Category Archives: Characters

Forest Fire Crew Boss

On fighting fires in Australia: “No, I didn’t go. The guys who went were telling stories about crazy-ass spiders and crocodiles in pump sites and shit. I’ll take mosquitoes and black-bears any day.”

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Instant Retribution

And then there was the one about the guy who was planning to shoot his wife, but was so drunk that he forgot to brace the shotgun against his shoulder, missed at point blank range, blew up the TV and broke his … Continue reading

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Hostel Kitchen

The hostel’s heating system had broken during the day, so we sat in our coats in the second floor kitchen, watching a bitterly cold Edmonton wind tear down the dark street below. A greying Newfoundlander, eyes droopy with sixty years and one very hard night, weakly swayed … Continue reading

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The Man

Among the huge variety of eccentric people in the hostel where I stayed in Edmonton last week were a hopeless romantic middle aged Newfie and the Platonic form of a hippie conspiracy theorist. The three of us carried on a … Continue reading

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Humility

The words of Steve Smith, the actor who portrays Red Green, on his residence in Hamilton: “If you’re going to be pretentious in Hamilton…boy…you must be really good at it.”

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Christianity

My mother tells this story from BC’s north coast. She was teaching a class on archives, of which a hereditary chief of the Nisga’a nation was a member. Mom said he had the sort of regal bearing that makes you feel honoured to be … Continue reading

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Northern Physicians

Doctors up here are a different breed. It seems like half of them are South African. “Why do they all come here, though?” I once had the naivete to ask. “Because they get killed there.” Oh. Right. In Fort Nelson, … Continue reading

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