No traffic congestion in Nakina. Not a problem with just 300 folks livin’ there. Don’t even need a traffic light though they got a STOP sign at the main intersection.
I Expect This Edition….
….will hit the news stands on the 26th or 27th, so we hope the “F/N” readership all had a wonderful Christmas, whether you were with family and friends or on your own. It’s Saturday the 22nd as I’m doing up next week’s column, and as well as counting down the last three days before Xmas, today Miz. Jo and yours truly are celebrating our anniversary!….number 41….having said our vows in Orono United Church in 1977. Actually, we ‘eloped’ as only five people knew about it….our three kids, and the couple who stood up with us. Six if you count the minister.
No big plans other than Chef Rotzy doing up a nice surf and turf dinner here at Unit #303….lobster tails and tenderloin steaks….and perhaps catch something on Netflix? I best not forget our annual ‘anniversary dance’, to Neil Young’s Harvest Moon. For the past eighteen years we’ve done that out on our deck in Nakina….weather notwithstanding. I just checked TWC and it’s -25C up there today(*see below), probably around -30C tonite, so we’ll have to ‘make do’ with our living/dining room here at Harris Place, thank you.
Readers Write
And this one threw a word at me that for some reason I hadn’t heard….’unlearn’….tho many learn-ed people, from the ancient Greeks to Thoreau were very familiar with it. Whatever. I don’t know about the Greeks, but Thoreau was/is light years ahead of the olde guy in the I.Q. Department. Having said that, ‘unlearn’ means just what it says….hence I’m thinking that one could use ‘de-learn’ in the same context, you think? Anyway, I’m going with ‘unlearn’ as the “F/N” Word Of The Week. So….SO….the WOTW appeared in an article in last week’s Thunder Bay Chronicle/Journal which had strongly blasted the T Bay Library for (alleged) racism incidents involving aboriginal peoples, saying that the Library was going to have to ‘unlearn colonization’ in their daily operation…..in other words they needed to ‘de-colonize’. (but not to ‘de-learn’, tho between you and me, I’m thinking that would work too). The Library is facing the same basic claims levelled recently at the T Bay Police Dept. It seems the Library didn’t ‘learn’ anything from the Police situation, so perhaps the ‘unlearning’ will get things straightened out. Whatever. Don’t bet on it.
What A Difference….
….between Christmastyme in Nakina and Christmastyme in Brantford!! I suppose when you’re inside and gathered around the tree to open presents and/or sitting down for turkey dinner they’re basically the same thing. But the tyme leading up to The Big Day….let’s say the month prior….in the two different locations is like black and white/day and night. I’ve already made mention of the temperature difference(*see above) which is clearly a ‘geographic thing’. And it’s true that when November comes to Nakina, folks don’t bother saying ‘minus’ any more, because it WILL be ‘minus’ until mid April….which Rotzy always thought was the best month for ice fishing. But when it comes to Xmas shopping, Nakina is a piece of cake….including the Xmas Cake and other goodies from The Northern Store. Until it closed. Of course my List required a trip down to Geraldton for a much greater selection in several stores. Getting around was easy and parking never a problem….for almost twenty years! In December 2018….it’s welcome to ‘city living’!! A reader remarked after we’d arrived here that ”Brantford isn’t really a BIG city”. Hello??!! There are 100,000 people living here. Nakina’s population is 300….about the same number we have living in our building. So we were ‘adapting’ in October and into November….and as far as Rotzy is concerned, the Xmas rush started in earnest Nov 12th, the day after Remembrance Day. CKPC FM got right into their Xmas Format…every other song a ‘Xmas favourite’! and I’d completely had it with ‘Feliz Navida’ by Dec 9th or 10th, hence I switched from 92.1 to 92.9 The Grand. Also, I’m still quite ‘intimidated’ by the size of the stores! All of them. Jo Ann and I were thinking of going shopping for winter footwear at a store that was recommended to us….having been told ”it’s not too big….like WalMart”. Well we went there…..I’ve never seen so many shoes in my life and I’m sure they had 25 or 30 young people on their sales staff, so we certainly got looked after. *Update* I just got back from my Saturday AM ‘buckboard run’ and it was a total zoo. Lineups at all checkouts at the In And Out Store….as if they had a clearance sale going on! At Zehr’s Market….which is my most favourite store….I clued in soon as I got there and there were about 1/2 a dozen carts left in the entranceway, then I noticed all 12 cashier checkouts were lit up…usually there are maybe 5 or 6. Anyway, I got everything on my list and with them all open it wasn’t really any different than usual. To be sure, the biggest difference between Nakina and The Telephone City is the massive parking lots here….not to mention remembering where the hell did I park when I come out!!! That’s followed by the speed everybody drives at, often with a degree of considerable aggressiveness, whereas yours truly is admittedly slow and very considerate. Then, there is the (still mind blowing to Rotzy) number of vehicles on the roads! Like, where the hell do they all come from??!! I get ‘the bird’ flipped at me sometymes, honked at from tyme to tyme. Actually an 18-wheeler hung on his air horn and nearly mounted Norm The Truck when I got back from The Rez on Wednesday….approaching the #403 East on-ramp. Normally I don’t worry/care, but his horn ‘got my attention’, so I quickly glanced down and I was doing 58 in a 60k/m zone. Big deal, so I told him ”Merry Xmas….have a nice day”, or something like that. I forgot one thing…..Nakina’s pickup trucks have been replaced by Brantford’s SUV’s….every make and model under the sun. No matter, it’s still Christmastyme….in the city….or up in the bush.
*Thought Of The Day…No road is too long when you’re in good company.
