2009-05-20 - 12:05 p.m.
Saturday
I am exhausted. No other word for it, I’m afraid. Today I had 91 visitors come by the church. That doesn’t include the park employees who stopped by to say hi. Friday there were only 29, and Thursday there were only 24. It’s the long weekend, of course, which might account for it, but to my mind it is still pretty cold to be out on holiday! There were a few people from Germany, and a couple from France, as well as some Americans. The best part of all these people coming in today is that I pretty much have it worked out what I say when they come in.
Today was a much better day than Thursday. I went to work on Thursday quite cheerfully, having had two days off, and being actually quite anxious to get back at work. When I got into the church I noticed that they had finished installing the heat exchanger on the stove, so I went ahead and lit a fire. No one came to Morning Prayer, and later that morning I was trying to get the fire in the stove to quit smoking and start making some heat. It was freezing outside, so I was doing this with the church door shut. Now, the fire, as I said, was very smoky but I didn’t think much of it until an earsplitting din erupted from the back of the church. Yes, I had set of f the smoke alarm, which goes as an alarm to the security center of the park. Before I could do anything, two security guys rushed in. I explained that it was just a smoky fire and a closed door, and they mercifully shut off the alarm. They didn’t seem too upset, and I get the feeling that this happens occasionally. They did, however, tell me that my chimney was off kilter (from the snow this winter) and that I should let the fire go out so they could fix it. So once again I had no fire, and the electric heat seemed less and less adequate. It got so bad in the afternoon that I couldn’t feel my feet. When I noticed this, I abandoned the church for a while and went to visit Miss Wendell. Miss Wendell is another actor, one who runs a house in the park so the visitors can see what everyday housework would have been like. Happily she was not baking, but had a fire in her stove, so she had me put my boots in the oven for a while, which warmed my feet right up. It was a long, miserable day, with very few visitors.
Friday morning they fixed the chimney first thing, and so for the first time I had a good fire going all day. The church gets nice and warm once there is a decent fire built up! Monday is Victoria Day, and Queen Victoria herself is coming to town for tea. As the resident Anglican minister, I have been asked to say a prayer at the tea- something from the BCP, naturally!
Wednesday
I wrote the above entry Saturday evening, but haven't had a chance to post it until now. This going down to the general store to use the internet thing takes some getting used to. So, life since Saturday. Sunday was an even busier day than Saturday, with over a hundred visitors. Sunday being Sunday, I also had a lot more people at the services - there were 9 people at mid-day prayer! This is a big improvement over the usual attendance of me and God. I also have an extra service on Sunday evening, to give those people from around who work during the day to come. Only two people came, but it was a nice service. Since I had to stick around for church, I took the opportunity to go down to the Lung Duck Tong, which is the Chinese restaurant in Barkerville. It was very good, possibly the best Chinese food I`ve had, but correspondingly expensive.
On Monday the weather was horrible- cold and rainy. The park was less busy, but Queen Victoria came to town nevertheless. I went along to the tea in her honour, having been asked to offer a prayer. While I was there, I got to see and touch a real beaver fur hat! Neil Vant, who is an Anglican priest who used to be in charge of Barkerville (in the late 60s and early 70s) and who is also the Chair of the Board of the park, is also a Mason, and he borrowed the hat from the Barkerville Mason`s hall. It was a very nice hat, I`ve seen them, of course, behind glass at the Historic Site in Rocky, but never touched one. Other than the hat, the tea was nice. Queen Victoria was very impressive, and I prayed the Prayer for the Queen`s Majesty from the BCP (of course).
So, now I`ve finished my first week at Barkerville. So far, I like it. It`s no secret that I love working in the church, and the services, so being able to pray three times a day, and occasionally be joined by others is really great. The other great passion in my life is history, and the town is lousy with history. The story of Father Reynard is a good, if tragic, story, and I enjoy telling people the story, and making them a little more aware of what missionaries faced and what they gave up to come to remote areas like this. I`ve been reliably informed that the exhaustion will get worse, as a large factor is the altitude. Apparently after about four weeks, you really crash. So I have this to look forward to!
