John Demont > Quotes

“I used to literally dream of Nova Scotia, its mouldering sea-stink and incessant damp, its buildings hunched like a linebacker's shoulders against the elements, its people with their mishmash of enterprise, humanity, and grit.”
― John Demont, The Long Way Home: A Personal History of Nova Scotia

“We were still fighting to hold on to what we had, whether language (Gaelic) or culture (Acadian), the transfer payments from Ottawa which accounted for a disproportionate percentage of provincial revenues, or the sweet rural life, which more Nova Scotians enjoyed than anywhere else in Canada.”
― John Demont, The Long Way Home: A Personal History of Nova Scotia

“Everything in Nova Scotia is touched by the sea, which finds its way into our food and drink, the way our skin feels, how we talk and smell, the roll of our gait and even how we look at the world.”
― John Demont, The Long Way Home: A Personal History of Nova Scotia

“No one seemed to be around - which does not necessarily mean it was late, since it has long been my experience that no matter where you roam in the province of Nova Scotia it is usually mostly empty.”
― John Demont, The Long Way Home: A Personal History of Nova Scotia

“The air was soft as I walked along Water Street past a lobster pound, a herring processor and a former cotton mill. Here was a terminal where the on-again, off-again ferry that ran between Yarmouth and Maine docked. There was a memorial to the 2,500 residents of Yarmouth known to have died at sea. Things grew quieter the farther along Water Street I went.”
― John Demont, The Long Way Home: A Personal History of Nova Scotia