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although they are not linked to the
main road system. The welfare officer will be there when you arrive and youâll
have a few days with him before youâre left on your own. Most of the communities
in that welfare district you will have to visit by boat.â
It was March and final exams were around the corner. Now that I had secured a
job I could concentrate on some of the study I had failed to do for most of the
year. I got through the next few weeks thinking about the summer and trying to
concentrate on final exams.It wasnât easy and my exams were all
packed together in a couple of days. This was still the time when the final exam
was worth 100% of the final markâso if you blew it in those three hours, that
was that.
I struggled throughâstudying in some cases through the nightâ and then went
straight to the exam room. I was afraid someone was going to speak to me along
the way or just outside the door to the exam room, because I felt so mentally
full that if I responded, everything I had stuffed in my head the night before
would suddenly spill out and leave me empty of any knowledge to answer the
questions on the exam.
With exams out of the way, I contacted Mr. Hollett and began a two-day
orientation, learning about the legislation and various programs and how to
complete the various forms.
âThereâs a coastal boat leaving next week,â Mr. Hollett informed me, âand we
would like you to be on it to La Scie. We have secured a boarding house for you
and the welfare officer will be there for a week or so to help you
adjust.â
Just like that, I was off the next week on the Northern Ranger to La
Scie.
CHAPTER 3: A PRACTICAL EDUCATION
“I am a part of all that I have met.”
— Tennyson
IT WAS LATE APRIL and almost miraculously the ice along
the east and northeast coast had stayed several miles offshore, making possible
a very early start to the coastal boat season to northern Newfoundland and
Labrador. And so, unlike the harrowing experiences of my mother and her five
children crossing Placentia Bay in a snowstorm in 1951, I had a relatively easy
time as the boat made its way along the east coast of the island, stopping first
at Twillingate and then on to La Scie.
La Scie was the easternmost point of land on the Baie Verte Peninsula, nestled
under Cape John with a U-shaped harbour, and every inch a fishing community.
This was the proud home of trap fishing crews and a large fish plant. The news
here was all to do with fishing, the wind, the ice in the spring, and the price
of fish. Sammy Thoms’s general store was where the old fellers hung out, and if
you wanted to get a real quick lesson of trap fishing on the northeast coast of
Newfoundland, this was the place to visit. Not that it all came easy when you
entered the place; it was a bustle, and after a hardy welcome from Sammy, who
was otherwise too busy to talk to you, you settled on a box or barrel and waited
for the conversation to slowly evolve. However, change was in the air—a
contractor (friendly to Premier Smallwood’s party) was busy digging and blasting
as they were installing a water and sewer system in the community (completely
financed by the provincial government), and the first highway to the town was
under construction by another company friendly to Smallwood. There was already a
cruderoad system from La Scie to a number of nearby communities,
including the mining town of Tilt Cove. These communities all formed a part of
the welfare district I was to administer—the rest of the district would be
communities on the north side of Green Bay, southwest of La Scie and accessible
only by boat.
The permanent welfare officer was with me for a week or so and we took one
quick visit by boat to Snook’s Arm and Round Harbour to give me a taste of what
was in store. Well, of course, the actual experience of
main road system. The welfare officer will be there when you arrive and youâll
have a few days with him before youâre left on your own. Most of the communities
in that welfare district you will have to visit by boat.â
It was March and final exams were around the corner. Now that I had secured a
job I could concentrate on some of the study I had failed to do for most of the
year. I got through the next few weeks thinking about the summer and trying to
concentrate on final exams.It wasnât easy and my exams were all
packed together in a couple of days. This was still the time when the final exam
was worth 100% of the final markâso if you blew it in those three hours, that
was that.
I struggled throughâstudying in some cases through the nightâ and then went
straight to the exam room. I was afraid someone was going to speak to me along
the way or just outside the door to the exam room, because I felt so mentally
full that if I responded, everything I had stuffed in my head the night before
would suddenly spill out and leave me empty of any knowledge to answer the
questions on the exam.
With exams out of the way, I contacted Mr. Hollett and began a two-day
orientation, learning about the legislation and various programs and how to
complete the various forms.
âThereâs a coastal boat leaving next week,â Mr. Hollett informed me, âand we
would like you to be on it to La Scie. We have secured a boarding house for you
and the welfare officer will be there for a week or so to help you
adjust.â
Just like that, I was off the next week on the Northern Ranger to La
Scie.
CHAPTER 3: A PRACTICAL EDUCATION
“I am a part of all that I have met.”
— Tennyson
IT WAS LATE APRIL and almost miraculously the ice along
the east and northeast coast had stayed several miles offshore, making possible
a very early start to the coastal boat season to northern Newfoundland and
Labrador. And so, unlike the harrowing experiences of my mother and her five
children crossing Placentia Bay in a snowstorm in 1951, I had a relatively easy
time as the boat made its way along the east coast of the island, stopping first
at Twillingate and then on to La Scie.
La Scie was the easternmost point of land on the Baie Verte Peninsula, nestled
under Cape John with a U-shaped harbour, and every inch a fishing community.
This was the proud home of trap fishing crews and a large fish plant. The news
here was all to do with fishing, the wind, the ice in the spring, and the price
of fish. Sammy Thoms’s general store was where the old fellers hung out, and if
you wanted to get a real quick lesson of trap fishing on the northeast coast of
Newfoundland, this was the place to visit. Not that it all came easy when you
entered the place; it was a bustle, and after a hardy welcome from Sammy, who
was otherwise too busy to talk to you, you settled on a box or barrel and waited
for the conversation to slowly evolve. However, change was in the air—a
contractor (friendly to Premier Smallwood’s party) was busy digging and blasting
as they were installing a water and sewer system in the community (completely
financed by the provincial government), and the first highway to the town was
under construction by another company friendly to Smallwood. There was already a
cruderoad system from La Scie to a number of nearby communities,
including the mining town of Tilt Cove. These communities all formed a part of
the welfare district I was to administer—the rest of the district would be
communities on the north side of Green Bay, southwest of La Scie and accessible
only by boat.
The permanent welfare officer was with me for a week or so and we took one
quick visit by boat to Snook’s Arm and Round Harbour to give me a taste of what
was in store. Well, of course, the actual experience of
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