The frustration one experiences in attempting to contact anyone in a large or even moderately large organization by telephone is compounded initially by automation and latterly by privacy legislation. Both features appear designed to defeat the caller in his or her attempt to communicate. The incident invariably ends in complete annoyance, usually only heightening the angst which prompted the effort in the beginning.
Category Archives: General
What are your fears?
Introduction:
My dear Reader – I am hopeful that the following assessment by my friend HAL at ChatGPT will, if nothing else, enlarge upon what follows from my own pen. Billy
The dregs
Sitting at my desk, having exhausted my preliminary necessities of the day, I am looking upriver across the endless rolling meadows to the cerulean horizon. Nearby in the field immediately below, there are skinny Canada geese (always in pairs) waddling up and down the narrow pathways between the cornstalk stubble looking for food. Occasionally, one of the geese stops to extend its neck towards the ground, attaching its black beak to a remnant corn cob unearthed from the abandoned residuum. In this solemn atmosphere, the geese take what they can get.
Marching along…
What seems to have been only days ago I marvelled at the precipitous transition from the short month of February to the long month of March. And now here we are already approaching the final day of March. In our own springtime fashion we have joined the parade of Canada geese who purposively distinguish themselves in clamorous congregations along the shore of the Mississippi River and rampantly gliding overhead or across the distant farmlands.
Wistful thinking
Late afternoon today in the distant fading sky are flocks of Canada geese circulating above the placid though burgeoning river below. The mirror upon the former icy gloss of the river’s face has revealed a rich blue with only a rim of pure white snow surviving on the shorelines. Today is Saturday, March 21st, the date often greeted as the first day of spring. This year the much vaunted inauguration was actually yesterday, Friday, March 20th.
Shopping
It is unclear to me when I awoke to the psychic stimulus that is shopping. Until I was 24 years of age (after graduating from law school) I was dependent upon my parents for stuff. My mother (never my father) looked after whatever I required. I was merely a delivery destination. Frankly, during my prep school, undergraduate and graduate studies I hadn’t much but the faintest interest in shopping. My preoccupation until then was my education. Whether my mother bought me something from Ashbury’s annual antique sales, Alyea’s Jewellers, Nordiska Kompaniet, Georg Jensen or Flesher Furs, I seldom had any part of the initial commercial transaction other than supplying the obvious details of product, colour and size.
Where does the time go!
No doubt, my dear Reader, you have noted that the legend of this particular monologue is not a question. It is an exclamation. Mind you, I suppose that, upon even modest analysis, it is self-evident that our 3-hour luncheon today (precisely from 11:30 am – 2:30 pm) is rationale enough for the idle ejaculation. What made it all the more timely (or, should I say, ill-timed) was that our confab at table, though hardly rambunctious, was ripe with pleasantries, whimsical barbs, insightful swipes, comic assertions, wry recollections and heartfelt reactions. And coincidentally it was a birthday celebration. That alone constitutes a serendipitous reference to the fleeting allusion.
The power of pistachio
The pistachio nut is the edible pale green seed of an Asian tree of the cashew family. The evergreen tree produces the pistachio, with small brownish-green flowers and oval reddish fruit. It is widely cultivated, especially around the Mediterranean and in the US.
Anticipation
The difference between anticipation and impatience is what makes the one thrilling, the other unnerving. I suppose there are many things to be said against both anticipation and impatience – you know, how it is better just to “live in the moment”, “qué serà serà” and how dreadful it is to be constantly restless and yearning. But impatience in my opinion has anticipation in the dust!
Nancy Noodles and Bog Dog
Unexpectedly this morning I received a telephone call from my ancient friend Bird in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She was one of the first people whom I met when I landed at Dalhousie law school fifty-six years ago; and – as I was reminded – she was among the last to see me go back to Upper Canada upon graduation to pursue my career. She alluded to our mutual South Pacific friend Cowie (an erstwhile professor of law) who, like Bird, was among the first and last of my friendships at law school. Bird said she and Cowie waved goodbye to me (and my fiancée) at the airport. It was a long, long time ago.