Pam Pardy-Ghent: Some Day On Clothes B’Y!

Let’s be honest. The weather in Newfoundland is usually the stuff jokes are made of, and that’s about it. From May two-fours spent in a snowsuit to fires crackling in basement woodstoves in July; we’ve heard it all and are all the heartier for it. 

Newfoundlanders even have a multitude of sayings that depict the weather; the good, the bad and the ugly. From, nice day on clothes, to some mauzy and even, it’s poverty out ta-day, you’re likely to hear anything when it comes to describing the weather in this province. Except, things just might be changing.  

Tourist at Home

The weekend after school opened for the year, my daughter, her friend and I played tourist at home. We walked around downtown, took in the sights, stopped in for an ice cream treat at Moo Moo’s and took a stroll up Signal Hill. The sun was splittin’ the rocks (as another NL saying goes) and the hill was filled with come from aways and livyers alike all enjoying the stunning scenery and the perhaps even more spectacular weather. 

Just today on my lunch hour, in mid-September, I strolled around Quidi Vidi in a tank and shorts. My skin still holds the glow of summer’s sun and there’s a skip in my step that can only come from feeling the sun on your face and the slightest of wind at your back. Life is grand here in this land.  

But is this really the province we grew up in? Where berry pickin’ season usually meant rubbers and pop’s ol’ sweater?  Where you tucked away your tanks and t’s after Regatta Day and broke out the cable knits? It is. And the tourists – and locals – are eating it up. 

On the day we were on Signal Hill there were folks taking advantage of our not cold at all shoulder tourist season. We met people from Las Vegas, Victoria, Boise, Virginia and England. There were also laddies from Labrador on business and lassies from the Burin Peninsula just out for a Sunday drive. 

And, like my merry crew, there were folks from around the area who just wanted to enjoy the view, hang with a Newfoundland Dog and just chat with like-minded individuals who just feel that this just might be the greatest place on the planet.

Winter’s Scurvy Season

Now, I’m not naive. We won’t have this great weather for long. But with warm temps in the future – at least for the next few weeks – what’s not to love and embrace? For me and mine, we’re just gonna squeeze every ounce of vitamin C out of these days, because before we know it, winter’s scurvy season will be upon us. That’s not a Newfoundland saying, but it could be! 

Pam Pardy Ghent, The Herald’s Managing Editor, can be reached by emailing [email protected]

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