My daughter, son-in-law and a few friends (including an infant) are coming to visit. That’s nice. They are coming from Alberta. That’s nice, too. It’s all very nice.
And they are good. They are respectful. They are being careful of C-19. Masks, gloves, quasi-isolation (hard to isolate for two weeks if you only have one week).
‘Quasi’ also means they are traveling in a bubble (previously referred to as a car) and not getting out except to pump gas and buy fast food but following all the rules all the time. They will stay in the car when on the ferry and basically make a beeline for our pick-up point and thus should have minimal contact with the great unwashed.
But the locals do not like foreign license plates. They lean a bit towards shunning and harassment of strangers. That’s not good. It’s natural, I guess, but some poor sap who is a local resident most of the time drove a vehicle with Alberta plates and it was keyed by vandals for being from out of province. ‘Mericans who employ the ‘get around’ rule by crossing the border and telling the agents they are going to Alaska (apparently ‘Mericans can cross closed borders if they are en route to Alaska) when, in fact, they really have a cabin on the gulf islands and are going there are also reviled. BC’ers are quite capable of being less-than-pleasant it seems, especially to strangers during a pandemic.
I can understand the reaction. I understand the fear. More than most, I think, I feel somewhat protective of my own mini-neighbourhood (at least this one). I get it. But the problem is NOT with the individual. Someone from a ‘hot spot’ in Florida can be clean and safe to be with while a local who isn’t symptomatic can be a ‘spreader’. You can’t really go by the license plate to determine a person’s contagious-ness.
I am a smidge more sensitive to this, I guess. Two days ago I went to the mid-island hospital for a laser ‘treatment’. That heightened my awareness. My cataract surgery from two years ago was a major success but, it seems, some people grow a bit of cataract tissue back after awhile and I was one. Three minutes with a laser and I am back to seeing well. But that required going into the doctor’s office and then driving over to the hospital. That was weird. The hospital was virtually empty. The doctor’s office was too. There was one patient leaving when I showed up and that was it. I suspect that the minute I left, another patient showed up but the crowded waiting room policy (to keep the numbers up) was not in practice. So far, the C-19 protocols are making things run smoother.
When returning home, we stopped at the local gas station. Pay-in-advance was no longer in effect. “Pump and then pay. In that way, we only come in contact once!”
Sal looked at the line-up at the next stop – the grocery store. “Geez, there are six or so people ahead of me. Shall we go home or should I stay?” She decided to line up and, within a couple of minutes, she was in and two minutes later, she was out. Added all up, the amount of time in the line-up and time in the store was virtually the same overall as it was before. Only difference – she went through the store and the cashier more quickly but had to wait to get in.
The line-up, by the way, was a cartoon of characters from old, bent over, smoking and spitting old guys to cute gals in shorts and carrying babies. I was people watching through a windshield. And all of them were six feet apart.
I mention all this to paint a day-in-the-life but, by focusing on C-19, one can forget that a Humpback went by yesterday. Feet from shore. Very close. Very impressive. Probably the same Humpy just went by going the other way about an hour ago. Opposite shore. Smart Humpy. And still impressive. But we have no whale watchers!
And the garden is an exploding cornucopia of delights!
Sal is picking up the doctor for the routine visit and then she is off to yoga and then food distribution. Aaannnd likely no masks for that almost all-day interaction – seems we are all careful to stay 6 feet apart but not so careful as to wear masks. Go figure.
And wildlife seem a bit more relaxed, too. Seeing deer everywhere. Mink. Fish jumping. Eagles. Ravens. Seals. Somehow the disease has changed the overall ‘mood’ or tempo of life out here. Seriously, the pace is slower. Mind you, June was also unusually wet and cold.
The commercial prawn fishery is also different. Usually we would have three commercial boats in our area at this time. This year, we have one. More than a few summer-only residents have not arrived. Many won’t. And, as mentioned before, recreational boating is down 80%. Tourists-by-air are absent. Few, if any, kayakers. This is a different year, to be sure. This a quieter year.
This is a year to remember.
Our Off the Grid Home 
Well, nature is definitely quicker in adapting then we, humans, are. Nature is strong and resilient, which is a good thing I guess. So maybe this year the prawn and salmon population will grow and hopefully you will benefit from it. This definitely is a year to remember, question is will we ever return to the situation from before Covid? or will we stay closer to home, travel less by plane. I remember 1 of your posts that you were tired of having visitors after summer season, maybe this year you will miss them 😉 . And we definitely have learned how to queue…and I agree, overall time to go shopping is the same. Once you’re in, you are faster out because there is no line up at the cashier. But Covid brings out the best and worst in people. Sorry to hear that people don’t like out-of-state license plates, I guess we are all a little protective of our home. So enjoy the time with your visitors, they maybe the only ones you will see this season 🙂
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The visitor thing is a real conundrum. I love ’em all. I do. And I really appreciate the effort it takes for them just to get here. They are valued all to hell. On the other hand, we can get into the numbers and they are sometimes daunting. If you are cleaning and replacing and re-stocking for virtually 100 straight days and also entertaining then the spontaneous joy is lost somewhere amongst the logistics and the effort. When fun becomes a chore it ceases to be fun. Still, on the whole, it is better with ’em than without ’em. This July is booked. So is most of August. And September is in the works. We’ll have fewer but we’ll have a lot. Our cups runneth over.
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YES!!!
We finally moved HOME this Year so it is certainly a Year to Remember. In fact, it is THE YEAR to Remember, for all time. Life is so very different now. And,
sooooo much better.🙂🤗😊😍😎
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Good luck!
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I am pretty sure Dave is saying ‘home’ is NOW OTG. Here’s a guy who chucked it all and went feral. Just recently. Further out than we are, too! Good luck is needed to get out and is definitely in store for the future but, once settled, luck is not as much of a factor as it once was. Care and deliberate, conscious living is needed but all the luck has already been acquired. He is now amongst the ravens and the whales. It does NOT get much luckier than that!
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Well, I envy him as you know 🙂
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Life did improve in STEPS, for sure.
I hooked up the line from the well, and the head supplied plenty of water pressure, for the kitchen, without power!
Once the old woodstove that was rusting away on the deck was rehabbed a tad and was makeshiftly installed the warmth made the house a home. Lifting the stove was tough but we ‘smarted’ it out.😎
We originally got a text and rare phone signal but only if one stood in the very SE corner of the front deck.
We got our ‘net AND cell phone booster installed by RICK of North Island Comm and having ‘net is good, plus a soso phone signal (I need to find a 20-25’ pole to get it higher with a directional option – coming).
Then one day, Thanks to a Great neighbour, our log splitter (a FAB Wallenstein, badly needed as the hoose is heated via wood) and our Honda atv arrived (it was supposed to arrive ahead of us so we didn’t have to schlep ALL of Our Lives across the strait then up to the hoose!, but was well late. THIS was REALLY HARD!!!), on his WWII Landing Craft (the little boy in me was wide-eyed!)
and so Life is so much Better… but still hard…
and Peaceful and Lovely. We are sooo Happy! and look forward to see whales again, hopefully soon.
POWER is to arrive mid July and I suspect Life will leap UP a wee bit, and the appliances are expected SOON after that!
I may even get some RnR after that!
Have a fine day!!! David.
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It would be nice to have a few decades like this, without the dying.
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This summer will be a good one for getting all those unfinished “jobs” done.
Crappy weather, cant travel without getting the stink eye from strangers, etc.
So, keep busy fixing stuff that has been broken, rotten, rusty, noisy, etc etc etc.
I cant wait until this winter when round two hits and no one has any money…….bet they wish the tourist were back.
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A lot of people want a lot of things back to normal. Like, all the politicians – just to name a few. They HATE C-19. All it is doing is showing their inabilities, their flaws, their impotence in the face of a threat when all they really have to offer the hoi polloi is ‘protections and services’ and such. Basically, C-19 is illustrating the haplessness of our leaders.
I doubt that I would have done any better. But that is NOT the point. I do not extort homage by way of taxes and stuff. I do not prance about posing and speaking nonsense while gorging at the public trough. But THEY do. NOW is the time to show us they are worth it.
And they cannot.
They cannot do the job.
Trump has never been able to do any job whatsoever and Justin has an equally thin resume. More and more I am relying on government less and less to do anything well. The sad thing is that there IS a role for good government. We just have never seen it at work.
To be fair, the path forward is NOT clear. But China is doing better. The USA is doing much, much worse. And we are, once again, in the middle of the pack.
In retrospect, the right thing to have done was NOT give any money to people or corporations but rather to fund the hell out of vaccine research. Had they all ‘cooperated’ and ‘coordinated’ with all the other countries, they may have had one and distributed one by now. Instead…? Each country staggers around like fools counting their dead and ill. OMG. We are lead by fools.
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Sorry you Appear to hate Canada and the poor of Canada! Sorry that you see the solution to our current crisis is to take a Darwinian approach and let the weak die from hunger and disease. Survival of the fittest! We are years away from a vaccine and spending billions will not speed the creation of the vaccine. Watch what is happening in Houston Texas where the pandemic is currently raging at level code red. The pandemic scoffers are having their way. For those who hate wearing a face mask they will really hate having a tube down their throats as they get air forced into their lungs. Pence recently said, the Constitutional right to gather over rules the need to take pandemic precautions.
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I do not hate Canada nor the poor of Canada. In fact, I like ’em so much I believe strongly they deserve better. I think our leaders are failing us. The US leaders are, for sure. Canadians…? Well, I think they could have done better. So, I am disinclined to ‘like’ our leaders but it is a stretch to turn that into hating the Canadian poor. What are you smoking? Why would you write that?
Normally, I welcome all commentators and I welcome you but you have reminded me that I really should have some standards. Sanity is all I ask.
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At a time when Canadians are rallying around our fellow Canadians in our time of deep crisis you work to undermine our collective efforts. Sorry that you can dish it out but can not stand to any degree of criticism. Yes things can be better in Canada and one tiny step might be to be kind, and mindful not to be hurtful.
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Sorry that you appear to misunderstand the meaning of the word appear. Would the words might or possibly also fire up invective machine? Blog alarm! Call the trolls. The misreading of a word …!
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Well, I disagree. Pumping sunshine up butts ain’t my thing. But you are right, I am a bit sensitive to criticism. I really must develop a tougher skin when dealing with comments like yours. “Canadians rallying around fellow Canadians in our time of crisis”…..really? You see it that way? I see fellow Canucks being people first, careful and protective people second and rallying barely at all. Well, some rally at pubs, restaurant and beaches. And I see incompetents like Trudeau exacerbating the situation. Ford was an idiot BEFORE C-19 and we are watching him struggling to grow into his job. And he is trying. I’ll give you that. But he is ill equipped. Henry and Horgan have done the best ‘on the issue’ but the fact that most of the dead are long-term care residents suggests that the system failed them. Don’t we pay them to make the system work? Why are we seeing a failing and exploitative industry now? Anyone in the health care business knew that LTC homes were mostly very poorly done. C’mon…..booster-man. Sometimes the glass is truly empty!
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Be kind, be considerate and look after each other! I know that is how you treat your family and others in your circle. I’m sure you do not describe the care and compassion you show them as “…pumping sunshine up their…” I’m sure you do not describe your caring for your family and friends as “boosterism.” It is instructive that the political parties showing white hot anger in Parliament are falling in the polls. The angry punitive message of political parties looses them support. I know that many Canadians are fragile and bewildered by our current circumstances as are people all over the world. Some of these persons read your blog posts.
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Thank you for that…..but the number of my readers is very small. Less than a Twitter group. I am literally a voice in the wilderness. But ‘not pumping sunshine up their butts’ is part of LOVE. You can whine. Or you can cheerlead. I am striving for REAL. I am striving for truth. I may miss the mark but that is the goal. Tell the truth and do the right thing. Anything else is delusional.
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I completely agree with Dave that our current collection of “leaders” is the worst assortment of impotent, grandstanding, posing, intellectual lightweights that have ever stood before a microphone.
Trudeau cant finish one sentence without stumbling over 15 “ummm”,”errrr” , “ahhhh”,s . Breathing, thinking and speaking seem to be a challenge.
Apparently he is just as bad of a public speaker in french.
A bilingual sentence mutilator.who becomes the national leader….only in Canada.
Worst public speaker in decades and it’s amazing his boot licking, fart catching staff havent send him back to retrain in public speaking….perhaps before the next election…..I wont hold my breath.
But he’s good at giving away money.
Billions upon billions of taxpayers dollars thrown to the wind in the very early days of a pandemic with ZERO debate in Parliament or any other venue ( a video conference call?, Zoom? anything?)
The Conservatives also deserve an award for their amazing feat of complete silence and absolutely zero leadership at a time of crisis. I actually wish Harper was back. At least he would say something!
But I digress.
300 Billion dollars by years end added to the already grotesque Canadian debt.
Handouts that have accomplished the amazing feat of making young and old workers shirk their duties as taxpayers and citizens.
A nation of slugs wondering(demanding?) when the govt will auto-deposit their next cheque.
A nation of spendthrifts with no savings, no fiscal intelligence and no plans on how to avoid this in the future.
As our economy spirals down the toilet….and round two of this virus hasnt even gotten cranked up yet.
Not to worry. If the Liberals are true to form …..Our already punitive taxation rates will ratchet up to truly epic rates to taxation torture.. 50%? 75% ? Someone will have to pay it forward.
Give our trust fund Prime Minister a break , he’s busy having pressers on the front lawn of the “official cottage” because its too dangerous to go into parliament as thousands of people work at Tim’s and MacDonalds serving you a morning coffee.
I wonder when they will quit and draw CERB like everyone else.
I cant wait to see what we’ll be facing July1st 2021 if this virus is as bad as the 1918 pandemic.
We wont be bitching about too few migrant workers if all the farmers are dead.
Rant over. Time for my first coffee.
:).
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It is often suggested that perception is reality. It may be that perception is opinion. Most of us cling to our options. These opinion silos are seemingly impervious to any effort to inform them or offer alternate points of view or information. Consider the claim of systemic racism in the RCMP. We have the house leader of the Bloc dismissing such a claim with the wave of his hand. In fact a total of three Provincial Premiers are of the opinion that there is no systemic racism in the RCMP. Now are these opinions sacrosanct and not to be criticized or does the body of evidence contradict the opinions of these premiers.
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With nonconfidence, supra, I find myself in respectful agreement.
As for jdc hating Canada and its poor, that is one of the more inane comments to grace this blog since time out of mind.
While I am somewhat pessimistic about the search for a vaccine or a “cure”, hope springs eternal. I agree with the notion that instead of government moving with alacrity to piss away billions on ‘social programs’, more should have been dedicated, with equal swiftness, to researching solutions. And, as suggested by jdc, that would include a high level of cooperation among nations endowed with the minds and the facilities to undertake advanced research. Our present situation brings to mind the legal maxim “Equity aids the vigilant, not the indolent.” Our leaders would appear to have lost sight of that principle. Those words were first spoke long ago. Time has served only to enhance their meaning.
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Well said. Thank you.
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The exact words were, “Sorry you appear to…” No definitive claim was made.
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‘Pissing away billions on social programmes…’ said by you with hand on heart with gusto one might assume. A huge number of Canadians benefit from such programmes and to suggest that spending money on social programmes is “taking a piss”! It may be that your opinion is painted with too broad a brush. Social programmes: do you mean OAP, or CPP, or IE or B.C. Medical, or public schools or bridges without tolls, taxes of all types, welfare, policing, prisons, public transport, airports and so on. What is a programme aimed at the poor that you would cut?
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‘Pissing away billions’ is metaphorical and part of a good rant. The reality is that some taxpayer money is wasted and some is not. More to the point: CERB was a partial waste.
The criticism is not that giving money to the poor is wasted but rather that it was given away too soon and without thinking it through. Nor was it equitable and nor should it be necessary – too many Canadians are living marginally. As you know, my personal rant is that modern-style Capitalism is inequitable. No one should make billions while others go to food banks and are homeless regardless of their contribution to the system. is Beyonce’ worth millions? There was no reference to OAP or public schools and bridges.
You, dear reader are reacting to buzz words. Certain tones, phrases, words, topics set you off. And – fair enough – you are allowed. But, if you step back from being reflexive in your thinking you will find some logic coming from the ‘right’ and some coming from the ‘left’ and a helluva lot of ‘we don’t know what we are doing’ coming up the middle. Some righties think we crack the whip and ‘make ’em work’ (somehow they expect the old, infirm, mental and poor to pick fruit or something). Some lefties think ‘free money’ is what the world needs now (somehow they think that ‘worker’ guys are going to work 16 hour days while they lay at the beach). I personally do not know who is more wrong but I do know the system isn’t working. And I do know that we all mostly come from a ‘limited pie’ point of view but government comes from a ‘print another pie’ point of view and that is also NOT going to work. Seriously? If you find yourself leaning left, read more from the right side of the political spectrum (financially anyway) and, of course, vice versa. After 72 years, I tend to lean left still. With my feet embedded in Green. I live my financial life conservatively and I live my social life liberally. And I try to minimize both those segments as much as possible.
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Very interesting discussion. Metaphors have their uses as a figurative description not a literal description of a situation. So the discussion evolves from a wasting money discussion to a more nuanced discussion of specific examples of waste. For example it is alleged that several thousands got the benefit while earning more money than allowed under the CERB. Fair criticism. The general attack on social programmes was too broad. By the way as you know prisons are one of Canada’s social programmes. A general claim was made by one of your contributors that it was clear that the topic was the CERB. No the topic was ‘’social programmes.’’ This is not mere pedantic criticism, it is an appeal for rational discussion. Let’s discuss calmly in terms that all understand. Let’s maintain our civility. Let’s agree that none of us has ESP or mind reading skills. Now my view of the concept of left and right in the political sphere is that it is largely an inaccurate description of political beliefs. Go to the far left and you will find totalitarian dictatorship and conversely go to the far right and you will find totalitarian dictatorship. Where the ends meet is totalitarianism so left and right are not linear but form a circle. Sorry if this is not clear draw a circle and label it left and right totalitarianism. I’m not very interested in received knowledge about the ills of Canada. Such as all politicians are incompetent. A more qualified claim such as some politicians are incompetent if illustrated with facts proving incompetence that is acceptable.
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I would have expected my comments to be taken in context by the intelligent reader. Obviously we are not talking here of things such as CPP.
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Your claim was about pissing away money on social programme. Not defined or explained. You were asked for a clarification but choose instead to question my inferential skills and my ability to read your mind. Would you clarify which programmes to the poor which you would cut?
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I would personally start by no longer subsidizing BIG Oil. No bailouts for any businesses either. If they are struggling, that is part of the nature of business. If they are winning, then to the victor go the spoils.
Air Canada wants bailouts. I say ‘NO’. Did they share their previous profits? Bombardier and SNC Lavalin and God-only-knows who keep getting government bailouts. THAT has to stop. I would also cut civil service pay or raise everyone else’s. It makes no sense comparatively speaking that civil servants are the only middle class left. I would freeze the pay and every perk of every politician above municipal. And I would make them all do their work more quickly. I would actually ADD dental care to the health care system. I would increase welfare recipient’s ability to supplementally earn. I would literally ‘attack’ the rotting infrastructure with a HUGE ‘modernize it’ plan. I would revolutionize education and I would keep the banks at banking. I would end our exportation of raw resources (like logs) and I would allow more immigrants. I would add ‘youth work programs’ to get our young people some real work experience. I would re-invent the police. Most importantly, I would still exploit our environment but only with 100% restitution or sustainability (go ahead and mine for gold if you want but there should be no environmental price for that – NONE!) And on and on and on…..
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Anonymous, are your really that dense? The discussion was about government being quick on the draw with programs such as CERB. I hardly expected my words to be construed as placing long-established social programs such as welfare (not a pc term, I know) under the microscope. No further “clarification” from me should be necessary. Again, context comes into play and I did not expect to be drawn into a pedestrian exercise of ‘clarification’. I think you are alone in having difficulty in drawing appropriate inferences.
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It must be wonderful to be you.
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It truly is. On the other hand, I pity you. It must be a heavy burden to go through life with your mindset.
Let’s just leave it that we see things differently. I have little appetite for a prolonged exchange of insults and I realize I can convince you of nothing, nor you I. You hurled a calumny at jdc I saw as unwarranted and I spoke up. I accept that you remain unrepentant, that you’ll not resile from your words and no one here is asking for that.
This is jdc’s blog and while he does not seek to stifle honest debate, it would be an unseemly spectacle for any of us to derogate from its wholesomeness by a prolonged exchange unpleasantries.
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Well I, for one, enjoyed it all. Admittedly there is a bit of tension now and then but it is great to see such engagement and I especially like the increased vocabulary. Haven’t seen ‘calumny’ in a long time. Don’t think I have ever seen ‘resile’.
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I am pleased to have been able to fill in that lacuna in your vocabulary.
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My lacuna is too deep and vast for filling but every drop helps.
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I for one, always enjoy discovering new words.
“Dotard” was last year’s fave especially since it referred to Trump.
“Resile”…..gonna have to use that in a conversation at the next “All Lives Matter” protest .
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If you read my entire comments at no time were you insulted. Never. Glad you were able to use your thesaurus. Light, clarity and brevity.
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Fair enuff. You did an artful job of skating along the edge, with both me and jdc, without crossing the boundary into full-on insults. Can we say there was a hint of an undertone of contempt? Just a scintilla? A soupçon peut-être?
And boy, did my thesaurus ever get a workout! Not that I own one. No need these days, since I am sure one can be found online. I too like to keep increasing my vocabulary. My mummy used to admonish us kids that “swearing is a sign of an impoverished vocabulary”. I have long harkened to her words. Nine years of full-time study at several universities after Ontario Grade 13 helped to build my verbal armoury. But the process is never at an end. It’s like a living tree. It keeps growing. Along about 1984, in casual conversation, co-worker made this comment, that resonated;
“I do not grow old; if I stop growing, I am old.”
I think he was onto something.
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‘A smidge, perhaps’?
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I enjoy your ironic mask. I particularly liked the use of the word ‘’artful’’ and its inferential reference to the “Artful Dodger.” But if I may suggest the technique of defending David with oblique sarcasm only serves to obfuscate the issue. The issue at hand was lack of clarity of expression. Your ad hominem responses added little light and clarity to the discussion. When asked for a clarification your response was to add further innuendo about boundary skirting. David subsequently added a great deal of clarity which was illuminating. I sought clarity and David offered it.
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And people wonder why I’m afraid to go home. To do it I will be going from self-isolation to quarantine. But sentiments run strong about “outsiders” on the mainland as well. – Margy
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I know. Common feelings…fear, protection, frustration….helplessness. And I do not blame them. But ‘keying a car’ is pointless. Stupid. Irrational. If your car has ‘Zona plates or some state, I would park it so that the plates were not in the public eye – like a friend’s house. We have too many fools up here to do otherwise.
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This one brought out a lotta responses!
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I know. Fun! Love it. I mean…being nasty is not great but it does happen. The best part is when two sane people with differing views can express them succinctly. AND then move on! Those exchanges are illuminating most of the time. Maybe I do a blog on the pros and cons of different vegetables? I could tear Cauliflower a new root-ball….?
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wow, that was a great read! And learned a lot of new words as non-native english reader
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David, you write so well! A delightful read!
COVID 19 changes so much of our daily experience. It is changing us.
Thank you for highlighting the pluses.
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Thanks, Fred. Feel free to write more often!
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