Homer had his Illiad, I, my odyssey. Please, allow me to explain. My name is Rick De Vries. I am the new face in B-Town, and I have come a long way. It is 6,033 kilometers, or 66 hours – if driving across the country is your thing – from Clarenville, Newfoundland, where I used to live, to Barrhead, and it is an epic adventure filled with sights both big and small, provided the wheels of your car do not go flat, the running lights do not burn out and the mosquitoes do not swarm.
But these things too can make the journey memorable. I did not grow up in Newfoundland, but I called it home. I lived there long enough to feel a twinge of sadness when I left. The smell of the sea, the spruce-studded mountains, and the icebergs, these are the things I will miss the most.
Lucky me, the moose live in Barrhead too.
I thought I had escaped them.
In Ontario, where I am from originally, the most we have to deal with is the occasional deer, and much of the time these are not very big either. You do not get a real understanding of quite how large a moose is until you have seen one up close, with your own eyes. They do not hold the North American record as the largest land animal for no reason, that much is certain.
The drive from the east coast inland was far more scenic than I would have thought possible. Preconceptions about places I have never been, which I have now seen, have been laid to rest. Before I had ever moved to Newfoundland, I assumed there was nothing there except wind-blasted rock and scrublands, but I can tell you now that it is probably one of the most beautiful provinces – though if you think it is warm by any standard, you are in for quite the little shock. Today the temperature is 19 degrees, and chances are that is with a brisk wind coming off the bay, which makes it probably a little bit closer to 15.
I used to joke with people that I wore thermal underwear and a sweater all year round, but I was not kidding. Eventually one gets used to the low temperatures, the cold breezes and the nearly ever-present mists associated with an island, but I never did. I thought I would never be warm again.
Now that I am here in Alberta, I will maintain, no matter how much I sweat, no matter how much I toss and turn at night without air conditioning, that it is a beautiful day.
I feel for you farmers who worry about the dry summer, the high temperatures and the slow growth of crops, I really do, but for me, coming here, back into the lands of sunshine and blue skies, it is a welcome change.
Maybe next year I will gripe along with you, but for now, I am in heaven.
