I got up at 4:00 a.m. to do a day trip to Newark yesterday.  It was hot and humid in New Jersey and it rained during the day but not enough to really clear it up.  We could hardly see Manhattan through the haze.  I spent the late afternoon and evening waiting for my flight to take off so I could go home.  There were storms in the Midwest so lots of flights were delayed and everyone was sitting cheek to jowel in the old terminal, I think it’s A.  So we got to know each other pretty well.

I was sitting next to a chatty laughing woman from Nashville and an older couple came around asking about something and she said, “are you going to Nashville?” and they said, “no we’re going to Halifax to cool off.”  And they talked about how the heat and humidity in Florida was stifling and they were coming to Nova Scotia to cool down and take in the sights.

When they wandered away Nashville said, “is that common??”  And I told her it was.  I used to live a couple blocks from where the big honkin’ tug boats dock, the ones that push the container ships into the harbour to unload.  One summer weekend day I took my journal down to the waterfront. I was writing and an older couple was sharing my picnic table. 

She turns and says, “whatcha writing?”  And being a reserved Canadian I was a little taken aback by the question but being a polite Canadian I told her something vague and then we started chatting about other things.  And sure enough, they were in Halifax to escape the heat in Florida.

I think the tourism folks are really missing out on an opportunity here.  I can see some travel slogans like, “Chill out in Nova Scotia” or “Cool it in Nova Scotia”, or “Come to Halifax where it’s not too hot to fry an egg”.

All at once planes started landing, people were rushing off them and then there were competing announcements as the airline people tried to get bums in seats as fast as possible.  Nashville got up to leave and I told her to come visit us sometime to cool off.  She laughed and said she would.

I got on the little plane to come home and when I stepped down onto the tarmack the air smelled so good.  Like the scent of a million green living things compacted into one deep inhale.  It was after 11 so it had cooled down after a warm day.  The air felt so good after spending so much time in an airport.  It was good to be home and I was glad I had a sweater on.