When my father retired from the RCMP, we relocated to Mount Pearl. He had chosen that city because there were still two offspring to attend University in the city. He went to work with the courts, and traveled with the Supreme Court Judge, enjoying it immensely. Consequently it was convenient for all, mainly because our father never makes a decision without weighing all the pros and cons.
Mount Pearl was a great place! It was our first house after being raised in rental properties, and living in RCMP detachments all of our lives. But Mother always expressed discontent about the style of the house, once living in it began. It obviously was not something she had considered when they bought the new abode. The house is known as a side split or split level therefore it has three flights of stairs inside, with about seven steps on each flight. Also when you go out the backdoor you have to go up steps to get to the backyard to access the clothesline. She used that clothesline almost daily.
Then when you enter from the front you had to have to step up to the walkway from the driveway and then step up a couple of steps to the front door, the entrance that is always used. It is not a big house but several stairways have to be encountered whenever you go, making getting around the house and caring for it a daily aerobics class in itself.
Mother was very busy in her home. I myself experienced two falls and twisted my ankle each time, and Mother had her share of ‘trip-ups’ and ‘trip-downs!’
We didn't complain because it was our house and we did what we could to help Mom and Dad make it a home. It was their first house and we were so delighted for them. Our years of living a nomadic lifestyle meant that wherever our parents were stationed was ‘Home’.
Mom comes from a Labrador fishing family. Dad hails from Fortune Bay, NL, and was not a fisherman, but schooners were the main type of boat in his part of the world.
While we were growing up, none of us-except Mom-paid too much attention to the happenings in the fishery, as it had little impact on our lives. When Mom left her Labrador home, fishing there was a simple inshore affair with fishermen using small boats.
Though she spent a lot of time caring for her family while we were growing up, she was always aware of the happenings in the fishery and the rest of the world.
In Fortune Bay, Newfoundland, trying to make out unique characteristics of particular vessels, such as the way the sails were rigged or the way she rode the waves. The sailors who worked on these vessels were hearty men who ventured all over the world doing commerce for the Dominion of Newfoundland.
It was Moms’ knowledge of the fishery, however, that amazed us at times. One day in our house at Mount Pearl, Mom got frustrated with all the stairs and blurted out "I don't why we bought this house, it's like living aboard a long liner!”
This statement was puzzling to me. How did she know what a long liner was, and that there was a lot of climbing about in those vessels for fishermen.
I asked her, with the smugness of a teenager, “What do you mean "Like living aboard a long liner?"
Without missing a step while she descended the stairway to the basement, she said "Yes, just like a long liner! For every foot you go across you have to go up one or down one."
Of course she was referring to the long liner fishing boats of years ago on which there was more climbing about needed than there is on the modern vessels.
After that day, although she would be climbing about in our home, I sometimes imagined her climbing about a long liner.
On thing was for sure, however. In our Mount Pearl home Mom was commander of the ship!
