From 1953 to 1960, which was the year when I returned home to Nova Scotia for good, I met many interesting people in both Boston and during my visits home. The following are a few.

First, a little background. Until 1995 there were no superhighways between Nova Scotia and Portland Maine, just Routes 1 and 2, which were routed through every big and little hamlet from Halifax to Portland. The turnpike, route 95, was extended from Portland to Augusta in 1955. Thus, to travel from Indian Brook to Cherryfield or Bangor took approximately 20 to 22 hours, to Boston add another 10 hours. With the superhighways of today the trip to Boston is around 14 hours.

I still laugh about some of the eccentric folks I met in Boston. When I was working at one of the many factories that I had worked in I met and elderly gentleman who had been employed there for most of his life and was nearing retirement. He was a loner and rarely talked to anyone, and other employees mostly left him alone.

One day, when we were working together, I asked him what his retirement plans were, his response was an eyeopener that only a true naive big city born and raised person could come up with. “I’m going to buy some land in New Hampshire and start a chicken farm, and I’m only going to raise roosters because they lay the biggest eggs.” Suppressing my mirth, I gently explained to him that roosters were male and didn’t lay eggs. From the skeptical look he gave me, I didn’t think he f ...

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