Gays, Gaza, and Gorgeous Scenery in St. John's

[SignalHillHiker]

A few pictures from July, 2014, in the City of Legends - St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Including the Pride Parade, Protest for Palestine, and more.

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The food fishery is on in Newfoundland until July 28. Everyone and their mother is out on the water harvesting up to 5 cod each. Most are inexperienced. We've already had one death and three injuries.



Cochrane Street United Church was built by a German company just before the Great War. We confiscated it, and set it up here. It's designed to funnel extreme heat out of the interior. We have no such problem with extreme heat here. The church is going bankrupt trying to keep warm in winter.





One of my favourite reviews of St. John's, from an American tourist...

More fun to be had here than in most cities twenty times the size. Wide open, with singing and dancing, drinking and carrying on til all hours.

Some of the most enjoyable people in the world in one of the most isolated large settlements thereon.

On the other hand, it's small, cold and foggy and not particularly pretty.

A rally in support of Palestine was held in the Downtown. The tone here actually isn't really pro-Palestinian, it's just shock as Israel's disproportionate response and a general lack of patience for sectarian tensions. We have our own violent history of Catholic/Anglican fighting, and people generally just want others to treat each other well.

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The Pride Parade. Although it is very LGBT-friendly here, we don't have a history of Pride Parades.

This year was by far the biggest.

Even our police force, the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, got in on the action:

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But other Pride Week events, such as the bonfire, gala, fetish night, etc., are all better attended.

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Following the parade, there's a Family Fun Day at Quidi Vidi Lake.

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Then it's off the village of Logy Bay, where the annual Pride Bonfire is held. It's also a great spot for whale watching...

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Some footage from the bonfire, including the comedy routine that always happens when you try to send up Chinese lanterns in Canada's windiest city. You have to write a wish on them - for us, it's that all LGBT people everywhere can have it as good as we do.

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And no good-camera pictures from FRISK (fetish night), but a few friends and I and a short video clip of those festivities.

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[M II A II R II K]

Nice colours. The place looks more multicultural than I would have expected.

[SignalHillHiker]

It's less multicultural than you expected.

Only about 3% of the population isn't of Irish/English ancestry.

It's just that we're all jumbled together without minority neighbourhoods, and most immigrants tend to live in more urban neighbourhoods near the Old Town core. So, when you're downtown... that 3% looks more like 10% because, of the people who live in/visit the area, they are.

If you go out to the suburbs, which are populated mainly by economically-displaced rural Newfoundlanders, you could be waiting a long time to see anyone who wasn't Irish/English. Out there the 3% feels like 0%.

The only exception is the Muslim community, which has a mosque in the suburbs (Virginia Park) and tends to settle nearby. That community is now large enough that political candidates reach out to them. This year was our first-ever time, in all our centuries of history, that political candidates specifically reached out to Newfoundlanders who belong to a minority. Virginia Park is the dominant neighbourhood of the Virginia Waters provincial district, so if you want to win there, starting this year, you have to do some real politicking. Very exciting!

[xzmattzx]

I like the whale pictures. The bonfire looks like fun, too.

[Architype]

There's lots going on in this thread. Great photos.

[SignalHillHiker]

Thanks, guys!

[mSeattle]

Excellent set and setting.

[McBane]

Nice photos. Leave the social/political commentary for another website.

[giallo]

^ And with that comment, you've now brought more attention to it.

It's his photo thread, and he can cover any event and comment on it however he likes.

Great look in to a St. John's summer. It seems to have a lot going on for it for such a small city.

[McBane]

So that opens this forum up for political debate? I didn't have an issue with the pictures, but rather the commentary about Israel's response. If that's what you want this thread to delve into, I'd be glad to oblige.

[mSeattle]

I kind of like freedom, justice, and equality. We should show pictures of them or efforts towards them in every city and land.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by McBane

So that opens this forum up for political debate? I didn't have an issue with the pictures, but rather the commentary about Israel's response. If that's what you want this thread to delve into, I'd be glad to oblige.

You're welcome to post your views, if you wish. But I have no interest in debating them here.

I remind you, all I said was:

A rally in support of Palestine was held in the Downtown. The tone here actually isn't really pro-Palestinian, it's just shock as Israel's disproportionate response and a general lack of patience for sectarian tensions. We have our own violent history of Catholic/Anglican fighting, and people generally just want others to treat each other well.

In my estimation, that is the dominant tone here. You're welcome to dispute that if you wish as I'm sure there are people here who don't feel that way. But I've nothing else to say about it here except that, to explain what's going on in the pictures, and why.

Or if you're referring to the Pride parade/bonfire pictures, well, again... just explaining how things are here. Not trying to say at all that they're the same for you or where you are.

[KevinFromTexas]

So I'm betting I would agree with the cold and foggy statement, but only because I'm Texan. As for being small, that's not such a bad thing since it is urban. And I've seen enough of your photos to know St. John's most certainly is a pretty place. My biggest peeve I'm sure would be the snow and the hills. Do many people ride their bikes there? That would seem tricky with the winters and topography.

[SignalHillHiker]

Oh, even people an hour's drive west of us would agree with the cold and foggy statement. So someone from Texas definitely will.

We have a bit of a micro-climate, even compared to the rest of the island. The fog bank is ALWAYS visible offshore. It's never not there. It just depends on if the winds bring it in or not. Some detail from Wikipedia:

Of major Canadian cities, St. John's is the foggiest (124 days),[35] windiest (24.3 km/h (15.1 mph) average speed),[36] and cloudiest (1,497 hours of sunshine).[37] St. John's experiences milder temperatures during the winter season in comparison to other Canadian cities, and has the mildest winter for any Canadian city outside of British Columbia.[38] Precipitation is frequent and often heavy, falling year round. On average, summer is the driest season, with only occasional thunderstorm activity, and the wettest months are from October to January, with December the wettest single month, with nearly 6.5 inches of precipitation on average. This winter precipitation maximum is quite unusual for humid continental climates, which most commonly have a late spring or early summer precipitation maximum (for example, most of the Midwestern U.S.). Most heavy precipitation events in St. John's are the product of intense mid-latitude storms migrating from the Northeastern U.S. and New England states, and these are most common and intense from October to March, bringing heavy precipitation (commonly 1.5 to 3 inches of rainfall equivalent in a single storm), and strong winds. In winter, two or more types of precipitation (rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow) can fall from passage of a single storm. Snowfall is heavy, averaging nearly 132 inches per winter season. However, winter storms can bring changing precipitation types. Heavy snow can transition to heavy rain, melting the snow cover, and possibly back to snow or ice (perhaps briefly) all in the same storm, resulting in little or no net snow accumulation. Snow cover in St. John's is variable, and especially early in the winter season, may be slow to develop, but can extend deeply into the spring months (March, April). The St. John's area is subject to freezing rain (called "silver thaws"), the worst of which paralyzed the city over a three-day period in April 1984.

Regarding bikes... they're visible here, but very uncommon compared to even most mainland North American cities, let alone Europe. The suburbs are built for cars. Some of them, such as Paradise, don't even have sidewalks. And the Old Town core has narrow, winding, steep streets that can barely fit two cars passing each other, let alone a cyclist as well.

I can count on one hand the number of times I've passed a cyclist this summer. And two of them were in the Pride parade.

But they are trying:

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In fact, they came on hilariously strong:



However, the routes they created were a complete flop. Half of council wants to get rid of them completely, the other half wants to go back to the drawing board, but no one is actually using them.

[Doug_Cgy]

Wonderful pictures of a very beautiful place! St. John's is definitely on my must-see list!

[seaskyfan]

Great photos. Always nice to learn more about St. John's.

[pdxtraveler]

Great set!

[MN/WI]

Enjoyed your pictures.

[dktshb]

St. John's is such a beautiful little city. Would love to visit some day. Thanks for sharing.

[pallo]

Are there snakes and/or other vicious animals in and around St John's?

Also since St John's has over 100 days of fog per year, how does the airport and airlines deal with that? I am sure travellers would be pretty pissed off if their flight is cancelled especially if they have a connecting one at their next destination