Making It Up As I Go Along #215

TUESDAY…
---Take it easy in the morning. Some Fawlty Towers on DVD and laundry.
--- Work is fine. With a walk and Wendy’s for supper, both with Mike.
--- Nice day, sunny and 20 (68 F).

WEDNESDAY…
--- Sunny and 23 today (73 F). I go for a walk before work… another on one break with Laura… and Laura, Louis, Michelle, Mike, Bill and Dave all join me as we go to the Chip Wagon for fries and burgers for supper. Sitting out on a picnic table eating is nice stuff.

THURSDAY…
--- Again sunny and warm. And again the Chip Wagon beckons. Work is a little hectic and I have a headache through the evening but I get through and it’s alright.

FRIDAY…
--- CNI luncheon is a pretty good way to start the day. I sit with Christine (the other supervisor) on one side of me and Laura on the other… good fun.
--- Work is a bit different tonight as it’s only three of us (Karen and Louis with me) and I’m spending most of my time working on a resume for a promotion. We also finish up at 7:30 since we went in early for the luncheon.
--- Playoff hockey end my day.

SATURDAY…
--- Sleep half the day away and watch some baseball and hockey on TV for the rest. It’s rainy and cool so it’s a good day for such a thing. Plus the best Western movie of all time is on TV at night… Unforgiven… spectacular.


I Come From Kong Island
Newfoundland in springtime is a unique place. Spring is a time machine in Newfoundland. It is when a near three hundred year old seal hunt takes place. With tough men taking small boats out into the ice fields of one of the most dangerous sections of ocean in the world. A hunt that now gets debated as outdated and barbaric… but still, it remains as a remnant of part of Newfoundland’s history. It’s a living piece of a time when such activities were needed for survival.

Spring is when great curtains of fog settle over much of the island. In the King Kong movies, the island Kong is found on is masked in a constant bank of fog. Fog that keeps the modern world out and allows a different type of ecosystem and society to flourish.

Newfoundland is much like Kong’s island. Spring comes and fog envelops the land. It’s all due to the landmass warming at a faster rate than the surrounding ocean. But the mystical qualities of it are much more impressive than the reality of the situation. For, you see, it is not uncommon to have a two week period of constant fog in Newfoundland. A change in wind direction may see the low clouds retreat like an easily spooked creature of the deep. And you may stand along cliff faces or hills and look out towards the ocean, seeing the beast hanging many miles out to sea… biding it’s time… waiting. And when the conditions are right for a return, it races back towards the land and envelops everything within its path once again.

This fog, like that of the King Kong movie, separates Newfoundland from the rest of the world. Yes, even in modern times, such a thing as fog can grind our technological advances to a halt. The people of the island are cut off and those from away can not reach this land of springtime mystery.

Not that this is always a good thing. It’s something to marvel at and it’s something that a Newfoundlander can talk about with some sort of peculiar pride… but it’s not great fun to be a part of.

Last weekend, I met my parents in Halifax. They had flown from Newfoundland for a five day trip and had every intention on returning to Newfoundland on the same day I returned to Ottawa… Monday.

And indeed, mom and dad left Halifax on Monday afternoon. And they did fly to Newfoundland. But after a half hour circling of St. John’s where they were so close to home that they could parachute down and be in their own kitchen by suppertime, they made the return flight to Halifax… four hours on a plane and back where they started. The fog had defeated them.

With so many similar flights as theirs, a backlog of people kept trying to make their way to the real life Kong Island. And because of this, mom and dad’s next attempt at getting home wouldn’t come on Tuesday, but Wednesday instead.

Off they went again, an hour and a half to cross the ocean and reach the land of no sun… and another circle over their own rooftop… and another return to Halifax. Eight hours on a plane over a three day span and still back where they started.

Finally, on Thursday, they made it in… barely. Flights that left earlier in the day, and I believe later as well, were again turned back. But my parent’s third attempt was met with luck and a momentary break in the fog. And the hour and a half flight from Halifax to St. John’s took four days, three flights and twelve hours in the air.

Besides fog, Newfoundland spring can bring an assortment of weather conditions. One day, it can feel as though the province is coming alive. Warmth seeps into the breeze and people walk about in short sleeves and with laughter in the air. And the next day, it can all come crashing down around you.

The greatest single snowfall I’ve ever been in happened on a Newfoundland spring day. We had just had an April day where it felt like winter was over and done with. The last of the snow was melting away and people were walking with renewed vigour. And the next day, the weather forecast called for five to ten centimetres of snow. But a shift in winds brought eighty centimetres in place of the ten and the city was buried.

So yes, springtime in Newfoundland is a tough time. It reverts you back to the raw elements of being where one can not depend on modern technology to make everything okay. And although it can make for some fine story telling, it’s not much fun to live through. Especially not when you turn on the television and see the rest of North America waking from the winter doldrums and preparing for the days of summer.

Indeed, spring is the only time of year that, in no way, do I miss Newfoundland. If I want that kind of mystic, I’ll just rent King Kong on DVD. At least I know I can turn it off and rejoin the modern world anytime I wish.