HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1995-03-01, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 1995. PAGE 5 .
Arthur Black
Canada Post
a pain
This morning's mail brings me a letter
from a friend who happens to be a
chiropractor. As a matter of fact it's because
he's a chiropractor that we are friends.
Every once in a while, various parts of my
body stage wildcat strikes, Hinges at the
knee and elbow book off indefinitely.
Sundry vertebrae (those little bone niblets
that make up the spinal column) decide to
fuse together in a solidarity lockout. I get
aches and pains and tweaks and twinges and
I don't like to take drugs.
That's when I hie myself off to lie
quivering in pain on my chiropractor's magic
table. He whomps me here and wiggles me
there and before you know it, I'm back:on
the road, pain-free and undrugged.
But this morning's letter wasn't to remind
me about my 30,000 mile sacroiliac
checkup. This is a letter from one extremely
disgruntled chiropractor.
Seems the Canadian Chiropractor
Association thought it might be nice to
honour Doctor Daniel Palmer this year.
Palmer was a Canadian who happened to
found the chiropractic profession exactly
100 years ago. His present-day colleagues
thought it would be a nice gesture if Canada
Post issued a commemorative stamp to
observe the centennial of their profession.
This is not a new notion on the part of the
The mechanics of
the exchange rate
I constantly get questions from people
who, for one reason or another, are not able
to translate prices in another currency to
equivalent ones in the Canadian dollar. If I
recall correctly, even some members of
Parliament got mixed up in the same area;
the result was that they made fools of
themselves in the House of Commons.
I would imagine, though, that even if they
were caught by some sharp member on the
Opposition benches, there were a
considerable number of elected
representatives whose knowledge of
exchange rates was such that they would
have been guilty of making the same
mistake.
However let's see how the whole thing
works. At the present time, the Canadian
dollar is worth about 70 cents in terms of its
U.S. counterpart. To figure out how much of
our dollars you would have to put down for
an American one, all you have to do is
divide .70 into I or the. Canadian dollar into
the American on. This will give you just a
tad under 1.43.
I am sure that, if you were doing some
window shopping in the U.S., a lot of things
that look like a bargain at $20 would cease
to be, once you had multiplied the American
price by l.4 1 or divided it by .70. In both
cases it would turn out to be about $28.50
Canadian.
In case I lost somebody at the last
sentence, it doesn't really maiter, when you
look at the American price, whether you
multiply it by $1.43 or divide it by .70. You.,
will get the same result. Maybe the best
thing to do is to take along a, pocket
calculator in your purse or jacket and do
your calculations tight on the.spot.
We..now-,e.o.mc to the next step, that of
Association. They've been tugging the sleeve
of Canada Post's Stamp Committee for the
past seven years, knowing that the 100 year
anniversary was coming up.
Alas, to no avail. Their petition to the
Stamp Committee has come back marked
"return to sender". Canada Post turned down
the request.
However the corporation did find the will
this year to issue several other
commemorative stamps to honour the
Monarch butterfly, a couple of cartoon
characters and (for the third time) the
Fortress of Louisbourg.
From what I can gather, my chiropractor
friend takes all this personally, inferring that
Canada Post's cold shoulder is
discrimination against the chiropractic
profession.
I think he's overreacting. I think Canada
Post is just doing what it does best: Being
Out of Touch.
This, after all, is the same Canada Post
which a couple of years back, mailed
promotional videos to its 65,000 employees
— at a time when barely half of Canadian
households had VCRs.
"We hope they can make other
arrangements" said the national director of
media relations for Canada Post, pointing
out that "the package also contains a
booklet."
This is the same Canada Post which, a
couple of years back breathlessly announced
deciding how much you are saving on
gasoline in the states. This involves two
calculations since the American gallon is
slightly smaller than the Canadian version.
Let's assume that the exchange rate is the
$1.43 which we used above. Take the price
of the American gas (say $1.10) and
multiply it by the $1.43. This will give you a
Canadian price of $1.57.
To save you a bit of calculations,) will tell
you that there are 3.63 litres in an American
gallon which makes the price of the gas over
there about 43 cents a litre.
If the price drops to $1, the difference will
be another 4 cents in our money. If you see
gas at $1.05, you are saving 9 cents Can.
dollar per litre.
Given the tolls on the bridge, it is hardly
worth going over to fill up on gas.
For those readers who go to Europe and
who may be puzzled by the system used
over there, a simple explanation will help.
You are likely to see something like this in
Germany -Can. dollar 1.08 1.12. There will
be some titles in German but you can ignore
them since they could be in Bulgarian and
the system would be the same.
The first number (1.08) means that the
bank will give you 1.08 German marks for a
Canadian dollar. The second one means that,
if you want to buy Canadian dollars, it will
cost you 1.12 German marks.
This is called a spread and it is how the
banks make their money on currency
exchanges.
As for where to exchange your money, I
have a cardinal rule. Do not, repeat not,
exchange it in a hotel, at an international
airport or right at the border. If you 'are
going, to Europe, for example, take enough
cash in the currency of the country, you arc
visiting to last you for the first day or so.
That_ will give you time to take a walk and
see' what the banks are offering in the way of
exchange rates. `You" can then pick the one
an exciting innovation: Confirmation Mail.
And what is Confirmation Mail? A service
for which you pay an extra 90 cents to
confirm that your letter has been delivered.
Wait a second...isn't that what the postage
stamp is supposed to guarantee?
"We're not saying everybody will use it"
said the national media relations manager for
Canada Post, "but we think there is a market
for it."
Right. I think Confirmation Mail will be
especially appealing to customers whose
knuckles scuff the linoleum when they walk.
And don't forget, chiropractors, this is the
same Canada Post that just a few short years
ago was delivering first class letters faster, at
17 cents a pop.
Of course that was a long time ago. Back
when home delivery was taken for granted —
even on Saturdays.
But then the problem never was with
posties...only with the huge, faceless, brain-
dead bureaucracy that runs the place.
The men and women who actually handle
our mail at Canada Post are as marvellous
as, well, your average chiropractor.
Maybe that's the problem between
chiropractors and the Post Office
bureaucracy right there. Different
specialties.
Chiropractors mostly deal with lower back
pain.
Canada Post causes pain a little further
down.
you want.
As for credit cards, the exchange rate used
when you pay in a foreign country by means
of a card is that which prevails on the day
when the clearing bank transfers it to the
Canadian bank; it is not, as some people
think, on the day you make the purchase.
There you are. If you master all this, you
have become an expert and deserve to be the
centre of attention at the next party.
Letters
Cards may
save pet
Continued from page 4
the sticker so that it can be affixed to the
inside of a window. The stickers are
produced with inks that contain protection
against ultraviolet rays to minimize fading. It
is very important that if the situation changes
and pets are no longer kept in the residence,
the stickers be removed.
We certainly hope that you will never
have an accident or experience an
emergency situation that will jeopardize you
or your pets and these cards will only give
some "peace of mind". However, should
these cards need to be utilized, they may
save your pet's life!
If you would like to receive a free Animal
Alert Sticker for your home, please send a
self-addressed, stamped envelope along with
your request to: publications department,
Ontario SPCA, 16640 Yongc Street
Newmarket,•Ontario, L3Y 4V8.
While these stickers are free, any donation
to help offset the printing costwould be
appreciated.
Sincerely,
N. Glenn Perrett
Pablications Coordinator.
The
Short
of it
By Bonnie Gropp
I prefer finicky
It was a trait of mine, that' my mother
summed up with several descriptive nouns
and adjectives over the course of my youth.
But while she tagged me with such
allegations as "picky" and "a snoop",
personally I prefer the term finicky.
I do not recall a time as a child or an
adolescent, when I enjoyed the type of foods
considered healthy. Ensuring I had a
balanced diet was a nightmare for my
mother from the time I began eating solid
foods. When she expressed concern that I ate
like a bird, our family doctor assured her I
would eat when I was hungry.
The fact that I'm here certainly proves him
right, but in retrospect, I question whether
there wasn't perhaps some advise that might
have put me on a better nutritional path.
The Canadian Dietician Association has
named March as Nutrition Month, and as a
junk food junkie, I hearken to their message
with the same sober intentions as an
alcoholic at an AA meeting.
I was raised on fat and sweets. When I was
very little my mother fed me whole milk, on
the doctor's advice, to try and fatten me up.
Later, in an attempt to tempt my picky
palate, which wouldn't swallow a meat and
potatoes diet, and eschewed fruit and
veggies of any kind, I was given what I
enjoyed. Macaroni and cheese, fish and
chips, cheeseburgers and milkshakes were
my mainstays.
Fortunately, when I was pregnant with my
first child I discovered a taste for turnips and
cauliflowers and unearthed a yen for salads.
Unfortunately, though my diet has improved,
the eating habits I formed early have been
difficult to break.
The past two decades have brought much
attention to the benefits of a well-balanced
nutritious diet. Studies have shown that
dietary fat can kill. Those who are lured to
the table by their preferance for meat, dairy
and fried foods increase their chances for
heart disease, cancer or diabetes.
A diet rich in fibre has been creditted with
decreasing the chances for cancers of the
digestive organs, while not eating enough
calcium rich foods may lead to osteoporosis.
I know all that, but knowing and doing are
two entirely different things. Passing up
some things is just too difficult. I quit
smoking 18 years ago, I quit drinking beer, I
don't butter my bread anymore and we've
switched to skim milk. But come on, at my
age, instead of telling me that the
cheesecakes and potato chips I love are
going to be the end of me, aren't I entitled to
not be good all the time?
The CDA's message heartened me
somewhat as they noted that all foods can fit
into a healthy diet. Public Awarenss
Programs Manager Susan Fyshe said that
eliminating foods you think are 'bad' or
always buying low fat products because they
are 'good', may make us feel guilty about
what we're eating. "If you want to enjoy a
sweet once in a while, go ahead," she says.
"There's room in a healthy diet for all
foods."
Balance is the key, according to the CDA,
which suggests that if you indulge in a high
fat dessert, cut out the cream sauce in the
main course. A balance approach includes
regular exercise and a slow, but steady shift
to healthy eating.
To be honest, this is advice that I have
been trying to follow for many years, but it
doesn't get any easier. Thanks to my early
years, my tastes are geared to all the wrong
things and learning to eat smart is tough. I
have been at times a less than model student.
But for the same reason I broke those
other bad habits of mine, I will keep fighting
to beat this one.
And to be honest, I happen to think it's the
best reason. It is, quite simply, for my own
good.
International Scene
By Raymond Canon