Meanwhile here are a couple of pictures I've taken of nearby pubs of which there are many in this town. It's interesting to see they have a tendency to spread furniture and flowers over the sidewalk from whatever building houses them with extra walkways built out onto the streets for pedestrians. Some extend up staircases to the roofs and most have heating lamps to keep the patrons warm on chilly evenings until the effect of the liquor kicks in.
I may have to take up drinking again to get the full benefit of their ambience.. and to get away from the construction at my house.
Speaking of drinking, everybody knows Canadian beer is more potent than the American variety but did you know Canadian tea is strong enough to strip paint off houses? I may have to suggest that to the construction workers who are now hosing the premises with a combination of sand and water. What next?
Do you get the feeling the renovations are driving me mad? The management here says it will all be done in another 6 weeks - just in time for winter.
❉ ❊ ☃ :-)
I'M SORRY I CAN'T HEAR YOU SPEAK UP LOUDER PLEASE THANKS
ReplyDeleteCanuck tea is turpentine? Huh. Any particular brand? I want to check the local food repositories. :)
Oh my. Oh dear, oh dear. I like the idea of fighting back by sharpening pencils.
ReplyDeleteI must say the distractions have not dulled your wit one bit. Your comments at my place and Randal's and this post all made me laugh.
Well since there is so much racket going on at home you might as well go hang out at the pubs and relax a bit. Looks like a very charming city to explore.
ReplyDeleteYou certainly haven't lost your humour to all that racket! Canadian beer would help if you like it. The tea in the Maritimes might be ye olde English type by the sounds of it, taken with milk or lemons. Great place to explore if you must leave home - take along a sketchbook?
ReplyDeletesomehow i don't think those pencils are going to do much, my dear...some good ear plugs perhaps? i feel for you because noise, for me, is mind numbing to the point of insanity and something one must watch out for as it sneaks up in the night.... :)
ReplyDeletecourse you do know, i am kidding... i am glad you did get your things finally and curious if everything fit ok...well, the joys of moving are always the same just multiplied with the distance maybe.
hope things calm down before winter sets in and you have lots more time of enjoying your fair city...i've enjoyed your photos and apologize i have not been out and about as much...xoxo
I didn't know about the tea or the booze. Maybe that strong stuff is part of why Canadian's are so friendly and polite. ;-)
ReplyDeleteRenovations cause serious stress! It is so awful to have someone invading your space and making a mess of things( even if they are on the outside of your space). I hope they work fast!
xxoo
Six weeks???? Geeze.
ReplyDeleteLove the pub - I could see myself sitting out on that patio, until the beer kicks in...
im with Linda - abrasive noise makes me crazy enough to jump out of my skin. won't even own a vacuum cleaner.
ReplyDeletesharpen more pencils; drive the noise mongers away.
randal - WHAT DID YOU SAY?
ReplyDeleteIf you can't find any I'll mail you some but it may count as a controlled substance.
lisa - As the old saying goes, if you can't fight em, join em.. but I may have to buy bigger pencils and an industrial grade sharpener.
liberality - We've done some of that but my alcohol tolerance is very low and the waiters give me funny looks when I only want ice water.
marja-leena - If there's one thing I take very seriously, it's keeping my sense of humour intact and if I was an artist in oil media I'd be able to use the dregs of my tea for a thinner. I've been taking lots of pictures so I can use them as references when I draw since I never developed the habit of plein air work.
linda - Hour after hour and day after day of this racket really is having an effect on me. Evenings and Sundays are quite pleasant but I am very much looking forward to the end of the repairs.
Funny you should ask about whether everything fit okay. It's all here but we have more books, movies, clothes, and collectibles than we have furniture to house them so now I'm waiting for a couple more pieces of furniture. sheesh..
belette - Booze is about the same everywhere but Canadian beer is at least twice as potent as the American varieties. It takes some getting used to - as does the tea.
Even as I write these guys are going up and down past the windows grinding and hosing. I'm used to far more quiet in my home so it really is nerve-racking. The good news is we saw new balcony rails in place at the opposite end of the building so at least that's progress.
nancy - We're hoping the noisiest processes end sooner than that.
We've tried the patios of a few pubs and restaurants and I'm sure you'd love them too but we have to order iced tea or ginger ale nowadays. Beer puts me right to sleep - even Budweiser ;-)
Ugh! I hate noise, so I can't imagine how you are standing it.
ReplyDeleteI wish, sometimes, that Canadian sensibilities would travel south... The pubs sound wonderful and welcoming. Maybe winter fosters a particular kind of hospitality.
I'll be gone for a little from the blog world (haven't been here a lot lately, actually) - got some traveling to do again...
//Canadian beer is more potent than the American variety //
ReplyDeleteoh-oh.... now you gotz me rankled!
http://www.dogfish.com/brews-spirits/the-brews/occassional-rarities/120-minute-ipa.htm
18% by volume.... and it is one of the weaker beers I drink! ;) but I will stay away from Canadian Tea... I heard the Tea fields up there are, ah, nasty.
gfid - I'm used to a pretty quiet home environment and this area is fairly high traffic. That I could probably get used to but the construction noise is maddening - never mind the dust. At least I can decide when to use the vacuum cleaner.. and my pencil sharpener.
ReplyDeletesteve - When we took the place we were told it would be over at the end of September. We're hoping the grinding will be done soon and the rest of the time they'll be putting up new rails.
You'd surely enjoy some of the pubs around here.
I'll be looking forward to your return. Meanwhile, I hope the traveling is something you'll enjoy and that you'll get to spend some time drawing.
okjimm - Well, first I was going to say that of course crafted brews don't count and I wouldn't expect a man of your refinement to be drinking Coors. Then I did some checking and discovered that American and Canadian commercial brands really aren't much different. I apologize for continuing the myth and in recompense I'll send you a box of Canadian tea :-)
I hope you can keep your sanity while the renovations are being donw!
ReplyDeleteAs for the pubs, the Press Gang looks like it could be in Portsmouth or Plymouth (the original ones!). The name evokes a pat when Provo Wallis brought HMS Shannon back to Halifax with the USS Chesapeake in tow
Is there still a nval base in Halifax?
jams - I'm not sure how much sanity was mine to keep in the first place.
ReplyDeleteHalifax, NS is still the main Canadian naval base (where they keep their 3 ships and a half interest in an old US submarine). My dad was a British Navy man who told me the reason old tankards had glass bottoms was so non-sailors could check to see if coins from press gangers had been tossed in their ale. Accepting the King's coin meant you'd volunteered.
oh..... you meant Mainstream beers. I haven't touched that crap in years...... Coors is not beer, Bud is not beer... I used to drink Molson's once in awhile ,,,,, but I am strictly a micro/craft beer drinker.
ReplyDeleteWell I went to the crow first (Adventures) and found it all very intriguing in there. I like "very intriguing". Then I followed the crow here. I think I've been here before (I mean at one of your blogs, not reincarnated). I may even have left a comment, though I can't find it. Maybe not. Anyway, I see an online pal (Jams) in here too. Maybe that's why I popped in here before, but anyway, I'll have to take a better look around, this time.
ReplyDeleteahh, canada. everything stops in winter, but then the 'reconstruction' begins as soon as the permafrost becomes impermanent again.
ReplyDeleteenjoy your beer, susan.
well hey, if you have more stuff than places to keep it, try making a "fort" inside your apartment composed out of boxes (if you are confused by this, think of eskimos building igloos out of blocks of ice). the boxes will 1) filter the outside noise and 2) provide extra insulaton against the elements.
ReplyDeleteenjoy your beer.
i like the idea of heating lamps.
ReplyDeletei wonder how many of them you'd need to create a tropical 'microclimate' in the middle of halifax? imagine sitting on a lawnchair sans bathing suit while watching ice form on the fishing boats in the harbor.
enjoy your beer, susan.
I thought tea was the polite canadian word for beer?
ReplyDeleteenjoy your tea, susan.
okjimm - I knew that.
ReplyDeleteandrew - I've just made some huge moves (in the physical sense) from a job to no job, to a different coast in a different country so there's bits that still have to catch up. That includes writing more Adventures and drawing more pictures. I'm glad you made it by again and hope you will return.
sera - The climate does involve reconstruction and so do I.
I think I'll have a beer.
sera - Decompressing inside a fort made of boxes may be the best idea I've heard in weeks.
I think I'll have a beer.
sera - I came here because now I prefer wearing more clothes but you'd always be welcome to wear more or less at a shared table by that frosty shore.
Join me for a beer.
Oh no! Six more weeks of that kind of grinding will really be stressful. Would one of those "sound machines" with selections for waves, wind, crickets, etc. have any muffling effect? I have one at my bedside that I use most nights, although we have one of the quietest neighborhoods in town. We have an air purifier that is louder than vacuum cleaners of the 1950s - I'd send it to you if it wasn't so huge, because I know it could drown out your construction sounds.
ReplyDeleteAgain, love the images of what appear to be absolutely charming sites. Am learning lots from you via these posts.
OM, Susan, Om..............
sera - A cup of tea is always best.
ReplyDeletelydia - For the kind of noise going on daily around here I'd have to wear headphones that might have me miss important phone calls or conversations. Besides, I never mind a good excuse to go out for another walk. What I am missing is quiet time to draw or blog but this too shall pass.
Namaste :-)