Day 23, July 3rd - Signal Hill
Read MoreA great many homes in St. John's have no front yards to speak of, just concrete and asphalt. It's the back yards that seem to hold some promise.
The breakfast bell just sounded...or was that my stomach sounding off again. Nope, that certainly was a bell I heard.
Over the meal table we are going to share our morning plans with Donna and Keith, which is to travel up to Signal Hill and have a look around. See you there.A young family of three children and their parents sometimes dine with us for breakfast. This morning I am hoping today is one of those breakfasts. The kids are extremely wasteful, and I gladly gobble up what is left on their plates once they have left the room. Tasty things such as untouched sausages, bacon, toasted bagels and ham are left behind.
When preparing the cannon for firing, there is a three stage process involved, and each with its own special ramrod.
First the barrel is cleaned of any debris with a sponge, followed by driving the powder and ball into the breech with a rammer. After firing, the last step is to clean the cannon barrel of post-firing residue.And the gun went BOOM with not a second to spare.
The gun was fired precisely at noon daily. The reasons being was to notify the residents of St. John's the time was 12 o'clock noon. The other purpose of firing at the exact hour was that the captain of sea-faring ships could check his nautical position. If the cannon was fired too early or too late, the ship navigator could end up 30 or more miles off course.Looking further into the harbour.
Our bed and breakfast is on the right-hand side of the harbour, and not too far up from the brown building and the blue boats. Later on this evening I will take a photograph from Donna and Keith's penthouse balcony looking this way, but these pretty yellow flowers will be too difficult to see during those twilight hours.