Written in stone

So, I had a whole day today to hang around this town. Don't get me wrong, its a nice little town, but I'm kind of running out of things to do. Walked downtown a couple of times. My motel is a 20 minute walk from downtown, but like I told the motel owners, I've got the time....

I was chatting with the motel owners for a little while this morning, as I had to go and let them know I would be staying one more night to await my bus connection in the morning. When we got to the subject of my going up north to work for a fishing camp, they promptly told me how bad it is this year for tourist bookings in the camps. Apparently, they have relative who is the new owner of an established camp, and they only have five weeks worth of bookings for this season. I don't know how many cabins they have or anything but it sounds a little alarming to be honest....

I went and had a look at the local float plane docks downtown. I had read that this town has a couple very busy and well known float operators. There was only one plane there, and no one around, so I am assuming they are not quite underway yet?

The harbour had few boats buzzing around in the unseasonably warm weather. It would appear they went straight from winter right into summer, if you go by today's weather. Lots of evidence of snow cover having just left...the piles of road-sand, a winters worth of flotsam and jetsam deposited on peoples lawn edges and gardens by the retreating snowbanks. The odd flower or dandelion starting to poke its head up, and just the beginning of leaf buds on the trees and bushes. But still almost 20 degrees out, in nice bright sunshine. The skies had just started to cloud over towards the end of the afternoon and a resident told me that they were calling for snow flurries by this weekend...haha.

I've also been keeping an eye on another persons blog who is reporting regularly on the ice situation in South Northtown. From the sounds of things, it will "officially" ice-out within the next two weeks. I say officially, as some areas are already ice-free, including the area of the lake that my employer operates from.

Last night on the bus, I was talking to The Lovely Wife on the phone and I think I was giving her directions to something and I asked if she was "ready to copy". I was sort of doing it as a joke, she played along and gave me a series of "roger"'s after each direction. The man sitting next to me overheard, and after my call, he introduced himself and we started chatting. Turns out he is a pilot on his way to another nearby town to start his season of work as well. He has been flying for over 10 years, even though he looked quite young, the same age, or younger than myself. He has a seasonal job flying for a fire-fighting, very cool work. Something I could definitely see myself doing in a few years.

Cool old building downtown... built over a hundred years ago.... I'd like to see some of today's structures in a hundred years time and see how well they stand... I've always liked how they labeled the entrances, permanently, in stone, as to the purpose within. The entrance way's on this one are labeled " Customs" and "Post Office". For a building that was constructed with such quality and foresight, that it lasted over a hundred years and will probably withstand another hundred, they showed a remarkable lack of planning for expansion or change in permanently assigning those doorways in perpetuity to a task they most likely do not hold anymore. Kind of like the old schools with the separate entrances for Boys and Girls, also marked in stone over the doorways...

Now that I think about it, it's a reminder that the permanency of the construction was matched by the permanency of the ideals of the day as well..... I don't think they counted on either changing as much as they have....

I liked the airport signs as well...I found in some provinces, all airport signs have the silhouette of a 747 on them. I liked the reality of these signs, a twin-prop and a single-engine GA plane...

Now that I think of it, the GA plane even looks to be a tail dragger

This motel sign caught my eye as well. They have Moderate Rates. not cheap, but moderate. I like it, everything in moderation is what we need in these times. Expensive just doesn't sell very well and cheap is what got us in the mess we're in these days. Moderate.. I like it.