Thursday Tidbits

Posted on November 20, 2014 under Thursday Tidbits with one comment

The diet starts…. today

“The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak,” according to the gospel of Mark ( 14:38 ) . I easily fall into this category. The picture above reflects my total lack of willpower. It is the last dessert I will consume until Christmas. When you’re on vacation, the temptation to eat sweets is pretty powerful. The only good news is that I shared this enormous chocolate fudge sundae with Betty.

Some final observations about our trip to Florida. Americans know how to do client service and it’s not just an isolated event. They are in a ferociously competitive market so pricing and service is everything. I now have a better appreciation of the challenges facing the tourism industry in the Maritimes. Gas , food and lodging is very cheap in the U.S. The Americans must get quite a shock when they cross the border. Combine this with the lingering effects of 9/11 and you have a perfect storm for people trying to make a living in this industry.

I am reluctant to say this because I avoid controversy like stir fried tofu but I continue to be perplexed by the gun culture south of the border. We were eating in a nice restaurant and the hostess was chatting it up with us. Not sure how we got on the subject but she was incensed that she had received a ticket for having her handgun on the dash of her car while transporting her young daughter.  Sorry, but I just don’t get it.

Did you observe “world toilet day” yesterday? When I first heard about it, I thought it was a joke so I went looking to “get to the bottom of this.” Turns out that there is day with this name and it was instituted last year by the United Nations General Assembly to address sanitation in third world countries. This is no laughing matter. Good sanitation is one of the many things we take for granted.

I have a new retirement strategy…  besides lottery tickets. Just about every day of our vacation, there would be someone out on the beach with a metal detector and a sieve looking for coins and other priceless treasure. Some of these guys spend hours upon hours walking back and forth. Conceivably they could walk all the way to Louisiana. Think I’ll give it a hook next year. If I don’t come back, you’ll know that it worked.

I’m working on a few new stories. We have very good friends from Scotland that we see every year at the resort. Neil is quite the story teller and he regaled me with a tale of him and two buddies who went on a day trip to Orlando. They had a car rental. It didn’t have GPS nor did any of them have a particularly good sense of direction. Of course they got lost and ended up at the front gates of Disney. ( I did this myself last year and understand completely their consternation. ) It was when they went to fuel up the rental that things got crazy. They couldn’t find the mechanism that releases the gas cap. I’m still searching for a name but “Petrol Panic” might do the trick. Coming soon.

Have a great day.

P.S.  A few people have contacted me about my new book. These are people who want to come to the launch but will be out of town that day. ( Can’t imagine how something else could be more important! ). So if you simply can’t wait until December 4^th. ( 3^rd. in Port Hawkesbury ), you can pick up a copy at Brendan’s Fairway. You can track me down and I will sign them. Good Christmas present and reasonably priced at $20.

Advertisement