....... from hot and humid to hot wet and humid. We need the rain but it would be great to have things in moderation don’t you think? Definitely Climate Change is upon us and I am at a loss to understand how anyone can possibly think otherwise. Talk about sticking your head in the sand! I am responsible for writing the Town’s action plan to mitigate and adapt to climate change and folks have been coming up to me with tons of anecdotal testimony about rising sea levels, warmer winters, longer summers, etc, etc. It occurs to me that we are going to see the impact in our lifetimes and not in our grandchildren’s as was earlier thought.

I am trying to get the Town interested in encouraging and perhaps even sponsoring a Tall Ship to act as our ambassador if not around the world then at least around the eastern seaboard. Most of the Tall Ships that are in the program do exactly that. Either that or they are a floating college. Bluenose for the province of Nova Scotia, Pride of Baltimore II for, of course, Baltimore, Virginia for that state etc etc. There are a number of annual events around Atlantic Canada even without a Tall Ship visit to which such a vessel could go to hang out the Town’s banner and to talk up the place as a tourist destination and as a community that might be a good spot to locate new business. There happens to be a derelict steel ketch that has been abandoned at our Marine Terminal which would something that perhaps could be restored with the right sponsorship and put into service. It has seven double cabins, a large galley and mess room, an even larger lounge area in the pilot house, twin diesels and a diesel generator, and oh it is 85’ long. On the down side I figure that there is at least a year’s steady work to repair the cosmetic damage that has been done and we would need the hull completely sandblasted and repainted, the engines completely examined, tested and restored if that would be possible, and a complete set of sails. Still, if it is put up for auction and got for the right price and if we were able to get local corporate sponsorship from a shipyard and the foundry, the rest could be sweat equity. I am looking into the possibility of using the restoration as a means to occupy some of the young folk in town who are currently working on expanding their police rap sheet through acts of vandalism and hooliganism. We could accomplish two goals with one project. I figure that even a JD would think it neat to be crew on a ship that traveled from port to port, perhaps even into the USA, and if we work out a schedule that has us wintering in the Caribbean....!? Of the seven cabins I think that the ship would be best served by converting 5 of the double bunks to 3 bunk cabins so we would have space for 12 crew and three instructors, the engineer’s cabin would become the captain/engineer’s and the current captain’s cabin would be vacant. The reason for the vacant cabin would be so that sponsors or members of the Society that would govern the ship would have a place to stay if they chose to visit wherever the ship happened to be. I imagine that once it went south there would be a list of applicants for the place to stay. Long way off in the future and I know that I am day dreaming, but what a great dream, eh?

Today we are off to Saint John to visit Kayt and help her pack. I don’t think that it will be an overly happy weekend although any time we see her is great for us. We will be leaving town to take the ferry across where she’ll meet us at the dock. Our friends and neighbours will be watching chateau Turney and Peri is coming with us although I don’t think that he will be too happy about going into one of the travel cages on the ferry. He’s a good dog and will just have to tough it out.