The Goderich Signal-Star, 1981-05-20, Page 40
D
PAGE 4 —GODERICH SIGNAL -STAR; WEDNESDAY. MAN: 20, 1981
dave
Sykes.
*CNA
BLUE
RIBBON
AWARD
'1979
Second class
mail registration
IInumber -0716
u
I suddenly fear gang that my mind and
slender body are surrendering to the
unrelenting process of aging.
It's not that the process is taking an un-
flattering poke at this pleasing visage, to the
contrary, I manage to conceal my age quite
effectively, thank you. But the mind is
discovering that the body is most unwilling
to perform certain feats that were once
considered plausible and on occasion,
routine.
By the same token, when the body gets
the urge to exercise beyond the usual couch
to fridge get a refreshment routine, the
mind breaks into fits of laughter bordering
on hysteria.
Obviously my mind can't take a joke well.
In fact, I am convinced there are little
people living amongst my cerebral bits, who
take great delight in my physical antics.
"If you keep doing that we'll make you
hurt in the morning." I have listened to the
cautioning words without heed but generally
their warnings hold much truth and pain.
But that is all part of the aging and
maturation process. The things you used to
enjoy on a regular basis now are a source of
intense pain and suffering: Life is so cruel to
unsuspecting idiots like myself.
As an adolescent, this scrawny scribe
watched .years of life pass by on the golf
course. Life was reduced to a simple string
of bogeys, pars and the odd high that only a
golfer experiences after rapping in a 20 -foot
birdie putt or shanking a chip shot into the
bunker. .
Golf was life then and our steel shafted
clubs were plied to the contours of the
course at least eight months of the year.
Just like the postmen and taxes, neither
wind,nor rain, nor sleet, nor hall or even
snow could be considered a reasonable
excuse for not golfing.
Lightning and girls were the only ex-
ceptions because older fellas with real jobs
frequented the course and quite often a few
dollars could be coaxed from their wallets.
Afterall, everyone had tomakea living.
But on the long weekend, I had to sadly
face the fact that the mind and body refuse
to tolerate such antics these days. Golfing,
apparently- is no longer a top priority item.
On Sunday I actually refused to join a
couple of creaky swingers for a bit of frolic
on the greens, claiming that a. bit of yard
work required immediate grooming.
But to be honest, it was not a good day for
skinny people to be outdoors. It was bitingly
cold for this time of year, as ardent campers
learned on the weekend after freezing their
buns under the paltry protection of pup
tents.
}
Getting back to nature is a great idea, if it
is only on the golf course, but for my liking
now, the temperature must be of the shirt-
sleeve variety.
There was a day when this correspondent
could ward off chilling winds by standing
behind the steel shaft of his nine -iron. But
that doesn't quite do the trick anymore.
The refusal to take the rusted Arnold
Palmer's out on a sunny day reinforced a
nagging suspicion that time has eroded the
lustre from my putter. The aging process
has rooted and I am beginning to pay at-
,,tention to the little guys who work among
my grey bits.
But come to think of it, those cold, damp
and rainy days on the golf course weren't
exactly the height of excitement but more of
an adolescent nirvana,
I would like to think that I'm getting
smarter •with age and not turning into a
suck.
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Budget will be tough
With a majority government, Bill Davis and the Con-
servatives have the power to push through a budget for
the first time in many years.
Ontario Treasurer, Frank Miller, was scheduled to have
delivered the fateful budget Tuesday, and he didn't offer
any complimentary statements about his fiscal strategy.
Miller said it would not be a sunshine budget by any
means.
In fact, Ontario taxpayers may be up against another
tax increase, the first since 1979.
Miller didn't offer much about the contents of his
budget, but with a majority behind him, it is likely.
Ontarians will be dipping into the wallet and paying more
for luxury items. There is no risk for Miller and although
he admitted the budget would be tough, he considered it to
be realistic in substance.
But the Conservatives have been in a minority situation
for the last six years and budgets have been tempered to
bear up against attacks of the opposition parties.: The
opposition parties no longer have the luxury of teaming up
against the Conservatives and for- the first time as
treasurer, Miller has a free hand in plotting the province's
economic strategy.
The government needs money and naturally the luxury
items will likely be Miller's first target. So drinkers and
smokers can expect to be paying more liquor and
cigarettes in what Miller calls a "sin " tax:
Furniture and appliances buyers have had a break from
Provincial sales tax for the past several months but that
will not likely exist for long. The tax break provided some
relief for the industry but it wasn't exactly the saviour as
pronounced by the government.
Miller will definitely be looking for more funds, con-
sidering that the 1980 budget boosted spending by $1
billion over the previous Year to over $17 billion. There
were some tax concessions in the last budget and tax-
payers will simply have to pay for it this time aroupd.
OHIP premiums may be an obvious target for Miller
after the government settled a new contract with the
Ontario Medical Association, Doctors in the province will
get a salary boost to $82,000 and premiums will have to
compensate.
Ontario residents now pay $20 per month per person for
OHIP coverage and families pay $40 per month. Look for
those fees to increase in the new budget.
The budget will have to deal with the Conservative's
BILD program, but just how Miller approaches that
aspect is a mystery. Opposition members are calling for
long-term economic strategy and not one-time handouts to
small business.
Davis has been critical of the federal government's
economic policies and claims the provincial government
cando little under Trudeau's economic structure. Miller
y reinforce his leader's attitude.
The bottom line will probably read an increase in taxes
on ny items to compensate for government spending.
So Ontarians will just have to open the wallet and give a
little more. D.S.
Interest rates depressing
These are depressing and scary days for the Candadian
homeowners who have to renew mortgages on their
homes this year.
Consider what's happening,
In 1976, at least 250,000 mortgages were written and are
due for renewal this year. The interest rates in 1976 were
10 tt 12 per cent. The interest rates in 1981 are in the 17 and
18 per cent range.
That means a quarter million Canadian families will be
paying an extra six to eight per cent for the money needed
to finance their dwellings.
In real terms, such home owning families will end up
paying an additional $2,600 to $3,400 per year on a
relatively small$50,000 mortgage.
That means a whopping $216 to $283 per month increase
in payments, forcing the homeowners to either cut their
"So....what did you do over the long
weekend?" "Well, I went camping.'
"whY•/9
Indeed,
Indeed, the answer to this question is a
difficult one. What is it that makes a human
being leave the comfort, warmth, and
plumbing of his or her home in favor of a few
nights in a cold tent with a hard floor and
washroom a mere quarter of a mile away?
Does anyone really know? Since this past
weekend marked the beginning of another
camping season, perhaps it would be
beneficia 1 to all of us if we studied the merits
and demerits of camping. Then mayhaps,
we could come up with a more definite
reason for doin g it.
Firstly, we should consider the dost. Your
first time out could certainly cost a good
wad, what with buying a tent or a Win-
nebago, sleeping bag, lantern, cooler, etc.
etc'. After the first time out and you have all
of these things, you will feel compelled to go
again
standard of living or sell the family homestead.
There are also tens of thousands of shorter -term
mortgages written in 1978, as well as one year deals
concluded last year to be renewed at today's appallingly
high rates.
Many people wanting to buy their own homes, of course
will remain in recited apartments as a result of the in-
terest -rate crunch, which is a major reason the housing
industry is in such a slump in many parts of the country.
The mandarins at Ottawa and the Bank of Canada, as
well as the country's political leaders, provide little hope
that record high rates will come down in the near future.
Perhaps the time has come for the economic experts to
review their tight money, high interest -rate policies. The
spectre of tens of thousands of families being forced to
give up their homes is indeed a depressing scenario.
Mainstream Canada.
And after the first time out, you will
realize that alcoholic beverages are a
neccessity to all campers and you will end
up spending copious amounts of money
again and again. So much for the cost factor.
Secondly, there is the food factor. Should
you enjoy the taste of steaks cooked on an
open fire, you have to find the wood to light
the fire. And then you have to deal with
smoke and burned fingers. And then you
have to deal with little scudzies and goobers
in whatever you are cooking.
Should you decide, however, to carry a
little hotplate or stove to do your cooking on,
, you have to find a campsite with either
hydro or a current bush.
Truly, if you are a camper it is best not to
be very interested in food or cooking it. A
loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, and
some jam should suffice. Marshmallows
should be avoided at all costs because they
get in your hair.
4, ,
r't
Wave gazing
Photo by Cath Wooden
EAR• REA
BY SHIRLEY J. KELLER
I love this line. The easiest way to figure the
cost of living is to take your income and add ten
percent.
It's so true isn't it? No matter how much
money you make, there's just never enough of it
to go around.
I know what the trouble is. At our house at
least. And I suspect we're not alone. We're just
not ready to give up anything. We just haven't
yet decided to voluntarily reduce our standard of
living.
There's a reason for that too. At my stage in
life, I've reached the conclusion that if we can't
live it up how, we'll never be able to afford it.
And.I guess I still haven't admitted to myself - or
anyone else for that matter - that we'll probably
never be able to afford to live the way we'd
always dreamed we would.
It's not really our fault either. We set our goals
high when we were young. And we've attained
most of our goals.
This may be getting a bit personal now, but
what the heck. Some of you probably will be able
to identify quite nicely with the goals we set.
Coming from a home, where things were pretty
rough for many, many years, my husband's idea
of being wealthy was to be able to afford to eat
bacon any day of the week.
That's right. A simple pleasure like eating
bacon was deemed to be something exceptional
when we were young.
Shucks, by those standards we've been rich for
years. Only thing is we've now learned that
bacon isn't particularly good for us. All that
cancer -producing nitrate you know. And
Which brings us to the comfort factor.
Beginning campers feel that `roughing it' is
a matter of pride, and if they sleep on an air
mattress it is a sign of undue weakness. As
they become more experienced, they un-
derstand that chiropractors can be ex-
pensive and submit to trying to make
`roughing it' a comfortable thing.
I realize that the subject of going to the
bathroom is something that really shouldn't
be talked about in a newspaper, but cam-
pers think about it a lot, especially if they
are of the alcoholic type.
My sister, a camper from a way back,
solved the bathroom problem quite ad-
mirably. She just never went the whole time
her camping trip lasted. She should be given
a medal.
However, not all campers are made of the
same stuff she is. There is no denying that
getting up in the middle of the night and
walking the half a mile to the washroom is
`roughing it'.
ERS
cholesterol.
But we had higher goals. We dreamed of
someday earning $10,000 a year. In 1954 when we
were married, that was a lofty goal. Today, they
tell us it's the poverty line in this country.
We looked forward to having children and
watching them grow to be mature, responsible,
Christian adults. We wanted each of them to
have a good education ... and we were willing to
deny ourselves just about anything to see them
reach their full potential in the field of their
choice.
We were blessed with children and we've
fretted our way through the sixties and seventies
with them. We've chewed our nails up to the
elbows as the principles we held dear were
eroded away one by one until now the world we
live in is as foreign as the planet Mars.
Two of our three children have completed
university now and we're still reeling from the
realization that they're not actually a whole lot
better off than we were at their age. And we're
'wondering just how wise our goals for them have
been ... or how we could have served them
better.
We wanted to have our own home - not a
mansion mind you but a comfortable abode
where we could pull up the drawbridge around
our little family and feel secure and warm.
We have our own home and it has surpassed
even the wildest dreams of our youth. Two
bathrooms for heaven sake. The luxury of
carpeted floors throughout. The convenience of a
dishwasher. Even a heated hobby workshop.
But the frightening reality is that our modest
home (by today's standards) is rapidly
becoming unaffordable for all but the well-to-do.
Once you get to the camp washroom
without being attacked by bears or park
rangers, you will find it very dark and
cementy. The seats are cold. The water is
cold. I think my sister had the right idea.
So why do we go camping when we
have all of this nonsense to put up with?
Well, it is fun. It is truly fun sitting around
with your family and friends without the TV
to escape to, without your own rooms to
escape to. You discover the art of con-
versation again. You learn to get close to
people again.
Camping allows you to detach yourself
from all the material things for awhile,
those material things that can imprison us if
we are not careful.
Camping puts you back in tune with
nature, and reminds you that the elements
are what is truly in control when you are
stripped of luxury. You become one of God's
creatures once again.
Interest rates are climbing out of sight. Taxes
are escalating. Utility costs are mounting.
Downpayments and mortgages are impossible
for many would-be homeowners.
And our lifetime investment which looks good
on paper, isn't worth all that much afterall.
What's more, the family we hoped to shelter
there is grown and dispersing to the four corners
of the globe. The loving preparations we made
for the extended family are sitting idle because
the world is changing more rapidly than we'd
care to see it. -
The present income at our house is more than
we ever thought possible - but a trip to the
grocery store now is more depressing than it was
when my husband's wages were $1 an hour. And
if -things continue, we'll soon be back to where we
started - unable to afford bacon except on very
special occasions.
And as far as my husband is concerned, that
means we aren't rich and probably never will
be. It means that we've worked for 35 years,
handled a mountain of money and possessions,
and ended up as we started.
Psychologically we're growing tired. It's like
being on a treadmill where you work until you
sweat and get nowhere.
I think that's a pretty apt description of what's
taking its toll on people everywhere these days.
The solution is to rethink your goals I guess.
Reset priorities. Change your sights.
My problem is I'm still smarting from having
attained some very basic earthly goals only to
have them swept away from me by things out-
side my control - and accepting that any new
goals I set will have to be much less than what I
really want out of living.
1