Two Sore Backs

We got our bearings in Trinity by hiking the Gun Hill trail to a nice lookout.

After a quick lunch we walked through the town and checked out the church.

After the cathedral we wandered along the waterfront and came across this operation.

This is Heritage Windows & Doors, run by a guy named Eric. We actually heard about him when we were at Port Union where they are rehabilitating many of the old buildings.

Not only is he a carpenter, but he mills the wood from logs, mostly true fir, that he harvests from his tree lot.

It was Saturday of the long weekend, and he was busy milling lumber. This is what he loves, what he does for fun.

He harvests the logs in the winter when the snow cover allows him to sled the logs out.

He started woodworking when he was 12, working with his father. Later he went to university and got a BA in history from Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John’s. As he tells it, he had completed his degree and was on his way home when he asked himself what he would do with it. He couldn’t come up with an answer, so by the time he got home he had bought a new chainsaw.

We talked about a bunch of things including, of course, real estate prices. A house across the street from his shop sold recently for around $340,000 to a Toronto guy who has moved back to Canada from Hong Kong. It wasn’t long ago when “$340,000 could have bought the whole town. Everything.“ He pointed out a nearby house, and not a terrible one either, that sold for $2,000 in the 80’s.

I asked him what his charge out rate was. I won’t say what he charges locals, but I did say that it would be difficult to hire someone in Vancouver to clean your house for it. He charges “tourists“ a bit more.

And some customers he charges nothing at all. We were interrupted by a group that thanked him profusely for repairing the front steps of the nearby Catholic Church. “They’ve got no money. ” The church had been closed for months because of the unsafe steps.

We talked about weather too. He insists that the stories about Newfoundland weather aren’t true – the ocean provides a lot of warmth.

In addition to all of this, he builds houses and is working on a new one. He gave us a rough idea of where it was, told us it was green, and that you wouldn’t know it’s new because it’s made to look old. We think this is the one – I’m trying to confirm and maybe ask him to send interior photos.

We loved Trinity enough that we joked about selling it all and moving here. I hope Eric sends us those pictures.