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Times-Advocate, 1985-05-22, Page 4Page 4 limes -Advocate, Moy 22, 1985 Times Established 1873 Advocate Established 1881 Amalgamated 1924 41. imes Published Each Wednesday Morning at Exeter, Ontario, . Second Class Mail Registration Number 0386. Phone 519-235-1331 cn LORNE EEDY Publisher JIM BECKETT Advertising Manager dvocate NOM 1S0 eNA ccw BILL BATTEN Editor HARRY DEVRIES Composition Manager ROSS HAUGH Assistant Editor DICK JONGKIND Business Manager SUBSCRIPTION RATES: Canada: $23.00 Per year; U.S.A. $60.00 C.W.N.A., O.C.N.A. CLASS 'A' rs Not blind faith Despite some concerns over the opening of the giant new shopping mall on London's northern boundary in the context of its competition for area businesses, it would appear those con- cerns are not major in the minds of some entrepreneurs. Vacant facilities in Exeter are rapid- ly filling up, in sharp contrast to the fears that the number of vacancies could possi- ble increase. It is not entirely blind faith. The en- trepreneurs have obviously weighed the pros and cons of their decisions and the outcome should be reassuring to other area merchants as well. One of the major factors in dismiss- ing some of the concern over the new shopping plaza is the overhead that will be faced by merchants moving into Masonville. Locating in the tnall is a huge investment, and that obviously will be reflected in the prices that consumers will be paying. Add to that the friendly, dependable service that is available locally, and there is good cause to reason that Exeter and other neighboring shopping facilities will continue to get the patronage they deserve from the citizens who share in the economic well-being of their home town. A meetless lent The Church of England diocese of Portsmouth this year decided not to observe Lent in the usual way - by abstaining from meat, alcohol or entertainment. Instead, it gave up meetings. Throughout the diocese all ad- ministrative meetings of boards, synods, parish councils and vestries were given up for 40 days, in an at- tempt to create what was described as "a pool of stillness in our life together". It's still too soon to know what benefits grew out of this original ap- proach, but it raises a horde of - questions. How much money did the diocese save in paper, printing and (Mailing costs? How much extra time did people. have on their hands? What did they do with it? Did they still feel "useful" in their various jobs and positions? Would they do it again? Should others try it? And, perhaps most important of all, without meetings for 40 days, how did anything in the diocese get done? We hope, when the results are in, the diocese of Portsmouth will give us an answer to all these questions. It might be an idea worth spreading around. The Canadian Churchman A real wooly outing Baa -baa black sheep. is there any wool'' After our six week trip to Australia and New Zealand we can truly confirm that (here is Went!. of wool in those down - under countries. (tory editor has .graciously allowed us to use his column for the next five or six weeks i'rnd we will try and relate some of our ex- periences. Well. most of them and make altew comparison_ Before we get into actual events. we should pay a vole of thanks to (:ail Fraser at Ellison Travel for arranging our itinerary and doing an excellent job. The only problem we en- countered was at the I As Angeles airport on the way down when we were forced to salter through a four hour delay in addition to the . couple of hours which were planned. The main purpose of our trip was for wife Irene to meet an Australian lady to whom she has been writing as a lx'n pal for the past 47 years They finally met at 9:30a.m on the morning of April 9 and our almost three week stay with Lynn and Jeff Woodhart was exciting and wonderful to say the least. They live in Manildr-a. a village in New South Wales with a population of only 8011. it was like heing -home in Crediton. The hospitality- was extremely friend- ly and very sincere As this trip had been planned for a numher of months. everyone in the village knew we were coming and they did everything but bake a cake to make us welcome_ %%'hen we arrived with the Woodhart•s at their home in Nlanildra. a Canadian flag was flying high. A neighbour was able to locate a llag'of our country. We are not sure whether the means of securing our flag were devious or not, but. it was great to see it flying high. We took one with us as a gift r by Ross Haugh and it will now he flying occa- sionally in Australia. Keeping first things first. we will begin with relating of our trip experiences with a stop in Honolulu. During the three day stay in Hawaii, we enjoyed a full day bus tour of the island of Oahu. The driver was Donna Lynn Iio. She said her father was Don Ho. She later admitted be was not the famous Don Ito. Many of the points of interest included in the Honolulu tour are those seen by most tourists. They included Diamond . head. Hanauma Bay. Blowhole. 1he Byodo-in Temple. a Mormon 'Temple. Waimea Falls park. Pali lookout. Pearl Harbour and pineapple fields. The weather in Honolulu was a sharp contrast to here. Three in- ches of snow fell the night before we left and the next day we were into high 20 iemperatures. Irene was interested in seeing many of the plants that local residents struggle to grow in pots growing freely in yards and gardens. • - imagine having a pot of orchids sitting on your kitchen table? By the time we left our heads were spinning over the efforts to pronounce the many Polynesian names. it's interesting to note that we heard the same joke about pro- nouncing Polynesian names from the Honolulu tour guide and the Maori bus driver in New Zealand. While we enjoyed great weather throughout the trip, rain was badly needed in Hawaii and the two down -under countries. in Hawaii rain is extremely necessary. Moisture falling in the mountains filters down to provide their only water supply. A drop of water falling today won't come out a Honolulu water tap until 2010. Our driver informed us precipitation is not called rain, hut pineapple juice. The last cou- ple of hours in Honolulu was en- joyed with Doris and Lorne Lis - hien, former residents of this area. Mrs. Listoen is the former Doris Ilaist and has a brother Maurice and Sisters Helen and - M yrtle in this district. The Listoen's moved to the more moderate climat-e of Ilawaii from Vancouver about a year ago. The couple have bed and breakfast accommodations available for tourists at a very moderate cost. if anyone is in- terested in taking advantage of this while in Honolulu we would be happy to provide their address and phone number. After a couple of hours of cat- ching up on local gossip. Lorne and Doris drove us to the airport. Serving South Huron, North Middlesex & North Lambton Since 1873 Published by J.W. Eedy Publications limited MILLER SERVICES Certainly proliferated Let's have convention! In what primeval swamp, by what hairy ancestor, was that suggestion first offered sixty million years ago`' Wherever it was, and whoever it was. an institution was horn that has proliferated into a countless -billion -dollar business. a source of pleasure for millions, and a mountain -sized headache for hundreds of thousands, each year: the convention. Can't you see thein sitting around on their haunches. chew- ing a morsel of mammoth. and sweating out the details? Where to have it, the big cave or several smaller ones. Size of the convention fee two round stones or three? Women allowed'' Unanimous NO. Door prizes'' Entertainment'' Keynote speaker'' Agenda'' Little (lid they know what they were letting their detcendants in for. Dragooning into service a Con- vention ('ommittee: Burp. Yob, and Gunk. Setting up sub- committees: the Round Wheel Committee; the Fire Without Lightning Committee: the Bigger Slingshot Commit tee. Forgive them. Father. they knew not what they did. Like many another great. sim- ple idea, that of The Convention has grown in SCOW' and complex- ity until it employs a staggering amount of lime. honey and ner- vous energy in the twentieth century In today's society. and especially in the western world. The ('onvention is a fact of life. Everybody from librarians to Lawyers. from postal vvorkers to politicians. from hairdressers to hustlers. is into the convention . syndrome. Housewives are nervously planning their wardrobes for the newspaper convention. Doctors are pulling the final touches to their cure -for -cancer paper for the medical convention. Writers are polishing their latest creative explosion for the authors' convention. Politicians are frantically rein- forcing their ramparts for the party convention. Reeves .and deputy -reeves are wangling a pass to the Good Roads Conven- tion. Shriners are refurbishing their fezzes, lawyers tarting up Sugar & Spice Dispensed by Smiley their torts, and labour leaders seeking new slogans. as conven- tion fever slowly but surely seizes them. - A convention is many things to many people. '1'o the organizers. it is a nerve -frazzling ordeal. a labour of love. and a pain in the arm. the pain replaced by ex- hausted bliss when everything goes well, there are no fisUfights and 00 heart attacks. To the hard core who attend the business sessions. it is an intense exercise of picking• others' brains. discovering new ideas. and working themselves up in the pecking order toward that shin- ing summit. l'r•esident of the organizat ion. To the casual convention goer it's a combination of a little business and a lot of pleasure: living i1 up in a swank hotel: meeting old friends: post- prandial parties: "hospitality suites" with free booze: pleasant outings planned by the sweating organizers: a little trade or pro- fessional gossip: a once -a -year holiday: making new friends. All in all. a bit like a ship's cruise. without the possibility of (nal de mer, although a distinct pro- bability of mal de tete. My first acquaintance with conventions was - slightly traumatic. I was a night porter (cleaning latrines, scrubbing floors, polishing brass' on the old Hamonic, a passenger boat ply- ing the Great Lakes. We'd pick- ed up a load of conventioners at Duluth and taken them to a con- vention in Detroit, where they us- ed the boat as a floating hotel. And floating was the word. Many of them were awash by the time we reached Detroit. About three a.m. 1 was polishing the brass rails leading down from the lobby to the lower deck. Gruelling. lonely work. Out of nowhere appeared a very drunk lady who felt sorry for me. and offered to remove the brass polish to help me. ,So saying, she hoisted her skirt. straddled one of the brass rails. and slid down it vigorously shin- ing with her stockinged legs un- til collapsing in a crmpled heap at the bottom. I was a bashful seventeen. She was an old lady at least thirty- five 1. It was an alarming, fascinating experience. As a weekly editor, i soon discovered that the newspaper convention was the only anodyne to a slavish sixty -hour a week oc- cupation. Turn off the presses. lock the doors, and head qff for the convention, in those days. conventions were held at some of the great old railway hotels like the Manoir Richeieu at Murray Bay. on the St. Lawrence. For four or five days. we lived like royalty. before going hack. sated. to the old editorial desk. where we lived like peasants. Right now. I have to decide whether to attend a convention of old fighter pilots. 1 know 1 should burn the invitation. I don't think 1 could survive it. But 111 pro- bably go. if they'll just promise to scatter my ashes to the four winds. and let me keep on flying. And down he sat • I thought I'd pass on a couple of anecdotes which 1 heard an after-dinner spehker use not long ago. ile remarked that a marl once shot an after-dinner speaker who talked too much and too long. inn mediately after (he deed. the man took himself -to the sheriff's office and said: "i just killed an after-dinner orator." The sheriff replied: "You are in the.vvrong place. You want to go to the game warden's office You collect the bounty there." Ile also said that no speech can be entirely had if it's short enough and that it's all right for you to have a train of thought as long as you have a terminal. A speech should so short that BWhea Y h, SvA (Iolcher by Svd flet(her when it's over you can .till remember the beginning. One of the most important ingredients in a recipe for speechmaking is plenty of shortening. He (old the one about the minister who came into his pulpit with a cut on his face and said: "As i was shaving this morning t was thinking of my sermon and as a result I cut my face." A voice came from the hack row: "The next time you shave think of your face and cut your sermon.'' Ile finished with the story about the little boy in an anatomy class, who was asked to describe the spine. it's a long grisly kind of hone." he said. "The head rests on the top. Af the other end --well. that's where i sit down! -and down he sal.