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Sugar and Spice
by Bill Smiley
Fall notes
A few fall notes of superlative
unimportance. My elder grandson, Pokey,
is now, at two and a half years, in the
pre-Kindergarten. Class at the day-care
centre he attends He gets very annoyed
when someone, needling, says: "Oh,
you're in the Senior Toddlers' class now."
With a curl of the lip, he retorts
vehemently, 'No! I in pre-Kindergarten."
Even at that age, there's an immense
concern with status: To , the Senior
Toddlers, the Junior Toddlers are just
punks. To the pre-Kindergartners, the
Senior Toddlers are practically babies.
You remember how it was? If you were
in Grade 9 at school, it was the supreme
insult if someone asked if you were in
Grade 8, back with all th ose little kids.
It was the same in the service. When you
joined, you were a raw, ignorant rookie. In
six months, you were looking with tolerant
scorn at the new recruits. When you finally
got your wings, y ou looked down from
Olympus with those mere children who
were starting their training.
Then you went overseas,, and were
suddenly a raw, ignorant rookie again.
After operational training, which ensured
that you were a dashing fighter pilot, you
were posted to a squadron and learned to
your dismay that were just a "sprog," the
term for a raw, ignorant rookie.
Same thing as a prisoner of war. Y ou'd
just been through a fairly traumatic
experience, and a very dramatic one, being
shot down, captured, perhaps being beaten
up. You got to a prison camp, and were •
looked at with the utmost contempt . by
old-timers (of perhaps 23) who had been
shot down in such exotic places at Crete or
Yugoslavia or Norway, and had been "in
the bag" for three or four years. You felt
like a five-year -old on his first day at
school.
Back to Poke, A t day-care, they gave
him a psy .chological ,label that mildly
amused his mother, infuriated his gran,
and delighted his grandfather. It was
"Sneaky Aggressive.'' ' It doesn't sound too
nice, but he's tiny for his age, and has to
look after himself somehow. What it
means, I gather, is that when some bigger
kid has pushed you around, you wait until
he's not looking, then sneak up and bite
him on the ear, or anything else that's
handy.
the spoiled children of rich parents. Maybe
they've been coddled too long. I,'m not yet
at-the point where I would single out every
tenth man or woman in the postal.
department and shoot the person. But I'm
ge tting there. If Trudeau were smart, he'd
call back Bryce Mackasey, eat humble pie,
and kill two birds with one stone.
I am ambiguous toward the postal
people, which takes some of the sting out
of my attack. Most of those in small towns
are friends and sometimes neighbors of the
people they serve. They're friendly ,
reasonably courteous and as efficient as
the sygtem; one of the most inefficient in
the country, will let them be.
It's in the bigger towns arid cities, where
there is no personal contact between
servers and served, that the militancy
among postal workers if fostered. The
workers feel themselves mere cogs in a big
machine, not individuals. The public
doesn't give a damn about them, as long as
it gets its mail on time. Therein lies
revolution, and always has.
But I'm getting a little ticked off with
labor in general in this country, along With
a hell of a lot of other people who once
supported it. We have one of the rottenest
histories of strikes in the world, over the
last few years.
Even the British working man, for many
years a real bearcat when it came to unions
and strikes, has realized there is a point of
no return, and is co-operating with
government in an attempt to slow inflation
' in the U.K., by limiting demands for pay
boosts.
Not so Canadian labor. It's "Gimme!
Gimme! Gimme!" Maybe I'm old
fashioned, but I think there's something
wrong with the values of a country in which
a plumber makes more than a public health
nurse, a meat-cutter makes more than a
minister.
In fact, I'm so fed up with labor that if
my own union, the teachers' federation,
asked me to go on strike over some real or
fancied grievance, my first reaction would
be: "Drop dead".
Where there is injustice, it must be
rectified. But where there is only greed,
getting as much as you can, and giving as
litt' as possible, I've had enough. And
that applies to sex and sympathy, as well
as labor.
* * * * **
Well, the postal workers are at it again.
After one of the most futile strikes ever
seen in Canada, they settled, a year ago, for
a 29 per cent padkage, far above the
maximum allowed by the AIB. Others,
teachers, mill Workers, were rolled back,
while the uncivil servants of our postal
system kept their loot.
As I write, they are holding rotating (and
illegal) walkouts, cocking a snook at
government in junctions, and acting like
** ** * *
Last item in these futile fall notes. For
two weeks I've been wearing a magnetic
bracelet which is supposed to relieve my
arthritis.
I'd have been just as far ahead to stick an
onion in my ear, and go out and swing, by
the tail, .a dead cat at the moon, like Huck
Finn. A colleague suggested this. He's
right.
And a happy Remembrance Day to each
and every one of you, too.
,111••••• worm edmom mar& ion.
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THE BRUSSELS POST, OCTOBER 274 1976
poorly-fitted mask, which can
easily slip out of position, or one
with' small eye' slits poses a
potential danger because it can
block a child's view of oncoming
cars, objects in his path, a hole, a
step or a curb.
Dr. Black said he favors using
makeup as a disguise rather than
masks. "With makeup, the child
has'his normal field of vision and ,
is less likely to have an accident'
because be didn't see something
ahead or to the side."
He cautioned that makeup
should be of the nonallergic type
and should be applied carefully
by an adult to avoid getting
makeup particles or applicators
in a child's eyes.
parents accompanying their
children on the Halloween trek '
should be certain to add retro-
reflective material to their own
clothing, the optometrist
suggested, so that drivers can see
them, too.
All parents should caution their
children not to walk in the street
(to use yards if there are no
sidewalks), to look carefully
before crossing a street, and to
cross at a corner with a street
light if at all possible. In addition,
give the child a battery-powered
light to carry.
..111.6••01 .•1,161r11,14, .#144,t1 tit rrarrifri
Make sure of
safe Hallowe'en
Halloween safety begins with a
"be seen costume," says the
Ontario Association of
Optometrists.
Darkness makes youngsters
invisible to motorists but there is
a way to add an edge of safety to
purchased or made-at-home
costumes, Dr. Richard Black,
President of the organization,
says. That edge is retro-reflective
material.
"I didn't see him in time" is
the, most common explanation
given by drivers hitting
pedestrians, particularly at night
when a driver's view is limited to
the length of the headlight beam.
Children in dark clothing are the
most ,susceptible to such
accidents but even white clothing
is only safely visible at speeds of
up to SO m.p.h.
"On the other hand," Dr.
Black said, "Optometric studies
have found that retro-reflective
material is safely visible even at
speeds of 70 to 80 m.p.h."
Retro-reflective material is
available in either iron-on or sew
on fabrics and tape, so youngsters
can make up their own designs.
`.`Just be ce rtain they will be
visible from front, back and
sides," Dr. Black said.
The other side of Halloween
safety is to see safe ly . A
Melville W.M.S. met in the
church parlour with ten mernbers
answering the roll call with a
verse containing the word
"Thanksgiving" or "Harvest".
"For the beauty of the Earth"
was sung and Mrs. Gibson read a
poem on "Thanksgiving". -
Mrs. Gibson announced that
the "In Memoriam" certificate
for Miss Kate Deadman and the
"Life Membership certificate
being pre sented to Miss Muriel
Brothers have arri. ved. Eleven
calls on sick and shut-ins were
reported. A card of cheer was
signed by all present to go to Miss.
Jessie Little who is having a
discouraging time, Mrs Amy
Speir read an article in the Glad
Tidings from the wife of a city
minister "In everything give
Thanks". The scripture les.son
from Psalm 95 was read by Mrs.
King and Mrs. W. WStnith led in
prayer.
Mrs. Evans' gave the
Thanksgiving message arid
reminded members to give thanks
for many blessings.
Melville gives thanks