Quintessential

Quintessential

Adj - Of, relating to, or having the nature of a quintessence; being the most typical: "Liszt was the quintessential romantic" (Musical Heritage Review).

This quintessential PEI 'summer cottage' is a long way from my previous weeks accommodation. I'm now 5 hours north of Bangor, Maine, and we take the Confederation  bridge to 'the island'. The 13 kilometer bridge is the longest 'over ice' bridge in the world.   Last time I travelled this route it was on an ice-breaker 25 years ago. 

Prince Edward Island (or PEI) is the backdrop to Lucy Maud Montgomery's novel, Anne of Green Gables. PEI is a thriving summer vacation spot for three months, and a quiet, provincial potato farming and lobster fishing Canadian backwater the rest of the year. Come December, the island will go into hibernation, iced by a thick layer of white snow. This is how I remember the island, back in 1986 when I came here to live with Mum and Greg who were on a 'teacher exchange'.  Back then,  I was hardly 'Anne of Green Gables' with a bad 80s punk hairdo, Doc martins, and suitcases full of bad teenage attitude.  

The island is quiet, the  summer season well and truly over, even though it's still September. The campground near the 'summer cottage' closes tomorrow, and won't reopen until the end of May next year. Tourists come here to enjoy the red-sand beaches, the seafood, and I have to confess that the island is vey beautiful with rolling green pastures, and quaint seaside cottages. There's a touch of 'tack' and kitsch, with the odd (now deserted) amusement park,  lots of pictures of freckle-faced red- haired  girls called 'Anne' inviting you to eat frosty treats or stay at 'green gables cabins'. It's a bit blackpool, UK meets Tilba Tilba. 

I am assuming islanders know I am 'on island', just as they did 25 years ago when TV crews covered 'the Aussies' as they arrived at the airport. If they don't know I'm coming, they will hear about me shortly. After a wonderful  dinner at Richards' mums delightful Summerside house,  (coated chicken, veg and a big mash of PEI spuds with raspberry and cream cake to follow), we head off to the Summer 'cottage' in the big black Pick-up truck, Vina, Ethan, Richard and I - two dogs, two motorbikes, and another swag of hershey bars and 'pop' (soft drink).  It's foggy and humid-cool, and the quiet of the cottage it,s about as far away from Manhattan as I can imagine.