Pass The Salt, Please.....

I had to have a couple of medical tests done at the hospital in town today so my brother came over from his cottage and drove me in in his boat. He had some errands to do as well, so we ended up spending the entire afternoon in town - and wouldn't you know it? The day that had started out grey and dreary again suddenly changed to sunshine and blue skies as we arrived in town! Of course it would. We have waited for that sunshine for days and here it was - while we were in town!  What a waste of a good cottage swimming day! 

Anyway, before we headed home, we took a wee tour of our old hometown to check out some of the changes. One place we always like to go to is the salt docks, where we used to go as kids. We would walk the shore line from there to our favourite swimming rock. The wharf is unofficially named "Salt Docks" because every year, that is where the road salt is delivered by freighter, dumped and stored for the coming winter. Mountains of salt! Covered, of course in huge tarps. Apparently anywhere between 105 and 120,000 tons of salt are dropped off there every year. It is then hauled away by trucks to outlying areas to de-ice winter roads. Salt, of course, is a toxic substance in that it has a negative impact on the environment, cars, bridges, and steel structures etc, but so far, personal safety on winter roads has trumped those concerns and we still use it, along with sand, on our roads. It is interesting to see those piles of salt, but to some of us, they sure are a blight upon the landscape! 

Today was my last day at the cottage for a while, so I did miss having a final swim and a lazy day on the dock before heading back to the city, but some things have to take precedence. I will be back in another two weeks, so there will be lots of time for that then.