Why Choose Landwash?

Well, as I was sitting here contemplating a philosophy of sorts or at the least a rationale for my posting to this blog. I got to thinking of how much of an impact this place we now call home, has had on me, our family and many others. It is now almost three years from my first arrival on the Frozen sandy soils during Halloween 2006.

Avoiding the inevitable some may say, it took me many years to finally accept an opportunity to consider working out here in Fort McMurray. Yet my foray into the world of Construction, Oil and Gas and this collective of Newfoundland Souls is fun, a daily challenge and yet a constant tempering of my desire to speak out.

I find myself contemplating a constant comparative to the landwash we leave behind.

When many think of our Landwash at home, we can smell the salt, the seaweed, sometimes the wronk harbours. Other times the sounds of the bells clanging against the buoys in these harbours comes to mind. By contrast, up here in McMurray, the smells are of Bitumen, naptha and tailings ponds, the sounds of constant industrial activity and construction and the Land Washed here is the oil soaked sands that are washed with solutions of caustics and diluted with petroleum, grinded to remove the tar, and cracked to change form into heavy crude.

We of Terra Nova, the Island, have gone far by distance but not by duty and effort. Like the migrant workers from other countries who populate the fields and construction projects of USA, Saudi Arabia and other nations of wealth, past and present, we have answered the call. Our friendliness, civility, english language and hard working history have brought us to where the work is and made us invaluable to the building of wealth for the Nouveau Riche Westerners and in many cases for our expatriots, some of whom have taken distinct advantage of the extreme economy and prospered beyond the wildest expectations and belief of those at home.

I have gone from asking and chatting with all who I meet to see what part of Newfoundland they are from to enjoying a more challenging attempt to see if we can pick our own out by their actions and mannerisms before we hear their voices and the ever present colourful ring of dialect I find enjoyable and yet many cringe from.

One doesnt need to go far as many a pickup and vehicle is well adorned with the map of our province, the Green Pink and White. The other day at Ms. Bee's another expat's restaurant, lo and behold, there is a twenty something young fellow sporting a 5 cm / 2 inch map of the province emblazoned boldly on his neck below his ear.

There is much to write about from here and I hope to fill this weblog with some insights into what it is like up here, to offer some understanding of the changes those who have come here go through, and the way things will be in the future.

I have currently taken up working in Edmonton on a short term basis and find that city equally impacted by Newfoundlanders and yes some Labradorians as well, by our nature and desire to work, yet on a lesser scale relative to the population compared to Fort McMurray.

Signing off for now as I figure out how to upload pictures and other things to make this a catchall for stories, tidbits and opinions from Coastal and Oilsands Landwash-ing.