Local Interaction Last Night and the Fundy Tides Today

Monday, May 21, 2018--PEI to Moncton, NB  (Victoria Day in Canada)

Last night we drove to the town of Victoria, a small historical fishing town.  We parked on the pier and walked up and down the few streets there.  It's interesting.  There are only a few blocks, but the town has a chocolate shop, 3 nice restaurants (2 closed last night), a book store, a pottery shop, etc., and only about 200 residents.  We had saved it for the evening because our main destination was Kellys Cross.

Kellys Cross is a crossroads of two country roads with a few houses and a church.  We headed there for a type of an event that is traditional and a must-see for tourists on PEI.  Every third Sunday of each month Kellys Cross has a ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee).   It's a local social gathering to enjoy music.  The event and the word for it was brought to PEI by the Irish and the Scottish settlers when they immigrated.  Over time, it has changed from being just Irish and/or Scottish music.  Now it includes Irish, Scottish, country, and folk music.  There is a house band, there are people to sign up for open-mic, and there are guest artists.  Last night's event was held at the community center which is also the basement of the Catholic Church.

The open-mic portion of the the music last night was generally poor.  One group was horrible!!  A woman who played the guitar and was accompanied on the piano was a decent singer, but she was a stage hog.  She knew she was only supposed to sing two songs, but she kept saying, "One more!," and going into it before she was cut off.  By the 6th song, the MC just stepped on the stage and thanked her before she could get another one started.  A woman who was a member of the house band was weak as a singer, but it was easier to tolerate her.  The highlights were the male members of the house band and the guest band artists for the night who ranged from good to great.  The guest band is named Tip Er Back.  The lead singer for them last night (the one on the right in the photo at the top of the band's Facebook page), is not usually the lead singer of the group, but he was as good as professional singers who have hit it big in the US.   What's strange, however, is that I cannot find recordings by him or by the whole band anywhere on the Internet.   I would have liked to have linked a couple of videos.

The hall was full of local people.  All were older.  Because of that, two thoughts went through my mind:  1)  These people all grew up on PEI probably before rural electricity became available, so learning to sing and play instruments to entertain themselves and others was probably all that was available to them then (with no radio or TV).    2)  It's likely that the ceilidh will become a thing of the past in a few years since young people do not attend them.  But last night the hall was full of elderly people (about 75 in all) enjoying themselves.  They really seemed to like the folk songs about life on PEI--going out on the fishing boat, watching the flowers grow, how hard mother's life was, etc.  Stompin' Tom is dead now, but he was a well-known performer of local songs (Bud the Spud, The Hockey Song, etc.) at such events.  Here's an Irish song at another ceilidh.

The people were true country people.  No nearby town has more than 200 people.  Some in attendance looked as if they led very hard lives.  Others looked like they might be city retirees who have moved back to the country.  There was an intermission in which they served buttered raisin bread and coffee or tea (included in the $6 admission fee).  We were a bit surprised that people weren't curious about who we were, but maybe they get tourists regularly to these events.  People did make comments to us, but they didn't ask questions.

Today, we drove off the island via the Confederation Bridge.  We are staying in Moncton at the same Airbnb apartment where we stayed when we came through here before.  Our purpose of being here today was to see the Fundy Tides.  The Bay of Fundy has the biggest differentiation in tidal levels in the world.  We went south of here about 30 minutes to Hopewell which is one of the better places to see the tides.  We timed our arrival from PEI to be just before noon to coordinate with the low tide of the day.  We took some photos to use as reference points for the low tide level.  Then, after coming back into town to check into our apartment, do a load of laundry, and check emails, we drove back out there for the 17:50 high tide level.  When the tide was low, the bottom of the bay was just red mud flats.  When it was high, the water was probably about 11 feet (3 meters) deep at the same spot.  That's the usual variation each day, but there have been times with a full moon and with maybe an approaching storm when the variation has been much greater.  Driving out twice two see water levels may sound like a strange way to spend a day, but there wasn't much else to do since it is a holiday in Canada (Victoria Day) with almost everything closed.  Plus, it is considered to be a major thing for tourists to see when in this area.

One interesting observation while making the two trips out to Hopewell was the change in the trees.  It has been a warm, sunny day.  There was a definite difference in the color of the forests between our morning ride out there and our late afternoon ride.  Everything changed from looking like the end of winter/breaking out of spring with a few tiny leaves to being very green with pronounced leaves on the trees!