The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

6 Oakville Beaver Weekend Sunday July 30, 2000 T h e O a k v il l e B e a v e r M aratand F 'n rtn g , P u tfc ftn g & D e trb u tin g L id .. n d jC te fi& rJP tte rrQ Ian Oliver, Publisher N a vs A rtre rto e r, A fcto n HBrakVCourer, Same Advance, Barry's Bay The W b e KB o io n E rte rp re e , Bram pton G uerdon, & /fn g to n P od. B u ln ^ c n Neil Oliver, Associate Publisher ShoppnQ N a vs, O ty P arent CofcngwoocVW asaoa C o m ecton, E aa Vtark M rror, E m A drecateT D ourtry R o tie s , E tohcoke G uardan, R am borou^r N o rm an A le x a n d e r, Editor Post. G eoraB taw i IndapendB rt/A ctcn F Press, E k io ria B ueress Tim as, in g sto n T h e W eek. Lindsay TTvs W eek, M arkham E cn o m st & See, Kelly M o n ta g u e , Advertising Director K K A d la n tV P e n e ia n g u e h in e M irro r, M ilto n C anadian C h a m p o n , M ilto n S h o p p in g N ew s, M ississa u g a B u sin e ss T im es, M ississa u g a N ew s. S teve C razier, Circulation Director N aparee G u d a N a vm a rkB t/A u cra Era-Banner. N o rttvfT tM rta n d Maws, N orth Vork k frro r. O a k v ie Beaver, O a k v ie S ho p p n g N ew s. O ld irn e rs Ten C a s a s , Office Manager H ockey N a vs. O rfe Today, O s h a w a A M ib y /C la rn ^ o n P ort Peny The W eek. O w en S ound Tribune, P eterborough T his W eek. P e to r C ounty M a rk Dills, Production Manager G isd e , R ichm ond H i/T h o m h iA ^ u g h a n L ib e ra l. S ca rb o ro u g h M rro r. Riziero VertoJIi, Photography Director Stou#\^aA JxbndgB T rtx n e . Forever 'rbung. C ity o l 'itr k G uarcfen io b RECOGNIZED FOR EXCELLENCE BY: THE OAKVILLE BEAVER IS PROUD OFFICIAL MEDIA SPONSOR FDR: PH E B R O N t i l t l T T E R F LV d h tr e r ffr u r |oahvlllc galleries | 467 Speers Rd., Oakville O n t L 6K 3S 4 (905) 845-3824 Fax: 337-5567 Editorials G o o d m e d ic in e Okay, so you fell lousy but instead of staying home from work for a few days to rest and recuperate, you decide to head for the Emergency Room of your local hospital. Why? So now what happens? You It's not like you've never had the flu w a t f f a a ffa e fa a f ' s before. You know the sym ptom s. You know that nothing they can give you, S tr e tc h in g O u t th e d o o r , except the same headache medication you s p r e a d i n g y o u r g e r m s a n d can get over-the-counter at a pharmacy. ... , So now what happens? You wait in a p ick in g u p o th ers OS y o u line that's stretching out the door, spread- complain about the wait. ine vour eerms and Dickine u d others as you complain about the wait. But since people like you appear incapable of making a rational decision, Health M inister Elizabeth Witmer is going to make it easy on you. She's offering free flu shots this year to anyone in Ontario in an effort to stop people from clog ging ERs. That's the kind of pro-active medicine we need. Just ask Dr. Lome Martin, the C hief o f S taff at H alton H ealthcare Services (which includes Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital). H e's seen what happens when flu victims descend on the ER. Some of these `patients' end up taking beds and staff time from major cases and that just backs up the system. Add to that the possibility of hospital staff infection and you have the makings of an untenable situation. Most local businesses have already been approached to set up a flu shot pro gram for employees but for those not in such a position, do yourself and the rest of us a favour and bare your arm in the name of good health. Journey to the Twilight Zone a short one This summer the travel bug hit m y w if e 's fa m ily and h it 'em hard. In the course o f one manic m o n th , h e r s is te r fle w o f f to G reece, h er b ro th e r to A lask a, a n o th e r b ro th e r and sis te r and their families to Ireland, and her parents likewise jetted to the land o f lep rech au n s w ith o u r e ld e st son, Matthew, in tow. Oh, and just to add a few more air miles to the mix, my wife winged off to Los Angeles to conduct a little busi ness. T alk a b o u t re ig n in g c h a o s. Talk about confu sed kids. Talk about a discombobulated dad... For a while, there around our h o u se, try in g to k eep up w ith everyone's nutty travel schedules, w ith o v e rla p p in g a rriv a l and departure times, and with precise ly who was where, became a bit c o n fu s in g and c o m ic a l -- a globe-trotting vacation of the old s On A bbott and C o stello W h o ' First? shtick. But what was even more difficult was trying to keep up with what time zone everyone w as in. C o n se q u e n tly , a little game o f W hat Time Is It Where W hoever Is Right Now? began in our home. " W h at T im e Is It W here Matthew Is Right Now?" our son Scott would ask. And I'd take our current time, add five hours to get up to speed with Irish time. Then be doing. So, for example, when we were sitting down to breakfast, Matthew might be having a roast beef lunch at an Irish pub and my w ife w o u ld p ro b a b ly s till be socializing with the Sand Man on the Left Coast of America. Although Haley has had some experience w rapping her young noggin around the concept of time changes -- she has cousins who live on the other side o f the world and she knows that their lives are 12 hours ahead of ours -- I knew she w as n ev erth eless confused (join the club, kid!). So I tried to explain time zones. The division of the globe. The various zones. To a four-year-old. I might as well have been speak in g M andarin. When I finished my dissertation, when I'd finally run out air, she astutely asked: "And what time zone are we in, dad?" "That's easy, my dear. We're in The Twilight Z one." W hich, for us, is familiar territory. As July wound down, one by one my w if e 's fa m ily b eg an returning from their travels. This week Matthew returned home. To regale us with tales from southern Ireland. And to catch up on lost sleep. Apparently, he had a terrific time. Every day, he and his grand parents and aunts and uncles and cousins would set out on am bi tious sight-seeing missions across the picturesque Irish countryside and every night, as they wearily re tu rn e d to th e ir re n te d farm house, there would be some of his grandfather's relatives waiting in the driveway, eager to visit. Needless to say, our globe-trot ting son is still a little out o f sorts, a little jet-lagged, as he tries to reco v er not only from a threew eek holiday on w hich he had way too much fun, but also from that unforgiving time change. At seven o 'clock each night, he looks so tired it might as well be mid night. O r four in the afternoon, Left Coast time... Ahhh, w elcom e back to The Twilight Zone. w e'd take this new time and try and d e te rm in e w h at M atth ew Might be doing. "Then, What Time Is It Where Mom Is Right Now?" our fouryear-old daughter Haley would wonder. And I'd take our time and subtract three hours. Then w e'd speculate on what my wife might P ud By Steve Nease