Hi, I’m Wayne Jones. Welcome to Newfoundland Boy, part memoir, part anecdotes, and all about the Canadian province of Newfoundland. This is episode 5: “Wass Ya Doin’ Daday, B’y?”
As I start to write the text for this episode it’s 8:30 in the morning on Saturday, May 11. I’m driving from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Gander, where I’ll stay the night and then head to my destination, Corner Brook, on Sunday morning. The total distance is 690 km and each day will be about four hours of driving. There was a time, when I was younger, when I wouldn’t balk at driving that distance in a day, but now that I’m retired and don’t need to rush anywhere, and also from preference, I avoid long car-ride distances now. I used to like it, even love it, more, and in the past I’ve done that ride from St. John’s to Corner Brook in a day easily, with stops for bio- and gas- and snack-related reasons only.
I’ve also done some memorable days-long road trips with my friend in British Columbia. They were all to the US: once to Reno, Nevada; once Kansas City, Missouri; and once visiting various diners around (literally, around) Lake Erie. Now though I drive about two hours anywhere without stopping and a four-hour trip is about near the top of how far I’ll drive during any one day. My mother lives in Corner Brook, a city she’s lived in since the early 1960’s. I’ve mostly lived in another Canadian province, Ontario, for the past forty years, and so this will be the first time I will be able to celebrate Mothers Day with her in person.
When you live in Newfoundland, and perhaps especially in St. John’s, the weather is always a factor in what you do (or can do). When I went to bed last night, it was snowing, which was just interesting because I could see it was the kind of snow that wouldn’t accumulate and wreak havoc with my car and its summer tires today. It was basically raining but the temperature happened to be around zero Celsius. And, yes, I’m not sure if that explains what I mean, or is one of the dumbest sentences ever written. Well, yes, Wayne, when there’s precipitation and the temperature is at or below freezing, it tends to come down in the form of snow.
There was a classic St. John’s weather day earlier this week when, as my brother said, we saw all four seasons in one day. The sun was out brightly enough that I could have a sandwich on the sidewalk patio of the Rocket Bakery for lunch (and got a little tanned), but later in the evening it was both raining and snowing. Or half raining and half snowing. Or sort of snowing but—well, you get the idea.
The island part of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador is large, 108,860 square kilometres. That number likely means as much to non-geographers out there as it does to me, so, just for comparison:
○ It is about the size of the American state of Tennessee, and bigger than 14 other states
○ If the island were a country, it would be 107 of a total of 196 countries
○ It is bigger than Iceland, Portugal, and Switzerland
○ It is nearly half the size of the United Kingdom
○ It is about one-fifth the size of Ukraine and about five times the size of Israel
It has only one major highway, the Newfoundland portion of what’s called the Trans-Canada Highway (the TCH). The highway makes a kind of half-circle on the island, going from Channel–Port-aux-Basques on the southwest tip to St. John’s in the far east, a total distance of 905 km.
Just as weather is a constant and common subject of conversation and reporting here—I love the fact that the local NTV media station refers to RDF without having to explain it for the locals (it means rain, drizzle, fog)—so are transportation and the roads (and ferries as well). You can’t talk for more than a couple of minutes about the highway without talking about the dreaded scourge, moose. It can be both charming and tragically dangerous. On my move here from Ottawa, which I drove the whole way (except for the ferry crossing from Nova Scotia) at one point I was going slow, I think as the traffic was busy, and there was a moose within metres of me. On the other hand, if you are driving at 100 km/hr and you hit a moose straight on, you’re unlikely to survive the accident. The impact breaks the moose’s legs and the momentum drives the body of the moose (which might weight about 600 kilograms or 1,300 pounds) right through the windshield, and often killing or injuring anyone in the front seats. The numbers are apparently on the decline, but there are still over 400 accidents every year involving a moose. Not all are fatal fortunately.
All that said, I’m looking forward to the drive. It’s varied and scenic, and not just one stretch of dull highway between the two cities. And Gander is a town I know little about and have been in only a couple of times in my life. It will be interesting to see what I can find of interest and especially what I can find for supper! As the great 18th-century English writer Sam Johnson said, “He who does not mind his belly, will hardly mind anything else.”
Once I get to Corner Brook, as in any city, it’s the people that count more than the locale. In addition to my mother I still have cousins and an aunt there or very close by in small communities. My mother and I will likely make some short day trips to visit them. Corner Brook is a small city with a population of about 20,000. When I was growing up there in the ’60’s and ’70’s, the population was close to 35,000. It’s a lovely-looking city in a kind of bowl with the Bay of Islands at the bottom, but people young and old have moved elsewhere because there are not a lot of jobs there. The unemployment rate is about 9% compared to the Canadian average of about 6%.
As I am about to get ready and set out on my trip, I got an email at about 9:30 am resulting from an impulse purchase on Etsy a few days ago: a crystal ball reading from a witch. No, I’m not kidding. It only cost a few dollars, so I said, what the hell. For the record, I’m an atheist and do not believe in spirits or ghosts or witchcraft or wicca or any religion or anything supernatural, so I consider this at the level of a party game. For what it’s worth, here’s what the witch predicts and advises for me:
Right off the bat I’m getting a juggling energy like you’re weighing up your options or trying to decide between two courses of action. I’m also getting a conflicting energy too which I feel is related to the courses of action, it feels like a dilemma. I’m also seeing that there will be some bad news in the near future. I’m not getting exactly what it is but it will likely come from someone young as that’s the energy I’m getting from it. Spirits advice to you is to be strategic and rational and be in control of your emotions.
Perhaps not bad advice overall, especially the bit about being rational. I’m curious though what young person is going to bring me bad news. If you find that there is inexplicably never any 6th episode of the podcast, check the obits or accident reports in your news feeds.
Well, I’m off, and hopefully only to Gander and not off the planet entirely. Talk later.
And that’s all for this episode. Thanks so much for listening. And please join me again on Friday.