By Frazer Smith

If someone were to say to you, they were in Brigus, it might sound as if they were admitting to some sort of medical condition like incontinence, or indisposition, or being inebriated, or perhaps a low mental condition like insanity.  Or maybe even worse, in rigor, which if it were so would be impossible for them to admit to, given what that condition entails.  But being in Brigus is nothing like any of that.  It is more like the exact opposite of all those conditions.

Now, what exactly the opposite of incontinence is may be hard to describe but let us just say you are having a good day all around.  The same goes for the opposite of indisposition and insanity.    And of course, the opposite of in rigor could simply mean you are alive.  But in Brigus you would not just be alive, you would be … very much alive!

How could you not be alive in a place like Brigus.  It is without a doubt the most extraordinary little town in all of Newfoundland, and perhaps all of Canada.  You’ll have to come and see it for yourself, unless of course you already have.

When we arrived I very deftly found a narrow dead-end street that terminated in a straight drop off into the bay and required some backing and fulling to get extricated from.  Next, we were confronted with a very narrow and small bridge which I deemed unfit for my vehicle.  (A short while later I was persuaded that heavy trucks negotiated the bridge regularly.)  We finally found a place to park adjacent to the cenotaph.  The parking spot fit our rig perfectly and came with its own little signpost indicating the street address.  As soon as we began casting about for somewhere to stroll to while the Sunday morning church bells tolled vigorously, the owner of the house beside the cenotaph came along and told us it was his driveway.  No matter.  Telling us to follow him, he hopped in his car and took us via some very narrow, hilly and winding streets to the large parking spot beside “The Tunnel” which is a famous Brigus landmark.  He then told us where to stroll to for a coffee and dashed off.

Shortly after we started our stroll through the narrow and hilly streets, I saw a lady hanging white towels and such like on a clothesline in a small yard beside a charming small white house.  This was one of those old-fashioned single strand clothes lines that is held up with a very old prop stick in the middle to keep the laundry off the grass.  It was just like the one my mother used to have.  I asked the lady if she hung out the laundry just for the benefit of the tourists like they show on the TV ads.  She said no, she was just doing her regular chores and besides she wasn’t even from Newfoundland.  She said she was from Ontario, and being likewise from Ontario I asked her what part and she said Kincardine.  So, I asked her if she knew Harriston or Palmerston.  This question startled her somewhat.  She said yes, she grew up in Harriston.  To which I said she must have gone to Norwell high school where I went, and she admitted she did.  And I told her my name, and she told me hers and well…  there you are.  We were in the same class, grades 9 through 12, together, and had not seen each other for 53 years.

I must admit that during those 4 high school years so long ago I probably hardly ever spoke to the young lass, but then I don’t think I spoke to any girls in those days, nor they to the awkward and socially inept me.  But it was astonishing to find someone from so long ago in such an odd circumstance.  A few moments sooner or later and she would not have been at the line, and the laundry would have been passed by with only a glance. So, we chatted for a few moments, and I introduced my wife and the lady told me how she came to be in Brigus, not permanently but sort of on an extended annual visitation to family she had married into.  We talked briefly about who we knew and where they were.  All too suddenly it was over, she retired to the house to attend to things, and we carried on with our search for coffee.  But it was one of those delicious moments in life that you wish would never end, that made you feel good and happy.  It was one of those moments that made you feel alive, in Brigus.