Musings ~ Part 1

Occasionally throughout the years, a family member sends me

thoughts of humour, philosophies and city projects that are life-engaging.

From time to time, I share these with you...enjoy today's content.

Muse: a spiritual or intellectual guide and a derivation of this word is 'meditation.'

A coyote, a roadrunner, anvils, boulders, TNT and ridiculous contraptions ~

this is when cartoons used to be funny.

My favourite show when I was 6 years old was “The Bugs Bunny Roadrunner Hour.”

Hardly anything else mattered!

I remember sitting in grade one class while my teacher was setting up a movie projector...and musing to myself. But alas! It was just some dumb, pointless educational movie, and would have to wait until Saturday at 5:00 pm to see my favourite show.

And about a year ago, written on the same topic:

“Some people used to watch sports when The Bugs Bunny Roadrunner Hour was on. At the time, I did not grasp the concept that some football game could be more interesting or entertaining than The Bugs Bunny Roadrunner Hour! Sometimes, I wonder if that is why I have never had any real interest in sports. But, then my Roadrunner show was moved to 5:00 pm on Sunday. And it was preceded by some boring curling game. It was so boring, watching these men 'sweep the ice' while waiting for the Coyote's TNT devices to satisfy my passion.

Often my parents would attend a friend's place for dinner. And it was embarrassing to have to ask, guest, to use their TV for my show ~ that I suffered all those long painful hours in school all week, waiting to see. The only thing worse was the endless Watergate Hearings that had taken over all the good channels!!!

Having written the foregoing October 2018, the closing statement was:

I am grateful to my family for getting me all six volumes

of the Looney Tunes Golden Collection for Father's Day.

I get real presents that I really like.

About Recess: Back in the 70's when I was in primary school, we had a 15-minute playtime break in the middle of the morning and afternoon class ~ called 'recess'. If you brought a little snack to eat during the 'recess time' then the name of this snack was called recess.

One time in Grade2, we had just returned from afternoon recess;

another boy and I were being slow taking off our boots and winter coats.

My (wicked witch) teacher, Mrs. Howe, asked a very stupid question to 2 seven-year-old boys.

Do you want to go back outside?

I answered truthfully, 'Sure!' After all, it is a simple matter of preferential logic: go back outside to play in the snow with my buddy ~ or sit in Mrs. Howe's class. The answer was so obvious as to render the very question, stupid! However, the other boy cowardly lied and said, “No.” So Mrs. Howe shook her fist at me and said, “Go on! Go on!” It wasn't as enjoyable to go outside by myself. If my buddy had been honest, we would have had much more fun ~ and exploited the opportunity.

Now, the dingbats to whom we entrust our children's education

thought it would be a good idea to change the name of 'recess' to 'nutrition break'.

They don't take 'nutrition breaks' in court: they still call it 'recess'!

But now, children are not familiar with the word recess!

Hamilton LRT: (Written July 2016, said writer asserts) It seems peculiar to me that the City of Hamilton wants to build a Light Rail Transit system from McMaster to Queensdale Circle. And they claim to have a billion dollars in funding from the Province (which has more debt than California). Why is it funny, you may ask. Hamilton's public transit system, which is all buses, is called HSR

(or Hamilton Street Railway).

What an interesting name for a transit system ~ with no railways!

At one time the citry had a funicular up the mountain, but that's long gone 'cause there's now a network of mountain access roads. I would like to see it restored, because funiculars are cool.

It appears, that a long time ago,

there actually was a street railway ~ hence the name.

When I was a child, which isn't so long ago, the downtown area had a maze of overhead wires ~ and electric buses that had a trolley on these wires. We never got to ride on one.

Those wires are all gone now, and to my knowledge,

all the buses run on diesel or natural gas ~ there are no rails anywhere.

And it is still called Hamilton Street Railway!

Now, they want a light rail system ~ and this is to be built into King Street.
So, it will once again be a street railway. Isn't that interesting? But no funicular!

Fire Truck: I once thought to myself that if I was extremely wealthy, it would be neat to buy a fire truck. Who wouldn't want to own such a fabulous vehicle? Ah, the joy of using my CDL

to drive it home from Seagrave! And there it sits: a museum piece in my collection. But a fire truck is not a Delorean DMC-12 that you can just take out and drive for fun. This type of vehicle performs great and noble service ~ and is able to save lives. If I could privately buy a fire truck, then it rightfully needs to be in service for a fire department somewhere. And I thought to myself: There must be many small towns which do their best, yet really need a new fire truck, There must be many that 'make-do' with outdated fire equipment ...and who would really need a new fire truck...and take care good care of it!

If I said “FREE FIRE TRUCK: Who Wants One?”

Surely I would have hundreds of requests from small town mayors and fire chiefs.

But, who desrves it? One fire truck!

For many mayors, it is a convenient budget freeby. Show me that you deserve it (even if your budget is thin. Show me that you will do your best to maintain a balanced budget. If you already depend on handouts from the Province (which in itself is a welfare case) then you're not getting a nice gift from me. Now, I've cut down my list considerably. And, finally, what about local calamities ? Have you suffered an event which cost you a major piece of equipment ~ or worse, a fireman or policeman?

I've trimmed off all the fat ~ and found a place of genuine need.

And that is where I wiil place my fire truck to good, responsible need!

“That's my lunch rant ~ now back to a busy Friday”

Presented to my valuable readers by Merle Baird-Kerr

To respond: mbairdkerr@bell.net

Ensure that you read Musings ~ Part 2 when soon I shall publish.