Posted on April 8, 2013 under Storytelling with 2 comments

Even though I am a self proclaimed sports enthusiast, I notice that I haven’t done a sports story on my blog yet. This could change this week. My absolute favorite televised sporting event, The Masters golf tournament gets under way this Thursday. Besides the venue for the tournament and the rich history, the thing I like most is that there are only 4 minutes of commercials for every hour of broadcast.

I am quickly realizing that having a blog is like raising a child. It requires constant attention! It is akin to owning a wood stove in the winter. You just have to keep stoking it with fresh fibre. The good news is that I have a resevoir of about 75 stories so there’s no shortage of material . And of course, as I bump into people on a daily basis, I get new fodder.

I have five new stories in the editing phase. ” Convenience and Calories” is the story about a local convenience store that houses a bakery. It is only minutes from our house and Lent is over. You connect the dots! “Hidden Treasures” is a story from the North about scavenging in a landfill for car parts. “Just Listenin’ To The Radio” is a story about Saturday mornings, doing chores and listening to the local radio station. ” In Memorial” is a story suggested by my brother about the old memorial Rink on the campus of St.F.X. And finally, “Really Important Jobs” discusses jobs that deal with life and death situations ( like having coffee ready for your spouse first thing in the morning! ).

And remember, if you have a story idea, send me an e-mail at len.macdonald@eastlink.ca

Posted on April 6, 2013 under Storytelling with 2 comments

The inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell,  spent his summers  a few hours down the road from here in the scenic town of Baddeck.  He named his summer property Beinn Bhreagh.  Roughly translated these Gaelic words mean “my cell phone contract is indecipherable”.  My office is in the old telephone switchboard building and its owner has adorned the place with antique phones going back well over one hundred years.  The only thing missing is two old Campbell soup cans attached with a string. The advances with phone technology is quite staggering and now we carry our phones with us, take pictures with them; even pay bills with them. They are a wonder and a marvel when they are fully operational. Sometimes they become dysfunctional and temperamental like a teenager.

When I taught school in Alberta in the ‘70’s, I had the pleasure of living with five other transplanted Maritimers for the better part of three months… in a two bedroom apartment.  I arranged for telephone service and at the end of the first month, the phone bill arrived. It was eleven pages long and the total was in excess of $1100. Long distance love is costly.

My sister does shift work and the shifts are irregular and unpredictable, something akin to her phone service lately. For a few days, incoming and outgoing calls were problematic to say the least. When the phone was working, the receiver was filled with static. It was something like a guy waking up after a big night with the boys and having his wife give him his chore list, while screaming in his ear. With a mind seemingly of its own, the phone would ring at all hours of the day and night.

A few nights ago after a particularly long day shift, she retired early . Occasionally she will get a call late in the evening to work the next morning. The phone rang. No one there. This continued unabated on the hour until 4:00 a.m. Now delirious with fatigue, the phone rings  again and it is the good folks at 911. They are responding to her call that she purportedly made a few minutes ago. They want to confirm her address and ask her the nature of her distress. The obvious answer would have been that her telephone service provider was driving her insane. She chose the high road and suggested politely that she had not called 911. Unless, of course, her cat had hit the speed dial on the phone.

She hung up and crawled back into bed waiting for this nightmare to be over. As she was drifting off to sleep, she thought she heard sirens in the offing. The sound became more pronounced and seconds later lights from the ER vehicle splattered off her bedroom wall. This was followed by feverish pounding on her front door.

Alexander Graham Bell also invented the metal detector which will come in handy as hospital officials try and locate phone parts imbedded in the skulls of the first responders.

 

Posted on April 5, 2013 under Storytelling with no comments yet

Well, it’s time for a new story. Just to let you know, the response to the tribute I did for James MacPherson was quite mind boggling. In one 24 hour period, my blog traffic quintupled. So, to those of you who are new to my blog, a hearty welcome.

I am putting the finishing touches on two stories. The first one is about phones. Have you ever had a bad experience with your phone provider? Have you ever had a good experience with your phone provider?! I’m sure that there are hundreds of stories on this topic. By the way, is anyone able to understand a cell phone contract?

Another story about to be unleashed is about “really important jobs”. Betty gave me this idea on the way to work the other morning. Let’s face it, women always have good ideas. Problem is, most men don’t listen to their wives.

I have a truck load of shopping stories. I was talking about this with a colleague at work today. Why would men rather do almost anything else  except go shopping with their spouses?

If you have any good ideas for a story ( men, you are welcome too! ), just drop me a note. My e-mail address is len.macdonald@eastlink.ca