Saint-Louis-du-Ha! Ha!, Quebec Superthread

[Axver]

Actually, having just mentioned Tangiwai, if I may use that as a springboard to return to an earlier topic and post a picture that I didn't take, one that gets to me every time.

This is what my Grandpa escaped in Tangiwai. No, not that largely intact carriage at the back on the left. Yes, that twisted hunk of unrecognisable metal in the foreground. That is all that remained of the second carriage. Now you can see why he was the only survivor; how the fuck he got out of that, I don't know. Then you see the steep riverbank behind the largely intact carriage? That's the riverbank he climbed with one hand while clutching a small child.

Holy fuck.

 

[gvox]

Wow, that must be really awesome. What a great thing to do. I bet that's taken you to some great places. I'd love to do something like that; unfortunately, on at least one side of my family, our history's lost in the mists of time despite our best efforts to find out something.

My current mission is to go to the sites of the Tangiwai and Hyde disasters, New Zealand's two worst railway disasters. Believe it or not, that's not because of the railway connection. I'm descended from survivors of both disasters.

It took a year or so of research for me to even begin to understand what went down back in the 1600s. I'm about to start it up again, this time focusing on what region of France we all came from, and just how far back I can go. It gets a bit muddy beyond my first forefather Jean Pate coming over here and his parents ie before 1650 or so..

 

[gvox]

This is what my Grandpa escaped in Tangiwai.

Wow. Just wow.

 

[Axver]

On my father's side, yes we are Acadiens. My mother's side is Irish. Family reunions are, let's say, vibrant affairs.

This clash of nationalities reminds me of a favourite joke of mine from Kiwi comedian Billy T. James. "'I'm half Maori and half Scottish: one half of me wants to get pissed and the other half doesn't want to pay for it.'"

Personally, my English grandfather (not the one who survived Tangiwai) was appalled when my parents had the gall to give me a French name, André. He called me Andrew until I was 2 or 3.

 

[gvox]

Well things can get hot, but to cool things off we just start drunken ranting about hating the British and we all join hands once again - dislike for England is a fairly uniting factor in our family as you can well imagine. Come to think of it, most of the arguments are over who was more oppressed by the British, the Acadiens or the Irish!! Fuck, that's hilarious, it just occured to me!!

 

[Axver]

It took a year or so of research for me to even begin to understand what went down back in the 1600s. I'm about to start it up again, this time focusing on what region of France we all came from, and just how far back I can go. It gets a bit muddy beyond my first forefather Jean Pate coming over here and his parents ie before 1650 or so..

I'm impressed you can get that far back! We've managed to trace a few lines back to 18th century Europe, but I'm not sure we've gotten much beyond that, and the fact one significant line is totally shrouded in mystery doesn't help. We know my Jewish line progressively moved across Europe with the shifting tides of anti-Semitism until they found themselves in the Netherlands during the era of Napoleon's conquests, and a few decades later they became the first Jewish family in New Zealand. I have such a hard time visualising what New Zealand must've looked like to them.

One line, incidentally, passed through Canada. The matriarch of the family was in ill health, so they were advised to leave England. I believe they settled on Vancouver Island, but she still didn't improve, so they went to Hawaii, which she found too warm, so they made their way to northern New Zealand, which suited her.

 

[Axver]

Well things can get hot, but to cool things off we just start drunken ranting about hating the British and we all join hands once again - dislike for England is a fairly uniting factor in our family as you can well imagine. Come to think of it, most of the arguments are over who was more oppressed by the British, the Acadiens or the Irish!! Fuck, that's hilarious, it just occured to me!!

I'm really fucked. I have English, Irish, Welsh, and Scottish blood, we know one line must ultimately end up in France, and I've a Jewish line. Who am I meant to hate!

(Australians, that's who.)

 

[gvox]

Who am I meant to hate!

Hate Americans, it's the easiest solution















JUST KIDDING!!!!

 

[redhotswami]

is the internet slow for anyone else today?

 

[gvox]

yeppers....especially here..

 

[Axver]

Hate Americans, it's the easiest solution















JUST KIDDING!!!!

I already do.

 

[Axver]

is the internet slow for anyone else today?

Coasting along comfortably here in Australia.

For once, Australian Internet works!

(This is one reason I'm glad I no longer live in New Zealand, actually. As much as I bitch about Aussie Internet being a rort and pathetic, New Zealand's is even worse. It's simply due to the massive costs associated with the place's isolation.)

 

[The Sad Punk]

Damn Ax, I didn't realize it was the second carriage that your Grandpa was in! That makes it even more amazing.

On the discussion of heritage, what are we all, then? I am predominately Manx (via Norway a long, long time ago) and English, bits of Irish, Scot, French, Portuguese and Jewish here and there, also believed to have distant mid-Eastern relations due to the dark complexion of most of my family, though I would say that's simply a result of us being Basques.

 

[gvox]

Very interesting!

There is some talk of how the Acadiens mixed with the Mi'kmaq but I followed all the lines that I could and couldn't find any in my family...I think that would have been nice to find out tho, don't know why I feel that particularly but they were good people and did what they could to help the French, from what I understand.

 

[Axver]

Damn Ax, I didn't realize it was the second carriage that your Grandpa was in! That makes it even more amazing.

You have no idea how long I've spent studying photos of the second carriage and wondering how on earth he got out of there. My great uncles were travelling with him and both died.

On the discussion of heritage, what are we all, then? I am predominately Manx (via Norway a long, long time ago) and English, bits of Irish, Scot, French, Portuguese and Jewish here and there, also believed to have distant mid-Eastern relations due to the dark complexion of most of my family, though I would say that's simply a result of us being Basques.

Manx and Basque are pretty fucking cool. Besides my Jewish line, I think I'm pretty boring really. I could claim to be Cornish, but that's thanks to someone of English heritage being born in Cornwall rather than actually being ethnically Cornish.

Then again, since one of my great-grandfather's origins are a total mystery, I could be almost anything really!

 

[Axver]

Very interesting!

There is some talk of how the Acadiens mixed with the Mi'kmaq but I followed all the lines that I could and couldn't find any in my family...I think that would have been nice to find out tho, don't know why I feel that particularly but they were good people and did what they could to help the French, from what I understand.

Speaking of pre-European settlement populations, I unfortunately have no Maori heritage. We may have plenty of mystery, but every line's history is known from its arrival in New Zealand and it seems they all stuck to the European community. Well, one somewhat distant relative married a half-Maori, but that's it! No blood relation. Kind of disappointing really.

Though that's the thing about New Zealand - it's so young that even if I had Maori blood, the longest my history in New Zealand could possibly go back is 1,000 years, give or take a couple of centuries. You've probably got families in Italy cooking dinner tonight with recipes handed down through their family that are older than that!

 

[Axver]

I'll be back in 15-20 minutes.

 

[The Sad Punk]

I think I may have read about the Acediens and the Mi'kmaq mixing before. Certainly it would be cool to have some relations there.

Personally I always wanted to have a bit of Native American heritage (preferably Iroquois or Algonquin), despite the chances of that occurring in Australia are basically nil.

 

[The Sad Punk]

See you soon, Ax.

God, I'm not tired but I think I need a walk around, my body feels like it's crumbling inside.

... and fuck, no words have magically appeared for my essay. Damn, I'm gonna have to get stuck into this, which might mean leaving for a while.

 

[gvox]

I think I'm going to take a break for a bit too, try and get something done with my day...I've already worn out my welcome in a thread I hardly ever step foot into Good rappin with you all tho!

 

[The Sad Punk]

Yeah, you too Gabe - have a good one.

 

[Reggo]

I confessed in Zoo Confessionals. Why don't I feel any better?

 

[Axver]

Hey folks, I'm back!

Though it seems you guys have departed. Well, it was a good conversation we had while it lasted!

 

[The Sad Punk]

Oh, I'm sort of still here.

 

[phanan]

Holy shit, you people sure do stay up late.

I finally listened to my first DI playlist today. I'm really enjoying Khan's set, with the exception of a couple of songs.

 

[Axver]

Eh, it's only 2:10am here. It's my usual bedtime. If I'm not grossly mistaken, it's 1:40am over Adelaide way, where Bonnie is.

Any time before midnight constitutes early.

 

[LemonMelon]

 

[phanan]

Eh, it's only 2:10am here. It's my usual bedtime. If I'm not grossly mistaken, it's 1:40am over Adelaide way, where Bonnie is.

Any time before midnight constitutes early.

Oh, Interference says it is an hour later there. Probably because you just had Daylight Savings Time end.

 

[onebloodonelife]

Damn. You guys go through threads insanely fast...

 

[The Sad Punk]

Well, I'm a lazy arse and I feel like sleeping, so I've just jotted down the basics of what I want to address in the essay, a few ideas and such - and hopefully missing one mark tomorrow won't matter, as I'll have time to borrow a ton of books as source material. The essay I've decided to write is about Classicism and Jacques-Louis David. For the longest time tonight I was wondering if writing about a Neoclassical artist is appropriate when writing about Classicism. Eventually I decided to just go with it and figured I was probably the only one being petty like that. Anyway fuck this I'm tired.

Have a good night.