Hotline, Fall, 2008 by Ken McEwen
Retired IBEW Member The e-mail announcing the deadline for this issue found us somewhere on the road in California. It is that time of year again and we were on our way to the desert for the winter. Now that we are static at our destination I will try to get this done in time so the editor won’t get too cranky. Our trip south went well although not quite as planned. Because it has been a few years since we travelled the coast route we thought it would be nice to take a leisurely wander along the ocean through Washington, Oregon and California. On a bright sunny day we drove out to the coast at Aberdeen, Washington. After some miles of twisty-turny up-and-down roads, Sesame the dog got sick a couple of times. It is apparent she hasn’t totally outgrown her motion sickness affliction. Not wanting Sesame to feel poorly for 2500 kilometres of driving, we left the coast at Seaside, Oregon, and completed the trip via Interstate 5. Sesame does better on less curvy roads. Speaking of roads, a subject of much rumination on my part, it has been my experience that of the half dozen or so western states we generally travel, California has the lumpiest and bumpiest. Given that the population of California is greater than the population of all Canada you’d think there would be a lot of tax dollars available to keep the roads in good condition. Another travelling detail I have ruminated about has to do with highway rest areas. Through Washington and Oregon the rest areas are, on average, about 30 miles apart and are very pleasant and well maintained. In California, 60 miles between rest areas is not uncommon to discover poorly maintained facilities. Indeed there are some instances of 90 mile intervals and then many of these widely spaced rest areas are closed. That can make for long waits between grass (or acceptable substitute) stops for Sesame. Now that I ruminate a little further on the subject, maybe the condition of roads does have something to do with population. Canada and California have a similar population and the Trans-Canada Highway that I’ve travelled through the four western provinces compares equally with California roads for lumps and bumps. Further rumination is required. Quite apart from roads, rest areas and elections, this is a notable year for me. October 28, 2008, marked the tenth anniversary of my retirement. Given our society’s tradition of celebrating events in increments of years that end in zero or five, perhaps some sort of festivity should have memorialized the day. However, the day passed without fanfare. Mind you, in my retirement, I find increasingly that other prominent dates such as wedding anniversaries, birthdays and the like pass unnoticed as well. Just yesterday (I think it was yesterday) I was filling out a form that required me to enter my age. After some thinking, I had to ask Catherine Dear how old I was, to be sure I entered the correct number. Catherine Dear remembers most things like that. Well, I have to remind her about our wedding anniversary. I generally remember four or five days past the date. Anyway, I’ve been kind of thinking that since I’ve been writing this column and taking up a page in the Hotline for ten years now, perhaps it’s time to relinquish this space to fresh ideas and a fresh perspective. Further to the discussion of dates and times, this morning (I think it was this morning), I was ruminating around and thought, “I don’t have a watch”. Well, I do indeed have a watch, somewhere. I think it might be in a drawer in New Westminster. That’s one of the great things about retirement — there is no need for a watch. More specifically, there is no real need to be any particular place at any particular time. On those occasions when time may have some importance, I find there are enough clocks in the world to keep one fairly close to ‘on time’. Take doctors appointments for example; if the appointment is for, say, 2:15 pm, you can be pretty sure you’re not going to see a doctor any time before 2:45 pm. That gives a good half hour leeway which can be met by the dashboard clock in the car or even by clocks in store windows. For soon-to-be retirees, this all important subject of time is covered in volume one of the Retiree’s Apprenticeship Manual. While time may not be of paramount importance to a retiree, weather is. The most important element of the nightly newscast is the weather report. Even though the forecast is not always accurate, I find that retirees take some comfort in looking forward to tomorrow and anticipating what the day might bring, weather wise. I note that weather persons in both Canada and the United States of America speak the same jargon. I still have some difficulty differentiating between showers, periods of rain and occasional rain as well as cloudy with sunny periods, sunny with cloudy periods and partly cloudy. Really, all I need to know is should I cover the barbecue and is it going to be a good day to wash the camper. I very much wanted to report on my acquisition of “Listening Ears” for the TV. I can now hear everything the TV persons say while Catherine Dear can keep the volume control at a level that doesn’t offend the neighbours. I can also shut the TV speakers off and watch all the good action movies with gratuitous violence as well as sporting events without Catherine Dear saying, “What’s that horrible noise?”. The “Listening Ears” rank right up there with the Garmin GPS unit as great things I have bought. However, it seems that my allocated space will not allow such a report. Please take care and continue to work and play safely because retirement is the best use of time I have found. |
