It may be prevalent elsewhere, but one thing Newfoundlander’s know is that distance isn’t measured in miles or kilometers, its measured in time. How far to St. John’s? 2 hours. Gander? Hour and a half. If you don’t do it in those times, then you’re obviously driving too slow.
One other thing we have is how we point out communities and locations on the way. Back home, Apsey Brook was at the end of the road, so we of course had to go “up” the road to go anywhere, and everyone knew coming from that direction you were coming up. A confusing side effect of this was that Snook’s Harbour meets at the bottom of three hills or grades, and so that portion is of course named “bottom”. It was always amusing to see CFAs (come from aways) confusion when we said we were going up to bottom. Of course, since the road took a 90 degree turn there, we had to go “over” to Elliott’s Cove.
Going to school was down to Hickman’s, and if we went shopping we went up to Clarenville. It all makes perfect sense, no? Then again we also had to deal with going out the arm, out the sound, in to town, and so on and so on. Yet we all knew which was which, and if someone got it backwards (like maybe me now, is it out to town? or in? I keep forgetting?) god help them for the fun making about to be heaped on them.
Anyway, was always fun to head up to bottom and play ball, and then run over to the store to get a snack. If you get a chance, pick me up something while you’re over :).
Raised in outport Newfoundland in a town of 65 people, I pursued a post secondary diploma in Information Technology right out of High School.
I’ve always been a geek at heart, but yet I love the rural life I grew up with. Fishing, hunting, camping and the great outdoors are still loves of mine, even if I don’t pursue them as often as I once did. Sports were always a big part of our lives, and I played many (badly) and loved them all.
