Newfoundlanders and Labradorians love a good laugh. There's no shortage of material for us to poke fun at each other but when there's a chance to have a good giggle by getting one over on a CFA (Come From Away), well, that's considered a bit of a summertime sport. My favourite example of this delightful deception happens every year in Trinity. Tourists visiting the tiny town drive by a bay filled with blue and white floating markers. Locals know it to be a mussel farm. Ropes dangle from the buoys and salt water molluscs cling on. Locals also know it to be a perfect opportunity to play a little trickery on curious visitors. "Land in the cemetery is hard to come by," they tell them. "We've got lots of water all around so years ago, we started an underwater graveyard." Now, I've seen many "Trinitarians" deliver that first line without so much as cracking a smile. It gets harder for them to keep the joke going once the tourist asks the next inevitable question: "Why are some blue and others white?" "Well," says the Trinity tormentor, "It's to mark the different religions. The white ones are the Catholics and the blue ones are the Protestants."
And some say Newfoundlanders are stunned? Many swallow it up hook, line and sinker.
