Passing Time On the Road

So what are the various things that adult persons do to while away the time of a long drive to Florida – seven days, about 35 hours of driving?

I suppose you could play “I Spy...” just like we did when we were kids. Not much fun for only two people and a dog that can't participate. Actually, the dog mostly slept when the car was moving. He is very good that way!

One of the things I did as we moseyed along was keep track of the tolls we paid on the generally very good highways of the USA. We paid a total of $30.10. We could have paid less but we prefer to travel on the toll roads. Fully one-fifth of that sum was paid our last – and shortest – day of travelling. Tolls on the road across Florida from Cocoa Beach to Englewood totalled $6. Good road though!...and busy!!

The other thing I did this trip was to keep track of the different provincial and state license plates we passed as we drove along. In total, we saw plates from five different provinces and thirty-eight different states – while actually travelling. It passed some time!

What passed time as well was our discussion of the variety of license plates in each state. It must be very confusing for policing purposes. Florida must have 15 or more different license plates – one for every cause or creature you might think to associate with Florida. I don't think there was a state that we saw a plate for that we did not see at least one or two more of a different design and/or colour. Who knew manufacturing license plates was such an artistic and, it would seem, profitable business?

Of course, there were the discussions about where to eat, when to make pit stops, does the tom-tom really know what it's doing, etc., etc. Another time – and I have thought of this previously, I want to try to make a note of two different sets of place names. First, I am intrigued by the unique place names we have seen as we drive along. Second, I have noted that there are a number of European place names that occur along the route. Then, of course, there are the names of places that are similar to communities in the Maritimes. This could help pass away a few hours.

I know, I disappoint you. You were sure that we were spending the time engaged in significant philosophical conversations focused on resolving the problems of the world. Com'on; it is supposed to be vacation time!

Picking Up the Thread Again

Hi All:

I am planning to pick up this blog again once we get to Florida.  We leave on November 25th and plan to arrive in Englewood on December 1st.  We will be in Florida until the end of March.

Bob J.

Another Reflection on Change

“We have real difficulty here because everyone thinks of changing the world, but where, oh where, are those who think of changing themselves?” - Richard Foster

Now that is a very interesting query. It brings a few things to mind.

People do change! They just don't think about it. We change the style of clothes we wear. We change our habits of communication. We change the meaning of some of the words we use. We change jobs. We change spouses. We change residences. We age, therefore, we change. But we don't think about intentional change very much at all. And when we do think about it, I would suggest that we do so because we are forced to, mostly, not because we want to.

Another thought I have is that we do not think so much of changing the world as we think of the need of “others” to change. There is a sense in which we believe that if everyone was like us – thought like us, acted like us – the world would indeed change and be much better. But then if you reconsider my premise in the former paragraph, having everyone be like us would be quite disastrous.

Then there is the whole matter that though we might give some consideration to changing the world, we often do so without contemplating how the world has already changed and is changing – whether we give it a thought or not. Some of the thinking about changing the world is NOT forward thinking. Such thinkers would have us go back in time. And some thinking about changing the world is, for me, too radically forward. In both of these instances, the thinkers are clearly not giving any consideration to the wisdom of self-change.

And, finally, there are those who do understand that changing the world means changing themselves. And they are tremendously frightened! If you know what you know for having lived with it and through it for the past 40 or 50 or 60 years, how will you live in a changed world about which you know so very little, if anything at all? We are not frightened by change. We experience too much of it in our lives day by day to be scared of it. We are frightened by that which we do not know: what will be the result of the change and will we be able to live in it, with it, through it.

Are we having fun yet?

Can one ever have enough fun? Now there's a question.

Just a few minutes ago, Jack took his house toy over to Rob. This was an obvious invitation to play. Rob's response: “Didn't you have enough fun last night?” Which caused me to wonder: Can you ever have enough fun?

Once we get to be adults, it is, of course, not mature to have fun for the sake of fun. But oh how we envy our children and grandchildren who do just that. Who play for hours at nothing but having fun. Fun stacking grandma's pots and pans. Fun skipping rope. Fun playing dress up. Fun making snow angels. Fun rolling in mud. Fun, fun, fun.

As we get older, our fun must be more mature. Playing a gentlemanly game of bridge. (“Gentlepersonly” didn't seem to go well there.) Playing a serious – with legal dictionaries – game of Scrabble. “Of course, I'm only doing this to have some fun!...and to Win!” Having guests in for a dinner party – work, work, work. There are many ways that adults pass time having fun. And we do, we really do. But not too much!

We have to work. We have to be responsible. We have to lead by example. Isn't it odd that we can readily apply that third sentiment to the first two but would seldom think of applying it to having fun?

I'm not advocating recklessness or sheer abandonment. I don't want to see anyone get hurt or pointlessly embarrassed. However, I am aware that there is a growing cadre of those who advocate the importance and value of play. It renews and rejuvenates and refreshes in ways that are very needful but not readily provided otherwise.

Of course, many reading this already know that I am an ardent advocate for vacations. Always have been. They need not be excessive or expensive but an intentional break away from the routine, the required, the responsibilities can, I do believe, make the routine and the required and the responsibilities much more meaningful and enjoyable. I am not sure that you can ever have too much play, too much fun. What do you think?

Borrowing wisdom from others

“Being ready for seeds of change means being a fertile plain for odd ideas.   Nurture the unusual when possible and never kill ideas outright.”   A friend of mine posted this on facebook.   What a tremendously profound, practical, and meaningful sentiment.

“Being truly radical is making hope possible and despair unconvincing.”   Thanks to another facebook friend for sharing this one.

I think both of these statements give us lots to think about.   I don't need to add anything for now.   What do you think?

Who elected these goons?

Fear-mongering seems to be the way of our current government. We need to build more prisons but the government's own studies show that the crime rate is DOWN. We need to take steps NOW to avoid the same economic disaster befalling us that has been suffered in Europe but the government's own financial reports clearly indicate otherwise. Now, we need to prepare for drastic changes in the Canada Pension Plan, Old Age Security, and the Guaranteed Income Supplement but the government's own studies say none of this is necessary.

The January 31^st Globe and Mail reports that “Expert advice commissioned by the federal government contradicts Stephen Harper’s warnings that Canada can’t afford the looming bill for Old Age Security payments...research prepared at Ottawa’s request argues Canada’s pension system is in far better shape than the Europeans’, and there’s no need to raise the retirement age. Edward Whitehouse – who researches pension policy on behalf of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Bank – was asked by Ottawa to study and report on how Canada stacks up internationally when it comes to pensions. His conclusion: 'The analysis suggests that Canada does not face major challenges of financial sustainability with its public pension schemes,' and 'there is no pressing financial or fiscal need to increase pension ages in the foreseeable future.' (emphasis added)

“Kevin Milligan, a University of British Columbia economics professor who co-authored (one) of the supporting research papers prepared for Ottawa, is also of the view that there is no OAS crisis. He says the government’s use of statistics showing the cost of OAS will climb from $36.5-billion in 2010 to $108-billion in 2030 is not very meaningful because of the impact of inflation. He notes the rise is less alarming when measured as a percentage of economic growth.

“When the House of Commons finance committee studied pension issues in 2010, Mr. Whitehouse (mentioned above) appeared as a witness and discussed his research. He noted, 'Canada's pension system is looking good on the measures of adequacy. It is also looking good on measures of financial sustainability,'... 'Canada does not face the same financial sustainability problems as many other OECD member countries do, particularly in Europe and among the East Asian countries, Japan and Korea, whose populations are aging most rapidly.'

“At the end of its study, the committee’s final report did not recommend raising the age of eligibility for OAS or reducing benefits. However, a minority report by the committee’s Conservative MPs said payment rates for the OAS and the Guaranteed Income Supplement for seniors should be reviewed.”

Several concerns come to my mind, and not just because I am a pensioner:

1. Why is our current government in Canada not attending to the advice they have requested be provided to them “by experts”?
2. Is it not possible that we – the people of Canada – could save a lot of money if we insisted the current government ceased and desisted in undertaking any more studies on which they might make policy decisions?
3. Who elected these goons anyway?

What is the real issue behind Stephen Harper's persistent fear mongering of the Canadian people?  It can't just be stupidity, can it?

Newt Gingrich? You gotta be kidding!

I just do not understand the good citizens of the state of South Carolina. How could they give Newt Gingrich such overwhelming support against the other Republicans vying to become President of the United States?

There are, I know, many things that could be debated in those opening two statements. For now, I will continue to believe that there are good citizens in South Carolina; some of them may even be Republicans. I will even allow as how I would support Newt before I would give my vote to Ron Paul. But really...

How is it, that the “party of family values” can give such significant support to a man who is twice divorced, proposed an open marriage to his second wife so he could justify playing around with his mistress, and even proposed to said second wife before he was even officially divorced from the first? That kind of hanky-panky is not what comes to my mind when I think of Republican Party family values.

Then you set that alongside the likes of apparently squeaky clean (marriage-wise, at least) Mitt Romney, who I would never vote for for different reasons, and the Hollywood glamour of Rick Santorum (my opinion) and you still gotta' wonder how Newt walked off with such a convincing win.

Oh, well, on the positive side, the Republicans will be battling this nomination all the way to the convention floor giving Barak Obama lots of opportunity to campaign without an obvious opponent. Obama is not perfect; never said or suggested he was. But the field of Republicans duking it out over the next few months is increasingly pathetic.  And the travelling circus hauls in to Florida next.  Lucky us. 

Come on, America; wake up!