The Brussels Post, 1974-07-31, Page 2BRUSSELS
ONTARIO
Sugar and Spice
By Bill Smiley •
Well, I thought this column would have a
fairly exotic date-line: Amsterdam,
Copenhagen, Stockholm, Rue de
Something-or-Other in Paris.
That's what I had in mind for the summer,
My young brother has an apartment, with
lots of sleeping space, in the Black Forest
of Germany, or the Schwarzwald, as we
jet-setters call it.
He offered it tP- us as a base for bashing
around western Europe. It was ideal.
About five hours from Paris, the same from
Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, Berlin, A
day to Sweden. A mere bagatelle to
Holland.
I had it all worked out. A one:day trip to
Zurich, a two-day spree in Paris, a smash
at a Munich biergarten (that's a coffin
where you have to keep your socks up) with
the occasional foray into Frankfurt of
Hamburg.
Unfortunately, most of our forays this
summer will be into hamburg. That's all
we can afford, and that only once a week.
There's an old nursery rhyme, Which
doesn't even rhyme, "For want of a nail
the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe, the
horse was lost; for want of a horse, the
battle was lost; for want of a victory, the
kingdom was lost." Or something like'
that. I'm quoting from memory. Dread it
in the Book of Knowledge when I was
eight. And along with all those nails and
shoes, a good bit of my memory has been
lost.
At any rate, you get the message. One
thing leads to another. Or son-tething.
That's why I'm not writing this column
from the Eiffel Tower in Paris or God's
Badburg in Germany.
It ail st arted with the Good Samaritans,
You may recall that I wrote a coin= a few
weeks ago about some former students
who came around and fixed my garage
door for nothing. They absolutely refused
to accept a cent. It gave hie quite a warm
glow at the time.
That warm glow has, over the
intervening weeks; turned into a blazing
Ulcer.
Not their fault. It's my wife's. She's,
been saying for about two years, "Bill,
We've got to get the house painted."
I always agree. "Yep. Sweetie, next
Serving'Brussels and the surrounding community.
summer for sure." Now, our house is not
something you paint on a holiday weekend,
buy a case of beer and getting some of your
old buddies to come in and help.
It's a two-and-a-half storey edifice of
brick. Driving past, you might say, "Hell,
I'd paint that for $85.00." There's just the
trim that needs painting, you see.
But that is some trim. There are thirteen
storm windows, thirteen screens, eleventy- '
four shutters, two French doors, and at
least twenty-seven blackbirds in a fir tree.
That's before you start painting the trim.
Well, in a burst of sentimentality, my old
lady suggested we give "the boys" the job
of painting the trim. I would have given
them a case of beer and felt I was all even.
The trim is costing me $500. Fair
enough, in these days. I could have done it
myself, but I'm not going to climb a
fifty-foot ladder unless there's a might fair
damsel at the top. And all they found was
a hornet's nest.
Next. The boss, who still calls me "Mr
Smiley" or "Sir", bless him, said, "sit,
you've got troubles with that roof." MY
heart sank. I've been through it before.
Well, I don't have to go into detail. Any
homeowner knows the rest, The roof is
shot, everything is rotten, though it hasn't
leaked a drop since we.came here, The
only thing leaking is the downstairs toilet,
just after we've spent $16 having it'
"fixed".\
Farewell, Amersterdani. Farewell,
Copenhagen, Hello roof. hello, bank
Manager.
I shouldn't complain,. I guess. Suppose
those boys hadn't come to fix my garage
door. I might have been lolling around in
Copenhagen, saying, "Pas de nuit, elleties
instead of answering the door ten times a
day to loan the construction gang a
screwdriver.
It's going to be a $2,000 saintlier
holiday. At Mine. It turns out that the
garage has to be painted, too, and the back
porch. lather bitterly, I asked one of the
"boys" if they shouldn't paint tile
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you like us to paint the cat, as well?" tie
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russels Pos
Wednesday, July 31, 1914
Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
by McLean Bros. Publishers, Limited.
Evelyn Kennedy - Editor Tom Haley - Advertising
Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association.
Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $6.00 a year, Other
$8.00 a year, Single Copies 15 cents each.
Second class mail Registration No. 0562.
Telephone 887-6641.
Smoke signals
It's not often that a newspaper staff has something '-
to crow about. All of us feel at times that nobody
notices when we do something really good but any
mistake seems to bring complaints crawling out of
the woodwork.
The Brussels Post had a brief minute of glory this
past weekend and plans to crow about it for a minute.
At the annual convention of the ' Canadian
Community Newspaper Association in Toronto last
weekend, your paper won third prize for best all
round newspaper in its circulation class. With a total
mark of 71, it was only .5 behind ,the second place
paper, The Norwich Gazette, and 7 points behind the
first place winner, The Marmora Herald.
Credit goes to Evelyn Kennedy who so capably
mans our office in Brussels and has her finger on
what is going on here. A lot of credit should also go
to our photographer, Liz Watson, whose excellent
pictures in last year's Rodeo, Days edition, resulted
in the Post scoring 8 out of 10 for photos. Our
correspondents also helped us - we scored 7 out of 10
in the news of the community section.
But the staff of the Post also wants to give credit to
the people of Brussels who read the paper and give
us both encouragement and c riticism. It is your news
and joys and sorrows that we report. It's as simple as
this --- without the people of Brussels and area there
would be no Post.
So, please keep letting us know when something is
going on that we should cover. We ask you to keep
lambasting us when we do something wrong and
encouraging us all the time.
One of the judges of the competition who spoke at
the convention's award breakfast, said that a good
newspaper should not just hold up a mirror to its
community, it should send smoke signals, advance
warnings, news about what is coming as well as what
has already happened. This we intend to do.
The Brussels Post is now a "Blue Ribbon" weekly.
With your help, we hope to keep it a winner.
Why not stay home?
Who says there is nothing to do in a small
town? Well, just about all of us have said it at one
time and another.
This Sentiment is especially strong in young
people. In every generation, the group that is too old
to run Freshie stands and too young to sit in the bars
has complained "There's nothing to . —" etc.
The lack of things to do is often cited as one .of the
reasons for the vandalism and wanton destruction
that unfortunately has become a big problem in small
places like Brussels as well as in the cities.
But this weekend the "nothing to do"
complainers will have to swallow their words. There
is so much going on in Brussels this weekend that
it'll make your head Spin.
The invitational Men's Softball Tournament Is
running from Friday to Monday with many teams
entered and a total of $335 in prize money available.
Also this weekend a giant Rodeo or GYnikhana starts
at the Fairground8 at 12 neon on Sunday. Riders
from all over will Compete in the events, sponsored
by the Maitland Valley Saddle Club,
If you are one of those who thinks that there's
nothing to do in a village, stay home this weekend.
You'll find out how interesting Brussels can be,
$
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