Rotzy’s back.
He’s back and in fine form.
Fit as a fiddle, organized and orderly, finishing the final touches on the move to back … back to the balmy south.
“From Nakina,” or Whatever It Might Be Called….
Now that Miz. Jo and Rotzy are calling Brantford home these days. I’ll leave the new bannerline title up to editor Eric. Yes sir/ma’am, the eagle has landed….in truth, Edna The Equinox and Norm The Truck rolled into the Comfort Inn in The Telephone City on Sept 28th, following overnite stops in Kap, New Liskeard then three days at our son and daughter in law’s in Newmarket. Atlas Van Lines was scheduled to arrive at our new digs Oct 1st, and it did….not at the anticipated 8:00AM, but almost 8:00PM! It seems the driver’s ‘helper’ decided a change in jobs was in order before they even finished loading the hi-way trailer in T Bay. But the guys who actually made it here were A-1 and equally up to the task….after apologizing for the late arrival, we found them to be fast, quite friendly, very professional and thorough in their unloading and setting up….and they were outta here by 10:30, hoping to put a few miles behind them enroute to their next delivery Oct 2nd in Ottawa. Anyway, in case any of the readership want to contact us, our new email address is: jbrotz@bell.net.
Harris Place….
‘Harris Place’ is the actual name of our building, named after Lawren Harris, and Mr. Agnew my grade 10 Art teacher at PJCVS taught me/us that Harris is one of the Group of Seven famous Canadian artists. (*Lawren is NOT a typo and methinks it’s pronounced Lorne, or maybe Loren) His paintings are to be found all over Harris Place, although I’ve never actually seen nor met the man. I’m guessing he has a room on the top/7th floor…. likely a fancy one, you think? Some more info on 555 Park Rd.N…..it was built in 2017, is about the length of a CFL football field, end zones included…. like I said, it has 7 floors….and contains 150 units. After chatting with several other tenants, I believe Harris Place inhabitants to be the same as the population of Nakina….300….give or take a few. But there is another building identical to ours, as well as a smaller one (all ‘part and parcel’) that would surely total 700 people or more, which WAS the population of Nakina when we moved there May 5/2000. Also, in case I failed to mention, Harris Place isn’t a ‘seniors building’ per se….however, judging from what Jo Ann and yours truly have seen/heard, apparently 80% of them/us ARE oldsters.
Ch Ch Ch….Changes
To once more borrow on David Bowie’s tune from a couple or three decades back….’changes’ sums it all up rather well when talking about The Rotzys Excellent New Venture/Adventure as we move into the next chapter. And how!!! New things to adapt/get used to down here. Such as ‘people’….’traffic’….’stop lights’….’signs’ (sign, sign, everywhere a sign)….and ‘cheap gasoline’! I’m really getting on to the last one just fine, thank you, and ‘coping’ with a buck twenty-two a litre quite well, thank you. As to ‘people’, altho we weren’t really sure what to expect, we’re doing quite well in that department also. EVERYBODY we’ve met here at Lawren’s Place or out shopping has been amazingly friendly/helpful in every way imaginable! Little things….like opening a door when they see Rotzy coming into/leaving a store, know what I mean? Or perhaps it’s because they spot this olde guy toddling along, chin resting on my chest, and figure I won’t be able to do it on my own? Another thing is the friendly greetings from one and all….not that Nakinaites or Greenstonians were/are not that way…tho I’ve yet to hear ‘Bonjour’ from anyone in Brantford! I’m missing that part. Actually approximately 99.3 % of new people we’ve met and chatted with have never heard of Nakina….nor Greenstone for that matter. The .7% that did know of it was a neighbour I met yesterday afternoon who came from Kirkland Lake originally, tho she’d never actually been to Nakina. The stop/traffic lights are something else, and they’re all different. Yes, they’re likely the same types they have in Thunder Bay, but you may recall Miz. Jo and Rotzy hadn’t been to The Big Turnip for three years! I definitely gotta increase my driving speed a tad….doing 40 km/hr down here doesn’t go over well with most drivers.
Carts And Stuff
One of my FIRST purchases here was one of those ”4-wheel-carts-old-people-use-to-bring-groceries-from-the-parking-lot-to-the-building”. YES!!! It’s the cat’s meow….picked it up at Walmart for less than $40….’some assembly required’ and Rotzy had it together in 15 minutes!! Then on the initial run, dont’cha know, I find out it also hauls Tall Boys and Grape!! And nobody knows what’s in the cart because it has blue nylon sides and top!! Bingo.
Settling In And Stuff
We went over to ‘Service Ont’ in Paris yesterday….was told they’re not as busy as Brtfd….to do address changes etc. that Jo Ann couldn’t do on her iPad, hence we should be driving legally now. We also went into a medical clinic Thurs and filled out New Patient Forms as well as transferring our customer account files from Rexall in Gerbilton down here. I saw a doc yesterday at a walk-in clinic briefly and he gave me a w/order for some bloodwork next week, so if that helps me/us get a family doctor, I’ll do what he says. Bottom line….it’s taken a lot for us to get this far, but we’re a little more settled each day. A big shout out to family and some friends who were here Oct 1st before the van arrived….love ya! Stay tuned!
*Thought Of The Day….Sometymes I ‘thought’ we weren’t gonna make it here….but we did!!!
