The Goderich Signal-Star, 1969-05-08, Page 20• ra._.._ _1111 "•°.
$ QCDBRICB BIS• AE -STAR, THURSDAY, MAY 6, 1969
THE BLUE THUMB
BY G. MacLEOD ROSS
ne Fishes
It mual, be explained at,dnce
.that--i.f -our-.meek. little Hot has
vice.at all, it is what he calls his
"feeshes." He is inordinately
proud of them and you }earn of
their fame long before you reach
his Pension. As you journey Up
the road, at 10 minute intervals
(walking time) you are greeted
by huge notice boards, nailed
sacrilegiously o , the trunk, of
a pine tree. T �r t prominent
words are: "` '' Forellen.''
•This means that • speciality of
the house is trout. Outside' the
Pension itself, . on the ' terasse
given up" to., casual guests#. Che
notice, is more explicit. It says:
• "fEBENDE FISCHE," which
,inean4ve fish,
" ° Upon 'Il'h' knoll, above the
'Pension, our host has two
artificial ponds. In, one, crystal
clear, he keeps the tiddlers until
they have graduated for
promotion to the second pond,
where, in the seclusion•of weed
—and--11.11-grass` and. _mom, a -
self -respecting trout can attain
maturity, being provided with
everything his little heart desires.
For some time now, the
former pond has been leaking, so
that evening after evening M. le
Patron has .returned from the
knoll' with every appearance of a
beaten man. Consequently, when
he was making his usual tour of,
the guests' tables at dinner, 1 was
constrained to enquire as to his
- misfortune -- his "ungluck."
"`Feet ees veree meesteereeoos,"
,he 'confided. "Ai don't: know
what it can bee," and then,
ponderously, as a new idea
flashed into his • head;: "Eet
mossed be solnmthing-ai can't
quite say." But he brightened,
for this was giving yaw yaw ublicly
before his guests to his most
HolIday. an the, Tontipong
x..
despondent views, which he
normally reserved 'for his wife.
Such dire misadventures could
—. not be allewed tc}- -cloud----the--
bonhomie of his guests.
"Ai theenk al, shall do
sommthing. Ai" — with a shake
of his head., = "eet ees fonny.
Can't blt sornmhow!" I felt that
his mental diseontinui.tie;; were
becoming a bit too intricate for
me, so I made a few suggestions,
such as draining the pond and
repuddling it with clay. But this
only nerved him' to pour out his
whole soul and explain all the
many things he had tried in:
previous years; how it was•
gt9wing on its bed the grasses
the "feeshes" loved so well, so
that if he puddled it the food on
,which to mature the ;` PEZ.
FORELLEN". would be gorse
forever. And he, the -only Patron
on the road Cb offer this
April is a month to try the
soul of the' householder. And
p mine has, been tried and found.
nting.
i�p 1111
hen the last dirty gray -
streaks of snow. had dis ip- ,
pearcd; 1 took a tour of the
, es.ta.t.e.. -Then I. went' inside,
wept for a few minutes, and
took 'shock treatment on the
rocks
We live on a corner lot. 0:n
two sides of it, there was:some-.
that looked like the re-
mains of Iladrian' •• • Wall. It
was the ramparts of sand and-.•''
salt thrown/up'on the lawn ,l y
Flee...snowbloweein4anuary.
• `. ou can?.); 1 low it• .Jbaek `i:ti.to
the
-,treet. Tla ?rC" -areetwb alter-
nat ives The 'first ''is . 18 rixan-
i::• 'rs, first - with shovel, then
, rake, then with stiff
broom. The other is'to use it as
the foundation for a stone wall
around the. property. Either
way, your lawn is ruined.
But that was merely the he
ginning. Last tall, I managed
to keep ahead of • the . maple
leaves, burning and raking like
a fiend for a couple of weeks.
But the 'oaks drop 'late,' and
they don't cascade down, but
drift, one by one.
You might as well wait for.
them all. I distinctly remember
going out one day last Novem•
her, with a face as long as a
foot, taking a took at the
fence -to -fence carpeting of sod-
den leaves, and reaching with
heavy heart for the rake.
My wife, in cone of her rare
moments of pity, said, .-Why
On* you
delicacy! What shYrre if he
failed!
Finally,/more worried than I
have seen him, he left, saying
that
he must see again -,-perhaps
he could find leetle hole through
which all the water poured
away. Shaking his head be said:
"Ai mossed see again what is the
fonny matter with that lack."
Sundays, dinner is always at
midday, and "Truites au Bleu.
Pommes vapeur. Sce
Hollandaise" is on the menu as
inevitably as nightfollows day.
Knowing his malaise o.> the
pond, " I made a: point, 'of
congratulating him' on the
avow of the fish. But it was.an
error. It only served. to •open the
wound afresh. He " became
mysterious at once and ignored,
the compliment. It' wag ,obvious,
•.that - he vitas at*- - at the top of
the knoll, wondering what was
the fonny matter • with his lack.
I'11'be there
wait a ft Asa until done abulic-Ar.'''No use griping.
days
they're., dry?"'. -And that ,` what t did. On the-,
Reeling with shock, I said,a
O.K. The next day it snowed- (�
And the next. •:And so -on, iinil
;the end of Januar" :
They're still there, eve'''
more sodden after sr'i'Aglirg•
under' four feet of snow all
winter; :And ' they'll •be
death of me, 1 know it, if I
to rake them. There must
48 tons of wet - leaves on
'lot.
1' wonder if 1' could 'get .soine
husky male student who's not
•doing.`io'i well in fib:. English at
school, and have a quiet, crafty
little ' chat with him, pointing
out -the ratio' of my ne' c-
lence to the scarcity of wet oak
leaves on my lawn.
Those ore just two April
problems, neither yet soled.
And,there's a host of simnel-
ones.
mallerones. Huge oak branches all
over the front lawn, broken off
in snow -storms. The hose .has
-,been out: all winter. My wife
set fire to, the hack porch one
winter day when she put out a
-boa of ashes which contained
some -live coals. Charred is the.
word.
The flower -beds look like a
bar -room floor on . a Sunday
morning. The shrubs are all
broken off at the elbows• by
the weight of snow. The fences
lean . precariously, as you
would if an oak brancb, ten
inches thick,' had fallen on you.
-A dreary scene, indeed. But
there's ,only, one thing to he
first wartn'cony, l went out and
attacked it •
Not direetly.' That way • lie's A
.1kart attiic I- .took a beer• and
a. h' :laid them down, looked -
at e
blue sky and thotr);iit
*pit 'ft/peril-6g' Tr'' 4 :
•
Thai's the salvation of April.
the Deep in your heart, you know
t► y that all that garbage is going
be to be attended to, even if the
the old Lady has to der it.
:Arid if you have a touch of
the poet and -artist in • you. as
what man doesn't, you know'
that the first ,day of trout fish-
ing will wash away alt the sor-
did' aspects of April, and leave
y9ti pure o1;•,heart and mind, if:
not of tongue, when -you get
out and have a hash at the
trout
•This; .the promise of getting
away out into the real world of
icy water and lost lures and no
women, on the last weekend of
April, gives a man a certain
sanity -retaining detachment as
he surveys the no-than•s•la_nd
of his property.. -
Last year, for various .stupid
reasons, I missed Opening -Day,
for the first time in 20 years, -
This year, even with a broken
neck I and I think 1 have one:
the X-rays haven't • been read
. yet ), I am going to catch my
limit, fall off a log into that
polar water. and ('.';r.2
filthy, stinking and purged: all
the good things that accompa•
ny. Opening Daj' and the real
beginning of ..Spring in this
country.
640
Here's a happy thought for Mom's comfort! The
beauty ' and style of comfortable dippers will
please Irer . i and you g"rfr will - "ke _Mother's
Day a happier one.
- Later on he saw fit to explain
his attitude at dinner. `,`Ai vos a
lettle ,nervose you know on
Friday" he said with his jerky
laugh. "Because ai had onlee got
tyventee pieces and ai massed'
have ninetee pieces for Sunday
dinner." Then 1 remembered
how I had seen him in apron-
bucket in hand, for the past two
'days. SQ he 4 hadbeen busy
getting the ► ietee pieces 'out bf
the. pond. -
aW,
nervose that ai may not get a
sufficient pieces in the time But
then 1 will tell you. Theis
always won way at the end..Arr
throw a .leetie mehl on to the
water and then immediately ai
geeve the hook and"....a look of
triumph here — "they always
take eet. But ai always keep that
for the end!"
Two hours later 1 left in the
dear old Victoria, for the station
and home, but I left assured that ,.
however nervose he might be on
.however
however kraftee the
feeshes, he would surely .draw
LAS ninety pieces for Sunday
dinner by the exercise of his'
final brilliant strategem. '
•On the m is rt ng of 9 . my
departure I begge . to be allowed .
a -see the process of drawing all
else ninety piece s from the
lake, Mine Host was a-sfudy; as
cladAti apron and with a -fixedly -
anxious 'look, 'he held the rod'
baited with meat out over the
lack. The trout were jumping all
the time at flies and I even tried
a rod myself at a spot where the,
flies were fiercest, but with no
success. M. le Patron was more
successful. After two hours,, he,
diad got' twelve: , But he' was
becoming nervose again. At this
slow rate could he .possibly draw
his ninety pieces before Sunday
dinner? On one occasion I noted
he abandoned his rod and I
watched him make a series of
strikes with a garden rakes •t- a
spot where .a succession of jumps
had been observed. There was a
splash, but he missed. He came
over to mo • 4'beaming: "Two
feeshes were playing together;"
he explained. "They continued
coming at one another. Et ees
fonny, but I could not • . get
them." Then, passim to the
more seriors' problem of the
daY: "Ai don't know what's the
matter; the feeshes are not
coming for the hook as they
should. There ess sommthing
wrong. Ai don't know what eet
ees, but they are becoming veree
kraftee you know. Ai am a leetle
NEED
INSURANCE?
PHONE
MacEwen
insurance Agency
44 North St.. •
'524-9531
foo
DEAR SIR:
I have just moved here from
Alberta and intend to stay here
for a year, then-. move---batik—to
Alber+a. Is ray present Alberta
Driver's, Permit valid here? If
not, whatre the regulations
regarding this
ANS•WEI;,t: As soon as he
becomes a rent of Ontario he
must obtain' a Ontario ,driver's
permit. This is 'done by
surrendering his Alberta permit
• amid' paying the fee for an
original Ontario driver's •ermit.
When he returns to A n *" to he
will have to repeat the procedure
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LOANS for businesses
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DEAR SIR:
A`• endaof minewas involved
in an accident and has since been
charged. with "Careless Driving."
Is this not a serious charge?
°ANSWER: Yes, it is. Careless
driving ,,cha1ges are laid when it
appears that the offending driver
has been driving without due
care and" attention and without
reasonable consideration for
using..-the..highway.. This
offence carries a penalty of not
less than $1:,,0 and not more than
$500 or imprisonment for a
period of not more than 3 •
months and his licence or permit
may be suspended , fo''`a period
of not more than two years. On
conviction you, would
automatically lose 6 points for
this offende.. This is also an.
.arrestable offence.
¢ Business . Directory . .
Ronald L.
McDonald
CHARTERED...ACCOUNITANT
39 StPavid St., 5246253
' Godorich, Otiterla
Ameimim
Wherever in Canada -your business is located, IDB
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TERM FINANCING FOS CANADIAN BUSINESSES
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The square 524-7661
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You've caped it ugly.
tq
1111;•. :.f:tl:
:•'•.• - n; : r :v'F.?•}: • • :},k {':ry;'�':;: ''rS • ti r:•<'. .•` 1:,y`ti
stir i.?{i.::•Y,.+. ; fi
Volkswagen i'ntr?duces the automatic stick shift.
Check the Yellow Pages for the name of the Volkswageri,dealer nearest you. You've got nothing to lose except a clutch,
rt
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4
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•