Some Fine Times!

R.G. Moyles is a professor of English at the University of Alberta.

“Some foine toimes we ’ad, b’y!” is a common expression among
Newfoundlanders—especially among those drifting into nostalgic
waters—to account for the carefree, high-spirited, relatively
innocent, sometimes not-so-fine, days of youth in a Newfoundland
outport. Smith’s account is a little more refined in the recounting
than many, and only takes us back to the rather boring 1950s, but it is
essentially the same as many: first fish, first naughty deeds (stealing
apples as bad as smoking cigarettes!), first bikes, first hard knocks,
first parties, and first loves. He adds to the familiar litany of
“fine times” (familiar to every Newfoundlander who grew up then and
there) some which were peculiar to his own upbringing: the trials and
blessings of belonging to a Methodist clergyman’s family, of having
ghosts in the parsonage, and of being close to the cloth in all its
strange ways (from being the subject of village gossip to being a shaman
of sorts).

It is all told with a wit and charm that is sure to delight the naive
reader—Smith is gaining quite a reputation as a Newfoundland humorist.
The more sophisticated reader, however, will likely find it boring; the
writer strives too hard to be funny, is too egocentric in his views
(i.e., does not sweep across the Newfoundland community), and deals too
obviously with the familiar. So that much of what is written about here,
though enjoyable, is old hat and hardly worth telling.