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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1959-01-29, Page 2Typing Troubles Of A Reporter Do you ever wonder where a foreign correspondent goes -to write a date -lined story? To a big desk in a comfortable office? Rarely does that happen,' As :a case in point, glance at the date line on this particular story. Literally l am up in the air, Approximately seven feet, seated in my small car, which is bal- anced on a hydraulic lift. Below me I can hear the service station attendant greasing the car. At the rate he is going, I will have time to finish this story, for oc- casionally he Is interrupted by a passing motorist whose tank needs gasoline. Through the snow that is coming down, I have a view of the rolling French countryside and the faraway farm houses. I have a feeling of almost com- plete isolation in a shining Shangri-la of gasoline pumps, free water, and free air. This is the first time I have ever written, a story elevated above a grease pit. Howeverit is not the most unusual writing site. I have either picked or had forced upon me. It is routine reporting to say. correspondents turn .out stories on trains, buses, planes, and ships. Thoseare easy planes in which to write. They are some- times preferable to many a newspaper city room. I once wrote a .short feature standing up at a lunch counter in the cavernous railway station In Oslo. In order to stake out a claim on this space, I had to eat three large sausages garnished• with' mustard and mounted on large chunks of bread. Writing was made doubly difficult be- cause customers kept asking me to pass the mustard. Frankly, I am very partial to railway stations, and have writ- ten stories from one in Cairo, Libson, Appenzell, Bonn, Sala - bur, Gothenburg, ' •and Dublin. Two were turned out in a tiny railway station in a mountain village in, Switzerland, while I waited for my train to be du'g out of blocking snowdrifts. • The stationmaster invited me, between stories, to eet'with him and his wife in the neat living quarters they had • at the rear of the station, Theyspoke' Ro= mansche, Switzerland's fourth language, a tongue as foreign to meas as Sanskrit or Basque. I, have long since. given up, writing stories aboard . trains in, j�►• Swiss' Alps, the Austrian. Tyrol, and that stretch of the Italian Riviera between -Alessi* and the frontier stop of Venti- miglia. There are too many very black tunnels to pus through, and not being proficient at the touch system, I Mt keys such as @ % and 0. Italy can provide wonderful sites in which to write. Take a spring morning at Syracuse in Sicily. Enter the deserted Greek Theater. Sit on a stone bench, your typrewriter before you. A very logical . method of writing an on -the -spot travel story. At least I thought so, and I was settling down words when sud- denly a busload of English tourists and a guide entered the theater. "When Rome was but 'a small town, many great dramatic spec- tacles were to be seen in this theater, built by Dionysius in 400 B,C.," the guide began. He went on: "Alas! today one rarely sees such sights." 'I wouldn't say that," one of the Englishmen said with a wry smile, nodding in my direction, The tiny Island of Comacina, only one in Lake Como, has a locanda run by Signor Cotoletta (Mr. Cutlet) and his wife, with the help of one waiter named Tranquillo. After a fine meal there, I wandered to a nearby field, put my back against a small haystack', and using my .knees and a magazine as a desk, I wrote a draft of a story in longhand. Finished, I laid the papers aside and dozed in the warns Italian sun. When I awoke, I. couldn't find my story, 'and fee a good reason. Signor Cotolet-. ta's ` two young children had Made airplanes out of it and were scaling them through the light air. When retrieved, obviously one page had been ditched, how- ever, temporarily, in some cus- tomer's soup, writes Walter Hackett in the Christian Science Monitor. Five years ago "I covered the May Day Parade in the east sector of Berlin. After the last Communist had finished march- ing, I sat at ' a seedy sidewalk cafe and made notes on what I - had seen, I looked up to see two volkspolizisten staring at me. Very casually I laid down pencil - and paper and unconcernedly, I hoped, strolled inside the cafe. looked back and saw the policemen examining my notes.. Po I walked into the kitchen, past a woman washing dishes, and made a fast exit out the rear door. I )relieve I must have created a new heel -and -toe record to .the subway that car- ried me back to West Berlin. In June, 1955, when word of the revolution in Argentina reached : Rio de Janeiro . where I' was based, I boarded the first plane allowed into a very ,tense Buenos Aires that was under rigid martial law. It was easy to gather news, but how to get it out was another question, for censorship had clamped down like an iron lid. ' I worked outa plan whereby I boarded a plane at the inter- national airport, and during the short ride to. Montevideo in neighboring Uruguay I wrote' my story. From Montevideo I cabled my story to New York and took the next plane back to Buenos •Aires. This worked very well, but on the morning of my fifth trip to •Montevideo, the airport police suggested rather strongly that ft would be wise not to return. An airline, assistant manager later shipped.my belongings to me in Rio. After that experience I found it very pleasant to type my stories from a far side' of the big pool at the Copaeabana Hotel. There remain many other in- teresting and unusual places from which one could write stories. 'For example, there le the satellite =, I will have to think about that later, for the attendant is ready to push the button of the hy- draulic lift, which will lower me from my Olympian heights and rarefied thinking. Anyhow, I am positive I ant the only American newsman ever to have written a story from over this particular grease pit. I must isk the attendant. Boat Builders To Hold Show All of the newest types and styles of boats, engines, marine ' equipment and accessories will be displayed at the first annual Canadian Boat Show which will be held in the Queen Elizabeth Building, Toronto, from Febru- ary 6 to 14, In the past decade boating has. become the fastest-growing re- creation in .Canada. At present one in every 20 Canadians owns. a boat of some kind or other. In a single year over one million Canadian families spend approxi- mately 250 million dollars in pursuit of boating pleasures. At present there are in the neigh- bourhood of 225 boat builders in Canada. Jointly sponsored by the Cana- dian Boating Federation and the Canadian National Sportsmen's Show, it will have the finest and most diversified display of boats ever assembled under one roof in Canada. A total of 60 exhibitors will show their wares and as many as 175 boats will be on display at the exciting big. "Boatarama." VO STARCH-NEEDED—Mrs. Anne Bush shows what happened to • wash when 01' Man Winter took a hand in ifs drying, at .,r -zero temperatures. HOMEWORK—See what volunteer firemen cooked up for themselves' on a defective hotplate' in their headquarters at Forestville, Va..No Injuries, but several eases of acute embarrassment, were suffered. - TA BLE TALKS e5 ■,. a w i The main -dish .. casserole is ' e. Sprinkle• chips on top and bake boon to homemakers because it is: quick and easy: tit :make and may be prepared early and then pta't . into the 'oven at the ' last minute, There are many other advantages, too—for instance,' it needs only salad and dessert to make a complete meal, : it• can be cooked as part of. an entire oven meal, it saves a great deal of dishwashing, and it can be made in abundant variety. • • • With a basic,easy. recipe, a• home cook can -branch out in every direction, adding this and Sint and' subtracting other things. The basic recipe may be named,. wQuick Chicken Casserole" b'ut'.- ith a. little change, of ingredi- ents'It soon becomes "Tasty Tuna Casserole,' and .with a little dif- ferent adjustment;: 'it Is "Easy Salmon Casserole" ' • • • Here is a quick, basic recipe that • serves four.; -' QUICK CHICKEN CASSEROLE VARIATIONS 1 cup 'cooked chicken 1 cup drained. peas 1 can condensed cream, of ce1- ery or 'mushroom soup; % cup' milk ~ ' • • • 1 cups crushed potato ...chips Pour soup into casserole dish;' add milk' ,and mit "thoroughly.. Add chicken, peas, and 1 cup potato chips; stir, well. Sprinkle top with remaining potato chips. Bake at 375• F. for 25 minutes. NOTE: Frozen peas may be added to the dish uncooked = then bake at 375' F. for 45 min- utes. Variations Tasty Tuna Casserole—Substi- tute 7-ouncia asserole—Substi-tute'7-ounce can (1 cup) drained paked tuna for chicken; use cream of celery or mushroom soup. Easy Salmon Casserole—Sub- atitute. 8 -ounce can of drained flaked salmon for chickenand use eelery or mushroom soup. Topping Variations Instead of the potato chips, sprinkle corn chips, cereal flakes or crushed crackers over top. Vegetable Variations. Use green beans, :lima beans, or whole kernel corn instead of peas. • • * Other good casseroles include: HAM AND FRUIT DRESSING CASSEROLE • 4 cups toasted bread crumbs V4 cup butter r/g. cup hot water % teaspoon cloves i/ cup brown sugar 2 oranges 2 tart apples % cup raisins 6 slices baked ham (1 pound) Combine bread, butter, water, cloves, and brown sugar. Peel and dice oranges and apples. Steam raisins. Combine all in- gredients except ham. Place in greased, shallow baking dish, Top with ham slices. Cover and bake at 350° F. for 45 minutes. • • • LOBSTER -EGG CASSEROLE 4 eup butter m/ eup diced celery 7'/ cup chopped onion 1 tablespoon diced green per %/4 cup flour 1 teaspoon salt Dash pepper 2 tablespoons brown prepared mustard WA cups milk 2 6 -ounce cans rock lobster tails 3 hard -cooked eggs shelled and sliced 1 cup corn chips, potato chips or crackers, crumbled Melt butter; add celery, onion and green pepper and cook until tender. Blend in flour, salt, pep- per, ' ep-per,-:• and' prepared. mustard. Slowly stir in milk, stirring con- stantly, and cook over low heat until mixture . thickens, Flake half the lobster meat in the bot- tom of a. casserole, Top with half the egg slices. Pour half the sauce over this, then repeat lay- ers with remaining ingredients. Pap- , at 400° F. about 20 minutes or until piping hot. • • s PARMESAN. 'CHICKEN' AND NOODLES' 5/ cup butter 1 (3t/ -pound frying, chicken, cut in serving .pieces) , 1 tablespoon salt 3 quarts boiling water E ounces medium egg noodles (about.4 cups) 1 cup :light cream ' 1/g cup grated Parmesan 'cheese 1 teaspoon salt" - Vs teaspoon pepper Melt butter: Add chicken and cook until lightly' browned on -all 'sides. Meanwhile, cook :the noodles in boiling water to which you have added .,the 1 tablespoon salt. Drain, ?Combine• noodles, cream, Y4 cup cheese, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper.. Mix well. Turn into greased two- quartdasserole Top With chick- en, Sprinkle with remaining '/4 cup cheese: Bake at 350° F. for 30 -minutes. Admiral's Hobby - Needlwork - Famous warriors, even before their retirement; -often culti- vate exceedingly ,gentle pas- times. Field = Marshal Mont- gomery, for instance, breeds budgerigars. At his Hampshire home at Islington Mill, the Field -Marshal keeps fifteen birds of various colours in cages which he de- signed himself. One budgie, the .oldest of his little flock, was a 'present- to -him from Sir Win- ston Churchill, Fittingly, • this sprightly blue bird rejoices in the name of ' Winston. Monty's successor in command of the Eighth Army, Lt. -General Sir Oliver Leese, has a more prickly, but. quiet occupation: he eultivetes cacti on a large scale. At his home near Bridgnorth, Salop, the soldier who led the Eighth Army to victory in Italy -raises 25,000 commercial speci- mens a year. Recently, at the - Garden Centre, in London, the General exhibited over 200 specimens. Viscount Alanbrooke is a keen bird -watcher. Few profes- sional ornithologists possess so fine 'a knowledge of bird life, or so great a patience in track- ing down and :observing rare species, such as Spanish eagles, whose haunts are difficult to reach. ' Embroidery is' the hobby of Vice -Admiral R. D. Watson, the new Commander -in -Chief South Atlantic and South America. With his wife's help, he recently made embroidered seats 'for six Chippendale chairs, a family in- heritance. Chairs Of Doom Most people have heard of the American form of eicecution, the electric chair. But there are other •chairs quite as deadly, used for execution in states which do not favor electrocution. The -State of Utah generally gives the 'condemned person the choice of rope or bullets. One man who chose shooting was strapped in a chair and then five execu loners hidden behind a screen shot him dead. Another deadly chair is kept in,a' sealed and airtight chamber in the execution block of a cer- tain state prison. Below the chair is. e, ,sort' of bucket which• contains' chemicals. . The .con- demned man is fastened in the chair and everyone else leaves the" chamber. By mechanical means :chemical "eggs" are released • from •beneath the chair and drop into the buc- ket. The chemicals react and give off cyanide gas. ` Common language Spoken ,By Sailors ti`he lore of sail, has '°become Obsolete in our mechanized age, but part of its fascination wait in the romantic and sometimes Inexplicable, names of every part of a sailing vessel and of all the gear and equipment, The nau- tical lingo made sailors of . all nations a race apart from land- lubbers. This Esperanto of the sea had evolved, during cen- turies of usage, from sources al- most impossible 10 trace, passed on by word of mouth from gen- eration to generation of seamen, most of whom were unable to read or write; but they knew unerringly the meanings of hun- dreds of technical terms that had a power of enchantment. At times their very lives andthe lives -of all on board a vessel might depend on the correct arid instantaneous response to an or- der given in that nautical jar- gon which was gibberish to a landsman but of vital reality , to a sailor. .- • Many of these words have now passed out of use among seafaring men in mechanically propelled vessels, who have specialist vocabularies of their own and- can afford to be . less watchful of wind, weather, and seas than .the old-time sailors had to be. Much of what I learn- ed in sail was of little use to me' in mechanically powered vessels; yet, after more than fifty years, the magical old words I learned as a boy come back to me,' as I think of the futtock shrouds, vangs, dead -eyes, gaskets, bunt- lines; or of goose -winging a top- sail, or steering by the wind or full and by, or using a handy - billy; or 3 recall scraps of weath- - er wisdom. . I learned in the "County of Pembroke": First the rain and then the wind: To the yards your canvas bind; Or Topsail halliards you must mind. or First the wind and then the rain: Let your flying kites remain. ... From "Sail Hol" by.Sir, James . G: P. Bissett, in collaboration with P. R. Stephenson. , It's easy to -spot d person'with a lotof,•personality_- he always reminds', you so much of you. . ISSUE 4 L, 1959 CIRCLE OF COMFORT—Sister M. Julian, orthopedic supervisor of St. Anne's Hospital tests the automatic controls of a new type bed. Particularly useful for paralyzed patients, the bed can be raised, iowered and 'turned without discomfort to the occupant. '4"z NOT SO. NICE-No'sunbathing today at, the famed French resort of Nice, A would-be stroller it forced to scramble to avoid being drenched by a wave, bredk!ng over the Promenade des,.., Anglais ,('Englishmen's Promenade). A heavy storm in the Mediterranean sent huge breakers rolling over the promenade, littering It with gravel. In good weather, if is thronged with vacationing sunseekers.