Acquaintances of ours lately disappeared off the local map to far away Newfoundland where they’re on the North Atlantic Ocean across the Labrador Sea from Greenland and Iceland on the same latitude as England 52.3555° N, 1.1743° W. I cannot help but be taken by the nautical theme and the mettlesome spirit of the move. Both lifelong ambitions of mine!

What makes the passage particularly fearless is that for someone my age the first defining question is, “Where’s the nearest hospital?” Otherwise in this era of raging technological advances the equally compelling matters of mail, telephone and banking are clearly no problem. I assume WiFI is pervasive throughout the province. As for Fedex and UPS and how they handle the delivery of on-line shopping goods from the mainland I am only guessing. And if everything else were just a little slower or less important, that’s Okay. Neither do I see any meaningful threat of being stuck on the “island”, a limitation frankly which with age only diminishes.

It doesn’t surprise me in the least that because of the worldwide demographic change as the baby-boomers age, there is a relocation of people from throughout the world to Canada’s Atlantic Coast. Nova Scotia I know began the trend decades ago when I overheard from residents of stylish Chester that properties there were being snapped up by Americans and Germans.

Baby boomers (often shortened to boomers) are the demographic cohort following the Silent Generation and preceding Generation X. The generation is generally defined as people born from 1946 to 1964, during the post–World War II baby boom. The term is also used outside the United States but the dates, the demographic context and the cultural identifiers may vary. The baby boom has been described variously as a “shockwave” and as “the pig in the python”. Baby boomers are often parents of late Gen Xers and Millennials.

And who cannot confess the willingness to escape the urban noise which most of us at one time endured to fulfill our professional calling!  For me as a rural legal practitioner that frequently meant the indignity of having to travel beyond the bounds of my country seat to the preferred venues of the larger congresses. It is almost with instinctive guilt that even in retirement I feel the surplusage of not having to withstand the bureaucracy.

In jurisprudence, surplusage is a useless statement completely irrelevant to the cause. Surplusages may be included in any declaration, plea, or claim. According to LectLaw
if a man in his declaration, plea, etc., make mention of a thing which need, not be stated, but the matter set forth is grammatically right, and perfectly sensible, no advantage can be taken on demurrer. When, by an unnecessary allegation the plaintiff shows he has no cause of action, the defendant may demur. When the surplusage is not grammatically set right, or it is unintelligible and, no sense at all can be given it, or it be contradictory or repugnant to what is before alleged, the adversary may take advantage of it on special demurrer.

Perpetual devotion to change is an impossible agenda. Eventually most of us opt for a less Nomadic culture. But there are times when we all imagine the allure of new horizons. Mine invariably includes the ocean. I even have a preference for the Atlantic Ocean. No doubt it is because my familiarity with the Pacific Ocean is aligned only with the warm seas off the coast of Mexico not the crashing emerald froth of the North Atlantic with which I am accustomed from my law school days in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

It is my everlasting regret that years and years ago I missed a marine opportunity in Nova Scotia. The conflict arose because I was an usher at the wedding of a friend from New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. The nuptials were to be held at the same time as the proposed sailing adventure. In addition the wedding was preceded by a week-long celebration at Melmerby Beach where the family of the bride and groom had ocean-front properties.

As for the planned sailing adventure on the Atlantic Ocean there was importantly to be a dinner on the beach afterwards.  Everything about the dining engagement was geared to the beach. Reportedly a hole was dug in the sand, then driftwood used to set a roaring hot fire. Then a layer of seaweed was placed over the glowing red embers, followed by a layer of lobster. Then another layer of seaweed and more lobster. And so on. For hors-d’œuvre there were mussels cooked the same way, with melted butter on the side. I cannot now recall any further detail but the imagination swiftly affords possibilities including steamed vegetables. And beer.  I know we certainly enjoyed ample quantities on Melmerby Beach. The bachelor party was energized!

Quite apart from these distant reminiscences and quite apart from the nautical reverie, the plain truth is that we both yearn for the oceanic parallel – within sight and within reach.