Ahoy Matey! Cruise Ship off the port bow

Photo courtesy of portcitypics-fundysnapper.blogspot.com

Ah…..summer. Weed whackers, backyard BBQ’s, beers out on the deck…and oh yeah...CRUISE SHIP SEASON!!!

Yes folks it’s that time of year again. The time when thousands of cruise ship passengers descend on Saint John like a swarm of pastel colored, photo snapping, chino wearing locusts.

But hey we know what side our back bacon is buttered on and because of this short lived span of American greenback influx we will put on our best Canadian grins, practice saying ‘EH’’ and generally get into character. Remember to tell them what the price is in ‘REAL MONEY” , ours apparently is just pretend stuff. I know it may stick in our craw a bit, but come on….the Americans love it! What does it cost us really? We know we read more books and speak better English.

For a couple of weeks now downtown has been a busy little hive of activity. Cleaning, scraping, painting and generally sprucing the joint up. We have venders that wait all year just for this flow of retail commerce and base their financial survival on it. If you shop at the City Market make sure you do not go between the hours of 9 to 5., otherwise you will never make it thru the throng of tourists ‘Oooin and Awwwin “ over $17.00 vials of maple syrup, moose figurines and T-Shirts with friendly beavers on them.

Being that hubby and I are from Alberta, you don’t get many cruise ships out there. None that I can think of anyways. Our first apartment we rented when we landed in Saint John was down on Prince William Street, right on the harbour in front of Pugsley wharf. I can still remember being awakened one morning to a low grade rumbling of a ship’s mighty turbines. On the way to the kitchen I glanced out at the wall of white steel blocking my view of the world thinking, “holy cow…someone parked a ship on my doorstep.” Note to self: pick up “No Cruise ship Parking” sign.

Well we were pretty impressed I must say. Hubby snapped away, getting photo’s from every possible angle. Then we printed off a schedule so we could prepare and set up chairs for each arriving and departing ship. We put up Canadian flags and waved at all the tourists. Stood on our front deck at the end of the day and waved goodbye, teary eyed as our nautical friends waved back. E-mailed hundreds pictures home to Edmonton.

First it was fun, helping tourists with directions and explaining Canadian currency - no that’s real money…for sure eh? Then….it became a little bit of a drag. Helping them find their ride at the end of the day. “The large WHITE thing parked at the end of the street, I think that’s your boat.“ Assuring them that it would not snow later in the afternoon and yes we have the internet in Canada….” and so on.

Saint John is the fourth-busiest port in Canada for cruise ship passengers, behind only Vancouver, Victoria and Halifax. In 2008, the Port City welcomed a record 183,462 passengers - a jump of more than 49,000 over the previous year. Port officials are confident that traffic will reach 200,000 passengers in 2010 and surge past the 300,000 mark by 2015. The 2008 Cruise Ship season brought approximately $19,000,000 in revenue into the port city and remember we got that big spanking new Cruise Ship Terminal to pay for.

So just remember, to dumb down a little, smile a lot, it‘s just for a short while….because at the end of the day, that is allot of maple syrup.

Til later

One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure

Okay, sometimes it is still just garbage but you never know, once in a while people throw out perfectly good stuff.

On July 1st the “One Million Acts of Green” campaign of the CBC’s in co-operation with Cisco is ending. The idea behind the campaign is that one small act can make a big difference. It was not about overhauling your life; it was about one act from each individual amassing to a million. It could be as simple as switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs, starting a recycling program, or walking to work. You can do one act – or you can do all one million!

Being that I am so closely associated with Dr. David Suzuki, (he knows my mother-in-law) of course I jumped on the green recycled cardboard band wagon. Well I like to be different, so my recycling program is - going through peoples garbage to see what I can recycle! I am becoming an Urban Scavenger. Sort of.

There I said it!! - OMG how liberating!! Yeah, o.k. laugh if you want but this is an ever-growing movement in super chic urban centers like NYC, Chicago and L.A. and Oprah even talked about it on her show. Yes,...Oprah. This is the new going green baby!

I know plenty of people look askance at the idea of taking something off the street and into your home. I draw the line where people forage and dumpster-dive for food and other living essentials. Not quite that frugal yet. I think it's absolutely fascinating how much usable "waste" we generate every day

Basically, an Urban scavenger walks around with eyes always open. For motivation, it helps to walk out the door in the morning with less money in your pocket than you really need. If you have money to spend, you will probably spend it. If you don't, you will find ways to survive and thrive that are infinitely more satisfying and amusing. Think of panhandling as a social experiment - just kidding!

It all started (as all addictions do) very innocently one day. I never meant for it to get out of hand. Garbage is picked up on Tuesday here in Saint John. All garbage is hauled out to the front street for pick up, so thankfully no dumpster diving or sneaking around a backyard is involved. I simply keep an eye open and cruise around. Now this is where it gets a little tricky. If lets say, that they just put it down on the curb while they ran back in for their keys, then it is not recycling, then it is stealing.

One Tuesday I happened to notice a box of books sitting out - in the rain - by the curb next to the garbage bins. Now anyone that knows me, knows that I am a little sensitive about the ethical treatment of books. Inside the box were 67 perfectly good books, some…some.. (sniff) some even were HARDCOVER!!! And get this…Oh God….I don’t know if I can continue here… some- had- not- even- been- read. What kind of sick person would perpetrate a crime like this I want to know.

Granted, somethings are totally useless to me, such as the child’s car seat I saw one day. Our cats would simply refuse to use it, (but then they don’t think mandatory seat belt laws apply to them) so I could pass it on to someone who can. That is the whole idea, it is useful to someone. I tell you it’s a rush! It's all frugal fun for me. It’s like shoplifting without the word “felony” attached to it. Heck! You are doing a public service.

But it simply baffles the mind how our society thinks. Terrorism is not the enemy it is consumerism. How can we believe that this stuff is not any good and no longer useful - even though we will just go out and buy the same item only newer. What kind of disposable, selfish, self-indulgent society do we live in, that we as a consumer driven society do not care that there are others in our community who are in need, sometimes living right next door. Victims of a disaster, a single parent making a new start, students trying to decorate their dank little hovel, a bored writer looking for an excuse to go for a walk when she should be writing…what ever.

The point is we could probably live comfortably for another 25 years without producing any new furniture or household goods and simply reuse what we already have or by passing it on, if we just changed our materialistic attitude. Think about it. If you were shipwrecked on a desert island and had nothing to utilize but what washed up on the beach, would consider yourself lucky or bemoan the fact that the wooden crates just don't go with the colour scheme in your grass shack. Wouldn't you instead just be grateful that you at least had a roof over your head?

You may say that this is type of thinking is only for the cheap and poor. Well…luckily I am both.

Til later