POSTING #72

Back in the Saddle; Crisis in Europe; Lawless in Niagara

Back in the Saddle

It is good to be back!

I've been able to whittle my 'to-do' list down enough so that it no longer distracts me when I'm trying to draft a story. (What would life be like if we didn't have a 'to-do' list hanging over us?)

Thank you for your patience.

Now, back to stories.

Crisis in Europe

While I was 'off-line', two major events occurred: the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the European debt crisis.

The oil spill looks as though it could become the Western Hemisphere's Chernobyl.

As with Chernobyl, much damage will be done to the environment and to the lives of thousands of people.

I don't have any stories about the spill.

It is just too awful for stories.

The European debt crisis, on the other hand, has brought back several stories.

In the summer of 1958, while I was working on an Ontario Hydro dam project north of Kenora, Ontario, I met a young German who had recently immigrated to Canada.

He told me he had worked as a technician in a German factory that designed and manufactured x-ray equipment.

Everyone in the plant was expected to work long hours and the pressure to produce was enormous.

Feeling that he would likely have a nervous breakdown if he stayed in Germany, he had opted for an easier life in Canada.

I remember feeling a little insulted. I had always assumed that Canadians were as hard working and productive as any workers in the world.

It was clear, however, that we couldn't match the German workers.

Now, flash forward 44 years---to 2002.

I was on a flight from Toronto to Frankfurt to take on a consulting assignment.

Sitting next to me was a computer engineer who had come to Canada as a child with his family in the 1970s, as part of one of the Canadian Government's immigration programs for refugees from South-East Asia.

His mother and father had settled in Ontario, and worked hard in menial jobs so that he and his brother could go to university.

After graduating, he had decided to take a few months off for a tour of Europe. In Germany, he met a young woman from his native country whose family had been accepted by Germany as refugees.

The young people decided to get married, their plan being to stay for a few years in Germany---where his wife had a good job and where his job prospects were excellent---but then to move to Canada.

He found a job, and as time passed they had two children.

He told me that he and his wife and the two children had just finished a visit to Canada, a visit that was designed to help them decide when and where they would settle.

After seeing life in Canada, they had decided that they would be staying in Germany.

They found that jobs would not be a problem but they were put off by the pressure on workers in Canada.

He said that his brother and his wife left home at 7 AM and often didn't get back until 8 PM. They also had to work frequently on the weekends.

His brother and sister-in-law were tired most of the time and weren't able to enjoy their children.

In Germany, by contrast, he said that he and his wife had good salaries with generous leave and vacation provisions.

He said that when you analyzed it, he worked for 10 months and got paid for 13.

Canada had been good to him and he felt guilty about not returning but he couldn't see joining the rat race here.

Life was better in Europe.

We said goodbye in Frankfurt and I flew on to another city for a meeting with the consulting firm that I would be working for.

At the end of a meeting with a senior executive of the consulting firm, I was satisfied with the terms and conditions of the job but concerned about how to reach the firm in an emergency---the assignment was in Azerbaijan.

I asked if I could have the office and home telephone numbers of a head office person whom I could contact if there were any crises.

The executive explained that one contact wouldn't work. Because of all the vacation and leave time that employees were entitled to, it would be hard to be sure who would be on duty. He suggested that I get the names and phone numbers of at least three employees.

That reminded me of the young man on the plane and I told the executive about him, and about his claim that he worked for 10 months and got paid for 13.

He nodded, "We get a lot of money and a lot of leave".

Then he added with a smile, "I don't know how long this will last, but I'm going to enjoy it as long as it does".


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I am not sure what conclusions, if any, should be drawn from these stories.

It is interesting, however, to think about the changes that have taken place over the last few decades in how work is viewed in Europe and Canada.

Lawless in Niagara

On a lighter note, a recent article in the Hamilton Spectator reminded me of a message that was left on our Denwycke House at Grimsby B&B phone shortly after we moved from Ottawa to Grimsby.

A man's voice said, "I paid my money and I want my pot."

Pat and I listened to the message several times and agreed that someone had obviously misdialed, and was trying to reach an antique store about some kind of porcelain or earthenware container that he had purchased.

We tried to return the call but found that it had been made from a pay phone.

I told one of our boys about the puzzling call. He started to laugh, "It's about marijuana, Dad, not an antique!"

It is embarrassing to realize how naive we were 12 years ago about matters relating to drugs.

Our only defense, I suppose, is that we had lived a sheltered life for many years in 'law-abiding Ottawa'.

We soon learned that the Niagara Peninsula produced not only peaches and grapes but also substantial quantities of pot, raised hydroponically in grow-ops in the basement of rented houses.

The Spectator article was about a raid on a grow-op in the basement of a home outside Grimsby. The police reported that they had seized plants worth $300,000 and equipment worth $4,000.

What really caught my attention, was the name of the Niagara Regional Police unit that had carried out the raid.

'The Guns, Gangs and Grows Unit.'

In my work in the Federal Government, I sometimes had to come up with names for new programs and organizations.

I must say that I never came up with anything to match the name chosen by the Niagara Regional Police.

It is short, sharp, pithy, accurate---with the nice gloss that alliteration can give.

Well done!

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See you on June 13th for Posting #73 with more stories from our family’s universe! If you have comments or suggestions, please leave a comment at the bottom of this posting, or email me at johnpathunter@gmail.com.