Perth - Andover, NB
By the time I reached this town situated along the Saint John River, the devastating aftermath of a flood in late March was nearing its end. People are getting their lives together again. One man that Daruka and I met was moving back into his house after the waters that came in and destroyed all his appliances. The Scotia Bank that I passed by had water levels up to four feet in its interior, and a doctor friend of ours, Henri Houshman, from Iran, has been on house calls since that time when the hospital closed and moved its patients to facilities in nearby Woodstock. Such are the forces of nature. Nature is a people mover. Had I been here at the time of the flood, I might have been dubbed, ‘The Swimming Monk’.
The Bugle Observer Paper that serves the area reached the newsstands this morning with a cover story entitled, “The Walking Monk Visits Woodstock’. The response from motorists was phenomenal as they saw the same person strolling along the road as was found on the front page. One man pulled over, offered his pranamas, folded palms, and said “Thank you for spreading peace.” The article by Allison Adire, also included mention of our guru, Srila Prabhupada, and lays out each word of the maha mantra. Jane, a woman with luminescent green laces on her shoes, came out of her car to greet Daruka, Billy the parrot, and I, and expressed that we had come to brighten up the town. You can imagine how the morale of the town had been because of the flood.
Next to this which had additional colour photos on page
two, was shared on the front page an article by Brian Tate, about a local man
receiving sentence, only 90 days, for making child porn available to
others. That’s a slap on the wrist, isn’t it? I think in addition
to his meager prison term, a good long walk across the country, eating on a
vegetarian diet, and chanting mantras all day on 30 KMs could help the
dude. That would be a good rehab program, and knock some reality into
him. I don’t mind if he travels with me for a bit. We will have
healing things to talk about. Anyways, you have to question the justice
system.
This is the last day trekking in NB, the state of Maine
is right next to us in Pert - Andover. Daruka and I had planned that this
beautiful province with its great people had been traversed sufficiently with a
span of east west and also quite a trek going north. We will then move on
to or drive up to la belle province, in Quebec.
17 Km
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