. can't wait to see all you kids out there at all the shows!

Who would have thought that driving from Toronto to Chicoutimi during the worst snowstorm in Canada since 1939 may not be the cheery frolic it sounds like?!

Some evil spirit cursed our van, becuz the heat died, turning us mannequins into icey corpses. Our rickity ride got stuck in the snow many a times, but we were determined to keep going, not wanting to disappoint the kids.
The first time we got stuck, we were between two 9' snow piles with no winter tires; after an hour we were pulled out with chains by a tractor and stupidly carried on.

Hours later, trudging on at a measly 15km/hr, the whiteouts got so bad that we stopped on an off ramp. we were too far from a hotel and any place warm (including Mexico) so we decided to catch some zzz's til the menacing storm died down. it did not. it felt very isolating to be stuck and all alone in our icecube of a van completely detached from anything.

Firemen on snow mobiles woke us up to dig us up out of snowpiles for the 3rd time that today. after this we thought we were safe.
Then, this shadowy figure approached us from the middle of the road. it turned out to be a damsel in distress (the best kind of damsel) wrapped in a tinfoil blanket. But it might as well been a fucking tinfoil hat wobbling above her manic frozen head. she was also stuck, desperately waiting for mr. plow to come for hours. we let her in and took her back to her abandoned vehicle that was wrapped in a snow blanket.

Now after getting stuck another three times, we've finally arrived, half alive in Trois-Rivières, Québec. Our hotel is conveniently located next to Value Pillage, a band favourite. We can't wait to find discarded Jesus statues and other treasures. We settled in, only to find out that all highways to Chicoutimi are closed. Sum 41's tour manager called and they're still stuck in New Brunswick. By the tone in his voice, he wasn't sure they'd make it either. A lot of Québec's electricity went out and many highways and airports are closed. So sorry to all our fans in Chicoutimi. We've been raped by mother nature again.

More tomorrow

from the bottom of my icey French feet

- Anna H.