‘REMEMBER YOUR HELMET’ I am a Newfoundlander, part of an elite group of people who live in Canada’s tenth province, which is an Island in the Sea called ‘Newfoundland’. Our official name is ‘Newfoundland and Labrador’, and I live on the big, beautiful, rocky island known as ‘The Rock Within The Sea’, the sea in this case being the North Atlantic. There are almost a half a million of us, and we are all members of the Newfoundland and Labrador fraternity. Our cuisine is salty, and our beer is the best ever made. For those who do not know our culture, some ways of the Newfoundlander are as hard to understand as are the diverse dialects that abound on the island. Talented musicians, artists, writers, theater groups, and quick witted, resourceful, practical people make up our culture. This resourcefulness that we need to survive on the ‘Rock’ was demonstrated quite well by two middle-aged men who were stopped by the police while driving their four-wheel all terrain vehicles into their cabin. The policeman checked them, and told them that they the law required wearing helmets while riding these vehicles. The men agreed to do so and continued on. A week later it was time to leave the cabin and travel home. However, the ‘helmet’ issue was now a problem. They had to find a solution to this problem before they left their cabin, because they knew full well that they would encounter the police on the way back to the highway driving their four-wheelers. What would they do? How could they overcome this police decree and get out to their vehicles on the highway when they had no helmets? So they checked around and found the solution. Using what they had available in the cabin they designed their helmets, put them on, started up their four-wheelers and headed to the main highway. Imagine the surprise of the policeman, who was indeed there again doing his road checks. His jaw dropped when he saw those two resourceful individuals driving toward him with one gallon ‘salt beef’ buckets on their heads. They had cut holes cut for eyes, and the handle of the bucket was the chin strap. These helmets were an example of the innovative mind of the Newfoundlander. The young policeman still doing his road checks and is being educated as he does so. He is gradually learning ‘Newfoundlanders 101'! The men had created ‘designer’ helmets, and their ingenuity was indeed something to be admired. They had helmets, that point could not be disputed, and they had used what resources they had in the cabin to design their protective headgear, which were buckets, lots of buckets! Because one thing is certain, where there is a Newfoundlander there is a ‘SALT BEEF BUCKET’! Bonnie Jarvis-Lowe   Submitted By: Bonnie Jarvis-Lowe