August 2000 - Nr. 8
Letter from the Editor
It was 5 years ago, on a similar Saturday in August that I wrote my letter to you full of summer pleasures. Half way through it became quite morose. I was to find out a few hours later that my mother had passed away at the exact time I started to feel sad. Instead of a celebration for her 80th birthday I had to attend a funeral and dissolve a household on my trip to Germany, which was so well planned in advance. This was also the last time I flew to my homeland. I just have not been able to go back there. Somehow I miss the purpose to do so. I just have no more family there. But when I read about our beautiful cities and the many interesting things to do I feel a stirring to just pack a bag and fly over.
This year we are staying close to home. Canada has also a lot to offer. Especially Toronto is bustling with interesting events. For beach lovers the lakes have not reached quite the ideal temperature yet, but we have hope. Perhaps the late summer will warm up.
City life also has a few problems. In our neighbourhood the street was totally re-done. For over a month we could sometimes not even get into our drive and garage. Parking in side streets proved to be not without surprises. Dick Altermann had to install a brand new mirror because of it. Yesterday there was an accident directly in front of our house. The beautiful new road has its first big scar, a very long brake mark and quite a bit of debris from the damaged cars. Fortunately no one was seriously hurt.
I have heard that the city wants to pass a few new garbage collection rules, which include making the owner of garbage liable if racoons get into it and spread it all over the place. What are we to do when the coons are so cleaver these days that they know how to open a firmly closed lid, the kind where the handles snap in to lock it? We secured ours with a rack fastener, the same kind one uses for putting items on the roof of your car. Hopefully we outsmarted them. This of course only works in the back yard, not when we put the garbage out in the street for pick up. There we clean regularly up after the raccoons.
Are
you enjoying the moose in our city? At first I thought this idea to be
silly, in the meantime I have come to look forward to spotting a new one.
Unfortunately they are not safe from vandalism. So far I only spotted one
moose that most people I spoke to found offensive. It stands in the Church
and Jarvis area on Wellesley and wears nothing but a g-string and socks over
its flesh coloured body. Do I need to say more? In case you are interested:
No, I did not go to the parade either.
As far as this issue is concerned, it is a summer issue and a little lighter than usual. The health insert will appear again next time. Summer is working its magic in several places. Besides, the person handling it, his name is Dave, is ill, and we wish him a speedy recovery!
In the mean time I wish all of us a nice summer, what is left of it, and we hopefully will see each other at one or another venue.
Until then
Sybille Forster-Rentmeister
Comments to: editor@echoworld.com
