14 May 2022

Six Ways To Fundy

14 May 2022

May

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
				5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24

Saturday 14 May 2022--It's very warm today. I don't like very warm. What's more, the joint of my big toe is swollen and sore, indicating possibly an oncoming gout attack. Or it might just be lingering soreness from my walk on Cape Split a few days ago. I brought medication along to take in case of gout, but I don't want to waste it; I'll wait a day and see how it feels tomorrow. In any case, I'm not fit to walk much. Seems like a good day to drive down to Peggys Cove--surely it's cooler down there on the Atlantic shore. I go down to my car and am dismayed to find that the electronic key doesn't work. I have to pry off the bit of door handle covering the manual lock. Once in, I find the car completely dead--not a click or flicker. Pop the hood for a look inside, not because I think I'll find anything I can remedy, but just because that's what you do. I immediately spot a grayish-white mass atop the flap covering the battery, and in that instant, think it's some sort of foam of corrosion coming off one of the terminals. But very quickly, I can see that it's composed of bits of paper, vegetable matter, fuzz, and fibers. It's a chipmunk nest. My car tends to sit in the garage for several days at a time, and I know the chipmunks are in there. I imagine Mrs Chipmunk spent some hours putting this together, maybe a couple of days, only to have it all roll off to the grocery store one afternoon. I wipe it off and stuff it into one of the Tim Horton's bags that have been accumulating in my back seat.

Back in the apartment, I get onto the AAA website to see what I need to do to get roadside service. It's been a long time since I've had to do this, and I'm pleasantly surprised to find that I don't need to call anyone, just fill out a form noting the problem and the car's location, and wait. And not long, either--a friendly fellow from the CAA is there in twenty minutes. In the course of checking things out, I realize that the headlight switch is on. When was the last time I drove in the dark? The night I was in Annapolis Royal. Could I really have left the lights on for five days? Then I remember coming through the fog, crossing the bridge. I must have put them on then; easy enough to forget to turn them off when you emerge into sunlight. There's a little bell that dings if the lights are still on when you shut the car off, but for some reason, this once, it didn't register. I feel kind of stupid, but the CAA guy just smiles. Likely he deals with stupid all the time.

Off at last, I head for Peggys Cove, a very familiar route that takes the better part of an hour. When I arrive, I'm dismayed to find it very busy. Well, what did I expect on a warm Saturday in May? I can see some of the changes that have been made; there's now a little roundabout just below the Sou'wester Restaurant, and the narrow road that once circled around the right of it no longer exists, its upper portion having been covered over by a wheelchair- accessible viewing platform. [Photos and video I see later show this to be a great improvement.] I turn left, up toward the upper parking lot, hoping to luck into a space. I don't. I'm sure I could find one in the larger outer lot, a couple hundred yards away, but I'm not keen to hobble to the lighthouse from there on my sore foot. Besides, I am put off by the unexpected little tourist horde. Worst of all, it isn't any cooler here than it was in town. I drive back out and return to Halifax without ever getting out of the car. Take the long way around, via Upper Tantallon, just to see different scenery.

[I've included some older photos of Peggys Cove, from the bus tour days, below, just so that the faithful reader will not be disappointed.]

Do some grocery shopping on the way into town, then go back to the apartment to sulk for a while. Then head downtown in search of dinner, a bit trepidatious about Saturday night in the big city. Halifax isn't really terribly large, but it's the biggest town in the Maritimes, and it has boomed quite a bit since last I was here--I'm quite amazed at the number of condo towers that have sprung up. I find that Argyle Street, which always had a number of restaurants and bars on it, has been pedestrianized, and is now quite the little scene. It's early enough that the Loose Cannon is not very busy, and I get dinner and a couple of pints there. Retire early to the apartment, where I have a couple of cans of beer from the Church Brewery in Wolfville. Not much of a day, but I have a couple more.

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Halifax To Peggys Cove