HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1994-02-16, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16,1994. PAGE 5.
What makes us
Canadian'?
It came to me, as my grandest thoughts
often do, while I was out walking the dog.
There we were, Rufus and I, on the prowl
for an unsuspecting fire hydrant - a task
made infinitely more difficult by the fact that
it was mid winter in Canada, and all self
respecting fire hydrants were buried up to
their lugnuts in a deep futon of the white
stuff. Anyway there we were, scrambling
over snowbanks, looking for bare spots,
trying to tip toe in the footsteps left by the
mailman...when suddenly a magnificent
realization dawned on me.
"I know what makes us Canadian!" I
shouted to Rufus, the rooftops, and a passing
chickadee.
"It's snow!"
Hmm.
I see you're about as impressed as Rufus
and the chickadee were. Well, hold on
now.. .let me explain.
The greybeards say that one difference
between Canadians and Americans is that
the Yanks revere freedom and as little
government as possible, while Canadians go
for peace and as much government as it
takes to keep things orderly.
Well doncha see? That's a clear illustration
of just how snow influences the way we
International Scene
The need for
innovation
The story is told of the farmer who
discovered his property had been invaded by
snakes. A neighbour advised him that the
best way to get rid of them was to bring in a
mongoose. Wanting to be on the safe side,
he wrote off asking that "two mongeese" be
sent to him. When looking at the letter, he
thought that perhaps that was not the correct
plural of the word. Out went the letter; in its
place he wrote another asking for "two
mongooses." He was, nevertheless, just as
uncertain as before whether that was the
correct spelling. Finally, off went a third
letter. "Please send me one mongoose," he
requested, "And while you are at it, why
don't you send me a second one."
Whatever the farmer's problems with
spelling were, he at least showed a
considerable amount of ingenuity or
innovation in getting what he wanted.
Innovation is one of the things that we need
in great quantity right now as we face a few
years of trying to do more with less, given
that our governments are finally having to
show some real fiscal restraint. Fortunately
the world is filled with people, such as the
above farmer, who are capable of showing
such innovation.
A couple of years ago I wrote about a
practice south of the border that intrigued
me. More precisely it was in North Carolina
where I saw any number of organizations
who were prepared to "adopt" a section of
highway and keep it clean. As you have
probably noticed, this practice has crept into
Canada and, while I modestly disclaim any
role in having brought this about, it is a nice
way for individuals to take responsibility for
public property and at no cost to the
taxpayer.
One of the most innovative bits of
marketing I have seen has to do with the
Glacier Express which runs from St. Moritz
in Switzerland to Zermatt at the foot of the
Canucks think.
Sure. Snow is just like government. It
blankets everything, gets down your neck,
makes it hard to get anywhere and generally
snarls up the works.
After a big blizzard, life in Canada comes
to a standstill. Nothing can move until
platoons of snowplows and shovellers get
out and clear the roads and sidewalks.
Same thing with government. Except the
part of the snow removers is played by
lawyers and politicians.
And as any Canuck worth his earmuffs
knows - snow's not all bad. We can't discern
it from our snow shoes or our cross country
skis but there's an entire nether world
bustling around under the white blanket, just
above the rock-hard earth. Mice and voles
and moles are bustling around like pre
Christmas shoppers. They have their own
underground malls down there, safe from
hawks and coyotes not to mention the frigid
air above.
It works for plants too. A few
shovelsworths of snow banked around my
rose bushes guarantee they'll make it through
the winter. Same thing for strawberry beds
and slumbering garlic bulbs. Snow is
Nature's way of giving our earth its own set
of thermal Stanfields to see it through to
spring.
Our pioneers saw the bright side of a hard
wmter. "A year of snow makes apples grow"
By Raymond Canon
famous Matterhorn mountain. The word
"express" gives the idea of speed but the
Glacier Express makes no claim to speed at
all; instead of it bills itself as the slowest
express train in the world. Its trip includes
hundreds of tunnels and bridges and, since
the train is not going at break-neck speed,
there is plenty of time to enjoy the beautiful
scenery. In the dining car there are.drinking
glasses which are unlike any I have ever
seen elsewhere. They are slanted at the
bottom so that when the train is going up or
down a grade, which it frequently is, the
liquid in the glass will remain horizontal,
hence no spilling. That seemed to me to be
one of the centres of attraction during the
trip but the upshot of it all is that the Glacier
Express is booked solid; it may be the
slowest express train in the world; it has to
be one of the more popular.
I didn't know it until recently but the area
around Mayen, Germany is the site of an
extinct volcano. On top of the volcano is a
brewery which is not much different from
many another German municipality.
However, when you go to this brewery, you
are invited to not only have a brew and
something to eat but to go down into a
cavern cut into the extinct volcano. There
are about 150 steps down (you will be tired
before you get to the top on the way back)
but the sight is worth it. Visitors are able to
see the lava and the ash and where the
caverns have been cut into the latter. If you
are going to have a volcano, even an extinct
one, why not put it to good use.
Closer to home, I was watching a recent
program W5, the excellent news program
which is shown on CTV. On it was the story
of the Michigan city that has decided to
make a virtue out of garbage. They have got
it down to a fine art to the extent of using the
methane from the dump to generate enough
electricity for 5,000 homes. The garbage is
handled scientifically and a ski-hill has been
built on the part of the dump which has been
covered. Needless to say that generates even
they used to say. I can remember my Dad
looking out at a driveway full of snow and
saying "Doesn't matter how much it snows,
it won't be here come summer."
The other great thing about our snow is
that it camouflages our unfinished business.
Somewhere in my backyard there lies a
baseball bat, a couple of croquet mallets, an
ugly jumble of wooden stakes lately plucked
from my garden, a garden bench with a
wonky leg, one-half bag of barbecue
briquets, a horseshoe pitch, three (maybe
even four) rusty horseshoes, several half-
gnawed dog bones and uncountable
unsolicited deposits from the
aforementioned Rufus.
All of that junk and more adorns my
backyard, but you’d never know it. Look out
my back window and all you see is a pristine
sheet of unlined foolscap.
A Canadian writer, Frederick Phillip
Grove once wrote "The slightest snow will
bury our eyesores. Snow is the greatest
equalizer in Nature."
You said it, F.P. I could go on for a few
more column millimetres about snow, but
I'm past my deadline. I have to get this
column over to the paper. Which means I
have to dig out my driveway. Which means I
have to dig out my front walk to get to the
driveway. Which means...
Well, you know how it works.
I mean, we're Canadians, eh?
more money for the municipality which is
able to pay cash for all its requirements.
Meanwhile the municipality of Thorold, in
Ontario, is going through study after study in
an attempt to get a similar project off the
ground.
I have a feeling that banks not only dislike
customers but cash as well. I got better
service when I first came to Canada than I
do now. As far as cash is concerned, bankers
would like nothing better than to see it
disappear. My figures show that the amount
of cash in circulation is actually rising in a
number of countries which will not bring
any joy to these bankers, but help may be on
the way. National Westminster, a British
clearing bank, has come up with an
innovation which it thinks will do the trick.
This is being tried out in one British
community and is called a Mondex system.
It is a card based on the telephone card and
which holds cash; it can be used to receive
as well as pay money and functions in no
less than five different currencies. When
connected to a bank account, money can be
debited and credited instantly. Bankers may
start to salivate at such a system but the
inventor says that it will be at least a decade
before it makes any real inroads into the
existing cash system. There is, therefore, no
need to throw away your coins but it is
something to look forward to.
Then there is the new Oldsmobile which
has a gadget which gives you directions but
that is material for another story. You
already have enough innovations for one
day's reading.
Paul’s Perspective
Continued from page 4
administration in Washington.
The difficulty in obtaining loans was
another topic which was raised by some
employers. The premier wanted to hear
about some personal experiences in trying to
obtain loans. There was a feeling that there
should be some alternatives to the chartered
banks and that there be help for businesses
which create jobs.
The
Short
of it
By Bonnie Gropp
What’s important?
I like sports; not those easy to get-along
with individuals, though they're okay too,
but the type you play.
Anybody who knows me might tell you
that my sporting life these days is limited to
what I see from my chair, but that wasn't
always the case. I was never Joan Jock at
school, but I didn’t embarrass myself either
(Well, maybe a little during track and field
events). For the most part, I always enjoyed
playing or participating in sports and some I
was even not too bad at. My size made it
easy for me to deke around opponents in
games like field hockey and soccer and my
enthusiasm alone made me an acceptable
ballplayer during our neighbourhood pick-up
games. I never took lessons, but I was an
avid skater in winter and what I lacked in
swimming ability I made up for in ardour.
However, as I got older my time seemed
to become focussed on less entertaining
activities until a lack of practice has taken
away my verve and my nerve for many
sports. To save myself from any
embarrassment I now limit my 'par
ticipaction' to the rigours of aerobics and
walking.
And to heaving myself up from the couch
now and then to get refreshments or on a
particularly ambitious day, running to the
basement to do a load of laundry during
commercials.
Knowing that even a daydream of my
possessing any athletic prowess is open for
ridicule at this point, I take greater
inspiration these days from watching those
with true ability perform. A natural athlete
who accomplishes a feat with a grace that
belies its challenge is a joy to behold. Seeing
Jordan soar, Lemieux score or Carter slam
home a run is what attracts people to sport. It
is a pleasure to see someone do their job
well.
Sunday, watching the Winter Olympics
telecast, it was wonderful to see Canadian
pairs skaters Lloyd Eisler and Isabelle
Brasseur not only do well, but show a
tremendous amount of class to boot. I
missed the performance of Russian amateurs
turned pros, turned amateurs, Ekaterina
Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov who finished
first in the technical program, but I find it
hard to imagine anything much better than
what our Canadian team gave.
Not only did this competent duo give an
admirable performance, but during the
interview following the event, they reminded
everyone of what is really important — to go
out and do the best job you can.
While some may have been less than
impressed with Eisler's succinct summation,
I saw it as an accurate assessment from a
poised athlete who knew the quality of the
work he had done. That the pair saw their
third place finish as nice but less important
than the fact that they skated well, is a
noteworthy lesson in any sport. Too often it
seems we are so caught up in winning and
losing that whether we deserve to win or
lose is not an issue. As the pair said,
whatever happened during their performance
no one would die and tomorrow they would
still love each other.
By the time this column is published the
competition for pairs skating will be over but
I can only presume that whatever the
outcome Eisler and Brasseur handled it with
now characteristic aplomb.
In many of the sports I did play there were
neither coaches nor fans. Winning was
usually not the issue; we just loved to play,
to improve and enjoyed doing the best we
could without any expectations placed on us.
That's a feeling I think a few kids are
missing out on today. I hope examples like
Eisler and Brasseur will remind their
coaches and parents of what is really
important.