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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1986-02-19, Page 15Cammunity • Entertainment • Features • Religion ®- Family • More SECTION CO R aimma POSTSCRIPT Asan Hundertmark If something, can go wrong, it probably will. Benmiller is the critic's choice BY DAVE SYKES Recognition of excellence, whether its for product or service, constitutes the highest form of flattery. • The Benmiller Inn has long been renowned as one of the finest country inns of its type anywhere. Over the years its list of patrons have included everything from casual vaca- tioners to corporate presdients to the Ontario premier and his cabinet. The list in itself would offer testimony to the quality of service; the tranquility of the rustic setting, the unique ambience and the charm of rural Ontario. Even the guest book at the bar in the main inn is a litany of testimonals from people from all over the world, lauding the service and charm of the Benmiller Inn. Recently the Benmiller Inn was distinguisehd in the prestigious Andrew Harper's Hideaway Report, an exclusive limited circulation newsletter that prides itself as being the connoisseur's exclusive guide to peaceful and unspoiled places. Hideaway Report, an unpretentious eight -page newsletter, selected the Benmiller Inn Complex as the Canadian Country Inn of the year for 1985. As outlined on the front page of the awards issue, each year the report published a list of the most enchanting small resorts in the world -well-managed, personalized hostelries nestl- ed in uniquely private environments.. The Benmiller Inn was first profiled in the exclusive report in June 1982 and while mere mention in the newletter is enough to keep an innkeeper smiling for a year, the selection as Canada's Country Inn of the Year is especially gratifying to manager to Lisa Whitely and her staff. "We couldn't have recieved a nicer compliment," Whitely explained. "It's good exposure for the inn and its good for morale. We know that we are working towards something and striving for excellence." What is especially complimentary to the management and 68 full and part-time staff members, is the fact that the author of the 1982 report and the agent who visited the inn in 1985 prior to selecting it as an award winner,:stayed at the ihn totally incognito. Whitely and her Staff members have no idea when the newsletter's staff member stayed at the Inn. "The fact that we recieved a good writeup in 1982 and again this years recognizes the con- sistency of the quality of service we. try to provide," she said. "Their opinion of the Inn didn't change and it speaks well for what we're trying to accomplish." The Hideaway Report is a privately published newsletter, distribution is limited to 15,000, published and edited by Andrew and Richard Harper. In the annual awards issue, it is stipulated that criteriais subjective and consideration is based on an establishment's relative intimacy in size and its peaceful and, aesthetic surroun- dings. The country house hotels are judged for all-round comfort relative to their distinctive character and seclusion. Of the Benmiller Inn the Report stated it was an "imaginative country haven sequestered in two strikingly restored historic mills and a pair of turn -of -century houses set alog a rushing river, a few miles from the shores of Lake Huron," The 1982 report on the Inn sug- gested the feeling of well-being was unassailable and that the nooks and fireplaced lounges provided a sense of intimacy. While the newsletter is effusive in its praise of the Benmiller Inn, it must be remembered that the authors pay for their own lodgings and register under assumed names. No-one ever knows the Harpers were there. • • Their monthly report is distributed in about 30 foreign countries with the notion of sharing unspoiled places with a limited and compatible group of travellers. So the award is more than genuine and for Lisa and her department heads, Francis Chisholm, Una Costello, Ray Kennedy, Joan Hymers, Mark Bussieres and Carolyn Park and the 12,000 house guests at the Inn each year, it only confirms what they've known all along. Benmiller Inn- Canada's Country Inn of the year. . Okay. Throw out the rose-colored glasses, balloons, rainbows, lucky rab- bit's feet and any other idealistic, op- timistic paraphernalia you possess. They just don't work. , Get rid of your record albums with songs containing lyrics such as "the sun will come up tomorrow" or "someday my prince will come." They're just sap- py, sentimental nonsense. And, while you're at it, wipe that smile off your face; you've got nothing to smile about! This is the age of high unemploy- ment, war, starvation, poverty, famine, disease, violence and inhumanity. It won't do any good to hide in your bomb shelter, either. There won't be anything left when you come out and you'll end up dying from starvation and radiation poisoning, anyway. How am I doing? I'm thinking of apply- ing to a. delightfully gloomy club I just discovered and I thought I'd practice. The group -is the Baden. Pessimists. local one located in a small town near Kit- chener. Its motto is "If anything can go wrong, it will." Created in response to the formation of an Optimist Club in its town 10 years ago, the Pessimists sparked in me a sense of irreverent fun. Sometimes it's entertain- ing to lapse into my Joan Rivers alter ego and dwell on what's awful, what's dismal and what's down right miserable about life. I mean, let's grow up—there's a lot to dwell on out there. As informed consumers of the mass media, we should all be wallowing in pessimism. Just flipping through a daily paper is enough to make a person want to throw in the towel...residents in com- munities surrounding Lake St. Clair are preparing for the worst flood ever this spring...more than 30 people die in a str- ing of railway accidents across Canada...after a woman dies, cyanide is again found. in Tylenol capsules...a Toronto man is shot dead while his"son looks on...Ontario doctors again threaten to stage a province -wide walk -out if they don't get their way with the extra -billing issue. There's a lot there for a bona fide Pessimist to sink his teeth into and spit out again in disgust. Why do you think journalists are such hardened cynics? They write this stuff! But, if you have a perverse sense of humor (like I do) pessimism can have a humorous side. Take, for example, the Christmas float the Pessimists in Baden entered in the town's parade in 1982 en- titled "The Last Christmas." It featured a United States cruise missile pointed at the Soviet Union. A chilling message but insightful enough to produce many a wry grin at its cleverness. I think pessimisms do the most good when their statements•provoke action by the world's optimists who take their pro- blems and search cheerfully for the answers. For example; a pessimist was definite- ly^needed on the scene when U.S. Presi- dent Ronald Reagan announced the federal budget' for his country recently. After a glowing speech about a rosy future for the U.S., Reagan's budget pros ceeded to slash many social programs for those who needed help most. A pessimist is a specialist at cutting through the glare of optimistic, though potentially misleading sunshine and, get- ting down to the cold, hard facts. Similarly, a pessimist can dwell on the abysmal poverty suffered by the Haitian people for the past 28 years during the op- pressive regime of President -for -Life Jean Claude Duvalier and prevent the optimists from dealing too lightly with Duvalier now that he's looking for political asylum elsewhere. While an optimist will inevitably see a glass of water which is half full, a pessimist will continue to see the same glass half empty, or worse still, half full of PCBs and other toxic pollutants. But, that pessimism can be useful if it pro- motes a study into, the contents of the water and cleans it up into healthy, 'harmless water. But, unbalanced by humor or an occa- sional dose of .optimism, unabated pessimism has been shown to be bad for your health. Those dwelling in the eternal gloom of pessimism are thought to be much more susceptible to illness and slower to recover. Those convinced they are about to die often speed up the inevitable con- cliision and make their deaths 'a pessimistic yet seif-fulfilling prophesy. When the power of the mind is harness- ed by an optimist, however, the results can be longer life even in the face of ter- minal illness. Dr. Simonton, a cancer specialist in Texas, tells in his book, Get- ting Well Again, about patients who have won.their battle against the most advanc- ed stages of cancer with a positive men- tal attitude and a strong will combined with more conventional cures. But, you know, the pessimist probably already knows he's going to die sooner than later. With lots of suffering no doubt. Because, as Murphy (another bona fide pessimist) says in his law, "If everything is coifing your way, you're in t e Of Sharpe's Creek winds ,its way past the Benmiller Inn providing an idyllic setting for one of Canada's finest country inns. The Inn was recently chosen as. the Cana- dian Country Inn of the year by the prestigious Hideaway Report published by An- drew and Richard Harper of Virga. Manager Lisa Whitely checks over the day's menu in the Inn's main dining coo More than .12,000 guests visit Benmiller an- nually. (photos, by Dave Sykes) • Kub. Kar competition is keen The competition was keen Tuesday as the Cubs and Scouts of North Street United Church hosted the annual Kull Kat Rally. A group of scouts scan the line of eom- petitor's cars for tips before the races begin and in the photo opposite, stouts watch anxiously as their cars are weighed before teh race. Each ear must meet weight specifications. The rally is sponsored by Goderich Plymouth.Chiysler.. (photos by Dave Sykes)