michugela

Well, I have a sort of bad news/good news story about my time in P.E.I.

First the bad –

I was driving back home toward Montreal from Newfoundland (that entry would be good news/great news) and decided to take a detour across the new Confederation Bridge to PEI. Now, the laws and customs regarding the sale of beer differ from province to province so, parched & road-weary I stopped at the first gas station I came across on the island to enquire.

Me (sweetly, I thought): Excuse me, can I buy beer here?

Lady (hostility only imagined?): Pardon me?

Me: ibid

Lady (french cuffs, and a collar buttoned up about to her ears): you want BEER?

Me (unsure, now, but thirsty and confused, I was in my late twenties, after all) um, ya?

Lady: Big Sigh. (and reluctantly, even resentfully) Well, you have to go right then 6 kilometers then left blablabla. And THAT’s where you can get yer beer.

This woman was working at a Gas Station! I mean, I wasn’t asking for heroin or anything, but I don’t know, a woman asking where to buy a beer seemed to offend her.

So now I have my jaw clenched against puritanical judgemental buttoned-down bs, but drive anyway up to the north coast of the island where I spy a room-for-rent sign. It is attached to a sweet little bungalo adorned with roses and sweat peas, and I pull in.

Well (and this is the good news bit) the owners were among the kindest, most warm hearted people I’ve ever met. They showed me to a lovely tiny house next door and made me feel comfortable and so welcome. They never pushed, but invited me over for coffee or dinner. They were both in their late seventies and both amateur painters and I spent long afternoons painting and talking with them.

The north shore of PEI is just spectacular.

And I guess folks are folks, warm and cold, Anne of Green Gables to Annie Oakley, wherever.

(a bit cute that last bit, eh?)

I had been in Japan for about 3 weeks and had completely run out of money. I couldn’t get a flight home for another 4 days (at least then I’d get free airplane food!) and didn’t know what to do. So, naturally, I took my last 100 yen and dropped it in a pachinko game (like a slot machine in the U.S.) And I won! Collecting the $ was a bit dodgy – it’s actually illegal for them to pay cash and I didn’t want tinned pineapple or plastic flowers – but in the end I got just over $400. With that I was even able to buy some small souvenirs and gifts for the friends and family.