Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Exeter Times-Advocate, 1975-08-21, Page 4Sailing thru life Best years Retirement. The word conjures up visions of endless hours of happy freedom. Why, then, is it such a disillusioning ex- perience for so many people? The natural tendency is to look forward to devoting unlimited time to travel, hob- bies, grandchildren, sports and entertain- ment. All of which are enjoyable. But when one actually comes to fill day after day in these ways, life can soon pall. Fulfillment is not achieved so easily. What's missing, according to psy- chologists and human relations con- sultants, is involvement in interests outside one's self. Taking part in community af- fairs, charities, church work or worthy- fund raising projects offers such oppor- tunities. Can you teach English to a new Canadian? Offer volunteer service to some social agency or hospital? Take a part-time O your life job? There are many other ways by which you can make a worthwhile contribution. As for hobbies, they can be wonderfully rewarding outlets for one's interests and energies. They can prove to be the basis of a profitable second career. But to get the most out of any hobby, start taking it up in earlier years. Later, you'll have the necessary skill to allow you to get infinitely more fun and satisfaction out of your ef- forts. Especially if it's the kind of hobby you can share with others. Above all, leisure years are brightened by friendships, both old and new, and by maintaining a lively interest in the fascinating world around us. Given reasonably good health, you may well find that the November-December years are the best of your life. (Canadian Champion) Frightening figures About our little trip FAIR TO MIDDLETON . . . by Janice -AqiNeartM A"M My big chance " ••:,% " 'n Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau spoke some rather ominous words in his press conference this past week, noting that wage settlements in this country are too excessive and are starting to lead to price increases that threaten our trading position in the world, One of the main problems in this regard is the fact the average Canadian fails to see himself as having anything to do with •the nation's trading position in world markets. A school teacher, dentist, street cleaner or people involved in a thousand and one other occupations read statements such as those made by Mr. Trudeau and dismiss them as affecting only those who are directly engaged in producing goods or services that go abroad. Obviously, that is not the case. Many of the wage increases given to those engaged in export businesses are an attempt to br- Ominous words The end result then is an increase in the cost of products that go onto the world market, and when those prices become too high, importing countries look elsewhere for their supplies. The Canadian economy is then weakened and unemployment in- creases. ing them into line with other occupation groups in this country. Those people re- quire the extra money to pay their taxes and provide their families with the necessities of life as well as any other peo- ple. That, of course, affects everyone, whether they are directly involved in producing exports or not. The only viable answer to the problem is wage and price controls. If those controls are not forthcoming on a voluntary basis, then it will require government action . The figures given out by the Ontario Government regarding impaired driving and drunk driving which take place on our highways and roads is truly frightening. We sometimes wonder why so many of us who use the highways manage to stay alive. According to John Rhodes, Transporta- tion and Communications Minister im- paired driving continues to be an in- creasing problem. He had this to say recently about the 1974 figures for convic- tions under the Criminal Code : - "When you have 23,371 convictions for impaired driving and 14,817 convictions for - drunk driving in one year, you have a total of 38,188 potentially dangerous situations for the motoring public," said Mr. Rhodes. "And this does not include the ad- ditional 3,312 who were convicted for failure to take the breathalyzer test or the untold numbers of impaired drivers who were not caught," he added. According to figures compiled by the Drivers and Vehicles Division of the Ministry, 49,593 convictions under the Criminal Code were recorded in Ontario in 1974 as compared to 46,361 in 1973, an in- crease of over six percent. Charges included: criminal negligence, 80; failure to remain, 2,228; dangerous driving, 1,362; and driving while dis- qualified, 4,413. Every mid-summer, for some peculiar reason, my wife and I get into the same conversation. We talk at some length about where we should go for a holiday. We have this ridiculous, guilty feeling that we should do what normal people do on their vacations; go to a lodge; rent a cottage; buy a tent and go cam- ping; hire a trailer; go for a "trip" somewhere. Anything. We talk about it for weeks, off and one. We keep referring to "our little trip". Perhaps we should just jump in the car and go gypsying around the country, we say. It sounds good, nice and careless and fun, with a new adventure just around the next curve. Or maybe this year we'll do the culture bit: a week at Stratford, take in all the plays, dabble our feet in the Avon, look with the eye of old theatre-goers at the stunned gawping tourists. Or, for a change, book in at a posh lodge for a week, no meals Times Established 1873 for the old lady to cook, dress to the hilt for dinner, mingle with the fascinating sub-jetset. Or this year, for once, we'll rent a cottage for two weeks, dam-the-expense, get away from the telephone, slouch around in bare feet and shorts, and listen tothe loons on the lake at night. Or, for a complete change, maybe we'll go to the city, check into a fancy hotel with a pool, lounge around in an air- conditioned room, and go out to dinner and a good show. There's only one trouble with all these plans. They require decisive action, and we never seem to get around to either decision or activity. Take the posh lodge, for example. First, they are all clip joints. Secondly they are booked for the whole summer. Thirdly, we don't have the wardrobes to dress to the hilt or anywhere else. Fourthly they are full of bores. And the food is no screaming hell. Then, the culture bit. It's Advocate Established 1881. awfully difficult to gear yourself up for a week of Shakespeare and Shaw and dressing up and standing in lineups for dinner, when you're lying in the backyard listening to the birds, with a good book, and barely enough energy to reach for your glass, and you know there ain't going to be no lineup for the fried chicken and the young, new potatoes and the juice-spurting corn and the cold, tangy tomatoes in your own house. Gypsying around in the car is fine, except that you have to get out on the road, with all those maniacs, and drive and drive in the heat, and pay a ransom for motel rooms, and eat fried food until you begin to feel like a french-fry, and watch a TV set offering reruns of last winter's re-runs. The biggest adventure. here is wondering whether the toilet will back up. A couple of weeks at a cottage — Please turn to Page 5 4;;MMTNZWARNSIMM Amalgamated 1924 • It's the chance I've been waiting for. A chance to write a column for the editorial page. What's happened to all those terrific ideas I had? Working as a reporter for the Times-Advocate this summer has been an education. Filling in for regulars on holiday gives one an opportunity to gain experience in all aspects of the trade; from setting a track record as a "gofer", writing features, at- tending meetings and typing obituaries to flying high at press parties. This is your on the spot reporter saying, "One more time, please, I missed that shot:" "Sorry, can you hold that one a minute, I've got to change the film in the camera." " *o#%! my flash just cut out!" Anything for a picture; it's a great feeling to get a good shot even when your knees are shaking from fear of falling into the orchestra pit at the Huron Country Playhouse. Then there was • the time, when looking for a certain farm Rear Denfield, "It's about one and a half miles east on the 13th con- cession," she said." "No problem, I'll be there within the hour," I said. Two hours later from a friendly farmer's telephone, "Could you give those directions, once again, please?" Editors are usually very un- derstanding. Working at the Huron Expositor in the summer of '73, I had the honour of driving AndyMcLeanfrom his home to the office. I was backing up in the driveway, demonstrating an easy skill behind the wheel when "crunch." "That was the picnic table," he said dryly. "Terribly sorry, sir" said the driver proceeding with caution, Small towns have unique personalities like small micro- kingdoms. The first thing you learn is 'who's who! As a relative stranger to both Seaforth and Exeter, I found everyone most patient and helpful. + They say that the heart of a rural community is its weekly newspaper. It's gentle reporting, editors are concerned more with keeping readers aware of what's happening than going for sen- sationalism. Controversy is played down in favour of relating events and community doings. As much attention is given to local correspondence as to a hot news item. Being in contact with the newsrooms of local papers, it is my opinion that weekly newspapers are the fairest and most accurate form of modern media, reflecting agriculture, education, industry and com- merce, municipal government and law enforcement, social patterns, transportation and communication of a certain specific area; to an extent not possible with a large daily. The ink gets into the blood and although many occupations are more, lucrative, newswriters are a dedicated lot and gain much satisfaction in their work, + + + What is it like to be deaf? To have never heard the ocean, or the wind in the trees, the rain, a symphony, or anyone's laugh. The summer is almost over and the reporter must leave the typewriter for the blackboard. When not chasing around the country looking for news I'm teaching at'the Rdbarts School in London, the Regional Centre for the Hearing Handicapped, About 200 students, will throng the halls, first day back, excited about seeing friends, teachers and exchanging summer ex- periences. Instead of loud talking and v m.014,1\s; 14.T.4 \11rtl./YT'P4 ArgRAW. • laughing there will be a lot of gesturing and touching. Communication by signs is the same as verbal conversation, only the means are different. Educators of the deaf use various methods of teaching. Visible english used at the Robarts School is speech on the lips made visible by supplementary hand language. Each letter of a word is a distinct finger formation and as a person is talking he holds his hand to the side of his face spelling the phrase or sentence as he says it. Teachers of the hearing im- paired attend a year's training course at the Teacher Education Centre in Belleville to learn fingerspelling and the rudiments of speech and language development. Classes are kept at a ration of less than nine students to one teacher to insure that each child may receive individual in- struction. Children start school at the age of four and continue until 18. The program is on a par with `hearing schools' but. adjusted to fit the needs of the children. The language barrier is almost in- surmountable but for those students that succeed there are programs at George. Brown College of Toronto and Galludet College the only university for the deaf in North America, Robarts School works closely with the London high schools in integrating the students where possible with hearing youngsters. People do not know how to react with someone who is handicapped. A little in awe, they treat them with kid gloves. 40 Years Ago Tom Campbell and his brother Ray were out in the car Wed- nesday evening of last week and when the engine stopped one of them struck a match to see if there was any gasoline in the tank. The other called to him to drop the match which he did but unfortunately it dropped into the tank which at the time had plenty of gasoline. The fire brigade was summoned and brought the fire under control with very little damage. Mr. & Mrs, G. W, Layton returned to their home in Exeter last Friday evening after an absence of nearly a year and a journey by motor of seventeen thousand, five hundred miles first to Saskatchewan and then south to California. An interesting bowling jitney was held on the local greens on Friday evening last week with six rinks of three bowlers each, First prizes was won by J.Bowey, H. J. Creech and R, M. Creech with three wins plus 21, Over six hundred extra copies of the Times-Advocate containing the news of Old Home week were printed and have all been disposed of. 25 Years Ago Robert Nicol, Carl Schwalm, Lorne Lamont, Dick Watson and Charles Seymour have enlisted in Canada's special United Nations brigade for Korea. Due to the railway strike, railway cars stand idle at stations along the London, Huron and Bruce. Only first class mail is being delivered. The TimeS-Advocate will be delivered by car to nearby centres. Miss Grace Pepper who has been attending summer school in Toronto, has been successful in securing her Supervisor of Art degree. She has accepted a position . at teacher 'of art at RCAF Station, Centralia, The peerless Construction Co. •-•"*"'"* Many of the deaf are as happy and well adjusted as you and I. Sure they have a problem, but everybody has problems. Do not protect them, help them cope with reality by treating them to a normal life, "I laugh and shout for life is good, Though my feet are set in silent ways." + + An eyecathing news item that appeared in the London Free Press recently, claimed that the edible pome fruit of a tree, better known as the apple, can do great things for your love life. Why bother with dandruff shampoos and whitening toothpastes. The apple's an aphrodisiac, says Italian Dr. Carlo Margheri of the research institute at St. Michele All' Adige in northern Italy, which has spent a year researching apples. An apple can turn a women on in seven minutes, he claims, :adding, !Tye/ was •really, on to something when she gave Adam the apple." His findings are backed by scientist Professor Carlo Sirtori who says: "Admitted the per- centage of the aphrodisiac contained in an apple is small. But even a tiny quantity has an effect. A small quantity of the sexual turn-on substance reaches the brain within seven minutes of its introduction into a body. The amorous reaction starts right away. If this be the case, the market for this fall's apple crop should be very good. I wonder if it works with peaches? are resurfacing No. 4 highway from Lucan to Clandeboye. Harvey Pollen, Russ Snell, and Andy Snelgrove_won second prize at the Wingham trebles tour- nament last Wednesday. Tom Pryde, MLA and Mrs. Pryde returned home last week after a vacation trip through Quebec and the Maritimes. Mr. Pryde had an interview with Maurice Duplessis, premier of Quebec. 15 Years Ago A $45,000 sprinkler system is being installed in General Coach Works of Canada Ltd., at Hensall to give fire protection for the 56,000 square feet of buildings under roof. John Norry, retired police chief of Exeter and Mrs. Norry celebrated their diamond wed- ding anniversary Sunday. Mr. & Mrs, Roy Alderson have returned from a trip to the west, motoring as far as Lake Louise, Banff and Yoho Park, B.C. Mr. & Mrs. Will Haskett of Market St., Lucan, celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary in London on Thursday. The Lucan Go-Kart raceway, sponsored by the Lucan Lions Club is temporarily closed to permit surfacing of the track in an effort to eliminate the dust. 10 Years Ago That elusive chain of office for the mayor has now arrived and will be presented at the next regular meeting of council September 7, R. D. "Dick" Seldon won the Kinsman "suit of the month" draw for August. Malcolm blitz, a grade 12 student representing South Huron District High School left Tuesday evening for Dauphin, Manitoba. Malcolm was chosen as a "centennial traveller" taking part in the program of adventure in learning, Ile will be acting as a goodwill ambassador Taking the advice of my friend who advised me not to miss the opportunity of a new experience, I screwed up my courage and ventured on to a sailboat last week for the first time in my life, There's nothing so pretty as an armada of sailboats slipping down the lake, sails billowing on a bright summer's morning, but, not being nautically minded, I've always been more than content just to watch them with my feet planted firmly on terra firma. No way could I be persuaded to board one of those fragile looking craft. However, while visiting friends up the lake who are avid sailing enthusiasts I somehow was tempted into accepting an in- vitation to taste this new ex- perience. Zipping me into a life jacket, tying my glasses on securely ("in case the boom should hit you on the head") my host en- thusiastically assured me there was not a danger in the world, that I would thoroughly enjoy sailing . . though by now I was beginning to question the wisdom of my hasty decision. But he was right; it was magnificent! The feel of fresh wind running over my face and through my hair while the waves spanked the boat as we skimmed downwind on water that danced and shone all around us was exhilarating. Now it has always puzzled me how sailboats make their way back against the wind and it was at this point I got my first real ,lesson in theart of sailing, To sail against the wind one must tack or zigzag at a 45 degrees angle to the wind.This is done by steering with the rudder and adjusting the sails (think it's called trimming). After a few demonstrations, my skipper suggested I change positions with him and try sailing on my own. I was getting along famously, I thought, when sud- Water polo is a team sport and requires individual dedication of an unusual sort. Players must know each other well. The only way this is ac- complished is by extended team practice. Most European teams have been together as units from three to five years training in centralized sites. If Canada was to make its mark in this international sport such a program of training would have to be initiated. Two years was decided on. But there were difficulties. The government, while extending itself financially, did not provide the total funds needed. But the chief difficulty was cultural. The team members would not be scheduled for such a time. They would not give up their freedom for this length of time. In certain European countries an almost religious dedication is made. To leave the familiar for such a length of time is for most Canadians too much to ask, An alternate plan was suggested. Ottawa was chosen as the site for 10 months of intensive training with international tours thrown in. Again the rewards were not exciting enough. The professionals are asked for little more and they are paid ready cash for their efforts. A 10-month commitment is too much to ask,,, There are certain bright spots of course. The coach for the national team is Derso Lemhenyi from Hungary. He certainly has shown a tremendous sense of competition. Indeed it is his demands, as such a competitive coach, which pressures the whole situation.Why train in Ottawa when the best facilities are in Quebec City? Why use municipal pools at to Manitoba as part of an inter- provincial exchange of students arranged by the Centennial commission. Less than one year since arriving in Exeter the Exeter Custom Trailer Company has produced its one hundredth unit and has a large backlog of orders which will keep them busy through the fall month. The one hundredth unit was a 12 foot by 52 foot model destined for an' Edmonton dealer and came off the assembly line last Week. denly we were going nowhere, my sail flapping uselessly in the breeze. "We're caught in irons," my host called, which meant I had neglected to keep my eye on the direction in which we were going and had sailed directly into the wind. Employing his skill he showed me how to manipulate our way out of that position and get us moving again. On the whole, my first attempt at sailing was a great experience and now when I see those graceful little boats skiffing along out there on the horizon I have some idea,at least of what's going on on board, We often speak of people who 'sail through life' expressing the notion they do it with very little effort. Not necessarily so. Usually a person who sails through life like the crew of a sailboat, has learned and practices the basic rules. He may enjoy occasions of sailing before the wind when things go smoothly, but he is aware there will come times when the wind will reverse and he will be forced to sail into it. lie knows he must change his direction, and with patience and endurance, work his way against the winds that come upon him. If there is danger of the boat capsizing he does not panic but keeps his cool, shifts his weight to keep his craft balanced. He, too, may get 'caught in irons' but he does not give up and let his life drift aimlessly but rather preserveres and works his way out of that situation. A novice sailor, like myself, would not want to be caught out in a storm without an expert at the helm.So in life, a wise person will look to God to bring him through the rough waters. I found out last week that sailing on Lake Huron is an in- vigorating experience.Sailing through life can be just as thrilling if we will but learn and follow the basic maneuvers. irregular hours to accomplish mastery of a sport up to in- ternational levels? The players are granted $150 a month - an impossible living allowance. Better training conditions and more money is needed before any tremendous mark can be made. Canada has progressed to the rank of 14th place in international competition recently. Prospects are good for a finish among the top 10 in the Montreal Olympics. But to come to the level of the best teams would require 10 years at least! The whole matter accentuates the problem of freedom. To play at Olympic levels is costly; it* is work. It was true, once upon a time, that the cost was not too much, that people would choose the hard work involved. Now this is not the case. Canadians choose freely and this usually means a turning from the extended commitment. Dr. Jack Gauldie, vice- president of the Canadian Water Polo Association, speaks to the issue. "This country must.„be prepared to' attain only the level of success less-than-total com- mitment generates." Enough questions surround the modern Olympics so that one more is not out of place. The cost of the Montreal facilities has led many world leaders to question the con- tinuance of these games in the future. The politicization of the games, with certain motions seeking to make propaganda points for. their social systems casts serious doubt on the value of the Olympics. The Arabs killed Jews at Munich during Olympic prowess. Who will be targeted at Mon- treal? The whole scene seems so serious, too important. Should a country's efforts be so organized that the few best players in each sport are selected for further training? Or should we be bending our efforts to a more general level of fitness for the whole population. In other words, does the Olympics serve the corn- monw,ealth? Where does ex- cellence become compulsive? Freedom or compulsion- which is best? Where is the required balance? Phone 25-1331 triVrEng: OrefeRimes-Abuorafe SERVING CANADA'S BEST FARMLAND C.W.N.A., 0.W.N,A, and ABC Publisher — Robert Southcott Editor — Bill Batten — Advertising Manager Assistant Editor Ross Haugh Plant Manager — Les Webb Composition Manager ..- David Worby ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, St. Marys Journal - Argus Published Each Thursday Morning at Exeter, Ontario Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386 Paid in Advance Circulation March 31, 1075 5,249 SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada $0.00 Pet Year; USA $11,00 g;,m024. " THe PRISONERS VIEREPI5spyrisftEp W ITH THE. WORKING COliDITI0115 Rt1D STAGED A WALIOUT,i, OVER TilE WAll 4efweatm*km.,:', Helen Keller Our response to now By ELMORE BOOMER Counsellor for Information South Huron For appointment phone: 235-0560 Water polo •