CHRISTMAS IN GRAVENHURST - SNOW, PARADE AND CHURCH FUNDRAISING SALES

GOOD TO SEE FAMILY EVENTS - IT'S WHERE THE FUTURE IS!!

In my olden days, the only way my clanking, boat-anchor-weighted typewriter, let me down, is if it ran out of ribbon. No really. I'd use a country mile of ribbon so many times, forward and in re-wind, that I'd actually start pounding the keys through the paper. The ribbon would be shredded. I hated putting on new ribbons, and the only delay in getting back to writing assignments, was conning someone in the news office to help me out. And no, I didn't have a way with the girls. They knew when they heard the loud clacking of steel against rubber, that I'd be needing assistance soon. They'd do anything but touch that manual typewriter. Possibly it had something to do with the portions of sandwiches lodged in there, and the occasional cigarette butt that one of my reporters would, as a practical joke, dump into its inner sanctum. Everybody said it smelled bad but that was probably the dozen or so coffees that were toppled onto the leftover sandwiches and cigarettes, and not actually from sweat or anything personal like that. I'd yap at them, something like, "Yea, well I'd bet if I was Hemingway you'd help me out." "Hemingway didn't have a landfill site as a typewriter," would come the hurtful jab. I digress. The point of all this? No matter what I did or didn't do to that typewriter, I never lost my copy. It might have been stained by mustard and pickles, a few burn holes, and be soaked with coffee, but it never once ate my columns. That Underwood was unbreakable…..except for the ribbon.

When we first shifted to computers at The Herald-Gazette, in Bracebridge, back in the early 1980's, I didn't make it past the first half hour, at my new MDT terminal, before a wee flood of coffee was smoking from the keyboard. I had management's attention, I'll tell you that, and I got to work at my trusty Underwood a while longer. Then came the no eating and drinking rule, while at the computer. That sucked. More than half my motivation came from pop, coffee, chips, and assorted all-dressed ballpark franks, and well…..a shot or two of whiskey in the coffee when we had to work late. I lost a lot of copy but I finally got the office gals to pay attention to me. They'd help me save copy, so that I wouldn't start screaming and crying when the screen would go blank. I like to think it was office affection but I found out later they found me very disruptive…..and I guess that's not good if you're a staff accountant. They also found work environs at least fifty percent better, because there was no hollow for food bits to get trapped on the ever-humming, winking, blinking MDT's, and the coffee was easily sopped up with the paper towel roll I was issued.

So when there's bad weather, and my old typewriter is now but a fond memory, I have to unleash every ounce of patience, when dealing with this computer set-up in our home office. I'm not computer literate, as this is what Suzanne tells me over and over, when I beg assistance after hitting the wrong key, or finding myself on some exotic website by mistake. Honestly. I don't even know how to turn the beast on. Suzanne used to help me change typewriter ribbons. She didn't like the fact that when I did, there were black fingerprints over every upholstered piece of furniture in the house. And now when she gets annoyed because I refuse to follow instructions, on this infernal contraption of modern day communication, I suggest to her, my ignorance means I'll never carry on an on-line affair, or visit pornographic sites…..at least on purpose. With that look of annoyance and yet resignation….."mother told me not to marry a writer!" She commands me to move over, and she plops down and within seconds I'm back in business. It took a lot longer to put on a ribbon, right? She should be grateful I'm not needier than I am. Did I ever mention that I was a goalie as well as being a reporter (I founded the famous Rink Rat Hockey Club in Bracebridge). No sooner had we signed the marriage documents, and exchanged our first kiss as a married couple, than she made me get rid of my goalie pads. After she found a stray cat sleeping in the equipment bag. Tommy, the alley cat, had pulled out all the packing from the goal pads to make a nice bed. We adopted Tom, and I unloaded the pads at a yard sale. A point worth noting. My equipment was outside because it smelled. I didn't think so but for the sake of our young marriage, I capitulated. It was relegated to the porch. Darn it was cold putting on that frozen jockstrap. My Underwood was also on that porch. I slept there one night too…..side by side Tom, when my philosophical hubris didn't quite cut-it!

I was put out of action by the snow event this week. No matter how much I stared at this screen, and keyboard, or commanding it to "open says-a-me," it left me pining for that "landfill-site-of-

an-Underwood," now probably recycled into a bicycle or a high rise girder. I don't know its precise fate, but without the old grinder, I had to resort to handwriting and paper. At least I don't lose it when the power fails. If I lost a wad of gum, mid-chew, I always knew where to find it!

Lost tree limbs, and found the one my neighbor generously afforded me from his sixty foot pine tree. Almost lost my little garage shelters under the snow-load, and didn't enjoy shoveling snow at midnight with the boys. I can think of better father-son partnering, than shoveling cement-heavy snow, to free the family truckster for its morning work-out. Which didn't happen, because the road wasn't plowed, and there was no way I was going to take a chance with the one-narrow-lane thing, in our "valley" topography here at Birch Hollow. Suzanne trundled off, grumbling up the road to work, undoubtedly thinking back again to that sage advice…."writers!!!!" "It's okay dear…..I'll just keep the home fires burning…..till your return." I'm such a romantic.

It's Christmas. Glad to see some snow. Great for the Gravenhurst Santa Clause Parade on a brand new "historic" main street…..which I understand will be officially re-opened next Friday Night, during the ceremonial tree-lighting, outside the Opera House, to celebrate the festive season in our home town. The boys will keep their music shop open until nine p.m. that night, with cookies and beverages to share with their guests.

Suzanne and I love making the rounds of Church fundraising sales, and we got some interesting buys……geez, a whole box of cassette tapes, of music our boys like, some still in the plastic wrap. I found Andrew a great square dance collection of 78's, because he loves to dance….that boy! Only kidding. And best of all, it contained "Goodnight Irene," a song by golly, I used to sing both boys at bedtime……..which apparently gave them nightmares. My singing, not the song.

By the looks of parcel-laden shoppers, at these Christmastime sales, folks were having a good time at modest expense. Tradition when I write about it, probably seems overbearing and stuffy, like living inside a history book. But when it's appreciated, practiced, and respected for all its building graces, like it was today, with Santa and all, and the trimmings of hometown hustle and bustle, well then it's a whole lot of stress-free fun. We need some fun around here. To make us remember what makes it all better. Good and caring neighbors. I saw plenty of that today on our main street, and it's pretty much true….that if you build it, they will come……and come back year after year. It was a good re-building day, and with activities at the Opera House for the kids, a movie with popcorn, well, it was a family day. It wasn't just about main street business profits. It was a demonstration of kindness to young families……the future of our town, and a treat for those of lesser income, who don't get many treats these days, anywhere. I have always believed we, as a community, have been neglecting our starting and young families….failing to show them how much we want them to stay here……and how we wish to help them raise those wee citizens…..the coming generation of residents who will be the stewards of it all……. If we want to ensure we hand it off to good hands, they need to know what a good home town is all about. I think we should make the Opera House more dynamic to children's entertainment….and an affordable, central place for young and old, and everyone in between, to gather as a community. Regular fetes would be nice.

WE SHOULD THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE MORE OFTEN - DO WE HAVE ENOUGH KIDS TO FILL THOSE CLASSROOMS?

It seems like a long time ago, but Suzanne and I were part of the Save Our School Committee. We moved to Gravenhurst in 1989, and we wanted our boys to go to school here. There was a short hiatus however, due to our employment circumstances. Andrew and Robert spent the first public school years at Bracebridge Public School. As Bracebridge was where our business was, and where Suzanne taught (high school), it was convenient for the boys to go to BPS, and that required special approval by the board. Eventually with changes in employment, we opted to move them on to GPS where they flourished. When the proposal came along, for Gravenhurst students to join the population of a new super (high) school in Bracebridge, we had a conundrum we hadn't anticipated. Wanting them to go to GHS, we knew it necessitated us getting involved to help stave off what seemed inevitable. This town came to a boil.

Here's a really good reason to pay attention. What happened before, with the potential closure of Gravenhurst High School, can become an issue again. Although it was seen as a decisive victory, a few years back, when activists here….very much led by the determined, unwavering efforts of the publisher and editor of Muskoka Today, plus a legion of other concerned citizens, let the Trillium Lakelands Board of Education know, loud and clear, we would not surrender our school, by supporting the construction of a super school in Bracebridge. Gravenhurst won then but that was "THEN!" I trust you didn't think the issue was over. When the provincial budget arrives on our doorsteps, next week, we will undoubtedly find our school board facing budget reduction directives……and they will be forced to look at many different ways of cutting costs and improving efficiencies. The same reasons they gave earlier, for closing our school, and amalgamating students ten miles or so north.

Gravenhurst councillors, not keen to get advice from a critic like me, should none the less, keep this issue in mind……and begin looking at plan "B" because whether it happens in the next year, or five, the issue of school closure looms over us…..and as it would be catastrophic to a town that has had it fairly rough, recently, it doesn't take a consult with Kreskin, to figure out we'd be spiraled into a full fledge crisis. I'm real big on preventative maintenance. Councillors and civic leaders should be aware what might constitute consideration for closure. While I don't believe it's imminent, or that there is a folder to that end, on any administrator's desk, but when these things tumble out of the sky…..it always seems a panic over weeks, not months, to mount opposition. The best plan, is to avoid surprises, and seek some consultation with the school board now, to find out if there are any reasons for concern……and in the future, for a closure order to be proposed.

We need our young families. We need to be producing students for the schools we have. In great error, folks, we have had a long period of retirement-age accommodation-building, that while needed and well received, has not been the kind of encouragement to keep our community balanced with young, thriving families. Without them, schools will close. It's that simple. If you research just how many schools have been closed, in this province, during the past ten years, you'd take this advisory more seriously. The retirement age citizenry does not generally require school resources. As many regions are suffering, at present, from lessening enrollment, more school classrooms, and whole school facilities, are being moth-balled each year.

Gravenhurst Town Council should be pro-active, and if in fact, Trillium Lakeland does have concern about the future of GHS, they might be able to close the proverbial barn door…….before the horses are trotting off somewhere else. With the spate of bad news in this town, but the reality we seem to be good at bouncing back, we should know the reality of the situation, and work with the Board to find solutions if such a closure scenario is possible this coming decade. It will take a behemoth effort to save the school, if this becomes the mandate of the board. Knowing the options well in advance, seems so much more desirable, than panic-mode reaction.