Tuesday, 29 May 2012

View from my boots up on the deck railing

 
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This cabin door is open again

 
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New trailer en route to Nova Scotia

 
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Picaroon Best Bitter at the Snooty Fox in Fredericton is highly recommended

 
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Arriving back at the Cape in 2012

Six months since we rattled out of the Cape leaving behind a wooden chalet battened down against the winter. Would have got back earlier but we decided to be good grandparents and look after our children and grandchildren and with Ciaran now safely installed in 12-hour shifts at Rundles (my favourite restaurant that I can't afford to eat at)in Stratford and after finally checking out Donagh's Peter Pan island country cottage and his brand-new pontoon boat (ideal for a cocktail lounge), we are ready for the road, hauling a trailer which we hope won't fold up on us as we slide through Maritime country. A ten-hour drive to Fredericton in brilliant sunshine and everything seems to have stayed on trailer. Why am I worrying about theft overnight? Who wants a bunch of old furniture and broken water pumps? Apart from us, that is. At the Snooty Fox, a wall of ribs and Picaroon Best Bitter confirm my impression that Fredericton may be a museum place, with its large-scale military domestic architecture, but they do know how to make beer and cook meat. Meanwhile back at the Carriagehouse B and B, another Maritime palatial residence, Steve and Cathy are serving their last breakfasts and we meet Ben, the brandnew owner. And so the wheel turns in Fredericton... The six hours left are easy because the wheels don't blow off and it's sunny and we're almost in Nova Scotia and the the highway is huge and empty. We drop in to see Anna in ANTIGONISH, more youthful than ever in her eighties, and drive on to Cape Breton and a wonderful meal prepared by Hannah who is obviously taking after her mother and aunts. What pleasure to turn onto Oldy's road and drive the 2 km up to the house for our first impressions of what survived the winter and big Michael with tales of Para-Gliding and Swiss renovations and isn't it a great pleasure to see him again! The chalet is dry and smells good. It is already 6 months old. Time to give it electricity and water...