I'll fix you up good

I realize that there is an international or bilateral flavour to this blog. My audience (read victims ) are American.
To further dampen U.S. - Canada relations, a news item is a banner across the Torstar " Athlete Tampers w/ Competitor's Skates ", you got it, not the Russians or Moldavians but a U.S. skater.
Apparently, two years ago, at the Worlds, an U.S. skater was told by his coach to interfere w/ the Canadian's equipment. the Canadian remembers finding the blade bent and couldn't understand the cause. Well, the Americans did it. The U.S. skater in writing to team members, calls the incident ' my darkest secret '. Oops, not a secret now.
Remember, these are true stories ,not 100 % accurate but we'll work that out later. Like the media do.

Headline " 17 000 Government Workers Served  Notice ". Please remember our population is something like 40 million. A whole whack of people out of work. As Will Rogers often appended ' hold the...e phone '.
The government gave workers a written alert about the prospect of down-sizing. Normal attrition and retirement incentives will be used first. Jobs will switch depts and in the end some people will be laid off.
Their ploy worked, I read the whole article.
Some MPs ( Member of Parlaiment ) didn't. They stood up and bemoaned the loss of 17 000 jobs, the effect on the economy and reduced gov't services.
You need a refresher in Canadian life. There is no gov't service. The welfare checks and pension checks are always delivered on time. Now, after that, good luck.
We renewed, our passports two years ago. We were aghast. The form said to expect the new documents within ten business days. 8 days later, there they were. This incident qualified for " Ripley's Believe It or Not ".

" I'd rather be happy than right " is a quote from a series of stories by Douglas Adams a prolific Br writer. To be truthful, all his stories are Douglas Adam-ish. The line is from " the Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy ".
A character has awoken from million years sleep. His planet, made a living, designing custom built planets. With a downturn in the Galactic economy, the planet went to sleep.
Having woken, Slartibartfast is walking on the planet's surface and meets a visiting Earthman, Arthur Dent.
Discussing the nature of universe and life in general , the conversation goes:
' Overall I'd rather be happy than right '
' are you ?'
' No, thats where it all seems to fall apart '.
I've thought about this conversation. And to me it explains a whole lot about my life.

A further conversation led by Arthur Dent, on discovering about custom building planets and travelling in time and space goes :

" you know, I've always felt  there's something secret going on that I'm not meant to know about"
" No, thats just universal paranoia, everyone has that "
This last bit from a guy , Slartibartfast, that helps build planets ( he carved the fjords of Norway, yep, they built the  ' Earth ' Mark 1 and are starting on Mark 2 ) and has slept for a million years.
Gives one a little perspective.

Weather cool, overcast and still. We are waiting for a wet week-end clearing on Sunday. And of course , in T.O., the big question is what will they close down this week-end, as in roads and highways. Street fests ,Taste of Something ( ethnic food fairs ) or parades or walk-a-thons, and lets fix the roads before winter blitz.