Brian Lee
I’m staring at my computer screen trying not to write about the political hassles swirling around our community lately. I know I’m not the only one exhausted by the dock plan — and now the OCP. There’s a level of frustration with our local, provincial and First Nations governments that I’ve never seen here before and I can’t help but wonder what toll it’s taking on the health of others, especially our seniors.
It’s not always easy to let the topics of the day go, so, looking for inspiration, I get up for another coffee. Today just happens to be one of the few this September without rain.
As I walk down the hall of the Spiel office, the other rooms are dark. Staff are late again. I have the laziest employees —they literally do nothing. It’s just as well.
Perched on the northwest bank of Francis Peninsula, the office is still cloaked in morning shade. On the other side of Pender Harbour, Irvines Landing beams like an orange and green painting. The harbour is flat calm except for the odd boat mumbling out to drag a lure. Looking up towards Jervis Inlet, Mount Churchill soaks up the last of the season’s warmth. It occurs to me that it might be the last time I see the peak naked of snow until next June or July.
If I were to drive over to Garden Bay, the day’s early mist would cling to the lake’s surface while the sun’s filtered rays make shadow art through it. It’s one of those days when, if you stop long enough to notice, it quickly makes the issues swirling around seem less important.
This past summer, like the last few before it, have been arguably the busiest on record. Now, suddenly, the poachers and the partiers are mostly gone and the magic has started to seep back. And politics aside, things are looking up around here. The intensity of the summer traffic has overshadowed the possibility that winters are seeing an uptick too.
It wasn’t that long ago that I wrote in this space that our communities’ winter residents have become a “caretaker society” — those who remain year-round to hold the place together until our seasonal friends and neighbours return. But I hear there’s a few more kids in the schools again this year.
And why not? Any honest south Coaster will admit that Pender Harbour and Egmont are blessed with 87 per cent of the Sunshine Coast’s spectacular scenery. Since summer has come to mean forest fire smoke, we have had much less than just about anywhere else. And here people can water their garden year-round. For folks south of Middlepoint, summer’s severe Stage 4 water restrictions meant they could only use a water hose if their home was on fire. Meanwhile, we ended the dry season on Stage 1. It means we should never have to worry about the same water supply issues facing the south Coast.
Yes, our community seems to be victimized right now, but if you could see what I’m seeing, you would also be assured that everything is going to be fine.