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   Jenny told us when she interviewed Alan last year, she asked him a question and left him speechless. We were incredulous-Alan speechless? She asked him why there were no instrumentals on the TURN album. She said he hemmed and hawed for 10 minutes and then just said, �No, there aren�t any, are there?�

     We talked about what the plans were for the house, the next steps, economic issues, advertising, politics, Newfoundland in general. There�s land around that doesn�t seem to belong to anyone, you can just buy it from the government. Now THAT�S a concept I�m not used to! Real estate on the Burin Peninsula is cheap. Hmmmm.

    Watched the news for a while and we thought we saw Nick with the protestors at the Republican Convention in Philly, burning an effigy of Uncle Sam. Sure did look like him � right down to the bandana and sandals. They weren�t showing their faces on purpose, though, so we don�t know for sure. Gotta come to Newfoundland to see my son on National TV. Only I guess it�s more like International TV! As the night wore on, Hillary kept running out to the newly delivered hot tub on the porch to test the water and give progress reports.

August 3, 2000 Thursday

    Got up at 8 AM before the workers started on the house. Hillary was up early with her Dad. I don�t know how much sleep she got! We kept her up late last night. Jenny isn�t feeling well and needs to see a doctor today. We had lunch together with Tom, his helper, Hillary and Jenny and went our separate ways. Hope everything can be fixed with an antibiotic. Jenny�s too nice a person to feel lousy. We bid Lawn goodbye. Such a picturesque town! Well they should enjoy Jenny�s adventures and antics! An interesting view from her window and people seem interested in the going-on in the house with the World�s Best Ramp. We really enjoyed our visit, especially meeting Jenny�s relatives. I could listen to Tom and Hillary talk for hours. Tom does a great job on anything he touches. Jenny is lucky to have him in her employ. I hope she gets this off the ground. The time seems right. Phone service is unreliable there though. She said it�s hard to get through between 6 PM and Midnight since there are only 45 open telephone lines on the Peninsula. We had heard this from someone in St. John�s who had a relative there and had trouble getting them at night on the phone. I think this will have to be improved before a lot can happen on the Burin Peninsula

     Watched the landscape on the way back, bought a tape of Celtic music at a visitor�s center. We rushed back to meet up with Ken who informed us that tonight wasn�t good for dinner. Boy, is Vic disappointed. But at least they have talked to each other on the radio here. We decided to go to the Avalon Mall on the way back to the hotel. Bought the Barras latest CD, having forgotten that the b�ys sang on it. What a weird feeling to be expecting to hear the Barras sing and all of a sudden it's Alan, then him and S�an! I do like that song! And Rattlin� Roarin� Willie is one of my favorites.

August 4, 2000 Friday

Great day in St. John�s � nice and warm, light drizzle for a bit. Ate breakfast at the hotel and listened to an international conversation across the room. There were people speaking at least 4 different languages. Each one spoke in their native tongue and the others seemed to understand and answered in their own language. I know I heard German and what sounded like Swedish, and maybe Polish and/or Russian. Turns out they were with the Islandinger troupe. One of the guys was admiring our USS Niagara Pennsylvania license plate and one of the members who spoke English talked to Vic about it. Also met Mimi from Montreal and Gerry from New Brunswick who were vacationing. They had been in the hotel a couple more days than we had and Mimi showed us where the laundromat was. We talked about railroading, traveling, vacationing with teenagers, computers and city vs. country living.

After breakfast we went to O�Brien�s music store to get Festival tickets. $25 for a weekend pass � talk about cheap! Mr. O�Brien asked where we were from and we said Philly. He asked if we had relatives here (a recurring theme) and why we were visiting Newfoundland. We explained to him, telling him that GBS invited us at every concert and that they are wonderful ambassadors for Newfoundland. He told us that Alan had been in the day before and was planning to attend the Festival also. Then he laughed and said, �Look for him in the beer tent!�

The people waiting in line behind us heard we were from Philly and it turned out so were they! They had a similar tale. Saw GBS at the Philadelphia Folk Festival last year and �They blew all the other groups away!� so they planned this year�s vacation to Newfoundland to attend the Folk Festival and hear more great music. She asked what other groups she might like if she likes GBS. He suggested Shannygannock and Atlantic Union. He said Atlantic Union had just had a CD Release party the night before with Jim Fidler who produced the CD. Go Jim! He also informed us that it was probably Tickle Harbour�s last concert since one of its members was moving to Texas.

We then went to a store on Duckworth that sold tourist stuff and the girl put on GBS� debut CD as we walked in. She asked where we were from and was it our first trip to Newfoundland. We told her our virgin tour of the island was directly GBS related. She expressed resentment since they had not played there since New Year�s Day. We told her they are wonderful ambassadors for Newfoundland, encouraging all their concertgoers in the States to check out the �Tropical Island of Newfoundland� and that they speak with such fondness in conversations with fans. She was surprised they do that in the States. We told her we most likely wouldn�t know much about NFLD. or be here right now if it weren�t for them. We told her about the little travelogue Alan wrote in June. Hope she feels better about them.

Went to Fred�s Record store. I love how he puts little reviews on the CD stacks. Great reading. Bought some stuff there, too. While on Duckworth I saw a shirt in a shop window that looked so familiar. Then I realized that it was the same print that Bob was wearing when I finally met him and got a picture! I now have one, too.

I am finding it much easier to navigate in St. John�s than I did in Cape Breton. I was all turned around there and even after 3 days had not gotten my bearings. Not so here. I feel like I know the place already. I love the way the houses are painted here � such bright colors you have never seen in the States on houses! Purple, red, green, yellow, blue, every color in between - all with contrasting trim.