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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2016-08-25, Page 5THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2016. PAGE 5. Other Views Bad coffee? I «t is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity." — Dave Barry Amen to that, Dave. And since I have the floor I would like to posit a related query: Since when did coffee become a category of lifestyle expression? Case in point: I'm standing at the counter in the local java hut facing a waitress — correction — blending barista — who is taking the order of the person in front of me. It's early morning, I am bleary of eye, wobbly of knee and sluggish of disposition. I need a kick start. Which means coffee. Hot. Black. In a mug. End, as Tony Soprano would say, of story. Except I can already see that it's not going to play out that way. The customer in front of me has his head tilted back; his index finger is drumming on his chin. He is clearly pondering. Never a good sign in a coffee shop. "Hi," the guy says. Then, "Could I have a triple soy macchiato half-decaf with extra foam and a shot of caramel at 120 degrees?" And I suddenly feel very old. Old because I Bean there, Arthur Black remember when — put down your cell phones and hang on to something solid kiddies because this is gonna rock your world — I remember when coffee — all coffee everywhere — sold for 10 cents a cup. S'truth! I also remember moving to a remote city in Northern Ontario less than 100 years ago and being gobsmacked when I ordered a coffee and looked at my bill. Seriously? Could I really have moved to a town where they charge 25 cents for a cuppa coffee? Innocent times. Fast forward a few decades and here I am shelling out two, four, even six bucks a pop without batting an eye. Of course it's not quite the same cup of coffee. Back in the bad old days the custom was to brew up a pot of coffee first thing in the morning, then leave it to simmer on the back burner all day drank that long. By mid-afternoon you couldn't quite float a horseshoe in what oozed out of the pot — but almost. It had the consistency (and taste) of industrial grade road tar. And today? Today apron -clad baristas croon of "hints of candied peaches and raspberries" in Kenyan coffee, the "beguiling floral bou- quets" emanating from Ethiopian brews or the "dense, chocolaty notes" to be found in Guatemalan blends. And we're no longer slugging it back in chipped china mugs hunched over a counter at the local Greasy Spoon. Now we're encouraged to rendezvous with our coffee in boutique -style `roasteries' where, on especially sacred occasions, ecclesiastical baristas preside over coffee tastings (they're called `cuppings') and pontificate on the finer points of coffee, from bean to cup. It's all very twee and several light years away from the spoonful of Nescafe in a handleless mug that powered me through (okay, half -way through) college, but hey, it's all coffee. And as American filmmaker David Lynch says, "Even bad coffee is better than no coffee at all. End, as Tony would say, of story. `Failure to follow instructions' As an Ontario native, I felt that report cards were something for which I never reaped full benefit. When I was younger, report cards were changed from written messages for each individual student to teachers having to select from a list of generic (and honestly not very useful) comments. Soon after that, letter grades were replaced by number grades, which always seemed a little arbitrary to me. I don't see the importance of further breaking down results from the plus -and - minus letter system. It was pretty easy to figure out so the change to numbers seemed completely unnecessary. A "D" was a 55, with the minus and plus covering the four integers on either side. "C" was 65, with the plus and minus again being those numbers on either side. A "B" was a 75, in the same manner and an "A" was a 90 (with the minuses covering the low 80s and the pluses covering the high 90s). What's the difference between a 62 and a 64? Who cares? Right? Anyway, the one comment that came up often on my report cards was, and I'm paraphrasing here, failure to follow instructions. In hindsight, that is a really bad term to use when describing how a student achieves. I always completed my assignments as instructed. The failure to follow instructions came when I finished the assignment and had to sit quietly while some of the other students finished their work. In short, I could sometimes prove to be a distraction to those around me if I didn't have something to keep me busy and the only way a teacher with a limited set of statements to choose from could explain that was, as I stated above, failure to follow instructions. It didn't mean I didn't do my work or didn't achieve well, it meant I didn't always listen when someone told me to be quiet or put my head down or... well, let's just stick with the distracting others statement. Over the weekend, however, I stumbled on to a few Huron County drivers who had, in every sense of the statement, failed to follow Denny Scott Denny's Den the instructions that have been drilled into our psyches over time and made all the more important over the past few years. Sunday was a pretty important day in Huron County: It was the annual Goderich Triathlon. Two members of the North Huron Publishing Company team, The Citizen Editor Shawn Loughlin and The Rural Voice Editor Lisa Pot took part in the event with Shawn being part of a team that tackled it and Lisa taking it on her own. Just to answer the question now, yes, working as an editor does require you to be involved in the cycling/running/swimming community. I'm not sure how, it just happens that way. I had to make a quick trip from Goderich to Blyth and back early that day. On my way to Blyth, I saw the signs for the event and made a mental note to watch for cyclists on my way back as they would be on County Road 25, Provincial Highway 21 and into the town of Goderich. I didn't see any until I was on my way back to Goderich when I spotted one near Carlow. I slowed down because, even though the cyclist was on the other side of the road and travelling towards me, I knew that I didn't want to get in a situation where anything bad can happen. As I continued, I noticed two things that were in constant supply. First, there was a steady stream of cyclists on County Road 25 right up to the intersection of Highway 21 and then another steady stream from there right into Goderich and there was an (un)healthy supply of idiot drivers who should have their licences revoked. Eastbound vehicular traffic on County Road 25 was mixed in with the cyclists and I don't think I've ever seen people doing such stupid things behind a vehicle steering wheel as I did on Sunday. Eastbound drivers, mixed in with eastbound cyclists, would attempt to pass the cyclists as I was travelling westbound beside them. That sentence seems far too short to emphasize how stupid an act that was, so I'll say it again. People tried to fit their vehicle, a cyclist and my vehicle, three abreast, on the roadway, with little to no care about hitting me or the cyclist. Of all places, I hoped that Huron County, had learned to drive safely around cyclists after witnessing, both inside and outside its borders, pain unimaginable wrought by collisions. If it had happened once, I would've chalked it up to someone being from out of town but I saw vehicle after vehicle attempting the same stupid thing: passing cyclists while oncoming vehicles were in the same space they needed to safely not hit the cyclist. It would seem that, much like my bored childhood self, some people in Huron County are guilty of failing to follow simple instructions. I get the frustration of having to go slower than you want, trust me. My trip back to Goderich included some time spent behind some cyclists and, without any spoilers for next week's column, I had an extremely important reason to get to Goderich. Somehow, however, I was able to wait until the southbound portion of Highway 21 where there are two lanes going up the hill into Goderich before I passed them. I waited until it was safe, gave enough space, and passed and got on with my day. There is no reason that other drivers could not have done the same thing. Share the road, slow down when necessary and let's be better Huron County. It's the only way to make sure everyone stays as safe as possible. Final Thought You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. — Winston Churchill Tri some humble pie On Sunday, hundreds of athletes, both local and visitors, took to the streets and the trails of Huron County (mostly around Goderich and Auburn) for the Goderich Triathlon. I was one of them and let's just say that I left Goderich's beach with a new appreciation for what it is triathletes can do with their bodies. I was part of a relay team — named Tri- annosaurus Flex (if they gave out medals for team names, I feel we may have had a chance) — where Jess would run 10 kilometres, my friend Brett would swim one kilometre and I would bike the 42.5 kilometres Things didn't get off to the cracking start we had hoped for. Brett had been training rigorously for the swim since winter only to view high waves and vicious whitecaps in Lake Huron. The swim had been cancelled. So Brett now had to run five kilometres — a completely different skill set and collection of muscles. This is in addition to Jess's late addition to the team after our initial runner came down with an injury. Jess only had a few weeks to train and when it came down to it, we spent most of the time preparing the house for our house guests the weekend of the triathlon, rather than preparing our bodies for the race. On my cycling route, which began at the beach, ran up Hwy. 21 to Blyth Road, across to Base Line in Auburn and back to Goderich through Benmiller and back up Hwy. 21, I encountered nasty winds and hills that no man or woman should ever have to cycle. However, so did everyone else. So to see these local athletes, some of whom I know like Blyth's Carla Pawitch and North Huron Publishing's Lisa Pot, finish the entire event in times ahead of relay teams, it puts the athletic spectrum into perspective. Take the tough conditions Jess encountered during her run, the unexpected challenges presented during my bike ride and the last- minute curve ball of an additional five - kilometre run for Brett when a swim was expected — and then have one person do all three. It puts you in awe of these people. So to walk in with swagger and walk out with a limp and a bit of a bruised ego is a little disheartening, but as many told us that day: we finished, and that is an accomplishment. After finishing my cycling leg of the race and wanting nothing more than to dive into a pit of equals parts ice packs and teddy bears (if such a thing exists), I was reminded of my first few rides on actual road after training extensively on an indoor trainer. I felt confident. I had been building up muscles in my legs and bettering my cardiovascular health, but when I was out on the road and hit my first hill, it was like I was starting over again. Climbing a hill uses a whole different set of muscles and presents an entirely different challenge. I thought back to that feeling after my triathlon leg — like nothing could have prepared me for just how tough it is. And, again, it caused me to look at the people completing all three legs as athletic giants and as people we should all look up to. So the next time you're speaking to a neighbour or a friend who has completed a triathlon, don't be tempted to brush it off as a "weekend warrior" excursion or a hobby. Be sure to look upon their accomplishment in all its glory, because it is no small feat. In related news, my unwarranted confidence and plans to run a complete, individual Olympic -sized triathlon at next year's event have been shelved for the forseeable future. Keep checking back for further updates.