The time has come to say goodbye to summer. The fall colours are here to (not) stay and soon we’ll be in a season that lends itself to black and white photography. Summer is on the rocks, it seems. So rocks it what I can cling to to keep a little of this summer for myself.
Is it all that gloomy? Nah, not in the least. Here in Nova Scotia, things are different than on the prairies.
A long time ago, there were tracks. Tracks with real, slow, wobbly trains. Trains transporting goods and people. Then came the time that people wanted everything faster, so the slow trains became less and less frequent. Eventually, they stopped rolling altogether. When that happened, the rails were pulled and recycled to make rails for other trains, in other parts of the world.
What stayed behind was the imprint of the tracks on the landscape. In most places in the world, those trails are also recycled and give birth to housing or other projects. Here in Liverpool, they gave way to a project called “The Trestle Trail”. It meanders along the Mersey River and through town.
Followers of this blog may have noticed a certain silence here. It’s easy to go and blame all kinds of factors, but the truth is, all kinds of things have happened since my last blog here. I can invent all kinds of things that may or may not be the cause of this silence, like “my internet didn’t work” or “the cat ate all my ideas”. None of this would be further from the truth.
Living in Halifax, Nova Scotia is great. I loved it. But with the prices of the rent out there currently, that was not a sustainable option. The pandemic seems to have awakened all kinds of money hungry individuals and corporations.
In a province like Nova Scotia everything is compact. You get all your attractions within a few hours of driving from home. It does help to be living in the centre, for sure. In our quest to see as much as possible as quick as possible, we often forget what is close by.
To solve that part, we left on foot from the apartment and went on a boat trip.
A tiny speck of land in the middle of Halifax Harbour. A place where not so long ago you needed to be invited to go and see. Since the summer of 2020, this is now partially open to the public and managed by Parks Canada. The off-limits parts are still under renovation and partially under reconstruction to make it safe for all.
Some parts are excluded as steep banks into purposely murdering ditches are to remain as they are. This is the island no vessel should pass if not expressly authorised. It is part of the Halifax Defense Complex.