Life in a Northern Town

I'm not sure what I liked so much about living in Northern Quebec. Probably freedom - we played outside all summer over 5 square kilometres of bush, populated by moose, rodents of a small furry nature and blackflies. There was Glass Hill, Lightning Rock, and a ton of fool's gold to be had. When we got bored with that, we went over to the White Slimes and the Red Slimes before you got to the lake. We were called home in September to get stuffed into school uniforms. It was about a mile to school, and we came home for lunch. Mom always had soup and sandwiches.

Then we moved to Ontario because the grownups in Quebec were arguing. I went back to Noranda in 1990 and they'd put a fence up around the fool's gold because the grownups found copper. The Slimes were off limits because they were tailings pits and probably an eco-hazard or something.

My son was 11 before he was allowed to walk a kilometre by himself, and children arene't allowed to eat peanut butter in public places.

People in Toronto think that Barrie and the Muskokas are "Up North".

I still love soup and sandwiches for lunch.