HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1973-02-07, Page 2- - • a-
The dam a Brussels
Ow,
Sugar and Spice
by Bill Smiley
Some random shots and shafts this
week. Today we were missing some
400 students from among 1400 at school.
That's about double for this time of year.
It's the 'flu. I've never seen so many
kids and teachers dragging around
as though they were not long for this
world.
Croaking, sweating, dull gray in colour,
they are like so many zombies. Why
don't they all stay in bed? Well, I have
a theory about that. Bed is boring,
unless you are engaged in sleeping, or
some other pleasurable occupation.
Dental Health Week is upon us, and
I can't avoid the feeling that the cruel
month of February is the logical time
for it. ,
I have considered dentists as honor-
able but mortal enemies since I was
a kid. As a teenager, when my teeth
had the consistency of cheeSe, every
visit was a traumatic experience. CraW1
into the chair,wishing the dentist would
have a heart-attack' or something be-
fore you did. Clutch the arms in a
death-grip. Open the mouth and prepare
to render up your soul. Mutter isAggh,
Glug.", as he asked stupid questions
about what grade you were in this year,
My attitude to the man in the white
coat didn't change in the service. Just
before I was shipped overseas; I had
14 fillings in one afternOon, NO anaes-
thetic., The maniac who did me filled
about six canyons, then stuffed my cheekS
with cotton and went into, the next room
for afternoon tea. I could hear the
teaApOOn' tinkling and the heartless swine
exchanging jests with the nurse as I lay
there quiVering like a trout just pUlled
out of the Water.
It's not so bad with the new "painless"
drillS. But there isn't much to work on
any more, i break a piece Off a tooth,
go to the dentist and Whirie,4,COUldii't you
just build that up one Mote tinie,DOC?'°
Its rather like handing a man a single
briCk, and asking him to construct ahigh
rite with it.
However, young Jane Almond of
Meaford thinks dentists are pretty fine
fellOWS. She has Weil a prise and a plaque
frOM them fora forpOttet, chosen the beSt•
fot* Dental Health Week, Jane deeigried
the ,poster in Grade 5, and she's nOW only
tWelVd.
Arid come to think of it, dentists
deserve a decent living and some recog,,
on they"are far more interested in
saving your teeth than pulling thein, And
any man who eoende a lot of time Idokirit
Int& inout s like thine can't be all bad.
'
And an Ontario reader :who hails, from
Wrexham, North' Wales, wrote after I
mentioned that town in a recent column. I
spent a'dreary winter there during the war.
Edward J. Jones wants to know if I wish
any old contacts looked up or have any
anecdotes for the Wrexham Leader.
Please, Mr. Jones. I am a happily
Married man. Any old contacts would be
strictly out of the picture. As for anec-
dotes . . . well.
. You might mention the night they can-
celled night-flying, the abomination of
fighter pilots, because of fog. We were so
overjoyed, both instructors arid students,
that quite a celebration developed.
It began with hurling empty pint beer-
mugs at the clock on the mantel. When
we ran out of mugs and clock, another
game began. This was an old R.A.F.
favourite.
The hero takes off Shoes and socks,
• lies down on his back and blackens
the soles of his feet in the cold fireplace.
He then makes footprints up the wall;
as high as he can reach. He blackens
feet again, gets up on a chair and makes
further footprints, higher up. This con-
tinues until he is held up to the ceiling
by some mates standing atop a table.
When it's finished, it looks exactly as
though someone haS taken a run at the wall,
gone right up it, across the ceiling arid
down the Other side.
It was hilarious. We topped thiS off
with a game of rugger in the mess. And
by the tithe thiS ended, it was a mess
indeed.
For some reason; the C.O. was not
amused, when he surveyed the. mess in
the morning. Surly old coot, It cost
about twenty of us ten quid each to re-
decorate the officers' mess.
Ah, dear. Nowadays they'd call it
flagrant vandalism, and Seek the taxpayer'
for the damages. In those days, it was
high spirits, and we paid the Shot our-
SelVeS,
Or, Viridotiei you might mention that
Wrexham had One of the best hockey teams
in England. We Were about eighty per
cent Canadian, with several hockey
erS of Jr. A. calibre. Our C.O., an
nglishinan, had lived in Canada and leved
trot al
the'
e tas
e won every game, except the
One,. bur goalie hit the
foe with aboUt twelve' pints of bitter' in
hint, He was outetanding: Every time
the opposing team shot, he'd stop tWO Of
the throe pucka he SaW, but. miss the
third, 8eore, 14
And a. happY Valentine's bay to all,
-Serving Brussels and the surrounding community
published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
by McLean Bros. Publishers, Limited.
Evelyn Kennedy, - Editor Tom Haley - Advertising
Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association.
Subscriptions !in advance) Canoga $4.00 a year, Others
$5.00 a year, Single Copies 10 cents each.
Second class mail Registration. No. 0562.
Telephone 887-6641.
gBrussels Post
BRUSSELS
ONTARIO
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1973
Looking ahead to 2001
Sounds like it will soon be time
to move out to Saskatchewan, or some
place away from this overly crowded ,
southern Ontario.
With the population of Metro
Toronto scheduled to rise to 6 1/2
million by the year 2001; and even
"London in the bush" promised to
reach the 673,000 mark, where is a
man going to find some peace and
solitude anywhere in these parts?
A former resident of the Toronto
area, who moved to a more remote
area of Canada, eagerly made a
return visit to his old metropolitan
stamping ground. It was not long,
however, until he was longing to get
back to "the sticks"; he found the
city life just too congested and
decided he couldn't stand it at all.
"Congested" was the word he used,
and he applied it to housing,traffic
and people.
Are all of us going to submit
to this metropolitan existence which
the prognosticators promise us is
going to result in a little more
than a quarter century?- It seems
to us that more and more people are
looking for a secluded place in the
country, outside the city, than has
ever been known before. Can you
imagine Toronto covering three times
the area it does today? Can't you
just picture London, Ohtario, with
its built-up area extending out to
Bryanston and Thorndale!
And what happens to St.Marys in
this 25-year cycle of urban expan-
sion? No doubt our population will
grow several thousand, but surely
we hope that we will not become so
"urbanified" that our town will lose
all the charm it has today. Naturally
this could easily happen - and many
of us-who could be living in the
year 2001 may just feel like that -
moVing to those nice woodsy, remote
areas of northern Saskatchewan,B.C.,
br perhaps even Newfoundland.
(St.Marys Journal Argus)
1 advertised for an aggressive, ambitious young.
Now, if you'll get out of my chair, I'll interview you."