Yesterday I treated myself to an ice cream at Laura Secord - a new flavour, white almond bark, just beckoned to me as I was walking by and being fed up with the cold damp and dreary weather (any excuse will do) I was attracted like a magnet to sample this new exciting flavour. Halfway through the ice cream I bit down on something hard and inspection revealed a piece of glass or hard thick plastic which was about a quarter of an inch long and quite jagged. I returned to Laura Secord and showed them the object - the lady seem dumbfounded and asked if I wished to speak to the manager. I declined as I did not want to cause any commotion and just simply wanted them to be aware of the situation which could be problematic to others and especially to kids. I am now thinking that I could possibly have been given free ice cream for a year - oh! my waistline!!

Monday, October 24, 2005

It is near impossible to communicate by telephone with a real person anymore especially business establishments. Press l for this 2 for that and so on - by the time you reach 7 or so you forgot why you called (oh, sorry, that was meant for those senior moments). When a number indicates there is a person who can "serve" you it normally turns out to be a recorded message to wait until someone is available meanwhile they entertain you with a musical rendition of "who-knows-what" for "who-knows-how-long". Becoming the caretakers of yet another house (the "quiet" vacant one next door - oh! the wonderful sounds of silence) we observed last Thursday that the furnace was not functioning and although it was cold in there it did not dispell the awful smell that permeates the whole place but that is another story. We were eventually informed by the service company that Sunday afternoon after 2 o'clock was the best they could do - paying for a plus service maintenance plan does not get you better service. A repairman showed up on Sunday afternoon but did not have the part to get the furnace working and returned on Monday afternoon (good thing it is not the middle of winter). He had to leave and come back with yet another part at which time he noted there was no gas to the furnace - sure enough the gas was turned off outside. We had to call the home owner in Sudbury to get him to call the gas company and straighten the mess out. It appears that the idiots who were living there did not pay their gas bill and the company shut off the supply with a lock sometime ago - the idiots simply broke the lock off and continued to use the gas until they moved out and then they shut it off outside again. Tomorrow we have to get the gas company to do an inspection and get the gas back on - it is very cold in there. Now know how the young folks could afford to take taxis numerous time a day and have food and beer delivered every other day - easy, they did not pay the telephone, water, gas, rent, etc. They did not leave a forwarding address and are most likely hiding out somewhere from the collection agencies - the gas company does not take kindly to people who steal their gas!!

Friday, October 21, 2005

An article appeared in the local newspaper entitled "man the hunter is a better shopper than his spouse" (genetics they claim!!) and went on to say "its a common misconception that women are more efficient shoppers than men". EXCUUUSSEE ME, but I beg to differ. Efficient perhaps, realistic NO. A lot of money could have been saved on this "Brunel University" study of men's shopping habits simply by asking women who for the most part do the "real" shopping. The male species, when confronted with let's say a pair of shoes that have seen better days, heads to a specific store to pick up a new pair - price, color, style are not usually of any significance as long as they "fit". Women, for the most part, are responsible for buying clothing for the whole family including the husband (when his clothing becomes an embarrassment and he shows no sign of going "hunting") and heads out to the mall with long lists not to mention those items stored in her mind. It is also frustrating that men have it easy when it comes to shopping in that their clothing is laid out very simply and sizes do not vary (a size 34 is precisely a size 34). A women can take numerous items of the same size into a dressing room and none of them will fit. A wise and "efficient" shopper NEVER pays full price for anything unless it is an immediate necessity. If, in fact, men are such efficient shoppers perhaps they should be sent shopping (hunting) in the mall at least once a week with multi-tasking lists and a couple of cranky kids or on a limited time lunch break just to test their "hunting efficiency".

Sunday, October 16, 2005

Are we beginning to feel that the world is a bit whacky? Disasters are happening much too often killing thousands of people; nutbars who refer to themselves as representatives of their version of God are killing indiscriminately; and people are starving to death in a world that has food and resources to intervene. The world has really not changed just the availability and speed of information - there have always been natural disasters, murderous nutbars, tragedies, epidemics, and wars long before we came into being and will be the same long after we are gone. Now we are looking at bird flu and something about this virus that sets off alarm bells and causes people to panic possibly because viruses such as SARS, legionnaires, West Nile virus, etc have been well publicized and we basically had become comfortable with the fact that our systems were immune to most infectious diseases. There is definitely a need to worry to some extent and not ignore the possiblity so we can be prepared if we are confronted with a infestation but we need not let the panic get out hand to the extent that a virus's only ill effect is our anxiety. I think it is also the unfamiliarity that concerns us as indeed smoking kills thousands of people every day not to mention car accidents and nobody is in a panic about it.

Monday, October 10, 2005

Have lots to be thankful for this holiday weekend - our "Neighbours from Hell" moved out yesterday - how great is that?

Special thanks to Kevin, Elaine, Em and Maddie for making our Thanksgiving special with a wonderful dinner and lots of fun with the grandchildren.

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Having enjoyed decaffinated coffee for many years I felt I needed to cut back on the amount I was drinking so I decided that one cup of regular coffee would be better - not a good choice, as a result of one cup of extra strong coffee this morning I found myself on a caffine high for most of the morning - think I will go back to drinking milk (perhaps with a little brandy - no caffine there!!).