It’s a Game You Can’t Win

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A shortish post today. Fish and I visited some of the usual locations – Herring Cove is now free of the piles of snow we walked through last time, there are unfamiliar boats in the Harbour which means lobsters except for this one from Grand Manan picking up poles for a weir. With apologies to Apocalypse Now and the usual misquote from that movie, I’ll say there is nothing like the smell of rotten bait in the morning. I don’t think I can say it smells of victory.

The little ducks are out and still really good at avoiding me. 🙂

Let’s talk briefly about the stupid game of Silly Bugger that people will play. It’s not going to end well ever and yet the little darlings just keep trying.

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On the fishing front there will always be somebody with one shut-off license who puts out 5 dingys and claims dominion over a good chunk of the Island’s coves. There will also be a lobster fisherman who sets his traps up inshore but also drops 150 lines offshore (without traps) to save the area should he decide to go there. I’ve spoken enough about the nature of the locals for you to begin guessing how long it takes for ropes to suddenly fail or other weird events to take place. Greed is capable of making people forget about those around them.

One area of life which is universally subject to the Silly Bugger game is foreign exchange. On this Island we usually have both Canadian and US cash in our wallets and it’s normal to deal with stores on both sides of the Border. It’s so normal that it’s a shock when a business decides to act like you’re really stupid.

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I think I told you about visiting a McDonalds in Machias a couple of years ago which refused Canadian cash. They insisted that their bank wouldn’t accept it. Honey, unless it’s Uncle Bud’s Feedlot and Banking Outlet, I’m sure you’re making that up.

The other day a friend had to go to the mainland and decided to use the one gas station on Deer Island to fill his truck. He proffered American cash and was told they would take it “at par”. The current exchange rate is 1.26 Cdn to an American dollar. Most stores add a bit so they can make some extra and when I buy gas in Lubec its usually around 1.3.

On an $80 fill-up these guys were looking to make a lot of extra money. It didn’t go well for them. It won’t go well for the fishermen either. They all need to find some new games to play.

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