Thursday Tidbits

Posted on August 24, 2017 under Thursday Tidbits with 3 comments

Trapped

Whoosh!

In case you missed it, that’s the sound of the summer passing by. I would like to register a complaint with the authorities ( Mother Nature )  that summer travels much faster than the posted speed limits. Whatever happened to those “ lazy, hazy , crazy days of summer…” ? Just up ahead, on the horizon, is the opening of school for another year. And the Eastern Nova Scotia Exhibition.

Ah, the “ Fall Fair.”

Next to Christmas and perhaps Halloween, nothing got the excitement level as high to a child than the anticipation of the Fall Fair. We would have to forego a few shows at the Capitol Theatre ( .37 cents ) and save up a couple of bucks in order to be able to afford to make the trek up to the Exhibition grounds.

As youngsters, many of us made a beeline for the merry go round as the first stop. This would be immediately followed by a trip to the cotton candy and candy apple stand. It wasn’t hard to find. You just had to look for the place where the wasps were hovering. Watching the cotton candy machine spin and twirl, creating the pink mouth watering treat was magical. If you were bold and had the stomach for it, you would follow up with a candy apple. You would recklessly attack it until you discovered that this was a sure fire way of removing a filling!

As you got older, you became more adventurous and tackled the Tilt a Whirl and the Ferris Wheel. Some of us were afraid of heights and the first trip on the Ferris Wheel was stomach churning, especially during the loading when you were sitting at the very top of the wheel and some dare devil ( arsehole ! )  sitting beside you would start rocking the seat.

As a teenager you went to the Fair to see if you catch site of a girl that you fancied. You may also have played the crown and anchor for the first time… and possibly had a nip of booze behind one of the barns.

When we were first married, we lived at the Lorentchia Housing Coop which abuts the Exhibition grounds. Back then, the tractor pull was held a few feet away from the fence that separated the two properties. Some evenings, it was very difficult getting a baby to sleep with the roar of the tractors. And the dust churned up by this activity could leave a clothesline of laundry needing to be washed again.

Eventually in adulthood, you came to appreciate the real purpose of the Exhibition. At least one of your children was in 4H and you came to realize the importance of agriculture to our community and province. These days, the first place I head to is the barns to see animals, arts and crafts and the wonderful bounties of nature.

Of course, none of this would happen without an army of long time volunteers. I was chatting with someone the other day who told me that he has been using a week of his vacation for the past 25 years to help out at the Ex.

I plan to attend the E.N.S.E. this year and would encourage you to do the same. Check out their Facebook page at Eastern Nova Scotia Exhibition.

Maybe we can meet and have a cotton candy and sit on the merry go round for old time’s sake.

And take out your false teeth before plunging into a candy apple!!!

Have a great weekend.

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