In a way it does sound like a "Newfie" joke, but in part it is based on sound economics.
There is a Carpentry Shop which repairs windows, but only customized jobs for Heritage Buildings (an ongoing project here in town). I am living not in a heritage building, but in a decrepit building, so there is no plain glass available for me.
If I decide to glass-up my three dozen or so picture frames (1) and re-display my map collection, a local tradesman would have to order a sheet of glass from ?St John's? and cut it up carefully. (There are no glass trucks, with the centrally-mounted A-frames that i know of. There may be one in St John's, but I'll bet it doesn't do special runs to Bonavista (3.5 hours each way with a sheet of glass?)
There is no "glass shop" as there are sprinkled around Toronto, where you can walk in, ask for a piece 103/8” x 113/8”, and they charge you a flat $10 for a trimmed piece from their pile of scrap.
Like broken car parts nowadays, Windows Contractors don't repair glass; they order up a new bog-standard panel from Kent in Clarenville, which firm has been advertising for an Installer since last November, so you can't go to the firm and have them send someone along for a quote.
I love this town for its relaxed approach to life, but it is hard work learning to slow down to their pace.
These 12 windows will be off-the-shelf casement windows, selected to best-fit the wall space available. And that will depend, as always, on the courage/skill/experience of whichever handyman decides to drop by and give me a quote.
Cheers
Chris
(1) As you will have guessed, there are not many residents who have been accumulating a stack of old picture frames from downtown Toronto in the belief that one day Real Soon Now they will set aside time to sort through their map collection. You want a picture? Head off to Riff's department store and buy one. Or wait for Aunt Ethel to die.