ST. JOHN'S and ST. PIERRE/MIQUELON: My Life These Days Remind Me of Groundhog Day

Before I get into our cruise and Groundhog Day, as our next stop will be Canada, I wonder how we will be personally affected:

U.S.-Canada trade talks collapse, setting new 50% tariffs in motion

The tariffs impact about $20 billion worth of U.S. imports from Canada, according to the U.S. Trade Representative’s office. The import taxes will hit everything from hockey sticks, to some building materials, liquors and certain kinds of clothing.

Carney says Canada will immediately retaliate against the U.S. “Canada will match those tariffs dollar for dollar to protect our workers and businesses,” he said. 

About the film:

Groundhog Day is a 1993 American fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Harold Ramis, who co-wrote the screenplay with Danny Rubin. Starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, and Chris Elliott, it tells the story of a cynical television weatherman covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, who becomes trapped in a time loop, forcing him to relive February 2 repeatedly. 

Rotten Tomatoes score of 93/88.  Has attained cult status.

In a curious but altered way, since we left Reykjavik on the Azamara Journey, I have kind of lived the life of Bill Murray in that film:

• It's now been two weeks of mostly cruising, for I just got off the ship once, in Nuuk.
• I wake up in the late morning to have a generally good lunch at the buffet.

• 
  I then try to work on this blog, but the WiFi is terrible.  
• It takes forever to get connected.  This is aggravating.
• Takes 10 hours to get a video downloaded into You Tube.  Just transferring a graphic into the posting takes several minutes instead of a second.
• I usually take a nap in the afternoon.
• Then cocktails, followed by a sit-down dinner,  Usually fine,
• On to the theater for a show.  Mostly entertaining.

• 
  Then up to The Living Room for dancing to the Shore Things.  This is dangerous, as the ship is moving, and I have trouble just walking around.
• About 11:30 PM, sometimes midnight, we get back to our room.
• Some TV and we're asleep around 1AM or later.

The fantastically great part to this repeat is that I have slept well most of those nights.

• Good bowel movement,
• Try to work on my blog for a couple of hours.
• Go to lunch.
• This is my Groundhog Day routine.  Almost every day,  And I'm paying for it with money.  This will continue for five more days because we've already toured Saguenay and Quebec.

Truthfully, though, I feel blessed.  My health is fine, if not great,  I'm looking forward to the few days in Montreal, flight to Vancouver for a couple of days, then on to the Silver Whisper to take us back to Hawaii.  Probably Groundhog Day again for ten days.

Well, back to our cruise.  The Azamara Journey stopped through the town of St. John's in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, then the Territorial Collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, belonging to France.  Kind of complicated, so I'll start with St. John's:

• First, I've been spelling it wrong until now.  The name of the capital and largest city in this Canadian province is St. John's.

It is the easternmost city in North America, if you ignore Greenland, which, actually, is said to be part of North America.

• Name comes from the belief that John Cabot sailed into the harbor of the Nativity of John the Baptist in 1497.
• Was the Portuguese camp of Sao Joao in 1519.
• In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed area as a England's first overseas colony.  However, he died at sea, ending plans for settlement.

But Bernard Drake landed here in 1585, re-establishing England's claim, eliminating Spanish and Portuguese presence.

• Sometime after 1630, the town of St. John's was established as a permanent English community.
• Fended off Dutch attacks.
• Captured by the French in 1708.
• Retaken by the British in 1762, becoming an outpost and colony from 1788.
• Played roles in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812.

Marconi received his first transatlantic wireless signal in St. John's in 1901, three faint dots, for letter S, from Cornwall, England.

• Now has a  population of 110,525, but the whole metropolitan is up to 243,478.
• 86.5% White and only 3.3% indigenous.
• Christianity 70.6% and 24.3% no religion,
• The entire Atlantic fishing industry collapsed from over fishing, so the economy is now tied to oil and gas.
• The cruise industry is a good contributor to the local economy.

St. John's is in the Canadian province (these are like states in the U.S.) of Newfoundland and Labrador.

• They are, or it is, the easternmost province of Canada.
• Comprised of the island of Newfoundland and adjacent region of Labrador.  Total area, 156,453 square miles, which is slightly larger than Montana.

• 
  Population of 547,910, which is about ten times more than Greenland
• Human habitation can be traced back about 9000 years.
• Leif Erikson (son of Erik the Red) came around the year 1001.

• 
  In 1496, John Cabot obtained a charter from English King Henry VII to find new lands, and one of his stops could have been one of the "new-found-land" island.
• However, the Portuguese  soon thereafter mapped the region and claimed it for the Portuguese Crown.
• In 1583, Newfoundland became England's first possession in North America.
• By 1600, 300 fishing boats worked the Grand Banks, mostly fishing for cod.

In 1655, France began to colonize Newfoundland.

• By the 1670s, thee were 1,700 permanent residents and 4,500 in the summer months.
• Salted cod from Newfoundland fed the slaves of the West Indies.
• Through losing wars, France ceded Newfoundland to England, resulting in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713.

• 
  From 1763 to 1767, Captain James Cook made a detail survey of the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador.  He in 1768 began circumnavigating the world, including Hawaii.
• the 1800's were rife with religious conflicts and economic problems.
• In 1907, Newfoundland acquired dominion, or self-government, status.

World War I in 1914 saw service against Germany, including the disastrous Gallipoli campaign of 1916.

• Following the stock market crash in 1929, the Dominion defaulted, and Newfoundland returned to colonial rule.
• World War II came, and U.S. built military facilities on the island.
• After the war, discussion began to explore joining Canada.  A referendum led to joining Canada in 1949, although the vote was contested.

• 
  Hydroelectricity provides 91% of the electricity in the province.  However, the mix of global warming and energy crises has stalled the installation of more hydroelectric facilities.
• Oil production is the major economic driver, while mining is growing.  Fishing remains.

On to Saint Pierre and Miquelon.

• Surrounded by Canada is this French collective, all of eight islands and 93 square miles, slightly more than twice the size of the tiny island of Kahoolawe in Hawaii.

• 
  The Euro is their currency.
• Saint Pierre is French for Saint Peter, patron saint of fisherman.
• Micquelon, the name, has something to do with a French Basque sailor.

• 
  In 1536, French explorer Jacques Cartier claimed these islands as a possession of France.
• Permanently settled at the end of the 17th century.  Up to 22 people in 1691.
• After a war, became a British colony in 1794....but another treaty brought the islands back to French control in 1796....until another war gave them back to the British...but they were returned to France in 1814....leading to a 100-day occupation by the British in 1815....and returned to France in 1816.  Took 35 years for the economy to recover.  Reads like a black comedy act.

• 
  In 1903, toyed with idea to join the USA.  Remember, this is the only bit of land owned by France in North America.
• 400 served for the French in WW I, with 100 deaths.
• Smuggling of alcohol became prominent in 1920, but the end of prohibition in 1922 plunged the islands into economic depression.  
• Became a French overseas territory in 1946.
• Converted to the status of territorial collectivity in 1985, thus withdrawing from the European Communities.

• 
  Fishing is important, but declining.  Unemployment ranges from 3% to 13%.  Heavily subsidized by France.  Test drilling for oil.
• Population was 6352 in 1897.  Today?  5819.
• Most prominent person might Julien Kang, born of a Korean father and French mother, who became a Canadian citizen, and now an actor in South Korea.
  
• By the way, another ocean storm is approaching Hawaii, along a similar path as Hurricane Lala, but Tropical Storm Moke will not attain hurricane strength and pass west on an track further south than Lala and "only" bring a lot of rain.  Lala dumped 1.3 trillion gallons of rain on Hawaii, an average of 11.4 inches.  Here, in late summer, and no talk of any drought problem.  And, by the way, Lala is still a hurricane, heading north far west of Hawaii.

The Azamara Journey is at-sea today.  The WiFi is awful, so no graphics today from the ship.  We arrive tomorrow into Saguenay, Canada.  We were on a Viking ship from Manhattan to Toronto earlier this year, and toured this region.  Large province, about the size of South Korea.  Read the details here.

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