So his "not so good" was coming from a very real place. His boats were all coming in early, and at once, which meant that there was suddenly lots of stock. Given that other boats were also likely coming in, it means that they'll all likely not be able to sell all of their stock. Too much in too little a time. Meanwhile his various crews are calling in to find out what the plan will be. Will they be going out Saturday? What does he think is going to happen?
Apparently tracking a hurricane is no easy business, and predicting what is going to happen as it travels up the coast, across water, across land, (I'm out of options) is somewhat of a crap shoot. There may be a hurricane tomorrow, there may not. It could suddenly curve left and miss this part of Nova Scotia all together. Last year they predicted it would be a really hard hurricane season, and it wasn't. This year they've predicted it would be a light season and the first one is coming in the beginning of July. They normally start late summer. So ya, who knows. I certainly don't. But I can understand how the uncertainty can make for a "not so good" day for a man whose livelihood is dependent upon the weather.
So we bought about 5lbs of scallops that we'll be eating tonight. Some will be wrapped in bacon we got from the market from Philip's "pig guy", and the rest done up as a ceviche. And then we wandered into the market, picked up fresh vegetables, bread, eggs, goat squeaky cheese; relaxed with a coffee and people watched for a bit before heading back home.
The afternoon saw Marc, Sherri, Noah, Jake and I heading off to Halifax by way of Peggy's Cove. I've had the opportunity to drive along a similar route one time when I was Halifax, however I've never actually been to Peggy's Cove so this indirect route that we decided upon after having already hit the road to Halifax was a welcome one.
That's Jake.
At Peggy's Cove we basically beelined directly to the rocks around the lighthouse, so I can't really say anything useful about Peggy's Cove as a town, other than what I saw as we drove up the hill to park by the information centre was picturesque to say the least. Sitting on granite worn smooth by the water and watching said water crash up against said rock was the most peaceful moment of this trip thus far. I'm looking forward to many more of these moments. What I can't decide though is which is more hypnotic: watching the flames of a camp fire, or the waves crashing. More data required.
We headed on for Halifax, Marc seeming to very much enjoy the windy coastal roads. Seeing all of these homes, docks and small boats along the way I was reminded of the conversation with the fella we had bought scallops from that morning. Everyone is going to be affected in some very real way by Arthur. I think of the griping I hear about weather in Toronto, and while I will admit that there have been times when the weather has definitely had significant negative impact, I somehow don't think it is anywhere near as "real" this. If that makes any sense.
On to Halifax where we lunched on fish and chips from the first food truck we saw down by the boardwalk. I think Noah put it best when he commented that the fish was like butter. A walk along the boardwalk had us conveniently at a Cape Breton tourist centre; convenient because this is where we are going for a few days starting Monday and we hadn't planned a bit of it yet. The folk there were extremely helpful and we walked away with a few booklets and a map with too many things circled on it for us to see in the three days we will be there. No problem, we'll figure it out.
Marc, the boys and I then continued on to the Halifax Citadel, the first of the forts built around Halifax during the war of 1812, and designed to protect the city, not from sea attacks, but from land attacks. It now protects the city from the university. There are, or at least were, other forts much closer to the ocean that do the job of protecting from that side of things. The current Citadel was actually built post the war of 1812 when the British decided they wanted a more permanent fortress there. (Or at least that is what I recall from reading one of the many plaques. - I like plaques.)
I have concluded though that defense of Halifax was actually placed into the hands of Hobbits. I provide the following photo of a hobbit hole as evidence.
Though I could be wrong. Sadly history does not speak of the heroism of Hobbits and the role they played in defending Halifax from US invasion. Okay, I'm likely wrong.
Oh, and I got to hear bagpipes. I LOVE bagpipes. This made me very happy again. And peaceful. Yes, bagpipes are peaceful. They're relaxing to listen to. Seriously.
Sherri had not joined us at the Citadel so we went off to meet her at a tea shop and en route we got to hear the pipes again. Then it was back in the car and off to Lunenburg for a late dinner and an initial planning session for our trip to Cape Breton.
There are so many things to see and do in Cape Breton. Music, food, parks, towns, inland sea, historic sites, miner musuems. How to make choices? I actually don't know the answer. There are too many possibilities. It's kinda like a mini version of the choices we have ahead for the year. We can't do it all. So we pick things, or we keep it loose and see what presents itself in any given moment, and we do our best to remind ourselves to not be disappointed by what didn't happen, and just pour ourselves into the things that do.
As a friend reminded me via a Facebook message yesterday: "Be prepared to modify your plan."
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