HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1973-04-04, Page 2FAMPOPtiLP um. .
Brussels Post.
WEDNESDAY,. APRIL. 4,. 1.973
,_serviug! Brussels and the surrounding community
PlibllShed each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
by McLean Bros. publishers, Limited.
Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Tom Raley - Advertising
member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and
Ontario. Weekly Newspaper Association.
Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $4.00 a year, Others
$5.00 a year, Single Copies 10 cents each.
Second class mail Registration No. 0562.
Telephone 887-6641.
"le
BRUSSELS - -
ONTAR42
Pedal power is in
After playing second fiddle to
the automobile for half a century,
the bicycle is making a comeback
that could return it to a place of
eminence.
The result is the bicycle manu-
facturers and retailers are busy
turning out two wheelers in all
shapes and sizes. Pressure groups
are lobbying for bicycle roadways
in many towns and cities. Look for
pressure on the provincial govern-
ment to establish bike paths along
the major highways.
The return to pedal power after
decades of• depending on the internal
combustion engine can only be good.
Executives who once depended on
a Bentley or Lincoln to drive to
work can now take their CCM. House-
wives can pedal to the supermarket
or corner grocery, students can
cycle their 10-speed to school. The
bicycle has a hundred uses.
Cycling is also a form of pre-
ventive medicine, recreation for'
all, as well as being a means of
getting fresh air. There is no
pollution from a bicycle chain:
There are drawbacks. Cyclists
can be a real menace to themselves
on major roads where traffic is
thick and the speed limit is high.
What driver hasn't overtaken a
cyclist heedless of the huge ma-
chines rolling along the road; and
swung out to avoid him or her at
his own peril?
Cycling,li,ke any use of public
roads, requires caution and strict
adherence to safety rules. Cyclists
are in a vulnerable position when •
the argument is with a car, truck
or bus.
Despite pressure, it will be
many years before cycling paths are
constructed in this country. The
great Canadian.winter will discourage
even the most enthusiastic cyclist.
Despite this, the swing back to
bicycles will help to keep some
cars ,off the roads, exercise muscles
that have not been used for years
and take Canadians to the outdoors.
(The Acton Free. Press)
"Thanks for the visit Senators. We'll get in
touch if your wallets turn up,'"
Sugar and Spice
By Bill Smiley
Good old unpredictable Canadian
weather. ' No sooner had I popped into
the mail my last Column, extolling the
marvellous open winter and the joy of
spring actually arriving on time, than we
were hit by the worst storm of the year,
howling wind and a foot of snow.
Oh well, it gave those sybarites who
fled our bracing clime for the decadent
tropics a chance to rub it in to us stay-
at-homes when they returned from winter
break, sickeningly tanned and fit look-
ing,
This winter break bit is becoming
more exotic every year. It used to be
called Easter holidays, and wasn't much
fun. The skiing and curling were over,
the fishing and golfing hadn't started, and
the weather was usually rotten.
But in these affluent times, people go
winging off in all directions, tracking down
the sun or the snow or whatever their
pleasure is. Distance and money seem
no object.
I know people who flew to Colorado
for skiing, flew to Barbados for bikini-
watching, flew to Jamaica for rum,flew
to Cornwall for Cornish 'hen, fleW to
Paris for french friesi
And now the students are getting into
the act. From our high •schoOl alone,
three different groups went soaring off
to Greece, Germany and France for the
Week's holiday.
They are addoMpanied by teachers,
who haVe the job of plannning the trip,
Collecting the money, and trying to keep
their charges from knocking down the
Adropolis or straying into a brothel by
Mistake.
Preventing young pulchritude from
being pinched fn the PitaeouS is not my
idea of a fun trip for a teacher: Nor
ani I. thrilled at the thought, of stopping
strapping young Male students from be-
coming addled in AthenS or maudlin in
Munich.
However, every teadlier to his
Own taste And my 'a/5110406S Who have
• tried such a jaunt during winter break
assure Me that the • whole thing is a
breeze, that there's no More confusion
than there was on the Titanic just be-
lore she went down:
No Matter, WS a 'wonderful edtleat.
ion for the kids. How else could they'
learn that foreign'cabbies, waiters arid
porters are• even greedier and surlier
than those -Mine?
What Other eXperietide Could tenth
then' that for food is not only pretty
expensive but Often awftill, and thatthere's
nothing in the world to touch an honest
Canadian hamburger?
' Where could they get a better course
in driver education than on the blood-
soaked avenues of Paris?
Two young student acquaintances of
mine took a month off during the winter,
and flew all the way to India: They
couldn't afford to eat in the big hotels
so they just ate what the natives did.
They had a Wonderful tithe. They were
sick during their entire stay. Now how
could they have learned all that by stay-
imngisn? school like all the weak comfor- ist
Ah, it's just jealousy, kids. I know
you boys had a wonderful time ogling the
gals in Greece, the belles of Bavaria,
the poules of Parise If I went, I'd have
to take my wife. And even if I didn't,
I don't know whether I could throw a
good ogle any more. Haven't had any'
practice in years.
And I know you girls discovered what
I could have told you -in the first place
and saved you all that money - that
Canadian girls are the prettiest in the
world and that the ones from your home
town are the prettiest in Canada.
I ask only one thing. You can bore
me for hours telling me about your trip.
YOU can put Me to sleep with your col-
(Aired slides, you can awe me to tears
by showing the the genuine gimcracks
you picked up for a song. But please,
please don't ask me What I did on my
Winter break holiday,
All right, then, if you're adamant,
tell yob. I shovelled a foot of snow
off the sidewalk. I put out the garbage.
I spent a pretty exotic lialfAtotir at the
library: I helped my wife vacuum and
clean up the house as she' didn't want
to leaVe a 'dirty house case someone
broke in while we Were away;
Oh) yes, we went away: We didn't
go to the Barbados, as We had planned,
But, We went all the way Setith to the
city. My wife, went shopping. It would
have been cheaper to go to the Barba-
dos.
And while she' was out, battling mit
way toward the poor-houSe, I jiiSt sat
back in the luxury' of out hotel rbOth
And had MYSelt a ;hied Of a time Mark-,
ing 'Otani paperS,
Then We came' home and fed the
tat: The whole thing is an experience
I shall heifer ftlrget. It was so much
fun- I'm already planning next year's
printer break.
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