Posted on September 28, 2013 under Storytelling with no comments yet

It is approximately 3300 kilometers from our home in Antigonish to our vacation property in Florida, a seemingly safe distance to get away from it all.  Not so.  A few years back we were visiting friends in a nearby retirement community when I decided to go out for an early morning run.  I was less than 50 yards from our friends’ front porch when I saw someone very familiar coming toward me.   It turns out that this woman lived on the next street over in my home town when we were growing up.

You often hear stories about people meeting in very unusual places and unusual circumstances.  You often bump into people you know in far off airports and sometimes at the summit of some obscure hiking trail.

And then there were the two people attending a funeral a while back.  They hadn’t seen each other in a long, long time.  The lineup was incredibly long, forcing the funeral home to create an S shaped lineup. They passed going in one direction and a short while later met again.  “Joe,” said one of the men, “I haven’t seen you in over twenty years and now I’ve seen you twice in twenty minutes.”

Recently, two women who were neighbors headed out from their respective homes on a beautiful summer morning.  One was heading to work and the other for a run. They exchanged waves as they pulled out of their driveways, seconds apart.

The runner headed to a well-known running trail while the other parked her car at work and decided to go for a run before starting work.  On the very same trail. The trail is one long continuous loop and can be approached from two different directions.

Part way through the run, one of the runners felt the call of nature and wisely heeded the call.  Fortunately there is one portable toilet on the trail as this is a well-used recreational facility.  Not the Port O Potty; the trail.  She entered; scattering away flies, and took care of business.  Feeling quite relieved, she grabbed for the handle on the door at exactly the same moment that her neighbor was planning to enter the facility.

The accompanying gasp and shriek rattled first through the portable toilet, then through an adjacent stand of trees and across the meadow, disturbing nesting waterfowl.

It was hard to determine who was more shocked at this stunning coincidence, but needless to say the experience nearly scared the crap out of both parties.

Later that day one of them decided to buy some lottery tickets, flushed with high expectations, figuring that the odds of winning were comparable to the chance meeting at the lavatory that morning.

The other was home digging through her old album collection trying to find just the right tune to capture the sentiment of the day.  She dusted off the jacket of Abbey Road and let the needle drop on the old phonograph.  She smiled as The Beatles sang her old favorite, “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window.”

Posted on September 27, 2013 under Storytelling with 4 comments

THANK YOU

Phil and I would like to thank everyone who came out to our story telling show last night. We had an excellent crowd who were warm and responsive. We are pleased to report that we raised in excess of $5,000 for charity. It is not a huge sum of money these days but it will help to buy food for those who need it. So that’s it. You won’t have to listen to me go on and on about this anymore.

I do have several new stories in the works. Tomorrow’s offering is about chance encounters. You know what it’s like when you bump into someone in the most unusual of places, like an airport in some far off country or at the end of a hiking trail in the middle of nowhere. A meeting at the liquor store doesn’t quite qualify. I won’t spoil this by saying anything else . Coming tomorrow , “Johnny on the Pot.”

Another story I’m working on is about the old Goodman store here in Antigonish. Yes, it’s a local story but I suspect that just about every small town in North America had, at one time or another, a department store just like Goodmans. I got to thinking about this the other day after purchasing a new ipad mini with “square” technology. This will allow me to take your hard earned money out of your pocket when my book goes on sale. I will be able to accept credit card payment even if I meet you deep in the forest. I thought about how much technology has changed and harkened back to when Goodmans used to process payments with an elaborate in store system of tubes and vacuums. You need to be pretty old ( my age ) to remember this. The story is called ” The Shape of Business.”

Have a great weekend.

 

Posted on September 26, 2013 under Thursday Tidbits with no comments yet

                                                           IT’S SHOW TIME

Tonight is our big fundraiser at the Schwartz Auditorium in support of the St. Vincent de Paul. The show gets under way at 7:00 p.m. and will last two hours unless the audience throws us out before then. Please try and get your tickets prior to the show at Brendan’s Fairway, Brosha’s Short Stoppe or The Tall and Small Café.

In addition to the story telling, we will be airing the premiere of Phil’s excellent video ” Antigonish on my Mind” prior to the start of the performance and at the intermission. Unlike TIFF and the Cannes Film Festival, there will be no red carpet appearances from famous people. I know many of you have already seen this video on Facebook but it is much more impressive on the big screens.

Ok.  Just so you know what you’re getting yourselves in for, here’s the format. I will do a short intro thanking sponsors and mentioning a few “housekeeping” items including the location of the washrooms which is an important piece of information for seniors like Phil and I. Phil will lead off with a story and I will follow with one of mine. I’m sure there will be mindless banter between the two of us throughout the evening. Just before the intermission, we will open up the floor to comments or questions.

There will be one 20 minute intermission. We will be providing free coffee, tea and water, courtesy of our corporate sponsors. At this time , members of the St.Vincent de Paul Society will be available should you wish to make a charitable donation. Tax receipts will be provided on the spot.

The second half of the program will follow a similar pattern to the first,  with a little surprise at the end of the evening.

By the way, if you have a strong back and a willingness to help those less fortunate, the St. Vincent de Paul Society is looking for a few able bodied people who might help out with furniture delivery, one of the services that they provide. You can contact Phil about that.

We are both excited and terrified as the clock winds down to show time. We are hoping for a good crowd. As I said to someone the other day, please bring your legion of friends or your friends from the Legion!

See you tonight.