Senior Citizens - Continued from page 5 ask questions, ask for the replaced parts to make sure they were replaced, then drive the car around the block to see if the "shimmy" is gone. If not, they re right back there, ragging on the mechanic. My brother-in-law brought his Mercury outboard motor in for repair. Marinas and outboard motor shops are notorious for their slow turnaround. I guess they figure that outboard motors aren't pacemakers, thus are not central to the proper functioning of life. Outboards don't take up all that much space, so they just put them in the corner and work on them when they feel like it. A rainy day, say, or when Oprah is showing a rerun. Maybe they save the work for the cold, inhospitable months of winter when they have nothing better to do, I don't know. My brother-in-law was a gregarious man, a world class talker. My sister, when a passenger in the car, always carried a book, for my brother- in-law would be gone at least half an hour for the most trivial of errands. I timed him once. He stopped to buy some worms for fishing, strode briskly into the store, and was gone thirty-eight minutes. He'd drop into the outboard motor repair shop every couple of days to see if the motor was ready, find it wasn't, then talk about fishing and the weather and whatever else struck him for an hour or two. He said to me mm amazement one day, "Look! The gave me an outboard motor! Mine still isn't ready so they gave me another one . Not to return when mine is ready. Mine forever!" Well, it wasn't so amazing really. They were losing two or three man hours every other day with him. The gift motor was one they had kept so long the customer probably died, so if it would keep my brother- in- law out of the shop it was a good deal. To repair his motor promptly would cause them to lose face in a repair community taking great pride in extended repair times, so that wasn't an option. He was walking proof that retired men are the sand in the gears of the engine of the economy. These retired people, these grey panthers, stalk our community causing all manner of disruption. We can try losing them in the mall, but there's a high probability they will be returned. Legally, we can't put them on an ice floe and send them drifting out to sea or set them loose in a blizzard. I used to think euthanasia was a good idea, but now that I am in the retired-people-old age pension caste, I've changed my debating position. Maybe we just better keep on counting on oldsters to put on church suppers, volunteer for committees, baby sit the children, and keep doing the things that working society seems to want, but are too doggone busy to do. Just don't jump to conclusions about vandalism. - George Underhill The Elements - Cont'd from page 7 im the finished portion of the basement - just enough to totally saturate the carpet. I went to town and rented an industrial shop-vac to suck up some of the water. Later that evening the cleaning company arrived and cut the carpet out and piled it on the lawn for later pick up and disposal. The number of calls that day were so overwhelming that the cleaning company had used up all its fans. Most of the houses that they had been to had 1 - 2 feet of water. Sol rented the last blower from the rental shop and ran it day and night since. It's still running as I write this although the difference was noticeable after a day and the dehu- midifier was running constantly. A lot of people were more adversely affected than us, so I've heard and I suppose it could have been worse. My rain gage showed 7 Y inches as the rain stopped but I understand to the east of us up to 10 inches were recorded. I now appreciate a little, I think, what those folks you see in the newspapers standing looking at the ruins of their homes are feeling. The feeling of being violated by nature through no fault of you own is quite real. We also appreciate where we live and how quickly you can get help. Imagine the plight of the people in the Caribbean whose government offers no support and who are left to mercy of the aid agencies! Anyway I suppose some good has come of it. A lot of junk I had accumulated in the basement is in the dump and our storage facilities are about to undergo a major change. I think back to Hurricane Hazel 50 years ago and hope that we never have another experience like that or like Ivan's tail end kick. Moe Lesser may be right but it's hard to 'take it easy' as part of you home is destroyed. - John A Jackson Prince Edward County Discussion Group invites you to join us in the Board Room P.E.C. Memorial Hospital Thursday, October 7, 2004 - 7:30 p.m. Kathy erpstra ! Personal Trainer - Exercise and Diabetes