FLIES, A PUB and PLENTY OF WIND

FLIES     Here's a riveting excerpt from a conversation that Erik and I had during our first week in the rented house here in Stanley Bridge, PEI:

ME:        Where are all these flies coming from?
ERIK:     These house flies? I don't know.
ME:        Is it because the house is surrounded by fields?
ERIK:     They are house flies.
ME:        Yes, but, could they be from the fields?
ERIK:     They are house flies.
ME:        Then, where are all these flies coming from?
ERIK:     I don't know. Perhaps they laid eggs somewhere.
ME:        Eww. Maybe because we are surrounded by fields?

Picture, if you will, our day of arrival and us happily investigating this beautiful house we had managed to rent for the winter. Remember the bitter cold we had endured during our drive from Brockville to get to this lovely house and our sense of relief to finally be here. Then imagine our (okay, not our, MY) reaction to seeing 100 or so dead 'house' flies on the floor of the master bedroom. Then hearing the buzzing of the groggy ones twitching in the corners and hiding in the curtains. Not a pleasant sight and quite unexpected. Not something to make you want to run back out the door and head back to Brockville, but certainly enough to elicit a little twinge in the stomach.The sight of those corpses and the buzzing and writhing of the near dead is just a bit macabre.

The little corpses were duly vacuumed up and the entire scene dismissed from my mind. Except, the following morning there they were again,  not as many as before but a goodly number of the little buggers, all dead and littering the floor of the bedroom. They too found their way up the vacuum along with a  few living relatives who were zapped mid-fly, something I'm not proud of, but I was getting ruthless.

Google is your friend and my husband, Erik, being a scientist did a little search on the internet looking for information about these 'house' flies. 'Cluster fly', that's what they were, a fly for sure. They enter homes during the fall looking for a place to hibernate. They come in from FIELDS!! Ha, I was right. They cluster when the sun shines through a window looking for warmth and hide when it is cooler. Although not a health hazard or a negative reflection on the house, they are a nuisance.

With each passing day the fly population diminished until it has all but disappeared. It is very bizarre to have flies in a house in the middle of winter in Canada, especially in those numbers hence my belief they are worthy of mention.

In the interests of common decency I refrained from taking any photographs of said colony.

A PUB Our New Favourite Pub     Erik and I are pubbers. We enjoy the ambience of most pubs, we like the food in good pubs and the bar is usually where we choose to be seated. We want the ambience to be as authentic as is possible, the food on offer to be imaginative and delicious, and if the bar is long and lean, we want it to afford a view of the entire pub.

The Old Triangle, a pub we have driven past quite few times during our forays into Charlottetown, was immediately put on our List of Things to do and Places to Visit. Last week we found ourselves downtown at lunch time with time to kill. Hallelujah, we were going to try out this pub that had caught our attention. To say we were not disappointed is a huge understatement. We were thrilled with this pub. Everything we like about a pub was there in spades including a great selection of Irish beer and an inspired menu. The very friendly and attentive staff was an added bonus. The pub hosts two sides; The Triangle, where we lunched and The Pour, that regularly features local musicians.

Erik at the bar.

Long lean bar with four sets of taps. We sat in front of the Irish section.

A few of the lunch time patrons.

Charlottetown is a haven of fine dining, both winter and summer, has plenty of great pubs and truly wonderful restaurants serving world class food. The Triangle, although a great pub, won't restrict our search for other eating establishments to put on our List of Things to do and Places to Visit. 

PLENTY OF WIND     When we told friends and  acquaintances back in Ontario we were going to move to PEI, one of the questions we ALWAYS heard was, "Have you been there in the winter?" Well, no, we hadn't. We spent time there in the summer, you know when everything is green. there are blue skies and it's sunny, sunny sunny. Why would anyone go there in the winter? This question, 'Have you been there in the winter?" was useful in that it did plant the idea in our heads to actually spend a winter in PEI. It seemed most people we talked to thought PEI had a pretty intense and vicious winter with whole communities being lost for weeks on end under an enormous mound of snow. Guess we wanted to experience it for ourselves, and here we are.

^^We rather imagined something along these lines^^

We arrived mid December to snow. Not mounds; roofs of houses were visible, but certainly a sufficient quantity that we knew we were in Canada and it was winter. What we didn't know was how windy this island is. It's not just windy to the point it will ruffle your hair without hairspray. It's windy to the point it will blow over a small child and birds fly backwards. The wind blows day and night. The wind blows and leaves some pretty amazing snow sculptures in its wake. Whole fields will be blown bare of snow while the field next to it displays an array of some pretty impressive snow drift patterns. As a small child I lived in a coastal town in Newfoundland. Winter storms there were so fierce my Mother used to give me a book to read and plunk me down behind an arm chair in a corner to protect me should the gale force winds blow in the windows. Either the PEI winds are less fierce or windows have improved over the last 60 years or so.

According to locals, the mid December snowfall we found upon arrival was rather unusual. Green Christmases are common with snow not generally expected until  mid January. Weather on the island can also be unpredictable and best described as 'continental'.  So far we have experienced -9c with blowing conditions and plenty of snow followed up by +9c and rain, all within the space of a day or two. About That Weather

The day we arrived, 17th December.

20th December

New Year's Eve day. All gone

8th January, a real winter storm

As we speak, errr type, there is a smattering of snow and a fairly typical temperature of -5c. Again, all this fluctuation in the weather is typical but, from what I see on the weather channel, kind of what is happening across Canada this winter.

WHAT ELSE?     Here's some great news. We had a visitor. Erik's old friend from way back when lives in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, a pretty short drive to our little island. After nearly a month of complete togetherness with only each other and Kaede to talk to (excluding grocery store personnel) it was a pretty exciting couple of days. We socialized and ate and drank and enjoyed to the hilt having another person to talk to. As much as we love Kaede, she's not much of a conversationalist.

More Great News:  Tennis Anyone? Indoor tennis exists here. Spa Total Fitness in Charlottetown is a fitness centre offering squash, tennis, indoor swimming pool, a driving range, complete gym and running track. I now am playing tennis three times a week, more if I wish, in the middle of winter. Yes, I am happy.

Even More Great News:  The piano man, my husband, Erik, has gigs to play at a couple of Seniors' Homes here on the island. Killing two birds with one stone he can entertain the seniors a couple of times a month while meeting other musicians who may wish to jam with him.

Erik and his piano.

After nearly a month and a half in PEI we can truly say we are enjoying this new experience. By getting acquainted with all the neighbourhoods, areas, towns and villages we have been able to narrow down exactly where on this little island we would like to live. Each neighbourhood, area, town and village has something unique to offer. Alas, we can't live in them all.

Next time the big reveal of exactly where the Wangs will be setting down roots, another favourite pub and socializing with the locals.