So after 19 days I finally left the Great Satan and am a subject of Her Majesty again. Phew. Nova Scotia is great - it's like it borrows from the US, UK, and Ireland but copies none. It feels more British than American, more Irish than Boston. But unlike Boston I've not seen a single Irish flag. It doesn't need to say it's Irish (or Celtic), it just is. All the pubs have live music, people sit in the corner with a fiddle or a guitar, and they drink (a lot). Lots of Union flags and statues of Churchill and soldiers too. I expect there's probably an Orange lodge round here somewhere as well.
Jane and David (my brother) are here too, on the last leg of a few weeks in Quebec and the Maritimes. We're about to go for something to eat so will leave it at that. I'm conscious that I've not been very good at saying what I've actually been doing (like watching whales, or seeing old stuff, or sitting on buses, or cycling round battlefields) but maybe when I've got more time I will. If it's not too tedious.
My top tip: Come to Halifax! There's a lot of work here too, come for a summer.
What I'm listening to: Orbital on the Boston subway was good fun. Middle of Knowhere album.
Where next: Going to try to get to Newfoundland...
3 comments:
Tony,
Which battelfields did you cycle round?
Ben
Only one - I went out to Concord and then cycled to Lexington and back. It was pretty cool, the British marched out to Concord in Sept 1775 to confiscate weapons from the Massachusetts militia and shot some folk (by accident?) on the way in Lexington. Then it all kicked off when they got to Concord. They've made a trail that retraces the route the British took back to Boston and it's great fun by bike. Didn't sound like great fun at the time though (lots of scared, confused, exhausted people shooting each other).
Went through a battlefield south of Washington where the civil war started but I didn't stop - apparently the Washington grandees all turned up to watch the fight, only to see the northerners get thumped.
Next up I'm going to see where the British beat the French in Quebec. But apparently it's pretty depressing stuff as well - and not long after that war the British deported all the French people from Nova Scotia (where I am now) and resettled it.
Maybe I'll write something about battlefields and war once I've seen a few more. But it'll probably make me sound like a hippy, so maybe not...
Tony,
the Heights of Abraham at Quebec were the scene of a fascinating little episode in 1759 (the said battle with the French) I suppose it'll be covered in houses by now but at least say hello to it from me.
Ben
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