The Rural Voice, 1998-01, Page 16LESLIE
HAWKEN & SON
Custom Manufacturing
LIVESTOCK & FARM EQUIPMENT
• Big Bale Rack
• Cattle Panels
• Headgates & Chutes
• Portable Loading Chutes
• Gate -Mounted Grain Feeders
Self Standing Yard Dividers
Round Bale Feeder
For the best quality and service — Call
Jim Hawken
Rural Route Three
Markdale 519-986-2507
WE WANT
YOUR GRAIN!
Elevator - Seaforth
519-527-1241
• Corn • Soys • Oats
• Western Grains
CASH & FORWARD CONTRACTS
Call us today for Quotes
Dave Gordon
Elizabeth Armstrong
Richard Smibert
Ian Carter
london agricultural commodities, inc.
1900 HYDE PARK ROAD
HYDE PARK, ONTARIO, N6H 5L9
519-473-9333
Toll -Free 1-800-265-1885
12 THE RURAL VOICE
The World from Mabel's Grill
"Got the wife a new camera for
Christmas," George McKenzie said
the other day.
"Are you insane?" Dave Winston
asked. "I keep threatening to break
my wife's camera. Every time you
turn around at
Christmas
she's shoving
that thing in
your face.
Likes to catch
you unawares,
too. You know
the kind of
pictures your
relatives use in
the newspaper
to embarrass
you on your
birthday?
She's got
enough to last
The world's
problems are
solved daily
'round the table
at Mabel's
until I'm 119!"
"The wife likes to have a good
camera so she can get good pictures
when we're on vacation," George
explained. "At least she thinks
they're good pictures. We've got this
one from the west coast that has what
looks like two specks of pepper on a
blue background. She's got a note
under it in the photo album that says
the two specks are whales. I got her a
new camera with a big telephoto
lens."
"Boy," kidded Wayne Bruce,
"your corn must have yielded better
than you figured."
"Well I had to get some kind of
camera so I figured I might as well
get a good one," George said.
"Actually, the old one was still good
as new but the whole thing worked
off a battery and I went to 20 stores
and everybody says they don't make
that kind of battery anymore. So I've
got a $150 camera that's useless
because I can't find a $2.95 battery."
"Figures," said Cliff Murray.
"This way they can make sure you
buy a new camera."
"Yup," said Dave, "everything is
progressing — even planned
obsolescence. Used to be the car
companies had to invest millions
every year to make you think the cars
had changed so much you had to buy
a new one. Now all people have to do
is stop making a bauery."
"I've got a perfectly good $3,500
computer back at the office that I
can't use anymore because they don't
make updates of my payroll program
for computers that old," said Wayne.
"Burns me up to have to go out and
buy a new computer just so I can buy
a new program to make the thing still
work."
"Yeh, when you used a calculator
you could use the thing 20 years until
it broke down," remembers Cliff.
"Now you have something that
works perfectly well but it's useless."
"I like the good old mechanical
days," George said. "If something
went wrong with your tractor, you
could take it apart and figure it out
yourself. You take something apart
now and you'll find some computer
chip that you can't make hide nor
hair out of."
"Yeh, things worked in the old
days," Dave said.
"Like the post office," George
grumbled. "Remember when the post
office used to take pride in delivering
a leuer no matter how fouled up the
address was? The other day I sent a
letter to a business in the city and
made a mistake on the street number
— put 52 instead of 50. They sent it
back, marked `unknown'. Huge big
sign outside and they say unknown?"
"And remember how they used to
be so fast?" Cliff said. "Now they say
they're on time if it takes just three
days to get a letter from Toronto to
London."
"I just ignore them," Wayne said.
"If I've got something to send, I call
the courier. At least you know the
thing's going to get there on time."
"Those guys should be damn glad
they got jobs, not be going out on
strike," said Dave.
"And I'II bet the post office is
going to hit us with another postal
increase too," grumbled Wayne.
"Don't they know we can't afford 47
cents every time we mail a letter?"
"Wait a minute," said Molly
Whiteside. "Didn't you just say you
usually used courier? Don't they cost
$10or$12?"
"Yeh, but that's different," said
Wayne. "That's private enterprise!"
"I suspect if you paid Canada Post
$10 for every letter it could get mail
there on time too," Molly said.0