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It's not all it's cracked up to be. It worked out well for my career, it was something I was compelled to do by circumstances beyond my control... and I don't regret it. But I do... feel a sense of loss when I think about all the years I didn't get to share with my city. ;) Ironically, CBC saved me. :-) I listened to a CBC Radio program about homesickness, and the host mentioned that Newfoundlanders are especially prone to it. They interviewed a bunch of people, and one of them was Allan Hawco (the lead actor on Republic of Doyle). The host asked him what his rock bottom moment was, and he broke down a little sharing the story. He said he'd been living away for a long time, working odd jobs in construction and so on. He was on the subway in Toronto, heading to the eastern edge of the city for some job he didn't want to do, and: "I was sitting there, my head in my hands, thinking, "What am I doing?" You know? And I looked up and, honest to God... I looked up at the subway door and etched into it was an outline map of Newfoundland... and written inside the little map of Newfoundland was... (voice cracking) "I want to go home". And... I remember... thinking... yep... (voice cracking, whispering), I know how you feel, buddy. I know how you feel. Two weeks later, when I was on that airplane, and I hit the lights of St. John's coming in over the harbour, I certainly welled up. Me and the buddy sitting next to me, who I didn't even know. You know the saying: you'll always know the Newfoundlanders in Heaven. They're the only ones there who want to go home. It's true. Whenever we get together, it's all we ever talk about. We have this connection to the place. We've been separate from the rest of the world for so long and, like any island culture, our identity was preserved. And I think that identity, when you leave this place, it stays with you and you... you just pine for it because you find yourself surrounded by strangers with new identities - or the lack of an identity - and it's something you want to return to. At least I did. I really did." I asked permission to work from a home-based office in St. John's, my employer granted the request (sssooo grateful. I work for the best people in the world), and voila. Home over a year, still going out every day taking pictures, still not sick of it. |
Great story signal.
This remind me of the Magdalene islands. Even if they're so little as 12 000 peoples, their culture & accent is well know to be specific all around the province. Even if they share many things with the continent ( especially with acadia & gaspe peninsula ), they're only, REALLY at home, when they are in the middle of the gulf of St-Lawrence. So I think I feel what you're saying pretty much. |
Alberta has really beautiful heritage buildings.
***** The city tonight: http://www.newfoundland-photos.com/C...20Stitch-L.jpg |
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Oddly, there was a line in the season premiere of American Horror Story that summed it up nicely as well. I don't remember what it was verbatim, but she basically said that the people who stayed in or returned to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina had a reason to do so, and this bred a sense of community. I believe you have to love it here to live here. If it isn't your passion, it won't be enough. You don't cling to a Godforsaken rock in the North Atlantic for 500 years unless you have a deeply important reason to do so, especially when life can be so much easier and lucrative elsewhere - even relatively close by. I bet the Magdalene Islanders have the same sort of... hardship bond? Does that make sense? :haha: I'm sure Vancouver Island has it to some degree too, but probably a little less since it's relatively young. |
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In winter though there's nothing to do there -- the flat islands are always windswept and the windchill is atrocious. The yearly variation in population is insane (very populated in summer, house-bound locals only in winter). |
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I went for a drive around the bay today - didn't take many pictures, just one or two in each of the towns I stopped in.
Cupids http://www.newfoundland-photos.com/S...1_edited-L.jpg Spaniard's Bay http://www.newfoundland-photos.com/S...9_edited-L.jpg Harbour Grace http://www.newfoundland-photos.com/S...4_edited-L.jpg Harbour Grace South http://www.newfoundland-photos.com/S...7_edited-L.jpg |
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You can really see the different in political opinions between St. John's and rural Newfoundland.
This phrasing, oldest in Canada, would strike many in St. John's as odd, even inaccurate. But, around the bay, it's completely normal - there's no concept of Newfoundland as a separate political entity, even in a historical sense, only as a distinct culture: http://i39.tinypic.com/2d0nplg.jpg Also, I noticed they have some interesting quirks with their flags. If the flag pole has more than one flag, the union flag, more often than not, was displayed at an equal height as the Canadian one. In my experience, most homes in rural Newfoundland that display flags have either just the Canadian one, or they have a three-flag pole with the Canadian one on top, and below the Union flag and the provincial flag of Newfoundland at the same, lower height. |
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Calgary's beautiful University City towers, 3 more towers to come.
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North Bay
Lake Nipissing http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2b2d7719.jpg New pedestrian walkway under the tracks to connect downtown to the waterfront. http://i1128.photobucket.com/albums/...pscd108e34.jpg Pictures by me. |
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Downtown Calgary, if you can believe it!
http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3679/1...d7cf77e3_b.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7408/1...5eb08354_c.jpg By Chadillaccc, on Flickr |
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Beautiful!
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Vancouver
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Not really what I look for in a downtown. If I wanted wilderness, I'd drive there. Downtown I want big solid buildings, a street apron, a mass of humanity on the sidewalk. Even my downtown parks I want refined, tamed, highly designed with paths paved in stone.
:tumbleweed: |
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