Tragic's Wake

Having survived cruise seasons in SJ, I’ve decided that I’ll never book a cruise in this lifetime. I never want to be associated with that level of ignorance. I hate the way they tromp off the ship and seem to expect us to juggle or jump through fiery hoops or some crap. We’re not some quaint tourist village laid out to entertain the masses, we’re a full and working community. I wish they’d stop treating us like actors and clowns. When dealing with local merchants: manners & decency would be nice and I really wish they’d stop shoving our children and elderly so they can get a photo-op. The visitors seem to believe that we are here for the sole purpose of making their vacation unforgettable but we’re doing them a favour by letting them stop here really. We accept their abuse and cheerfully wait for the next ship to port because our council dictates that we must and because apparently it’s worth the table scraps they throw us before they move on to terrorize the next port of call.

It’s also truly sad to watch local merchants pander to them and play silly “dumb Canadian” stereotypes for their amusement. No matter that they may have arrived aboard a “Carnival” we aren’t one. It’s gross to see my peers and fellow citizens treated like a cute little curiosity show. I suppose its great for local economy and the trendy shopkeepers that the locals either don’t shop at or can’t afford but it makes it extremely tense for normal community relations after the tourists have gone home.

I seem bitter, don’t I? That’s probably because I am. I’ve been physically knocked out of line at the pharmacy because some tourist needed to get his visine right that second, he couldn’t wait his turn like he would back home, he had to shove through before me because it was his vacation after all, apparently our subservience and that of all ports on the itinerary require the locals to acquiesce, its inclusive to his boarding fees..

My children have been shoved out of my grasp by impatient tourists that just had to get in front of me to see the table in the market that carries fresh fruit because you can only get that stuff in Canada, eh? Several employees of uptown shops (friends as well as family) have been treated as less than human because we don’t make change in US dollars and we use the official exchange rates as they fluctuate. They try to bargain in grand scale chain stores, that’s not an option, would you go to a department store at home and expect to be able to barter? We’re not the Hudson’s Bay Trading Post, we have set prices and rules of business that we must work and live by.

I’m just tired to the disrespect that seems inherent in this particular flavour of travellers. If you’re one of them? Stop it. You’re a shithead. We hate you when you act like that. Show us some respect and we’ll gladly reciprocate. Keep acting like this and you can expect to eventually be treated in the same manner. If you can’t act like a reasonable adult: stay the hell in your cabin on your fancy boat and don’t come out unless you’re in a better mood. That is final.

I got to thinking about all of this again because…

There’s a local farmer’s market coming up. I had to double-check that there was no cruises in that day because they ruin most everything for the locals. To be completely honest, I figured the only way our city would do something nice like that was pandering to tourists. For once though, its actually for us.

Seriously, If you could see the state of our roads, if you knew the poor quality of our water…  The city does virtually nothing unless it makes us more viable for the cruise lines and recently our council got this bright new idea to build ghetto housing in our poorest neighbourhoods, it keeps us boxed away from the almighty public “main street” view. Welcome to the 60s SJ , really. It was just delightful to see that they’ve started the horse trolley tours down into the ‘hood though, mmmm… poverty tourism, yay.

…annnd:

The only parts of our city worth looking at or visiting are the stops on the tourist’s trodden path, the rest is left to urban decay or just placated with a few flower beds and some paint on the hydrants.  It took a crew of nine men to pluck the dead heads off of the Main Street marigolds a few weeks ago, and a truck. Only two men were working, the others were standing aroung chatting and waving at passing cars. Madness. We have a good sized city proper, it’s a shame that three quarters of it is slum and only the fancy streets get plowed or filled..

We had the chance of a lifetime a while back, Irving was going to put their world HQ down on the dock where the old sugar refinery used to sit. They would have cleaned up the area, increased security and paid for the repairs needed at Rainbow Park. What happened? Some thugs said we needed that dock for some BS reason that never took place after all, now we’re stuck with a derelict dock, no new jobs, a half finished park and drug crime on the rise in the entire area. Oh but the seaside condo project right beside the ultra expensive cruise terminal, it went through no problem, surprised at all? Not I…

Sometimes I want to leave but I know that I never will. Come hell or high water, Saint John really is my home and I wouldn’t feel right anywhere else in the world. It’s tempting though, just to cut my losses and go to a real city where the municipality actually gives a damn about the citizens and the mayor wants to actually fix things instead of hanging $250k self portraits in the form of avante garde art and ignoring the very fabric that keeps the place intact in the first place.

~and in closing:

I posted a similar opinion on an old blog a few years back and some tool scolded me for hating on the old folks who worked their entire lives to deserve the right to take these ridiculously frivolous cruises and how they deserve my respect, etc. yada-yada.. I’d just like to say that I have not yet seen a single senior citizen from any of those cruises. The seniors around here usually come in on buses and because they’ve spent their whole lives working for this vacation, they won’t ruin it by being disrespectful assholes to their gracious hosts. Those that do? Fuck you, old doesn’t mean deity. Respect or GTFO, period.

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