Rural Routes, Blog Version

At one time I considered January to be the longest, coldest, and darkest month of the year. It lasted much too long.

But these days it seems no different than any other month of the year. Turn around and it is over.

And suddenly it is time to check in with our local groundhog.

END OF AN ERA

K and I found ourselves in Portage la Prairie on December 30. Knowing that the Portage la Prairie Mall was permanently closing the next day, we decided to take a stroll through the building for old time’s sake.

The mall opened in 1979, and we remembered how excited people were to welcome the addition to the community.

As we walked through the almost totally vacant building, we pointed out where stores and services used to be. That was where the Hans Christian Anderson toy store was, for example, and over there was Carlton Cards. The Coles bookstore was there and further down was the private bookstore that opened when Coles closed.

Others were doing the same thing we were. A woman had brought her young daughter.

“I don’t think she has ever been in the mall until now,” the mom said.

We remembered eating at Smitty’s restaurant and having snacks and drinks at Robin’s Donuts and Fuzzy Orange near the central area.

We wondered about the future of the trees under the skylight at the building’s core.

A pay phone was affixed to the wall near where the entrance to the Safeway store used to be. K lifted the receiver to see if there was a dial tone. There was.

A man standing nearby told us that a few days earlier he had heard a young boy ask his mother what that thing was on the wall.

THE MAPLE LEAF FOREVER

“The Maple Leaf Forever” by Ramsay Cook (Macmillan of Canada, 1971) was required reading in a Canadian history course I took many years ago.

Recent news interviews and stories (I try to maintain distance, but they are everywhere and difficult to ignore) about the issues of sovereignty and nationalism reminded me of the book and what I remembered from it.

I was sure that I still had my copy, and, in fact, it did not take me long to find it and start to read.

Since it had been a textbook, sentences, lines, and paragraphs were underlined and highlighted, which made it easier for me to get the gist without reading the entire book.

Much of it was about a mouse sleeping beside an elephant and that has always had a particular resonance with Canadians.

“Fifty years and little has changed,” I said to K.  He reminded me that 50 years is not such a long time.

I was then reminded of a joke I recently heard quoted on a BBC comedy program.

“To the Europeans, one hundred miles is a long way. To the Americans, one hundred years is a long time.”

BE KIND

I have long tried to use these words as a kind of mantra, a way to live my life. “Tried” is probably the operative word here, but I do try.

During the Christmas season I watched a British TV interview with Australian singer/writer/comedian Tim Minchin, whose seasonal song “Drinking White Wine in the Sun” is a personal favourite. Both the interviewer and Minchin agreed that the phrase “Be Kind” has become a meme and little more.

It is true that it is easy to be kind to those who are kind to us. It’s rather like preaching to the converted.

What is harder, Minchin said, is being kind to those who are not kind in return. But that is the type of kindness that will potentially make a difference in the long run.

Nothing new in that message, but something for me to think about, nonetheless.

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