Sometimes it’s hard to get away from it all.
I recently returned from two weeks holiday in the extremely under-rated Fredericton, NB, a beautify city on the banks of the St. John River.
However, I got a few reminders about some communities on the banks of the Highwood and the Sheep rivers while I was there.
Day 1, myself and My reason for living (MRFL) were walking downtown looking like tourists, when a woman came up and asked ‘Where are you from?’ When she hears the response ‘High River, Alberta’ she replies ‘What part of High River don’t you understand?’
Gee, that was the first time we had heard that one.
A poke in the ribs and a sharp look from MRFL indicated to me I shouldn’t come back with some of my witty repertoire.
Skip forward a few days later while dining at our B&B, it somehow came out that I was the publisher – whoops, I forgot that’s just what I tell people five provinces away — of the Okotoks Western Wheel.
One of the patrons piped up: ‘It’s been a lot of years since I was in that paper.’
Turns out she was raised in Davisburg and went to Okotoks High School. Wonderful lady married to a great guy, however when I asked ‘Is it Davisburg or DeWinton?’ I got a look that said: ‘Gee, that’s the first time I heard that one.’
My final brush with home in the New Brunswick capital is when I picked up a copy of the Daily Gleaner which had the lead story in sports: Royals bring Jake Shaw home to play in final.
Yep, former Okotoks Dawg Jake Shaw was flying up from Northern Kentucky University to pitch Game 1 of the New Brunswick Senior League final for the Fredericton DQ Peterbilt Royals.
I wanted to go, but it turns out I was reading a day-old paper.
Probably just as well.
I would have written a story and tried to expense the whole trip. Only to have the real publisher reply: ‘Gee, that’s the first time I heard that one.’
