MARCH BREAK

March Break, a week long holiday from work. Students and teachers both desperately need the time to relax, and recharge their energy for the long haul ahead. We shall work from now until the end of June without pause, except for a long weekend at Easter.

Nigel, who is working in Fredericton, suggested that I spend a few days of the holiday in that city, with him.

What a good idea. That meant that I'd get away from the house, and its various responsibilities with animals, and the usual, continuous requirements for housework. It meant that I'd have a holiday, in fact.

I realised how desperately I needed this holiday away when I spent most of the first day on holiday in a semi-aware state of mind. It was a glorious day, but I could not seem to rouse myself to do more than the occasional logic puzzle, watch mindless TV shows, and snoozing. However, once I. was replenished, I was out and about.

It was a few days of visiting... friends from Saint John days, a first cousin whom we quite enjoy seeing, and a first-cousin-once-removed whom we also enjoy. The highlight, though, was a tour of the bridge work that SNC-Lavelin is doing in Fredericton. This is where Nigel has been working for the past few months.

I donned a hard hat, a reflective safety jacket, leather gloves, and some work boots, all necessary items to go onto a construction site.

Seven flights of steps later and we were at the lower deck where the work is currently underway. We made our way along a metal mesh walkway, with a wooden platform underneath it, with our guide,the health and safety officer..

He pointed out various features of the construction,

and shouted greetings to the men working away.

There were a few older men working on placing steel forms, into which cement would be poured later in the week, against one of the pilons that supports the bridge. Further along we found a couple of younger lads checking the steel supports and cross beams. The men were all smiling and cheerful. It was jokingly suggested that this was because I was wearing official company gear, and was mistaken for an inspector. So, I looked serious, and took plenty of pictures to help maintain the illusion. Always good to keep the labourers on their toes.

The Beaverbrook Art Gallery was also on my agenda. I always like visiting that gallery. Two of the visiting exhibits were to my liking: the English sketches (“Feel around the Form”) because I harbour the illusion that I can sketch a bit, and the Tony Urquhart. (“Ambiguous Geographies”) because I enjoyed his whimsical interpretations of the sombreness of graveyards.. I, surprisingly to me, found the Goop, Guck and Globs exhibition intriguing. I don't generally like paint scraped onto canvas, but there were a couple of thickly painted and textured Riopelles and a boring Harold Town, plus some other rather lively pieces. The “Surf and Turf” exhibit had an interesting Lawren Harris painting of a wharf scene, and a lovely rendition of an iceberg by Blackwood (although I understand its purpose, I did not like the caricature style pitcher plant in the foreground.) http://www.beaverbrookartgallery.org/exhibitions.asp

The drive down to Saint John, was the usual route, along the military road.

This is the straightest, and therefore the fastest route. It has all been upgraded since I lived in New Brunswick, and it is a continuing process. This is all good

The Bay of Fundy is always a welcome sight, even if the drive was only from Fredericton, slightly more than an hour up the road.

We stayed with favourite cousins overnight – well, I did. Nigel returned to Fredericton.

And then, for me, the other usual route, using The Princess of Acadia to cross the

Bay of Fundy. I fortified myself with anti-sea-sickness tablets. I am a poor sailor, but I tackle this crossing so that I can get to and from Saint John from my “expat” (which is here called CFA - “Come From Away”) life in Nova Scotia. Unfortunately, CFA is quite a derogatory term, used frequently by people who rarely leave Digby County. It ensures that we stay well labelled, and prevents new-comers from settling easily into the fabric of local life. It is, for me, quite an intriguing, and disappointing, aspect of our life in Nova Scotia.

But, Saint John beckons from across the Bay of Fundy. So near, and yet so far. I generally manage five or six trips a year to my home province, and this March break meant a slightly longer stay than the usual weekend trip.

As Saint John disappeared in the background, I was grateful for the previous few days of rest and relaxation in Fredericton, the capital city of New Brunswick.

March Break, as always, drew to an end far too quickly. It was time to leave behind my home province and return to the province where I work. Thankfully, it was a bright, sunny day, and a relatively calm crossing. That, I reckon, bodes well for the next few weeks.