I went to Newscotland. This was my first visit there in either just over or just under two DECADES, depending which of my recollections you choose to believe.
Its capital, Halifax, is the nearest larger city to my own... but it's not near. It's a couple day's drive/ferry or a two-hour flight. I chose flight, mostly because I didn't book anything and a friend handled the works because we were going there for a wedding.
This is where I started, and ended...
So, I absolutely HATED every brick and soul in Halifax the last time I was there (under or over two decades ago, as we discussed). It was the most unjustifiably cruel city I had ever been in. It was... like an incel complaining about a hot girl's knobby knees.
The locals acted like it was London or Paris, and at that time it was
barely Mississauga. And they were especially, specifically cruel to people from Newfoundland (we've traditionally been the Paddy Irishmen or Poles to those boring, horribly-accented mainland Canadians).
I had bosses tell me not to have Screech (Jamaican rum) with my lunch; cabbies ask if I was excited to be on a four-lane divided road because we surely don't have those "ON DA RAWK HAHAHAHA!". Just absolutely nauseating, provincial, backwood worldview. I cannot say enough about how hilariously shit the people were. My face is red just typing this, and not
just from the booze.
So I went there this time with a chip (whole chunk?) on my shoulder. Don't get me wrong, I tried to have an open mind, but I was still carrying around a magnifying glass looking for any of their backwater traits to show. Spoiler alert: they're all cool now (maybe because the city is bigger, more diverse, and few who I met are actually
from there - kidding. I met long-time locals too, also almost entirely nice.) I loved it. LOTS of it.
I was a little bit shocked, to be honest... for example, sitting at a laundromat on a Monday morning before 8 a.m. watching HUNDREDS of people bike/scooter/walk by with their kids and coffee. People really can live their best urban life there already, even before it gets LRT and the rest. It was... fun. And as if that wasn't enough, they said good morning to me!? They're coming for our gig.
So, to start... one caveat. If you took 1,000 people per year over 1,000 years and sent them from St. John's to Halifax in late June, all but me would've had
slightly better weather in Halifax. I managed to leave a heat wave in St. John's for (mostly) fog and rain in Halifax. It's a skill I have. Halifax's karma for the shit it put me through in the early 2000s.
Starting with the song I had on repeat for the flight there.
• Video Link
Spent the day before we left furiously cleaning my house, doing laundry.
Later, there's a picture of Halifax's version of exactly this building lol
And then off to the airport. You just follow this helpful sign (there's this one sign on the 15-minute drive).
Luckily, we found it. Or, rather, the mother of one of my companions who got up early to drive us did.
I got nervous when I saw the plane. Smallest one I've ever been on for a flight this long.
Good news: not as loud as feared, WAY more legroom than RyanAir. Porter isn't so bad. And it operates basically like a bus. Touches down in every major city between us and Toronto, with people getting on/off at each stop.
As our beloved Joan Morrissey, God rest her soul, famously sang, "I'll tell you a tale about Newfoundland dear, We haven't got money or riches to spare; But we can be thankful for one small affair, Thank God we're surrounded by water. The sea, oh the sea, the wonderful sea, Long may she roll between all ye and me; And everyone here should get down on one knee, and thank God we're surrounded by water."
But, then, land.
And, on that land, Nova Scocia.
It was at this point my two buddies in the back seat had an exchange that would encapsulate this trip quite succinctly.
C: "Ryan would never take a picture of a part of St. John's that looked like this."
J (positively): "There are no parts of St. John's that look like this."
And then, in the pouring rain, we checked into our hilariously-designed hotel at the EXTREME edge of downtown. It's basically in the middle of a highway interchange they're removing, right on the border between the downtown and the North End.
It was genuinely pouring, but we wouldn't let that stop us from getting out and exploring. Absolutely ruined a pair of good running shoes, but... honestly, genuinely, completely... WORTH IT. Just you wait (for the next post because I took all these pictures on my phone so I'm sending them to myself 20 at a time. Shhh I don't know technology and I have no cords).
And there are like 300, even after I got rid of all the ones I didn't like. Argh. And one whole *SPEC*TAC*U*LAR* weather day.