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Notes from a Garage

With John Gardiner

Just tell me what it costs; cultural activity in East Kent; and being pampered…..

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

You know, I’ll never understand the modern world of retailing and the concept of the sale. These days it seems like pretty well everything is on sale pretty well all of the time. It’s sort of a standard axiom in modern society that you never pay full price for anything. Then, there are all these air miles and bonus points for free groceries and free gas and on and on and on. The sides of our roadways are unbelievably cluttered with all manner of signage promising al manner of deals. In fact, there are so many deals in the modern world of retailing that I’d be willing to bet you that most people haven’t got a clue whether they’re saving money or not. It’s just one big mosh pit of sales and bonus points out there and who knows what actually costs what. Well, here’s a concept. Let’s go back to ground zero in retailing. Let’s start to charge people what a product or service is actually worth, with some reasonable level of profit, and let’s forget about all this other special stuff. Let’s just charge what stuff is worth. And then a merchant could still offer a sale and it might really mean something like it did in the old days. I know it’s extremely difficult being an independent merchant these days and you have to work really hard at staying on top of the game. But we’ve just way over complicated what used to be a fairly simple process. Just charge me what it’s worth and I’ll be happy. And get rid of all those goofy roadside signs…..boy, they make a real mess of the place.

Was out to Highgate to the Mary Webb Centre last Thursday evening for the Fanshawe College Photography Show and Sale and this was my first visit to Chatham-Kent’s newest arts centre, the current Highgate United Church. The church, which is an architectural gem in the community of East Kent, and which has been an integral part of that community for many years, is being decommissioned as a church the end of June. The future of the building was in serious doubt until a group of community-minded and arts conscious folks out that end of the county stepped in to save it. And they have created the Mary Webb Centre and if last weekend is any indication, the place is really jumpin’. In addition to the Photography Show and Sale I attended – and which is still underway – the Centre hosted an extremely successful music event on Saturday night. Wow! And good work to David Butler, who is chairing this particular group of culture lovers, and folks like Peter Garapick, Marlee Robinson and all the rest who are making big things happen on the cultural scene out Highgate way. And this is exactly what the whole community of Chatham-Kent needs. We’ve got stuff going on like the Capitol Theatre and the new Chatham-Kent on the Edge Festival, and we’ve got stuff like the Mary Webb Centre, the SydCAT in Wallaceburg, the Land Between the Lakes CAT down in Tilbury, the Thamesville United Church Drama Group and so much more. Gradually, we are repositioning ourselves to be a strong player in the regional arts, culture and recreation economy. Good things are happening in Chatham-Kent. Let’s keep on rolling.

Had a really bad case of the flu over this past weekend and, man, was I sick! But it was sort of the modern version of the old 24-hour flu and passed fairly quickly so I was back on the ball….While I was ill, my wife did a great job looking after me, even though I’m a bad patient, always complaining about my aches and pains. Still, these days even as an old guy, I have sort of fond memories of being sick when I was a kid. I mean, I was raised during an age of stay-at-home moms, and when one of the brood got sick, the mother hen just put the whole home care thing into a higher realm. I can remember being pampered and treated like royalty when I was a young guy and got sick. These days there just doesn’t seem time to even get sick and most people just sort of soldier bravely on, trying to forget how miserable they feel, and likely infecting everyone they come in contact with. I know…..I know…..having stay-at-home moms is a really sexist, chauvinistic stereotype…but man did it feel good….and I miss those days.

Well, out of time for another week and hope you’re enjoying reading along in cktimes.ca. We’ve had a real run of excellent papers this spring and another one this week. Take care and remember…..”Hew to the line; let the chips fall where they



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.