The Brussels Post, 1977-02-09, Page 4Sugar and -Spice
by Bill Smiley
Winter musings
This week, with no great, st ark theme
demanding my intense and earnest
attention, I thought we'd have some
mid-winter musings, for a change. Show
me the Canadian who can be fiery in
February, and I'll show you a saint. Or a
devil.
One thing I'm sure of. They're going to
come with a large butterfly net one of these
days, and cart my wife away.
She doesn't sleep well. Many a morning,
in the pitch dark, when the boy wades
through the snow with our morning paper,
he looks into our brightly-lighted dining-,
room and sees this funny lady in her
nightie-gown, sewing a fine seam at the
dining-room table, on her new sewing
machine.
La st night, or rather at four a.m. this
morning a curious passerby might have
been rather intrigued had he looked
through our cellar window. There,
crouched on the floor, was a blowtorch
burning b rightly , in her dressing-gown
and slippers. She was removing the wax
from our skis. It's a good thing we don't
have anything resembling a Gestapo in this
country.. They'd have had her in a
concentration camp long ago, on general
principles.
My daughter's going a bit the same way
herself. After a mere 20 years of education,
and only two children, she's decided to
enter the real world . She's going to stop
being a student, and go to teacher's
college. Maybe. My son-in-law, who has a
measly 22 years of schooling, is no such
fool. He knows that when you end your
education, y ou run into the world's dirtiest
four-letter word: "Work" and he wants no
part of it for a few years yet.
"A pound of coffee soon $5? queries a
newspaper headlilne. Who cares? There's
still a lot more mileage in a pound of java
than there is in a guar t of good rye, at
$7.80And nobody will force you to drink
either. So we still have some freedom of
choice in this country. The news story said
"People will get hysterical in June, just as
the Brazilian winter ends." I doubt it. And
if they do, as Marie Antoinette would have
said, "Let 'em drink brandy." At 12 bucks
a bottle.
A Toronto borough is battling to keep
unrelated people from sharing a dwelling.
Why? I'm not related to my wife, and
we've shared the same dwelling, even the
same bedroom, for many a year. What's
the fuss? The only reason I can think of for
the concern is that people start looking like
each other if they live together too long.
For some, this is a real bonus; for others a
nightmare.
Rene Levesque disappointed me hugely
when, after first refusing, he gave in and
agreed to wear a tuxedo while addressing a
bunch of American big-shots in a pitch for
loans. for Quebec. So much for the vaunted
independence of the new Quebec.
West German Chancellor Helmut
Schmidt says Germans are annoyed about
the way they are depicted in World War II
movies on British television. Tough
toenails, Helmut. How would you like to be
represented? As a dedicated band.of social
workers. A movie about Germans in
wartime without, a couple of good
"Schweinhunds!" in it wouldn't be worth
the powder.
A couple of neat items: a judge in
Brampton ordered a 20-year-old woman
who was defrauding the Unemployment
Insurance Commission to donate a pint of
blood every six months for two years; a guy
in Illinois is living with his family in a cave
and his heating this winter will cost him
only $1.29 for gas and oil for his chain saw.
This is the type of stuff that restoresmy
faith in the ingenuity of the human spirit.
The deadly dullness of Maclean's
magazine underlines the reasons so many
of us read Time and News‘Veek, those
horrible purveyors of American free
enterprise, lively news stories, and
excellent book and movie reviews.
The annual NHL all-star game is the
least exciting sports event of the year
British Columbia is talking about giving
everyone guaranteed wage. Why in the
holy old jumpin' was I born 30 years too
soon?
After spending about 20 bucks on
battery,boosts from the tow-truck, I
installe a block eater in my new old car.
Naturally and inevitably, the spell
ended, and I don't need the thing. Another
$15 .dovvn the drain.
When the ice on my roof built up to a
height of about 36 inches, 'I moved swiftly
and goi a gang in to remove it before we
were plunged, willy-nily, into the
Basement. They did a great job, for $50 ,
and threw in a bonus — half a dozen
shingles removed, along with the ice.
A columnist says our government is stale
and exhausted.1 would have used the words
Hamlet did: "Stale, flat and unprofita-
ble." It has the same stale demands for
taxes, the same flat denial of any
reasonable appeal against them. And the •
only people who ever make a profit from'
dealing with it are civil servants and
bureaucrats.
It hasn't been all bad this winter.
There's been some great news from
Florida. All those rats who leave the
ice-coated Canadian ship every winter to
bask in the sun have been freezing their
butts off this- year.
So much for mid-winter mutterings.
Ronnenberg Insurance Agency "
INCOME TAX
PREPARED
Farmers — Businessmen — Individuals
— At Reasonable Rates —
File early to avoid the Rush
[24 years Experience]
Brusseis Office Open Tuesday & Friday
Phone 887-6663
MOnktOn Office Open Monday thru Saturday
' Phone 347-2241
FEBRUARY 9, 1977
Old Age
Pensioners
Guaranteed
Income
Supplement
Application forms
of
gill
s
/11! ri p, 4
Fill them out!
Send them MI
Guaranteed Income Supplement
application forms were mailed •
recently to all pensioners now re-
ceiving the Supplement. To make
sure that your Supplement to the
Pension continues beyond March
31st you must reapply. So make
sure you fill in your form and return
it in the addressed envelope en-
closed with thelorm, as soon -as you
possibly can.
I- -r Health Sante at
, and Welfare Bien-etre social
Canada Canada
Matt Lalonde,
Minister
'10 411
••• 0 • g 4.4%.,•.-
W.°°' )1 rqiiI" • k I 4.41i."4.0.•'_.di • 4,
Pro Life group
sets date for
annual meeting
On January 24 an executive
meeting of the Wingham Voice
for Life group was held at the
home of Mrs. Richard Campeau.
Three new members are Ray
Van Camp, Richard Campeau,
and Joanne Plas.
"Festival for Life" buttons are
available.
March 29 has been the date set
for the Annual Meeting. The
iodation and speaker for this
evening will be announced at a
later date.
Advertising...
keeps you
posted.
dakADIAN ADvERTISINd ADVISORY BOARD,,,
4—THE BRUSSELS POSTi,
'or
HERE'S THE WAY IT FITS — Members of the
Brussels Cub pack had a look inside the fire hall in
the village recently when Chief Davey Hastings and
other members of the volunteer fire department took
them on a tour and explained how the fire fighting
equipment operates. Cub Tpm Ward above, takes a
look at a portable oxygen outfit, worn by fireman
Murray Lowe. (Photo by Langlois)