Ahoy Ghosters,
GHOST MESSAGES HAS OFFICIALLY LAUNCHED!
Newfoundland was amazing!
If ever you get the chance to put in at a port in Newfoundland, do it! Never have I met such amazing and friendly people. There are no strangers in Newfoundland, only friends you haven't met yet.
The scenery was spectacular and the food worth investigating - even the cod tongues with a side order of touton, heavy on the molasses!
Plus - I saw ICEBERGS! Amazing, tremendous, astounding and absolutely beautiful.
While there, Hurricane Maria blew threw and I decided to go to Cape Spear to see the waves crashing ashore. Well, who can resist doing something a little wild and crazy, so... I flew a kite!
Yup, flew a kite in a hurricane and I'll tell you, I almost ended up in Ireland! Man, it was fun!
Enough about games, back to the real reason I was in the great province of Newfoundland.
Ghost Messages was launched and the fun commenced.
Students from all over the Avalon Peninsula and Central Newfoundland came out for the presentations and many took home prizes, book marks and autographed copies of Ghost Messages for their very own.
The highlight of my time was when I went to the Heart's Content Cable Station, which was like going to Mecca for me, and had a day of history, enthusiastic students and presentations at the most incredible historical site in Canada.
It was as though I had stepped off the Great Eastern with Ailish and walked into a working Cable Station in 1866. All the equipment is there, including a Galvanometer which let everyone know when the signal stopped. The gleaming machines, polished brass railings, and knowledgeable staff made visitors feel as though they had stepped back in time. The cables were there, for all to see, along with the teletype machines, the relays, the repeaters, the everything!
There are also active telegraphers at the site and you can 'talk' to people from all around the world who are still transmitting in Morse Code. I was able to send a message to a fellow in Russia! It was redonculous.
HOWEVER - here's a mission for all my faithful crew.
The Heart's Content Cable Station is a treasure, not for only Canadians, but for the entire world. We need to send emails, letters, notes and cards to our MLAs, MP, and The Prime Minister, to have this site designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site so that it may be preserved for all time. This is the only one left and it is truly remarkable, but without our support to have it redesignated from a provincial site to a UNESCO one, there is the very real possibility that we will lose it.
Lets use all the social media we can to get the ball rolling. The Heart's Content Cable Station is a world class site and should get the recognition and protection it deserves.
I'm off to Lethbridge to work with young writers there, but will be back soon.
Smooth sailing,
Jacqueline
