Where is everybody from?

[by the sea]

Looking for something to do ... I have a whole desk full of work, but the rain has finally stopped and it's bright and sunny and FRIDAY !  I don't feel like working !  

 

Anyway, I don't think I've posted in this thread before.  I'm from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.  This is the oldest incorporated city in Canada.  We are on the mainland and New Brunswick borders on the state of Maine, so it's not St. John's, Newfoundland ... people outside Canada and west of the New Brunswick-Quebec border, actually, do not get the difference, but there is one ... a large distance and lots of water !!    Saint John is on the Bay of Fundy which experiences the highest tides in the world.  We have a smallish but excellent harbor and see many ships, including cruise ships in summer.  The city is small but there's lots of history and some lovely neighbourhoods of tree-lined streets with Victorian row houses and pretty little squares.  It's my hometown and I love it ... and after many years of living in other places, I'm very happy to be here.  

 

Debbie

[jesskayding]

Ok first of all cute profile pic. Also thanks for sharing. Ok Carole I think Debbie beat me out as a Chamber of Commerce candidate. What do you think?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yeah, I now have half a mind to move to St. John!

 

I think I changed planes there once, Debbie -- though that may have been St. John's.  (It was late, and dark, and I was tired.  What can I say?)

 

[by the sea]

Yeah, I now have half a mind to move to St. John!

 

I think I changed planes there once, Debbie -- though that may have been St. John's.  (It was late, and dark, and I was tired.  What can I say?)

 

Most likely St. John's Newfoundland, Carol.  We have a tiny, perfect airport and small jets can land here, but Air Canada is the only game in town ... some tour operators have direct resort flights for a short period in the winter ... and they only fly in small planes ... regional jets and old DASH aircraft.  The flights to Halifax, which is our closest large flight connection centre, are on 16-seat Beechcraft planes and, depending on the weather, it can be an experience to remember.      The lovely Bay of Fundy keeps it pretty windy and flying over its edges can be white knuckle time.  You have to learn to embrace turbulence !    

 

Debbie

[Carol the Dabbler]

The more I think about it, the more I suspect it was your airport, Debbie.  I was on my way from Boston to probably Halifax (or possibly Sydney NS) -- so St. John's would have been a major overshoot -- and quite possibly on Air Canada.  That was in the 70's, and local flights were sometimes still in prop planes.  My Boston flight landed at a small airport, where just about the only people (at least at that hour) were the half-dozen of us waiting for the connection.

 

We all got to chatting, and at one point someone asked me what part of the country I was from.  Apparently I had picked up the Maritime cadence during our chat, because when I dead-panned "Indiana," they all looked taken aback!

 

[by the sea]

You're right, Carol.  St. John's would have been WAY out of the way.  My goodness, Sydney NS, eh ?  Haven't been there in a few years !  I wasn't in our airport in the 70s so I can't say what it would have been like.  They did update it a few years ago, though, and it is very clean and comfortable ... not a bad spot to wait for a connection ... assuming it's not July and fog-bound in which case you might be waiting a really long time .     

 

Just thinking ... you might have been in Yarmouth NS, though.  The airport there is closed now to regular airline travel ... only private aircraft these days ... but it would have been open in the 70s ... and somewhat more on the route.  My mother is from Yarmouth NS ... the people are almost as nice there as they are here in Saint John !  LOL !    

 

Debbie

[Truthhunter]

I'm from Scotland. A land that asks questions and seeks answers. Also has beautiful scenery. Glad to be here, though being born in the wrong century (should have been in Holmes' era) as I'd have liked to consult the great man on a specific matter, including Dr Watson, who survived the terrible disaster at Maiwand, which is a battle I have studied closely, as I am investigating another of a similar nature one year before, which ended historically and even presently with an unsatisfactory conclusion, which I had hoped they could help me with.

[jesskayding]

Welcome Truth Hunter!

[Carol the Dabbler]

Just thinking ... you might have been in Yarmouth NS, though.

Nope, I'm reasonably certain I've never been there. So yeah, pretty sure I changed planes once in your airport.

 

I think I've also changed planes somewhere in (or is it "on"?) PEI, but looking at a map, I would guess that was on a flight to Sydney.

 

 

 

Hello, Truthhunter -- welcome to Sherlock Forum!

[by the sea]

I think I've also changed planes somewhere in (or is it "on"?) PEI, but looking at a map, I would guess that was on a flight to Sydney.

 

 

I went to Charlottetown PEI on my vacation last year.  I had never been there before, believe it or not, and it's only 3 hours away from where I live !  I really like PEI and would happily go again.  I admit to being really excited about most places that are "by the sea" ... hence my board name !

 

Halifax is the hub for flights in Maritime Canada.  These days, to get to places like Charlottetown and Sydney, you'd be obliged to go through Halifax first ... even for us in New Brunswick ... our main airports being here in Saint John, Fredericton (the provincial capital) and Moncton (the busiest airport) ... we'd have to fly to Halifax before we could get to the other cities.  Getting to Charlottetown from here, it's faster to drive !  Back in the day, there was more comprehensive service in this area, but with the population moving to the Centre and the West in ever increasing numbers, we've lost the flying public to make the air service profitable.  That's why we Maritimers love our cars ... we'll drive almost anywhere in almost any conditions.  

 

Debbie

[Carol the Dabbler]

I went to Charlottetown PEI on my vacation last year.  I had never been there before, believe it or not, and it's only 3 hours away from where I live !

 

Halifax is the hub for flights in Maritime Canada.  These days, to get to places like Charlottetown and Sydney, you'd be obliged to go through Halifax first ... Getting to Charlottetown from here, it's faster to drive !

 

Drive? To Prince Edward Island? *scurrying off to consult my atlas*  Oh, I see there's a bridge.  Ten miles across the ocean -- well, across a strait.  As a confirmed inlander, I get queasy enough just crossing the bridge to Maryland's Eastern Shore, a mere (!) five miles across a bay (i.e., there's open ocean in only one direction, not two).

 

[Arcadia]

I agree, that bridge is possibly the most terrifying place I've ever been. And in a traffic jam ... we were stuck there for ages.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Gaaaahh! 

 

I suspect I'd have been out of the car within five minutes, running like hell for dry land!

 

[Arcadia]

I take it back, the scariest place I've ever been was -- I think it was the Baltimore tunnel? -- in a traffic jam. Urgh.

[by the sea]

I'm not a fan of bridges myself.  They tend to make me queasy for some reason.  The first time I was on the Confederation Bridge to PEI ... I got to Summerside on that trip but not Charlottetown ... I sat on the side of the road on the New Brunswick side and had to really work at making myself drive on.  I had a relatively tall car at the time and could actually see over the side, which can be daunting in bad weather ... in really bad weather they shut the bridge down !   Amazingly, it was not remotely scary and you cover the space pretty quickly, unless, of course, you meet up with a picture taker ... I met one the first time coming back and, in spite of the endless signs telling you not to stop, there he was, perched on the shoulder, such as it is, trying to take a photo !   I can only assume that his artistic zeal was overwhelming and English was not his first language !   In any event, it's not a bad ride and the reward is getting to one of the prettiest places you'll ever visit.   

 

Debbie

[Carol the Dabbler]

Maybe PEI is relatively unspoilt because so few people want to cross that bridge!

 

 

I take it back, the scariest place I've ever been was -- I think it was the Baltimore tunnel? -- in a traffic jam. Urgh.

 

Mercifully, we've never had reason to take that tunnel -- the Eastern Shore bridge is plenty bad enough!

 

But isn't there another term for "traffic jam" in the DC area -- I've heard it referred to as "rush hour"! 

 

[Arcadia]

Well, there's rush hour, and then there's a traffic jam AT rush hour -- if you want to know what true, soul-numbing, mind-draining tedium is, try the DC Beltway during a rush hour traffic jam. I've seen people actually get out of their cars and start having parties on the median.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I believe you!  The Beltway was exactly what I had in mind.  The first time I (ignorantly) hit it at rush hour, I assumed there'd been a crash that was blocking all lanes.  It seriously looked like a very long, narrow used-car lot!

 

[Arcadia]

Yup, that's our Beltway! You should have seen it during the cicada swarms, it was amazing. The critters fly into everything, it's like they're blind or something. So here's all these thousands of cars just sitting there, and each one's being peppered by hundreds of these flying monstrosities. Talk about surreal!

[by the sea]

Well, I invite you to one of our traffic jams.  It usually consists of a few hundred cars waiting by the level crossing just along from the Atlantic Superstore while some freight cars do their shunting thing across the road.  Although the timing for this particular activity seems a bit bizarre ... it usually happens between 7 and 8 am and 5 and 6 pm ... once the barricades lift, everybody goes on their merry way and the biggest delay might be 5 minutes !  Sooooooooo much different from when I lived in the Toronto area when I actually sat behind a car on an off ramp whose driver got out and went to the car ahead of him and tried to beat the snot out of it ... the car, not the driver, thank goodness !  Must have been a psychotic break ... could be a storyline for Criminal Minds !   

 

Debbie

[Arcadia]

No thanks, I'll stick with DC traffic jams! Altho you can see those people do some pretty crazy stuff too. Fortunately, I seldom have to be out and about at rush hour. If I did, I think I'd be in a mental ward by now.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Think I'd rather take Debbie's offer than deal with DC-area traffic (jams or no jams).  Alex and I got sideswiped (well, our rental car did) by a hit-and-run driver there last December 23rd -- Merry Christmas!

 

[jesskayding]

Oh yeah DC drivers are brutal. However I love the aesthetics of that city. because all the buildings are low, you can see the entire sky in a hustle & bustle city. So beautiful.

[Carol the Dabbler]

You'd like London, then.  They're starting to build skyscrapers, but they don't (yet) dominate the skyline.

 

[SemperVenice]

Hello everyone! First time ever posting in a forum (of any kind). I'm from the Eastern Shore of Maryland (USA). I always loved reading the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes when I was a child and now the the BBC TV series has put a delightful spin on my childhood favorite!