Cape Bretoner cites our cheap beer and black squirrels
Frank Ryan Park, Oct. 13, 2017.
“I’m from Cape Breton. I left there last Friday and got here on Saturday. I came up to the union — I’m an electrician; I studied for a year outside Port Hawkesbury — and they gave out a big call-out asking for guys up here, so now I’m working at the National Arts Centre.
“I’ve lived in Cape Breton, in Creignish, all my life — I’m 19 — so it feels pretty crazy. They didn’t give us much time at all, like under a week, to decide. But I was working at a gas station there, so it was better work up here. There’s not much work for electrical down there.
“It’ll take me about five years to become a Red Seal electrician. I enjoy it. My dad does it, and I did a couple of co-ops in high school and liked it. I came here with another guy and we tried to get a couple of apartments, but nothing was really good for him, so I’m renting a room from a guy just two houses from here. I just moved in today.
“Coming here was pretty crazy, like just the four-lane highways. The biggest we have in Cape Breton is like four lanes for both directions. I’d been to Quebec City last year to see a concert, and Florida once for another concert, but, other than that, just P.E.I. and New Brunswick. That’s about it.
“So I got here last Saturday and started work on Tuesday. I’m liking it. It’s a good change. I haven’t really experienced Ottawa yet. I was staying in Kanata for a little bit at a hotel. The traffic was pretty crazy. At home, if I’m late for work I just drive a little faster, but here you can’t … there’s traffic. I’m not used to that at all. There’s a rotary near me back home, and, if there’s a car ahead of me at the stop sign, I’m like ‘Arggh! Why are there so many cars here?’
“But the price of beer is a lot
The traffic was pretty crazy (in Ottawa). At home, if I’m late for work I just drive a little faster, but here you can’t … there’s traffic.
cheaper here, or in Quebec at least. And the people are pretty nice. Oh, and the squirrels … the squirrels are all black here. Black and grey. There are no black or grey ones back home. They’re all brown. That was weird. I didn’t know what they were at first. I thought they were little skunks or something.”