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Notes from a Garage

With John Gardiner

Back from the edge; memories of Sam; and remembering others……

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Well, my adopted hometown of Wallaceburg took a big step in the right direction on Friday – big press conference held in the community’s former council chambers to announce that Advanced Emissions Technologies will be setting up shop in one of the former Waltec buildings and bringing some much-needed jobs to town. Wow! And double wow!!!! This is a really great Christmas present for the community and in this case we’ve got several Santas to thank. From another adopted Wallaceburger Stu McFadden, to hometown boy Steve Bilodeau, to Mayor Randy Hope, Dr. Bill Currier and the rest of the Wallaceburg Task Force and Maria Van Bommell, our MPP – this wonderful gift came from a whole bunch of folks who could have been wearing red suits. I have watched and written – sometimes with tears in my eyes – about the incredibly hard times this community has faced over the last 10-15 years. It has been devastating to watch industry after industry leave our community, and with the loss of each the loss of a little of this town’s tremendous spirit. I’ve told people from out of town that Wallaceburg has probably lost more jobs per capita than any other community in Canada – that’s how hard we’ve been hit by this globalization stuff. Anyway, we’re on the road back and it’s taken some serious behind the scenes work by guys like Steve Bilodeau and Stu McFadden to make it happen. There has been criticism in town about what the Task Force was up to – didn’t look like much progress was being made. But I’ve been around the business world for long enough to know that it sometimes takes time to get the job done. That was the case this time. And the really encouraging news is that Stu told me this is just the beginning – there will be more announcements over the winter. Wallaceburg is on the way back! Here we come!!!!!

Will be doing a Christmas reading again this year – at Chez Denise, the popular new bistro and café in downtown Wallaceburg. Chatham-Kent singer/songwriter Leia Weaver – who fronts the Southwest Blues Review – will be on stage with me as we present another installment of Christmas Tales and Tunes. Leia will be performing some wonderful Christmas music and I’ll be reading some poetry and one of my Christmas stories, Angel in the Snow. It will be a heartwarming Christmas evening, on December 23, just before the big day. And this opportunity to do another reading has prompted me to do reprintings of a couple of my books……I’ve just ordered some copies of Memories for Sale and Back When We Were Famous and hope to have both of them soon enough to sell a few copies before Christmas. I first published Memories for Sale away back in 1991 with the help of my good friends Sam Kinsman and Philip Shaw. Those were heady days as we huddled over Phil’s tiny Macintosh computer formatting the book, then taking it to London to run the master copy. Memories for Sale sold its entire run of 100 copies in two weeks and has been through a large number of reprints. It has proven to be an extremely popular little book over the years and likely my proudest accomplishment in the writing world. And, strangely, I ordered the copies of the book on December 7, which is exactly the same date as in 1991. And I guess I can hope for the same kind of success. And it will certainly make me remember my good friend Sam Kinsman, who passed away in 1993. He’s the guy who made me a writer and I will miss him always….but especially when Memories for Sale is the topic of discussion.

I have almost always been one who has appreciated many things about the Christmas season – the togetherness with family, giving a token of caring to a special person, the feeling of good cheer that most people try to offer – there are many reasons why I have traditionally liked Christmas. But, as I was telling someone the other day, I’ve also been through a divorce and couple of deaths of people close to me in my life – and as lucky as I feel these days, there have been dark times and they have taken some of the luster off the Christmas season for me. I now know that Christmas can be a very difficult time for a lot of people – it reminds them of loved ones who have passed and can be a harsh reminder of where they stand on life’s ladder of success. Anyway, each year at this time, I just like to remind people to take a look around at the lonely and downtrodden in life – you should do this all the time, but make sure you do it as this time of the year for sure. Because Christmas makes the disadvantaged in society feel that much more disadvantaged. Try to make people feel better and you’ll feel better too. That’s the way it works….

Out of time for another week. Hope you’re enjoying cktimes and Notes From a Garage……I work hard to bring you the best product I can….take care….and remember, “Hew to the line; let the chips fall where they may.”




John Gardiner is a 25-year-veteran of the community newspaper business, but he is also a prolific writer of moralistic short fiction he refers to as "emotional thoughtscapes" or "adult fables". Samples of his fiction can be found at:

He has also produced a noteworthy piece of humanist philosophy which can be found at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~aboiten/ad502.htm He welcomes comments on his work.