Making It Up As I Go Along #213

MONDAY…
--- Some laundry in the morning. Work is fine with a little walk at the 8:00 break and rain falling shortly after that. Everything else is about as normal.

TUESDAY…
--- Snow! Jeans and minor grocery shopping gets put off due to a lack of desire to be out and about in the slop. Laundry and Faulty Towers on DVD instead.
--- Work is busy but fine. Some meetings with people and some issues to sort through.

WEDNESDAY…
--- Clothes shopping in the morning. Jeans and some casual shirts are needed and got.
--- Work is fine… pretty quiet night.

THURSDAY…
--- Early start at work. In for 9:30 and a staff meeting. I’m gone again at 11:30 and get a few groceries and some down time before a return to finish out the shift this evening.
--- Evening shift is good with quiet times. Only five people between AFIS and CNI by the end of the night. The staff meeting really shakes things up as there are normally about thirty people in for such a shift.

FRIDAY…
--- Work is fine. Have supper with Melissa and do some talking as we work in CNI. Five of us there for a Friday evening… that’s lots. Usually, Friday evening has two or three in CNI.

SATURDAY…
--- Lawn care companies can go to hell. I’m tired of Weedman and others calling me and begging to give me a free estimate on the cost of caring for my lawn this summer. I have no lawn! Do your homework and pay attention to who owns what. I even had to tell one caller that I didn’t have a lawn three times before they believed me. And another time, I just didn’t even care anymore. When they asked if they could come and do an estimate for me I said “sure”. And sure enough, a few days later I had the estimate in my mailbox. What section of the communal grass out front that they thought I was responsible for, I still don’t know. And any phone call I get that has the person on the other end asking for Mr. or Mrs. Brown is a call that has me wishing bad things for the company that hired the poor sap who I’m talking to.


Thoughts from the Weekend of a Hermit
Newfoundlanders really are a different group of people. I wasn’t sure of that until after a few years in Ontario… but it’s very true. And this isn’t me preaching how the people from Newfoundland are the greatest people in the country. I lived there for more than thirty years and I can tell you that there are plenty of residents of the Rock that I shake my head at and walk away from with a touch of embarrassment.

But what can’t be denied is the absence of false pretences in a Newfoundlander. What they are, they are, and you’ll see it. There’s no show for the masses. There’s no fake image to try to trick others. Well… even that isn’t entirely true. There are Newfoundlanders who are fake and who try to create an image that isn’t the real person inside… but we’re just really bad at doing that and such antics are ridiculed quickly.

A Newfoundlander may not always be right and they may not always be logical but they’re either going to be open with you or so bad at trying to hide their true feelings that you’ll know the difference anyway.

And what do Newfoundlanders get for their openness? Sometimes it’s admiration… although sometimes that admiration comes in a similar way as if the admirer is discussing the family dog. But you often hear people speak of the kindness and generosity of Newfoundlanders. Of how we don’t take life too seriously… that we’re able to laugh even when things seem bleak. And most people I’ve heard talking about the Newfoundland landscape have spoken of its beauty and ruggedness.

But sometimes our openness as a people, and our willingness not to take ourselves too seriously leaves us open for the barbs of those that somehow think themselves better. Too many Canadians look at Newfoundland as Canada’s third world. A group of people, used to charity, who should be thankful to have such generous supporters. If our openness isn’t that of the ever grateful charity case, there are those in our nation that speak angrily about how “those Newfies should shut up and be thankful”.

Yet often have we heard those in Quebec demand special status as a unique culture. And for too long I’ve heard people in Western Canada (some of whom being Newfoundland’s biggest critics) complaining about not having a voice when it comes to the running of our country. Both of these are similar sentiments expressed by the people of my home province. Yet for some reason, Albertans and Quebecers seem to have earned the right to complain… while Newfoundland is told to watch itself.

The Newfie joke is something I’m so tired of I can’t even begin to express myself on it. In my experience, it’s usually told by someone who has no idea what is and isn’t funny. They’re so deep into their own self importance that they want to look cool by taking a dig at the last group in Canada that is politically correct to make fun of… “the silly Newfies”.

So what should be Newfoundlanders greatest attribute, our openness, is our greatest weakness in a country that looks at openness as some sort of character flaw.

The result is that, the longer I live in the heart of put-a-wall-around-yourself Canada, the more I feel the pressure to start building my own wall. And it irritates me to feel such pressure. I mean I’ve always been someone who enjoys my alone time. There’s definitely a private side to me. But still, I’ve never wanted to worry about having to make a point of putting up a wall between me and the people around me. When I first came here I told myself that I’d remain the same and that I wouldn’t let my surroundings dictate how I’d act. I now feel like it’s a struggle for that goal to remain.

I never wanted to be one of those Newfoundlanders who move to another part of Canada only to search out other Newfoundlanders. There has always been a part of me that found that type of action a little sad. I’ve seen it as the actions of people unwilling to accept their new surroundings and I’ve always prickled at the thought of segregating. From the point of view of studying another culture, having pockets of a city that are seen as “Chinatown” or “Little Italy” are interesting… but I always saw it as a flaw in Canadian culture to make people want to cluster among pockets of familiarity. But the longer I try to be an Ontario Canadian, the more I think about the benefits of having a “Little Newfoundland” right here in Ottawa. And the more tempted I am to search out other Newfoundlanders to be around. Cause what it all boils down to is that, even if I am a bit of a loner at heart… I’m not interested in building up walls.