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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1985-12-23, Page 27ESULTS you'll aOlalid with II } �,�'T ,.DS The Advance -Times 357-2320 Bill Smiley Christ .ases past r our flees I estat,ratit ea4au'a. CLIFFORD FROM. . "The Aliens" and Staff FOUR ACES FAMILY NEW YEAR'S DINNER Homemade Soup or Juice Tossed Salad °Bread Basket Glazed Ham with Pineapple and our Famous Four Aces Sauce Sweet Potatoes Beans Amadine Black Forest Cake Coffee or Tea ONLY 8.99 For reservations phone 327-8383 Meet your friends in' the friendly surroundings of our famous Four Aces Lounge with Specialized Menu. e take pride in our many satisfied customers and want to express our appreciation for their continuing trust and confidence. Ziebait Be car smart. Go Zlebart. Auto • Truck Rusturooting Falriane 8d., Listowel 291-3171 AH, Christmas! Ugh, Christmas! Aggh, Christ- mas! One's enthusiasm seems to drain as one grows older. I don't mind the first carols beginning before the Grey Cup game. I don't mind a big turkey dinner, after eating frozen turkey dinners all year. I enjoy a Christmas tree, if somebody else will pick it up, make the dam' thing stand up and decorate it. I love a big fire in the fire- place, if somebody else will fetch the wood from the cellar. Otherwise, it's about as exciting as Labour Day. And you don't have to sweep out the needles on that holiday. However, <ithere are re- membrances i of Christmas pasts. And some of them are great ones. My childhood Christmases were all anyone could want; although during the Depres- sion, gifts were pretty scanty. But there was al- ways an apple, an orange, and some nuts in the stocking. Maybe a book under the tree. But usually a new set of long -johns. I remember a Christmas at an RAF station in North Wales. We rookie officers were introduced to an old custom: the officers served dinner to the "other ranks." We did it with a certain elan, considering that all the WAAFs were giggling and trying to pinch or pat our bums as we weaved, and I mean weaved, among the tables. We had fortified our- selves before the meal. Some officers were so well fortified that they slept through the officers' dinner in the mess after -wards. I remember another in prison camp. We had saved and scrounged from the last Red Cross parcels to get through. It began, as I recall,., with cocktails (potato whiskey), went through creamed salmon on toast and wound up with a vast cake, unleavened, • made of ground graham wafers, 'chocolate, and dried milk, beaten with water. Anyway, we lay around and groaned, for the last time in six months. Another Christmas dinner • was in a sanitorium. That was a• real gasser. Luke- warm turkey, lukewarm everything, and five other • guys coughing their guts out. However, we got our plum pudding, which looked sus- piciously like, the usual tapioca pudding, with a sprig of holly; or pine needles, on top. Then it was great Christ- mas dinners at Granny's, for a few years. Five hours frantic preparation .in the kitchen, one hour to eat, then the women back in the kit- chen for two hours, washing up, while the men stretched out like pythons, just fed. Jolly good. However, these 'great SAVE! During Our Annual Pre - Christmas Sale starting Nov. 30 9- O OFF ALL TABLE FLOOR & SWAG LAMPS • 20% Off LAMP SHADES • Also save on some sale tagged ceiling fixtures. See Our -Special Corner with gift ideas for under $30.00. Some Gift Suggestions: Rockwell Framed Prints Solid Brass Registers (4x10) Solid Brass Switch Plates Solid Brass Lamp Finials • • Why not buy' -a gift for the home — polished brass, 4 -teak-blades -rye-rs ing motor Ceiling Fan, complete with a floral schoolhouse globe at $9995 • FIBRE OPTIC LAMPS Sale ends Christmas Eve --Shop early for best selection. von LIGHTING CENTRE an / ` if company ®� 133 Regent St. 192° 10th Street Stratford Hanover 273-0650- 364-3121 dinners were not without in- cidents. On one occasion, my brother-in-law and I went in on a television set for the folks on the farm. With great secrecy, we put it on a to- boggan, and slid it 200 yards up- the snowy lane to the house. We hoisted the great box into the kitchen. Kim, about three, said, "I hope you like the TB, Gran." .The whole clandestine surprise busted by a kid. Anyway, Gran liked it. On another occasion, my wife decided to do the honors. It was the first real home we'd had — half a house. She spat and polished, even the stoves, and invited her parents and a favorite aunt for- the big Christmas dinner. She was like a whirl- ing dervish, making gravy,, bashing potatoes, while I stood around being ,helpful. Finally, she handed me the platter with the turkey on it I headed for the table, and the dang turkey — you know how slippery they are — slid right off the platter and onto the fresh -polished floor. I have never been closer to death. However, everyone was great and they had a good turkey dinner, except for Tiny Tim — yours truly — who spent the rest of the dinner washing the floor. Another big flop was the time we invited Gran and arandad out to a hotel for Christmas dinner. Gran was a bit past the getting of a gargantuan meal. It was my ide ; last of ahe big-time s nders. We all got dressed p, which we didn't do at the farm. The dinner was third- rate, and we were all embar- rassed, even the kids. Limp, cool turkey, dressing made from old running -shoes, gravy from a can. The only thing I could think of was, "well, no dishes to do." This cheery note was greated- by stony silence. Last two years haven't been so bad. Auntie Iris in- vited us all for Christmas dinner, and it was the good old style. Last year, after about thirty seconds dialogue, we agreed to go out to a res- taurant, and it turned out to be first-rate. No turkey, but all you could eat. My grand - boys put away about twice as much as any adult. My only real regret. is for the time my mother cooked a great turkey dinner, to be served about three o'clock. My older brother and sister and a friend went out skiing and arrived home at five, full of themselves. My kid brother and I sneaked off to the matinee, and arrived home,.guilty, about the same time. My mother didn't say a word, but the dinner was ruined, and I've never felt so guilty since. Next year Canadians will be making some decisions about free !,rade with the United States. What Prime Minister Mulroney has in mind in proposing discus- sions on this subject is diffi- cult to determine. We now have in effect al- most free trade with the United States. As of 1970 nearly 55 per cent of Can- ada's imports of fully manu- factured.end products were duty free. By 1987 under the Tokyo round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), 80 per cent of current Canadian manufac- tured end products exported to the United States will enter duty free, and up to 95 per cent will be subject to tariffs of five per' cent or less. By that year, 65 per cent of U.S. industrial pro- duction will enter Canada duty free, and 91 per cent with duties of five per cent or less. Hence, any further moves to "free trade" will be marginal at best. We should realize that Canada in 1984 ran a $19.7 billion trade surplus with the United States. In view of the enormous trade deficits that the United States now is run- ning with the rest of the world, approximately $150 billion annually, is it con The significance of the lights of Christmas Even though our two youngsters have reached that sophisticated stage of life, their mid -teens, recent weeks have seen them become increasingly aglow with the pleasures of anticip- ating Christmas. "Let's go into town and see the lights," has been the' constant plea of our 14 -year- old daughter. And this year again, she insisted on having Christmas' lights in her bed- room. Whatever it is, this thing called the Christmas spirit, the lights have a lot to do with it. The sight of a big tree lit with many -colored lights, shiny baubles reflecting their glow,'. in some mysterious way revives all the accumulated excitement from Christmases long past, back into our childhood. They're a comfort too, arriving as they do upon the scene just at the time of the year when we need them most. Our daughter may not realize it yet, but she's onto a wonderful truth with her love of the lights. Just as a seed "dies" in the dark of our garden soil and develops a 'new form that elongates itself, seeking the light of life, so do human lives follow the same process of.growing from darkness to light — from the 'struggles of birth, through wrestling with conflicts and difficult de- cisions; right to thefinal stauggle into light, the one Robert Browning calls ".. . .one light ..more, ._the -.best ..and the last!". So this Christmas holiday our daughter has enjoyed.. the significant pleasures of her own Christmas lights, as we all enjoy the increasing mements of light day by day after the winter solstice". Before long, the first bulb flowers of the year will be nosing their way through the cold soil, and another spring season will be on its way. For gardeners, as well as for those in love with the Christmas season, light is both .a critical and inspiring element. We Who love to grow things know that the iglil-muarTie... rigTit:- Try growing tomatoes or cucum- bers in a dark winter green- , even'il it's heated. Or induce poinsettias to bloom outdoors in the long days of summer. Rejoicing in the light of Christmas is like the glad, triumphant revelry of a harvest festival: The lights reflect all that is bright and lovely in our lives. That is why it is tradditional at Christmas to gather about us as at a harvest, or to remem- ber in some way, those who have brought light into our lives. Here is something my late father-in-law, also a garden writer, wrote about that: "There are some, close to home, who rate a very special' . Christmas greeting too. ' In particular, I am' thinking of Smitty. "You know Smitty — he is the neighborhood's Good Neighbor. He's the fellow who lendsyou a suitable ladder — and a sharp saw — when you decide a dangerous -"branch must come off that big tree alongside the house. More than likely, he will wind up doing the sawing while you hold the ladder! "Smitty is the fellow who knows what's gone wrong with your roses, and he just happens to have on hand what is needed to put them right. "There is a tendency, in our neighborhood, to take Smitty for granted, for he is a quiet, unassuming type, with a modest home and a not -very -new car. He does, however, own the only fertil- izer spreader on our block, and all his neighbors' lawns benefit thereby. He main- tains a low profile, but always seems ' to be around when we need help. "Why not drop in on your particular . Smitty this Christmas, not to fuss over him, but just to let him know by your presence that you were thinking -of him at this happy time, and that you appreciate and cherish good neighbors." So here's to the Christmas lights. May they be bright in your home this Christmas. And to all the Smittys, a very merry Christmas. YOU ARE THE DETECTIVE You are stretched out in a hammock in front of your vacation cottage on a blistering day in the south, trying to relax on a day dur- ing which there has not been a sign of a breeze and during which the humidity has been close to 90 per cent of satura- tion. Your rest is suddenly interrupted• by the arrival of Sheriff Jim Travers.. "We have a murder on our hands!" exclaims Travers. "A couple of hours ago Bill Sawyer's body was discover- ed on the river bank. He is one or our local attorneys — shot in the right temple — and judging from the marks on the ground around his body there was a struggle." "Who discovered the body?" you ask. "A young fellow by the name of Dick Arlington. Ac- cording to his story, he was on the river in his sailboat moving slowly upstream and _idiy scanning '!fie` sfiores through his binoculars when suddenly he spied the body sprawled on one of the banks. Hestarted the auxil- iary motor on his boat and `made—straightwaybank where where he quickly deter- mined that Sawyer was dead. Then, again using his motor he piloted his beat to town and reported the mur- der to me." "Have you any line yet on a possible suspect?" you ask. Sheriff Travers shakes his head perplexedly. "I'm. afraid not. Bill Sawyer was a ,popular man around town, had no enemies that I know of, and I don't know just where to begin." "Well," you say, "I think you can begin by questioning. young Dick Arlington a little more intensively. I'm sure he , knows more about this. than he has told you thus far!" What has aroused your suspicions regarding , Dick Arlington? SOLUTION '}Meq aql uo ,Spoq s,wllaln aql pallods annq of pawinp aq crawl; atp le ;lu!op sem aq legm sem dill 'Amp s,uoiflutlsv 3131Q of Surpa033R pun „`azaa.iq e ;o u21s e„ lnomp& weasisdn 9A0W louueo ;eogilns V Crossroads—Dec. 23, 1 5—Page 7A Canada's Business by Brut Whiteston ceivable • that any negotia- tions will permit Canada to run a surplus higher than that generated last year? We should heed that old adage, "If it is not broken, don't fix it.'' Moreover, within the Unit- ed States itself, there has been G strong movement of production and enterprise away from the northeast, to the southwest. This probably reflects the high cost of energy to heat factories and homes. In view of this, why would Canada be able `to buck this trend? Is there any reason to believe that, despite our higher costs of production, more North American enterprises would locate here? There is another factor to be considered. At the present time most foreign parent businesses irnpose restric- tions on the export of pro- ducts from their Canadian plants, even when it makes economic sense to do so. Ex- ports are viewed as the prov- ince of the international divi- sion of head office. In a "Special Study on Export by Canadian. Subsidiaries" a trade commissioner report- ed that U.S. parent compan- ies were not interested in ex- porting from Canada. This columnist learned the same thing when he worked with a major chemical company in Montreal. Even though we in Canada at that time could have exported under Imper- ial Preference to the British market with little duty, the U.S. parent company in New York decided for reasons that had nothing to do with economic merit, to export from the United States. Even the highly touted Canada -U.S. Auto Pact worked to our disadvantage for most of its existence. We in Canada were given the production of big cars for which the U.S. parent, com- panies assumed that the de- mand would diminish. With the end of the oil shortage, large vehicles regained popularity, so our benefits were only by happenstance. When it comes to trade, Canada should watch its step. It seems that we would have almost everything to lose and nothing to gain by entering negotiations. It is time to cut through the rhetoric and recognize the facts. The possibility of "en- hanced trade" with the United States must be con- sidered naive nonsense. • REFORM WITH OS TO... h7 Coast -to -Coast on a Bus EACH SUNDAY AT SAM EASTERN TIME IM THE 15306 T1115 RADIO • sr ei WA5 INTRODUCtD Gl Tr iE.. BLARING OFA BUS HORN. FOLLOWING THE SOUND OF+THE HORN, ONE OP THE CAST MEMBERS, •JSUALLY MICHAEL O'DAY RONALD USS OR JACKIE KELKtWHO PLAYED HOMER ON THE AGGVWCH FAM/LYS STEPPED TO THE MICROPHONE AND SAID... THE ri'h/TE �7ABB/Y ` L "/Ve JUiNP5 ANYWh'ER3 THEN ALL THE KIDS, RANGING IN AGE FROM 3 TO 16, sAme THE THEME "ON SHE SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREE" " • b it i t )w• -ii D',• , W NZ 5 3 AMONG THE FUTURE STARS WHO PERFORMED ON COAST. -70 -COAST ONA L44/5 WERE ANN BLYTH, BILLY HALOP (LATER A /MOVIE SEAL, ENG 610),VIVIAN SMOLEN (OUR GAL SUNL:r ). WALTER ETLEY(LEROY ON THE GREAT 9/GLaE/P.'SLEE✓E), AND BOB HA6T1N05(TVe hfCHA°LEG /✓AYY�, ILTON CROSS WAS HOST OF THIS POPULAR NBC CHILDREN'S. •'HOW RAYING THE PART OF THE CONDUCTOR ON THE FICTIONAL 5U5 NAMED "THE WHITE RABBIT LINE." CoAsr-To-coAsr ' ON A ,SUS WAS THE SUCCESSOR TO ' THE OM/GG?RE/V S HOUR WHICH'SEG4N IN 1524 IN PR6- NETWORK DAY5 ON. W.7Z. THE SHOW WAS MOSTLY MUSIC. REMEMBER THE"PETER AND MUMSY PIG"5KIT5? moo/4r N7 We extend the best of hopes for you for a warm, happy holiday. From the Staff of McGREGOR MOTORS 291-1300 Fl AMC IJee c RENAULT T