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Notes from a Garage

With John Gardiner

Thanks to Laura, a few special moments, New Orleans is sinking and letting us eat cake

Tuesday, September 6, 2005

Back for another week and what a week it's been. Since I was last here, I've been to the far end of the province and back – attended my nephew's wedding in Brockville, away up by Ottawa, and the only reason I was able to get away with a clear conscience is because a very good-hearted soul by the name of Laura Massey agreed to cover a couple of big events for me. You can see the results of her work on the pages of cktimes and a huge thank-you to Laura who I hope you'll see more of in relation to cktimes in the weeks ahead. While on the return trip from Brockville, we travelled to Kingston for lunch and then toured Prince Edward County. Wow! I'd always been told this was one of the most beautiful areas of our province and now I'd have to agree. A drive along the scenic St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario shoreline. It was tremendous and as an extra bonus i had my whole family along for the ride. Lots of fun.

Speaking of my nephew's wedding – it was a truly wonderful affair and I had the chance to see family I don't get to see too often. My sister, Joanne from the north, and her husband, Bruce, made the trip and we shared a few quiet thoughts together about the distance that separates us and how tough that has been over the last 20 years. My cousin Alphie was there and what a great guy. In fact, Alphie has been at so many of our family functions over the years that there's no doubt he's the older brother I never had. His laugh is infectious and he is a joy to see and be with and I've felt this way since we were kids. I watched my Dad and Mom during the wedding ceremony. Their grandson being married, another grandson and a granddaughter in the wedding party and two other grandchildren, Daniel and Ericka, my brother's kids, providing the music for the occasion – and doing it in fine fashion. What a proud moment for my folks! Then came the special dances – my sister, Brenda, with her son, the groom. As I watched them move about the dance floor, for some reason I remembered back to a night Brenda and I spent together at her place in less happy times. Her marriage had collapsed and she was battling cancer. We talked for several hours and quite a few tears were shed, but it was a special time for me and I hope for her as well. As I watched her dance with her son on this very special occasion and saw how radiant she looked – she was truly aglow – I felt good knowing that she'd made it and things had worked out. Special good wishes to Darryl and Sarah, the newlyweds. Thanks for letting us share your special day and thanks for letting me experience a few special momentts of my own.

Next to New Orleans and I must say that we have three excellent columns on the catastrophe in New Orleans on the cktimes' website as Phil Shaw. Jim Gilbert and Pastor Brian Horrobin have all written about it. And I have to tell you that more and more every day I feel like I'm living in some strange sort of science fiction movie. I felt that was after the 911 disaster and the tsunami and I feel that way now. They're like larger than life events that really shake me to my core. It reinforces my belief that no matter how far we seem to have come and no matter how much we seem to have accomplished, it all really ain't worth a hill of beans at this point in our history. We have no security. Simply put we're all a couple of pay cheques or a natural disaster away from total hopelessness. Simply put, after 10,000 years of recorded history, we're all still scratching for survival. If a city in the wealthiest and most powerful nation on earth can be turned into the Third World this easily, man, we're really not that far out of the caves – or the trees, depending on your point of view. Whoever's been running the world over the last few thousand years has really made a mess of it – next, please! I really do wish someone else would take over and straighten out the mess we've gotten ourselves into. Is there any other species out there that would like to tke crack at running the planet?

And speaking of gas prices, who's kidding who here? I mean, how dumb do the people running the planet think we are? For Pete's sake, every time anything, anywhere happens in the world, it threatens the supply of world oil, and gas prices jump through the roof. Excuse my language, but this is total crap. And why aren't we rioting in the streets? Good question! Anybody, anywhere who thinks any of these things like Hurricane Katrina are actually affectting the price of oil should take a pill. Remember those famous words, let them eat cake, from another era when the rich squeezed the poor. Hear George Bush say, let them walk more or conserve more of whatever. Keep squeezing us Georgie boy and sooner or later things will get nasty. It's the way of the world – and you read it here first.

Thanks to everyone for being along on this great ride with cktimes. Think positive thoughts and do positive actions and we can change this old world. We can make it a better place if we try to be better people and know we are indeed all passengers on Spaceship Earth.

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.