December 17, 2004
Nothing much beats life in a small town.............The Trip Up-Town
No grid lock! No road rage! No wasted time! Its life in small - town Ontario. The proverbial trip uptown is a daily ritual for many residents , wether they walk or take their wheels, invariably the four-wheel drive pickup truck.
Morning coffee is high on the list of priorities, and since most small towns don,t have Timmies, it involves the corner store or the local restaurant/coffee shop that serves as the local hangout for the boys. If the corner store is your destination of choice for your coffee, you will plan your arrival at your usual time so that you will meet the same people who also plan their trip for the same time. Conversations are deep and lengthy. "Mornin". "Nice to see the sun." "Mornin. Sure is but they say its going to rain tomorrow". "seeya". "ya".
For more involved and less heady dialogue one goes to the local restaurant or coffee shop.
"Mornin. Nice to see the sun". "Mornin. Sure is but they say its going to rain tomorrow."
"Ya, but we need it . The ground is dry. Can,t plant yet anyway". "SeeDunc’s changin’ the oil in his big machines. Must be gettin close". "Ya, well Dunc always was a go getter". "He went to the city and got his self a wife I hear". "Well maybe she got him. You know how he has held on to his money all these years". "I had a wife but she got to expensive. She wanted one of them new fangled washing machines. When I said the wringer washer still works fine she up and leaves. I still use that wringer washer once or twice a month and its been five years. So there you go."
No trip up town is ever complete without a trip to the post office. There is no door to door delivery like those ‘sissies’ in the city insist on. Everyone has a m ail box and a key. If you forget your key you have to beg the ladies in the Post Office to open your box. Do it more than once in six months and they regard you as a habitual offender and no amount of pleading will get your post box open without the key. The mail is usually in the boxes by 11:00 am so this fits in well with the coffee stop.
The Post Office is not just a place where you pick up your mail. The Post Office is where you find out what has been going on in the area since yesterday. "Big accident on the 401 at Dutton. Two trucks collided head on." " Anyone killed?" "Ya, both drivers and the load of chickens that one was carrying." "To bad. Where those the chicks that George was waitin for?"
"Heard the ambulance last night". "Me too". "Mac had a heart attack but they got him to the hospital in time". "Too bad!" "Pete's daughter had another baby this morning at 4:00am in Cleveland". " That make it an American?" "I think so." "Too bad". "Anyone hear how Cameron is doing with his radiation treatment?" "They think its workin real good, but I saw him the other day and he’s real red." "Too bad".
If you escape the Post Office before noon you head on down the street to the bank, the newspaper office, the lawyers office, or the grocery store to buy some food for lunch, or on a big day all of the afore mentioned.
Someday I'll publish it and you can come to the ceremony where I get my Order of Canada.
Someday.....
++Ice Queen
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