As we arrived in Calgary, I couldn't believe my eyes.
I'd been here in 1975, when it was little changed from the photographs in my parent's album, see below. Now it's the fourth biggest city in Canada, with close to 1.5 million residents, and it is the wealthiest, thanks to oil. It was a bit smoggy though.
As I mentioned earlier, my parent's first married home was here. The arial photos below are in their Canadian album. The first is of a Canadian Hudson Trainer flown by my father or his student? It's obviously taken from a second plane off his wing.
The second is Calgary from the air, possibly a publicity shot. I imagined my father had taken it but I found exactly the same image on the web and it's too fine-grained for his camera.
According to 'Calgary Then and Now', the tallest building back then was the Palliser Hotel at 12 storeys. By 2021 the tallest building was the Brookfield Place Tower with 56 storeys (247 metres). There are now dozens of buildings above 30 storeys tall. It's worth noting that Canada, like Australia and New Zealand and even South Africa, has managed to abandon Imperial measurements, while across the border, in the US, it's all too hard.
Below, is where my parents made their first home. When I visited Calgary in 1975, it looked very much the same as in 1943. They had a flat that was below the house. I've mislaid the photo I took back then. Now the house is gone.
Yet, the neighbouring houses are still there and the street is scaped and leafier.
From Calgary airport we caught an afternoon flight to Toronto.