Wandering the North End of Saint John on Two Wheels

Fiona had finally passed and I was off for my first jaunt on my new used wheels.  Look, no jacket, toque or hat!

Silent highlights from my first trip down below.

 

If you want an enhanced video experience, I believe I was listening to Deep Purple: Fireball at the time.

D̲e̲ep P̲u̲r̲ple - F̲i̲r̲e̲ball (Full Album) - YouTube

The last time I lived in Saint John, back in the '80s, the door on the right was my apartment.  There were two ground floor apartments then but I can see that one of the doors has been boarded up and there is just one big one now.  The other apartment was 85 1/2 Newman Street.  I was 85 1/2 1/2.

Although the neighborhood seems perfectly nice today, it was quite rough then.  You can see the elementary school on the other side of the street.  One day, the school children lit my garbage on fire on the street during their recess.

I knew the area could be violent. I was too broke most of the time to buy newspapers, so I didn't know much of what happened in the neighborhood until my mother warned me to be careful as there had been two murders within a 2-block radius in the space of 2 weeks. 

During the Christmas holidays that year, a friend I'd worked with in Saint Andrews the previous summer, surprised me with a visit and the gift of two new pairs of shoes.  He figured I was in need of footwear and he was right.  The shoes I had at the time had too many holes for a Saint John winter.  Larry had grown up in this part of the North End and had known one of the convicted killers I had heard about through Mom.  He'd visited the mother of the guy who'd stabbed his girlfriend to death.  Since her son went directly to jail and Santa wouldn't visit him that year, she gave the shoes, which had been intended as Christmas presents, to Larry to pass on to anyone who needed them.  Larry immediately thought of me and I had new shoes.

I thought the person in the red car was waiting for the ferry but they don't dock here anymore.  A man Dad used to work with in the 60s used to have a cottage on one of the islands that we stayed at when we were small children.  Surely you can still get to that island but not from here.  This is a public boat launching site now.

Saint John Regional Hospital

Possibly a back entrance to Rockwood Park

It's the original Dairy Queen.  We had a fund-raising car wash there one Saturday in the 70s for my fencing group. 

I came across this nice beachy section of the river I've never seen before. 

The Irving Pulp Mill is never far from sight.

There are deer everywhere in this town!  They have become semi-domesticated animals.  In the city, no one is allowed to shoot them and there is plenty to eat.  Apples are dropping from the trees.

 

Day of the Dead UMAR Huatulco 2018

Another year has passed and it's time once again to remember those who have come before us and celebrate their lives.

That pesky vampire is back even though he really doesn't belong here.  People have explained time and again that the Day of the Dead is not about horror and monsters but he insists that October 31st is his day too.  

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People have become used to him.  Notice that nobody feels in any imminent danger.

                                             

The plain fact is that the Count absolutely loves the Day of the Dead and wouldn't miss the annual UMAR celebration for all the blood in the world.

Ahhh.  Children of the night.

You know you have a good costume when people can't recognize you.  Death is a lady and when she spoke to me, I knew her.  I won't reveal her identity but she is one of the nicest people you will ever meet.

Talk about outstanding costumes.  Who would believe this weary ancient old woman is in fact a vibrant healthy young woman?   If she hadn't spoken, I would never have known her.  Every movement seemed to cause her pain.

The entire cast from "La Muerte" (Death), a tale of greed, treachery and fatal justice.

It's not easy photographing dead people.  They have a tendency to blur.  These are all we have to remember them.

Return to this post soon.  There should be a video of "La Muerte" in the near future.

There it is.