Q for Treason #13: Building on Land on Prince Edward Island

By Reece
peakes.wordpress.com

I've enjoyed the previous issues of Q for Treason that I've read, with their stories of exploring ghost towns and abandoned buildings. So I was a little disappointed to start reading this one, which is all about building a cabin in rural PEI, which is a combination of words that is almost completely uninteresting to me.

The first part of this zine is full of semi-technical details (at least to me) about building stuff and my eyes began to glaze over as I forced myself to read it. Needless to say I didn't find most of this part that interesting.

There are a few bits in this section that are nice, for example Reece's fear of climbing a rickety ladder he'd built, and how he "expected it to be one of the most terrifying experiences of [his] life, along with watching the movie The Grudge or driving in Montreal", but generally it didn't appeal to me that much.

Other parts of the zine are more interesting, and give examples of rural PEI life (and why I would never want to live there). The story about visiting a realtor to buy land and having him be over an hour late and incredibly drunk when they finally meet is kind of hilarious, while the mention of the gay couple getting firebombed is really depressing.

I also enjoyed Reece's stories about stealing a stove from an abandoned church, and some of his interactions with the local people, but overall I was a bit disappointed by this issue, and at the very least thought it could have included some pictures of the finished cabin, if not the actual process.

If you're into rural living and building cabins though you should probably check it out. Maybe you can tell me why Reece thought it was a good idea to build a cabin almost entirely by himself, because that was one thing I really didn't understand.