Newfoundlanders must find the rest of us a glum bunch. Striking up a conversation with a Newfoundlander is the most natural thing in the world. They're fun to talk to, and it's not just the vocabulary, it's the way they use it. They always seem to be having a pretty good day. Even when they are relating something disagreeable, they are not only enjoying telling you about it, you can tell they kind of enjoyed the original experience.

The last three items on the Newfoundland regional news, July 6, 5 pm:
-- A moose was loose in St John's harbour, found swimming, tranquilized, and released unharmed .
-- A woman in Buddy Cove [not the cove's real name] returned home last evening to find a 27-year-old man in her house. The man, who was unknown to her, was removed with the help of a male relative.
-- A whale became entangled in fishing nets some time late last week. Efforts to free it have so far been unsuccessful.

Please, may we have the Newfoundland news once a day instead of the GTA news? The GTA news is boring.

At a restaurant:  "I likes it when people uses Visa."

Our B&B hostess was calling ahead to help us find a place to stay. (We didn't have a phone, or any accommodation reserved, but people were always doing this for us). She had given us bakeapple jam and partridgeberry jam for breakfast. She got on to a place that was said to provide 48 kinds of jam.  "You must be givin' 'em some toast to try all those jams."

At the Grenfell Museum, 4:55 pm .
Me:  "About to close?"
The young lady looks quizzical.
"Are you about to close?"
-- "Oh yes, in five minutes. I tot you was askin' me about da clo'es".

The St John's CBC radio morning show had a segment about a kind of Bick's mustard pickle that had been discontinued, then brought back with a slightly different recipe. Several consumers were interviewed. It was interesting and somewhat amusing. In the evening it was aired in an edited version on the national current affairs program As It Happens. Now it was hilarious. We were laughing out loud at comments we had already heard. Was the editing responsible for the comic enhancement, or was it the wider context?