He wasn’t that tall, but appeared to be strong, sturdy, standing beside me in casual vacation-like attire. We exchanged grins and those basic words of greeting when one meets a stranger who looks like someone worth engaging in conversation.
I don’t remember his name, but my first impression was borne out. He was an interesting guy.
Let’s call him Jack for the sake of this story.
Why he was standing at a newspaper’s reception counter in an east-central Saskatchewan town was intriguing. He didn’t necessarily look out of place, but rather, just interesting to the point I couldn’t resist the opportunity to engage him in a chat.
Jack was picking up the local newspaper, having spotted the business sign on a secondary street in Wynyard. His wife and teen-aged son were somewhere else downtown.
Jack stated they were on vacation, he and his wife were enjoying the Saskatchewan scene for a second time and this time with their son.
He told me he was a fire and rescue service captain in the bustling city of Hong Kong. He was the leader in one of about a dozen or more stations in that city.
Not wishing to engage in a formal interview, Jack was still willing to chat a bit about this chaotic job.
He told me how they dispatched personnel and equipment to fire and/or rescue operations. First, there would be a couple of guys with minimal (but vital) materials heading to the scene on a motorcycle since that was the best way to arrive at a situation in the most efficient manner due to the heavy traffic and the inability to move over to allow fire trucks to travel quickly.
The two forerunners would assess the situation and quickly report back to the station. If the event was significant, then small units, probably ¾ ton trucks with fire fighting and rescue equipment would be deployed followed by the larger, traditional units.
“We learn a lot about rescue operations,” he explained. “So often a fire will bring all kinds of challenges.” He said that building codes and permits didn’t mean much. They could arrive at a 10-story building with a clothing manufacturer on the first floor, a paint factory on the third and a fireworks assembly on the sixth.
So in their world, the words cope, training and reaction meant a lot.
“We do a lot of rescues on the hillsides, carrying older people down, out of danger or out in the harbour, it’s a whole different story,” he added.
There could be a fire, drowning, sinking boat … all kinds of things to keep the day interesting and emotional.
There were usually six to 12 call-outs per day at each station. It could turn hectic.
“So why are you here, in the middle of Saskatchewan for crumb’s sake?” I asked.
“The quiet,” he said with an even bigger smile.
“I love the quiet. I am near retirement. We get one good paid vacation per year for a family and that offer expires when your kids turn 18,” he told me. “My son is 16, I wanted him to experience this.”
He and his wife had found Saskatchewan to be filled with and willing to share these special moments.
With all the cacophony surrounding the daily life and work in Hong Kong, the constant 24-hour traffic, continual construction and working noises, sirens, yelling and general street business bustle, you try to learn to ignore, he said, but you never get there completely, at least he hadn’t.
Now they were on their way to a place around Tisdale, where they would get to stay at a place, something like a ranch. They had been there on the first trip.
“It’s quiet. We can hear bees humming and the birds, and sometimes these animals … coyotes,” he said. They would climb on a horse once or twice and go for a ride and listen to the wind through the poplar leaves, the quiet movements of cattle grazing, and that’s it. Nothing more was required to stimulate the brain and body, just joyous moments of quiet or at least sounds of serenity, not chaos. Quiet meals. No bedtime bedlam.
Even in our town of just under 2,000 in population, he was enjoying the relatively peaceful pace and the people who passed by and said “Hi” even though they didn’t have a clue who he was and it didn’t matter.
I told him that was a Saskatchewan thing, hopefully adopted by other centres.
It was time for him to go look for his wife and son. He wasn’t worried about not being able to find them.
So that was it. They were on vacation, seeking quiet.
Once he left our office, I couldn’t help but think, I wonder if Saskatchewan Tourism ever thought of that as a selling point? It seems we can have a lot of quiet if we want it. I’m not sure it should have a price tag, but apparently, it does have advantages for some visitors.
Writer’s note: Since this event occurred several years ago, quotations are paraphrased since no notes were taken, but were used to portray the true essence of the conversation.
