So often it's not the big things which become the most important things in life but those little details that only become apparent to one who is actually involved.
In the movie Passchendaele when Paul Gross, the actor, is asked about the biggest challenge facing the troops in the trenches his answer was, 'keeping your matches dry". While not the answer the army recruiting officer was looking for it is probable that Paul Gross the screen-writer did his research well and gave a most practical response. In an interview on CBC's Q when asked what he did first when he got back to his home in Montreal from being on tour Nathan Cohen answered, "Change the light bulbs". When the Algoma Central Railway became the first major North American Rail Line to convert to diesel engines their biggest challenge was to find a siren that repelled, not attracted the local moose. The most important member of the crew on early bush planes was not the pilot but the engineer who kept the engine running.
When camping in an RV the most important factor is finding a level campsite or leveling ones motorhome. Anyone who has awakened in the morning with a headache because they slept with their feet in an elevated position knows this. Staying in bed becomes a challenge if one side is lower. Frying eggs or pancakes becomes a challenge if the pan is not level. Water tends to just sit there if the drain is not at the lowest point in the basin. Ceiling fans tend to wobble if they are off-centre. And refrigerant ponds in heat pumps and fridges if they are not level. Even coffeemakers work best on an even keel.
The past few months have to be among the wettest I've encountered. Driving through California the weather has given the lie to the apparent water crisis that state is facing. Unless you actually lived there it would never have occurred to you that major highways are closed during cloudbursts because roads are not built to conduct rainwater away from them. In Oregon and Washington State rain and wind are a fact of life. When I visited the Olympic Peninsula it seemed like the place was getting a goodly percentage of its 144 inches of yearly rainfall while I was there. In Victoria even in that sunbelt the season was 3 weeks behind schedule and the snowfall in mid-May in Calgary belied the season. The ice storm in Flin Flon a few weeks back was a might over the top. When I arrived in Kenora just two weeks ago and found my campground's waterlines frozen up I felt like the Arctic Jet Stream was following me. Frost in Thunder Bay was not a welcome sight. Heavy rain and overnight frost followed me to Wawa and on to Sault Ste Marie. The wind temporarily blew out the clouds for the weekend but brought an Arctic Chill with it. Monday morning was ushered in by the sound of pelting rain. I'd go do my laundry but how would I ever get it back to my RV dry? I'd also thought to wash my RV but it's already getting a soaking and I don't feel the need to get soaked trying to get it clean. The forecast for the remainder of the week is dryer so it's just as well I planned to stay put; I don't appreciate driving rain-slicked highways.
Finally got around to watching a podcast version of Jian Ghomeshi's infamous interview with Billy-Bob Thornton and discovered him for the inbred dope-smoking weasel that he is. It would seem all those weird characters he has portrayed on screen have been life imitating art not acting. No wonder Toronto audiences booed his band off stage.
The behaviour of the mother in the case of the child abducted and subsequently murdered in Woodstock does not paint her in a good light. Her life-style and the fact that the abductors were known to her make her a less than sympathetic victim.
It has been a fact of life for decades that the price of a newspaper did not cover the cost of the paper on which it was printed—it was the advertisers who did that. That's the reason many community newspapers are free. Since I began getting my news online and having the daily comics E-mailed me I have not bought a daily newspaper in nearly 10 years. It would seem that I have loads of company there. Declining readership is one thing but the recent economic crisis has dealt newspapers the coup de grace as companies struggling to survive have decimated newspaper's ad revenue. Add to this the fact that what ad revenues remain are fragmented among print media, radio, TV, billboards, video product placement, and online advertising. Increasingly small papers are being reduced to online editions only and those which are still printed are being reduced in size, content, and editorial staff. The trend has hit even the mighty Wall Street Journal resulting in shut downs at Bowater's paper plant in Liverpool, Nova Scotia.
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