Small Town Survivor

Got through my first night and day alone in Wolfville all right. I just ate a delicious gelato waffle cone, and now I'm sitting on the steps of the main university building, typing on Alison's laptop, because I thought there was free wireless internet everywhere on the Acadia campus. Doesn't seem to be the case, though. So maybe "now" is not exactly the correct word, as it'll be tomorrow by the time I'm able to post this. Oh well, at least I'm getting to see a really spectacular sunset over the marshes, while the full moon comes up on the other side. Why didn't I bring a camera with me?

Last night I slept on an air mattress in the downstairs bedroom of our little split level house. It's one of the only places not floored with freshly lacquered hardwood. The mattress is not entirely uncomfortable, but I left the windows open and the room actually got quite cold overnight. Plus, there's a mourning dove — or is it morning dove — somewhere nearby that coos the same note from 4:00 in the afternoon until about 11:00 at night, and from 4:00 in the morning until I leave at 8:15. Come to think of it, maybe he keeps it up all day, for all I know.

Other than that guy, though, the neighbourhood is very peaceful. So far, anyway. I guess we won't see the full effect of the student invasion for another week or two. Right now it's kind of weird how few people are around. It'll take me awhile to get used to not being on display as I wander around in a public space.

My first day of work went pretty well, although there wasn't a lot to do. After my two hour initiation session (two kinds of health insurance, free use of the athletic facilities, and any classes I want to take for half price!), I spent a long time deciding where stuff would go in my new office. The power outlet situation's a little sketchy, but I think I've got it figured out. Then my boss was in meetings all day, and Hannah didn't show up to help acquaint me with her working/filing methods, so I just spent the afternoon cleaning up her computer to make it run faster. She had something like 1,500 fonts installed, most of which were duplicated or conflicting with each other.

I'm sorry this is so boring. I have no one here to tell everything to so I can find out which parts are the good ones. Ali's back in Halifax, packing up what's left to be packed up. I sure will be glad when she and Buster and all our stuff are here too.

Oh! And we saw Alex Colville when Krista drove me down here yesterday. He was walking a weird little dog across the street from our house. Looked kind of grumpy. Alex, that is. The dog looked perfectly happy, albeit, as I said, weird. And little. I guess his wife, Rhoda, is not doing very well (I'll assume you know which one I'm talking about this time), so that might explain it. Maybe we'll end up in one of his paintings, staring sadly out the kitchen window at him. Alex.

All the outdoor lights on campus just came on, so I guess that means it's time to head home.

- Andrew

Here It Is

It's a cute little '60's-style split level. The colour's weird in this photo because it was taken really quickly with the wrong white balance setting and this is the best correction I could do. Also, you can't see the carport on the right hand side over the driveway, with a little shed behind it. The windows are all brand new and the floors are freshly sanded and varnished hardwood. In fact, they won't be dry yet when I move in tomorrow, so I'll be confined to a small corner of the lower level for a couple of days. It's bright and quiet and there's plenty of room for all our accumulated stuff, even if we don't throw most of it in the garbage as we'd like to. The neighbourhood seems to be mostly families, as opposed to students (something you have to watch out for in Wolfville), and apparently Alex Colville lives right around the corner. I think we're really going to like it.

I'll be going down there tomorrow afternoon with a very limited amount of stuff, as my new job starts the next day. The plan is to have our current place mostly packed up by then. On Friday night Alison and I will both go to Charlottetown, where The Lodge are playing a show as part of the Close to the Coast festival. We'll stay with our friends Joan and Jason, who recently moved there, and come home on Saturday. Then, on Sunday, we'll load up a U-Haul and have our friend Al drive it and us to the new place. Buster will freak out for a couple of days and then love it as much as we do.

- Andrew

What We Did on Our Summer Holiday

Here are some photos, as promised, of us in Montreal. As Alison took and chose them all, there are none with her in them. But I'm sure there's at least one of her, and I'm determined to find it.

This is, I believe, the first day of clothing shopping, before our feet and wallets became flat and useless. I was still optimistic at this point that I would find a pair of shorts in my size for under fifty dollars.

The lovely Krista at a bar we visited after the second day of shopping. We wondered why the staff was so rude about our very polite but very English style of communication, until we noticed that the place seemed to have a separatist theme, with photos of René Lévesque and nationalist demonstrations covering the walls. Nice photos, mind you.

This is the island where we saw Radiohead. No pictures from the show because cameras were not allowed. Nor were umbrellas, but that didn't stop some people from bringing them in. We were worried that our already distant view of the stage would be blocked, but then the crowd around us started chanting, "En bas, les parapluies!" until, one by one and to great applause, they were all brought down. Some very civilized anarchy I thought, which continued after the show when everyone had to get into the same Metro station. It took us over an hour to inch our way to the doors, completely surrounded by legions of damp Radiohead fans, but no one was trampled or even jostled. I don't even think any arguments broke out. A woman behind us coughed politely when Krista lit up a cigarette, and Krista quickly stubbed it out. I tell ya, that city knows how to organize themselves in large groups. Mind you, a riot broke out the day we left, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about.

The best bagel shop in the world. I bought a "bozo" — a giant, twisted bagel covered in both sesame and poppy seeds — fresh out of the oven. Yum.

Krista left that day, and afterward we went with Meg to Old Montreal and the Old Port. By this time I was quite exhausted and had had just about enough sightseeing.

But then, the next day, we went back up St. Laurent so that Meg could buy some smoked meat for her boss and my ex-boss at Schwartz's, the de facto smoked meat Mecca. We managed to get there early enough that there wasn't a line of people out the door and down the block, and then it started to teem with rain. Luckily, there was a nice little coffee shop nearby, with a chess theme. Here's Meg about to beat me slowly and painfully. "I have hardly ever played. Please don't laugh at my lack of strategy and poor knowledge of the rules."

And on the last day we were there, since both of us were so completely worn out from all the walking around we'd done all week, Alison and I decided to take a relaxing stroll UP THE MOUNTAIN. I think our feet had stolen all the oxygen from our brains at that point. It was a lovely view, though, once we found the lookoff.


A great vacation, all in all, but we're glad to be home. We spent yesterday in Wolfville and found a place to live there. I'll have to tell you about it in the next post, though, because I'm off to meet Alison and Johanna for lunch now. How's that for suspense?

- Andrew

Yes, it is an island, and yes, they are all beautiful.

Can't remember whether I already mentioned this, but we've been in Montreal for the past week, on vacation. It's been really great: we got a bunch of new clothes, ate lots of nice food, saw the grandparents, checked out the sights, visited with some old Montreal friends, and attended a spectacular Radiohead outdoor concert, complete with fireworks. And all this was in the company of our good friends from Halifax, Krista and Meg, who came with us. There was a LOT of walking around involved, and now I'm looking forward to getting back home, where I can hop on my trusty bicycle whenever I want to go somewhere. Of course, there's no fancy underground train network. Or bagel shops. Or decent record stores, men's clothing, or music venues...

Anyway, we've been staying at my old friend Stu's condo this whole time, while he's away in Chicago indefinitely, working at some fancy software-making job that I probably couldn't explain even if I knew what it was. The condo's a really nice place in a pleasant neighbourhood with a farmer's market nearby and not too far from downtown. Couldn't have worked out better, so thanks a million, Stu. And that hole in the living room wall was there before we got here, right?

Our taxi's coming to take us to the airport in half an hour. I'll post some pictures of our trip when we get home. Then we gotta start packing all our crap into boxes and finding a place to live. Yoiks!

- Andrew