All kinds of anniversaries to commemorate these past few weeks.
It seems there was one to acknowledge some special year for Dr. Seuss, another to celebrate the landing of the first Oreo cookie, yet another to mark the return of Sidney Crosby and Tiger Woods and more importantly, Vimy Ridge.
There, I managed to combine Oreo cookies with Vimy Ridge in one paragraph. Now that's writing skill, dear diary ... or the sign of a muddled mind. You choose, just don't tell me.
We also had to mark the impending demise of the poor old Canadian penny sometime later this year. Naturally the announcement made by our panting federal government had no significant impact on the general populace. We shrugged our shoulders on that one because we know we had already surrendered the penny to inflation and laziness a few decades ago. This will just be another opening for manufacturers and retailers to do a little more subtle gouging on the price side of things, just like the switch to metric measurements allowed a similar move a few decades back. A little less for the same price, nobody really noticed or cared. This time we'll get prices "rounded up" to the nearest nickel. Forget about "rounding down," that won't happen.
And quite frankly, we won't give a damn. What the heck, we're allowing them to give us slimy plastic money instead for the stuff that actually feels like something we didn't pick out of an abandoned well. It's all part of the conspiracy to move us into a world of total plastic monetary exchanges. To heck with security, it'll be easier. And again, we won't give a damn.
Now as for Vimy Ridge and Vimy commemoration events, I'm on board.
This story about Canadian achievement on battlefields long ago may be old and repetitive, but the message is still clean and fresh. After Vimy, Canada was no longer just a colony, we were now a proud nation developing a sterling reputation as a collection of unique, courageous people who were able to get things done where others failed. I wonder if we could pull off something like Vimy Ridge again? Our battle people did a pretty decent job in Afghanistan even if it wasn't entirely appreciated. At least they did the right things.
Now on to Dr. Seuss. Well, not really, because I don't know much about the guy or the real guy who pretended to be Dr. Seuss who had a birthday in early March. I don't know the Cats in Hats stories or the Green Eggs stuff, but I do remember reading a story about Bears in Trees to a youngster many years ago and getting a good giggle out of it. Was that a Dr. Seuss tale?
You see if you don't have to go through that child rearing cycle, you get to skip over the hats and cats or kittens and puppy dogs and green bacon and eggs and get right down to War and Peace ... or maybe Archie and Veronica.
So happy belated birthday, dear doctor whomever, who wrote that stuff and made kids laugh without the use of an app.
Next week we'll discuss the difference between yoga, yogurt and Yogi. A hint. One cleans your mind, one cleans your bowels and the other one batted clean-up.
Hey, wasn't it fun having Brad Wall in the city last week? I'm always impressed with the open manner in which our premiers work ... past and present. No threats, no disruptions. His security detail consisted of local MLA Doreen and one small guy carrying a brief case. So guys, let's make sure that this kind of open, accessible communication with our troop leaders stays that way. It's good to be in touch on a face-to-face basis whether you agree with what they're pumping out or not. Let's do it the Saskatchewan way with respect and openness.
