HITBY FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, JULY 6,1988, PAGE 5 This week, a collection of odds and sods, or as they say in the boutique business, a potpourri: Favorite saying of the week: Ever notice that those who urge us to."play ball" are always the ones with the bat in their hands? Ever, notice how Americanized our language is? For example, people talk -about "playing ball" with other people, but they never talk about "playing hockey" to reach a settlement. Or is hockey just too violent? And nobody ever tà lks about ; a "hockey rink" estimate. Think about it. You often hear someone who canit 'get to first base." When was the last time someonè complained about '"not getting over the blue line." (But blue lines are treacherous things to trip over. Are we Canadians that clumsy?") I had the opportunity to te-read portions of two Grade 2 and Grade 3 readers, circa 1945-50: Streets and Roads and More Streets and Roads. (My brother picked them up at a yard sake for 25 cents each). The most striking thing about them in 1988 was the class distinctions: everyone lived in neat, new subdivisiôns, in a great middle class way. You may cautiously suggest that while many Canadians taday are middle class,.and live in new subdivisions, most aren't, and don't. But jump back forty years: few Canadians lived in new subdivisions, and if middle class was an aspiration, it was a distant one -- for most of-us. Little wonder that the school texts were held in schoolboy disdain. How could those urban, middle class characters hold any meaning for those who went to rural schools, without running water (or flush toilets) either at school or at home. Canada has changed. In the same pile of texts wâs the 1939 text Jim and Judy, later replaced by Streets and Roads. Jim and Judy tried not to be American. but gave up its secret WITH OUR FEET UP by Bill Swan Potpourri in the illustration of the school'house. There, in all its glory, swung the Stars and Stripes. Even today, far too many textbooks are Yammering editions, with American flavors and prejudices. Especially at the upper level of the educational stream -- in colleges and unÃversities -- many courses just don't have the numbers nationally to support even a Canadian edition of a book. Don't be alarmist, but be careful that under the Free Trade agreement we don't end up with the same kind of economies of scale. Let's hope that it is not a bold leap back forty years. Aggravation of the week: people who dawdle along, blocking the road ahead, more interested in sight-seeing than getting anywhere. Can anyone be more frustrating than a driver who sticks to the speed limit? ' The perfect holiday jaunt for ~kids under 10: Storybook Gardens in London, Ont. A long drive (three hours if you stop for coffee) for just an afternoon, but if you're down that way definitely worth a look. B3uilt around familiar nursery rhyme themes, this is a low-key theme park in Springbank Park on the river Thames. Meet the three little pigs, old MacDonald's farm, the three men in a tub, the crooked mile maze, and more. And the Sunday we were there, enough other people to make it interesting. But -- you're not going to believe this -- lineups. For. drinks. For food. For kiddie slides (included in admission) or washrooms. Family pass of about $10 (okay, I forget): is good for the whole day. Plenty of shady park for your own picnic lunch. Also available nearby in Springbank: merry-go-round (3 tickets for $2.50, good or a three minute and thirty second ride) and ferry boat rides on the Thames ($2.50 for twenty minutes). The changing texture of a changing world: anyone remember the bad old days when peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth? Someone mentioned that today and brought back childhood memories. Not that I have given up peanut butter. Heaven forbid! But it doesn't· stick anymore. If you are paranoid enough, you might ask: what did they add to it to make it slide down smoothly? And should we worry? Question of the week: what group recorded that song built around the theme of peanut butter. (The song: Peanut Butter. The words: How do you get peanut butter off the roof of your mouth? Well, you can blow it off. But that's no good. Or you can lick it off. But that's no good. Or you can scrape it off. Next verse: How do you get peanut butter off your finger? Well, you can flick it off. But that's no good. Or you can shà ke it off. But that's no good. Or you an lick it off. Next verse: How do you get peanut butter off the roof of your mouth? Well, you can ...) May your marigolds melt in the heat. Grose: a free trader who doesn't like free trade deal It wastalmoet two years ago, to the day, that Ivan Grose decided to seek the Liberal nomination for the riding of Durham- Northumberland. Two years later, the riding's boundary has changed, but Grose still intends to seek the Liberal nomination. (The Durham-Northumberland riding was recently changed and now includes the area of Whitby north of Taunton Rd., Oshawa north of Rossland, Uxbridge Township and Newcastle. The new riding is called Durham). Grose, 59, who calls himself a small-L liberal, says "I don't agree 100 per cent of the time. "He has been mailing news- letters in preparation for the Aug. 11 nomination meeting to beheld in Port Perrv. "I'm sick and tired, both provincially and federally, of nothing being done between elections. Then two weeks before a nomination we are supposed to get to know a person," explains Grose of why he started the newsletter. Grose will be running against former NDP MPP Doug Moffatt for the nomination. Grose, who cails himself a "ftee trader," does not like the free trade deal negotiated between Canada and the United States. "Tariffs were coming down under GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Treaties) so why throw in all the goodies the Conservative government did," says Grose. He explained that under GATT, tariffs were decreasing and would have been "down" at the same time as the agreement between Canada and the U.S. called for the removal of all tariffs, in 10 years. He says the Americans gained access to' Canada's financial services and are guaranteed the same price for energy as the provinces. Grose believes the American empire is in decline and Canada should be looking at other world markets, including the Far East where countries such as Japan are "rising nations." Liberal leader, John Turner, said by Grose to be a negotiator, terry p i c Durham Rd. N.S. .-:-mot ,& 11 8th Conc.. 7th Conc. Brougham o. ~joe oe e - w o ooe -z g' oe .Green Brae Orchards For daily picking cohditions phone: 655-4501 or 655-3217 Brooklin -I S- No. 7Hwy. Whitby HOURS: 8a.m.-8p.m. PICKING SUBJECT TO WEATHER & SUPPLIES BRING CONTAINERS MEASURED IN OUARTS (eg. 6 qt. basket) could negotiate a better deal with the Americans. "Mulroney is a labor negotiator. Ie caved in on every Nomination meeting Aug.e11 issue with the Americans." Grose also daims to be one of the "few people" who have read the free trade deal. He says Turner will lead the Liberals in the next election, having secured his position at a Liberal leadership convention last year. "Turner got 76 per cent of the vote. I dont know why those Toronto politicians (the 22 politicians said to have attempted to oust Turner as leader) are disgruntled with him. The only way fie wiff not be the leader is if he resigns." According to Grose, Turner's leadership is secured for a year after the election if the Liberals lose. It will not be reviewed if the party wins the next election, which Grose says will be called in February and held next spring, if1 not called in October. Grose points to,the difhIcuIty all three parties will have campaigning in the riding which he calls a "dog's breakfast. "Uxbridge farmers have different concerns than Newcastle farmers who have different concerns than residents in Whitby and Oshawa." But he says Liberals have been promised help by Ontario Premier David Peterson who is "prepared to get the big red machine out of the garage to help." Grose, married with four children,'is the owner of Ajax Portables Services Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .w. If' m