The Platinum Ticket by David Beynon

The Platinum Ticket by David Beynon
Shortlisted for The Terry Pratchett Anywhere But Here, Anywhen But Now First Novel Prize

Friday 19 June 2009

A really, really good day

Just a quick note this evening -

Took a trip this morning with my wife and daughter to check out the new school she'll be going to in September (the daughter, not the wife). She is entering a gifted program in the fall and today was our opportunity to learn more about the school and meet the teachers and the principal. After a couple of somewhat rough years of behaviour from my daughter stemming from boredom, it was a relief to all of us to see a place where she'll be challenged.

After I got home I cut the grass and when finished I stood in the middle of the freshly mowed lawn looking at my surroundings. The garden is clean and crisp and beautifully park-like.

I went into the house and found a message waiting for me from the wrought-iron guy who made the metal sign for the little park our Heritage Committee is working on. He told me he was about to hang it and I should get my ass down there. I took a leisurely stroll with the dog in tow to BT Corner, all the while marvelling at what a gorgeous little town I live in. When I got there he was just mounting the sign. He showed me the holes he was drilling, explained the materials used and the welding process and then passed me the epoxy which would cement the sign in place to look at. I helped him install the sign and stood back and was very well pleased with the result. I have pictures but we don't unveil until tomorrow.

While Ray (that's the wrought-iron guy) and I were fiddling with the sign, a lovely woman from The Scottish Shop - a store across the street from BT Corner - came walking over with a stainless steel bowl of water for my dog. Again, I just felt overwhelmed by the feeling of community in my little town.

Tonight my daughter is at a friend's house for a sleepover, so my son, his mother and I had a picnic dinner and finished it all off with some fishing at the foot of the local dam. Countless catfish and a single, feisty rock-bass in case you were wondering.

The boy has fallen asleep and I just got back in from trimming our little Dr. Seuss-like tree in front of the house. While out there our neighbour across the road came over for a chat. I recommended the latest Clint Eastwood movie (Grand Torino - rent it) then told her about some of the events going on in town tomorrow.

I look back and think I had a really, really good day.

And now I have to bake a cake for our dinner date tomorrow...Caramel Layer Cake...mmmmm

Wednesday 17 June 2009

Wheels




Wheels seem to be the theme of the day. A short while ago impact with a noble woodland creature resulted in this:


A tragedy for the deer, no doubt. And the loss of a convenience we had grown accustomed to. A second car has always been a given for us, but we were rethinking the wisdom of it leading up to the accident. The decision made for us, we moved down to a single car.

Many people have applauded this move. "Good for you!" they say. "I am so proud of you guys!" "That's so environmentally friendly!". The truth is, if finances allowed, we'd have had another car in a heartbeat.

Both my wife and I were farm kids, raised in the Ontario countryside where a car wasn't just a nice thing to have - it was a necessity. Now that we live in town do we really need a second car?

Well....no - but, it's still such a handy thing to have.

So how does one adjust to being carless after having constant access to a set of wheels since the age of sixteen? One gets a second set of wheels with his price range.




This is my new sweet ride. I did the math and this is my first new bicycle in 32 years! I have not ridden a bicycle since I rented one from the train station in Bruges in Belgium about 20 years ago. That bike was a nightmare surplus thing that I am sure had fled Nazis at some point in its history - only it was such a shitty, chain-skipping monstrosity that it must have fled them none too quickly...

Bikes have come a long, long way. Gear changing is no longer some esoteric combination of the two little levers mounted beyond easy reach between the handlebars. A flick of the thumb and a clear display now let you know exactly
where you are as you effortlessly traverse the 21 plus gears at your disposal. The seat, while still ass-numbing, has lost most, if not all, of the testicle-bruising harshness of the bicycle seats of my youth.

I am well pleased with my new bicycle.

The other wheel I'll talk about is the one at the entry to my town's newest park. Last Friday we began the physical work on the site of BT Corner. Our main entry consists of a replica mill wheel surrounded by limestone boulders. The millstone symbolizes the town's earliest industries, while the blocks represent the building material of choice for Fergus' early masons.

The millstone started out as a single squarish slab of limestone that weighed close to 2200 pounds. It was rounded down and chipped away into its final wheel form but still weighs an impressive 1700 pounds. It will be surrounded by plants - junipers and such - and will have a sandblasted stainless steel sign mounted above the diamond-shaped cut-out.

Following our official park dedication on Saturday at noon I'll post pictures of the completed entry, but here's what's on the ground so far:



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P.S. I do have some writing related news, but it'll wait until the next post.