Today is the 50th anniversary of Newfoundland joining the confederation of Canada. I lived in Gander, Newfoundland for 3 years as a child (1968-1971) when my dad was posted to CFB Gander. Metro Morning on CBC Radio One interviewed a fellow my age from Lewisporte, Newfoundland who now lives in Toronto about this auspicious occasion. He told one anecdote about Joey Smallwood, the 'Father of Confederation' of Newfoundland who insisted that today be the day, and not April 1st - April Fool's Day. Given the vast number of Newfie jokes that circulate, that was quite a bit of prescience on his behalf.
Tomorrow marks another historic day for Canada: The creation of the Nunavut territory in the Eastern Arctic. Time to redraw all those geography textbooks again.
I've oftened wondered if other Military Brats feel a need as adults to go back to all the various places they lived in as a kid, as if to validate their existance in the past - a sense of 'Ok, this place does exist other than in my memory, and I was here at one time.' I would love to visit Gander again - see my old school and its steps upon which I was pushed in the middle of winter as a 6 year old causing my head to be split open, requiring 7 stitches, the guilty party of which begged off after this saying he thought I was someone else; the PMQ (Permanent Married Quarters, family housing on military bases) where I lived; the rock that stood at the edge of the forest that surrounded the base, upon which I would climb with my dog Duffy; the dirt road that ran through the base and wove its way through the surrounding forest to an old abandoned mill; Gander International Airport; the huge circle of radio antennae that my dad worked on.
I would then repeat this experience for every other locale that I've lived, if at all possible. I did for Ottawa - saw our old house, walked the grounds of my old school. I achieved 'closure.' (What a sucky, yet accurate term.)
One of my side pet projects is to search the internet for the websites of all my old schools. Most of them have one now, so here we go - a chronological list of my former schools and the appropriate links where possible - take a virtual tour of my past.
Gander
Academy - Gander, Newfoundland
The Elliot School - Devonshire, Bermuda
Southampton Glebe - Southampton, Bermuda
Nordale School
- Winnipeg, Manitoba
AltaVista Public
- Ottawa, Ontario
Sir Frederick Banting
Secondary - London, Ontario
St. Catharines
Collegiate - St. Catharines, Ontario