Just got finished reading "The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland" and I highly recommend it to all of you, especially concerning recent events in London. Honestly, it's one of the most lovely books I've read and a real testament to the goodness of people.

In case you've never heard of the book, here is the description courtesy of Amazon.com "The events of September 11 have seemingly been covered, analyzed, and discussed from every angle imaginable. So the subject matter alone of Jim DeFede's The Day the World Came to Town makes it noteworthy. In the immediate aftermath of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, 38 commercial airliners carrying over 6,000 passengers were forced, as a precautionary measure, to land in Gander, Newfoundland, Canada. Due to the ongoing closure of U.S. airspace, the passengers spent four days in this isolated town of 10,000 before being allowed to continue on their way. In that time, Gander's residents rallied together to extend a kind of hospitality that seems too expansive for the word hospitality. Townspeople not only opened schools and legion halls for use as emergency shelters, they invited the passengers into their homes for showers, meals, and warm beds while local businesses simply gave toiletries and clothing to passengers stuck without luggage. Despite the grim consequences that led to the situation, DeFede finds humor: two flight attendants are offered a car for sightseeing by a local woman who happened to be driving by; the stranded chairman of Hugo Boss finds himself shopping for men's underwear at the local Wal-Mart. But the real message of the book is how, even in times of great turmoil and conflict, people can and must look to one another for comfort, help, and hope."

Fucking Newfoundlanders rock. on the rock. heh.

Seriously, I've dated a few of them. They're good people. :)

oh, HA! The image of the Hugo Boss guy at Wallmart kills me. But how did he get there, all the way to Mount Pearl in the suburbs??

My good friend lives there in ST. JOhn's and I love the story she told me. Apparently, the Newfoundland Marathon was run a couple of days after 9/11 and some American man, who just happened to be there because he was stranded, ran the marathon and WON! <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--> "There’s never any time to have too much self-doubt" - Wes Anderson </p>

<!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>Apparently, the Newfoundland Marathon was run a couple of days after 9/11 and some American man, who just happened to be there because he was stranded, ran the marathon and WON!<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END-->

a) :(
b) there's a marathon in Newfoundland?!
c) none of our by's coulda beat 'em?

well, I think he was some kind of hotshot marathon runner who was already in training. And think of how small the pool of runner would be in St. John's given the tiny population

I know, you'd think ... :\



<p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END--> "There’s never any time to have too much self-doubt" - Wes Anderson </p>

I must get myself a copy of this book*. Sounds wonderful!

*But I shall pledge not to buy it until I read at least 5 of the many many books I've purchased but have yet to read. Whenever I see a book I want to read, I just have to have it. Good thing I don't spend money on anything else. <p><!--EZCODE HR START--><hr /><!--EZCODE HR END-->I never liked kids. They're like small drunk adults. </p>