Day 7
I'm week.
As an Ontario resident, I’m pretty sure I know everything there is to know about Halifax.
It’s where people who haven’t interned at Deloitte go when they’re ready to buy a house.
It’s also where Sloan is from, and Thrush Hermit. And in an almost sort of way (almost being Dartmouth), Canada’s most popular trio (for now): Ricky, Julian, and Bubbles (the author hopes this one day changes to Owen, Elliott, and Liam of Dumb Crush).
I hadn’t driven yet on this tour. I had worked very hard in the months leading up to this moment to ensure that it was something I was legally capable of. The hardships I endured trying to secure my G2 demonstrate how little adversity I have dealt with in my life, and therefore how terrible I am at handling adversity. Just ask Laura. (Author’s note: Laura is my girlfriend.)
But let’s make one thing clear, just because I wasn’t legally allowed to drive until weeks ago, doesn’t mean I’m not an incredible driver.
And I am an incredible driver.
I rip.
Oh yeah, buddy, I rip.
This leg of the journey was mine, and I was gonna put a big fat stamp on it. Charlottetown to Halifax couldn’t be done in under four and a half hours, so they say. Well fuck that.
Anybody hungry? Too bad.
Need to pee? You get one, and it’s on the side of the road. We can’t break our momentum.
I’m locked in.
I crave speed.
I am wearing my cool sunglasses.
We make it to Halifax in 4 hours and 28 minutes. I have achieved greatness. A beam of light breaks through the cloudy Halifax sky. My body begins to ascend. I am glowing blue, gold, and silver. My head punctures a hole through the roof of our Dodge Grand Caravan, and I am pulled up and out and up, and a choir begins to sing great and old songs that have been forgotten by history.
Laura used to live in Halifax, and so she gave me some pointers on what I should check out in my brief time in the city. As usual, she gave me incredible advice on where to eat, but a standout suggestion I knew I had to follow through on was her favorite candy store: Freak Lunchbox. We spend thirty minutes buying candies of undiscovered grandeur, making sure we have enough for the rest of the trip. Then we go to the boardwalk.
I have a spiritual experience down by the water. It’s amazing to return to the healing powers of the ocean. Seb has to pee, but the waves pull me closer and closer. I stand at the end of the cable wharf - the wharf where many cables began their journey to be laid across the vastness of the Atlantic. The sea here isn’t blue today, it’s gray, almost black. It’s an entity. It is confident in itself and understands its limitations precisely. It knows what it wants and understands how to maneuver under stress.
There is an island in the middle of the harbour with a lighthouse, there are no trees on it. I wonder if it ever had trees and they were cut down, or if it’s just kind of been like that forever. I wonder what it would be like to live on that island. Seb and I joke about getting Uber Eats to the island. Hilarious.
After one of the most rejuvenating hours of my life down by the harbour, it’s time for us to climb the city's mountainous terrain up to Gus’s pub. We came here for a reason, after all.
There hasn’t been a bad show on this tour so far and holy shit Halifax did not change that. The vibes were immaculate, the bands even better, and the people of this great city - the City of Trees, as they call it - were off the chain. We have been so lucky to meet so many incredible people in the week since we’ve left. Canada is a great country, if only for its beautiful, warm, and hilarious people. Fuck I love this shit.
Liam’s brother Adrian came to the show and brought a few friends along with him. When the music stops, he and his friend Nick spearhead a great pilgrimage to The Local - a bar about ten minutes away. Nick asks us if we know who The Effens are, and we reply, “yeah”. I send Austin (singer of the Effens) this picture about an hour later, right before the lights go up, and then we find one last place for a nightcap.
What a place. I feel like if we did this all again, I’d love to spend a few days in every town. It’s a mini heartbreak every single time we have to move to the next location, and then suddenly it’s falling in love all over again.
Tour’s great. Love this shit. Talk to you tomorrow.