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Archive for September, 2008

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Old friends visited

Sunday, September 21st, 2008

Time has a way of passing, the years silently slipping by unnoticed until retirement comes knocking at the door.

Best friends you figured to keep in touch with drifted off to different places, jobs & started families. In the hustle & bustle of daily life contact was lost. Sure there was the high school reunion 20 yrs ago where there was a fleeting contact, just a weekend break in life’s road where plans & dreams floated about.

Now that another 20 yrs have past & retirement is here it became important to me to reestablish contact & catch up on the past 40 yrs, compare notes & see if the dreams of youth had been satisfied. A phone call was made a date set & last weekend met two friends that had migrated to Ontario with me then on to Quebec where I met with two more who had stayed home.

It turns out our lives pretty much stayed on the course  set in our 20’s, all raised families of 2 children, has grandchildren , still have their original spouses & while not rich has enough to live well & do as they want. Three of the four worked on the pipeline all over Canada with me in our early 20’s & now seem content to stay where they are year round, one is a bit older & figures Florida would be nice during the coldest part of the winter. The main thing is that all of us given the chance to live life over again would follow the same path.

Of course I had to be the exception here as was always a poor judge of women so I am single again & again & again, also found it hard to work for some one else so have been self-employed for the past 30 yrs which tends to give one an extremely bitter view of the Canadian government. Also figure it would be nice to live in a place where there was more than a couple months nice weather during the year.

This & That

Saturday, September 20th, 2008

Time is passing , my departure date is only 30 days away & the necessary arrangements made. First on the list was a visit to the local travel clinic for a consultation & the necessary shots, turns out that my Central American trip this year & my RTW next year need the same immunizations which is good. All that was needed over the usual shots that I have already had when in school was Twinrix which I had the first two last year so just the booster + Tetanus/Diphtheria & Typhoid. Also a prescription for Malaria pills & Cipro in case Imodium isn’t enough.

Next I visited a Laser health centre for smoking cessation therapy, just figured it would be easier to just quit than go endless hours on planes, trains & buses having to abstain. Eleven days so far & all is well. Then off to the optometrist for a check as needed new frames for my glasses.

                                       The Scout Nationals & The Ohio Swap Meet

Went to Springfield OH to pick up a tub for the Scout at Super Scout Specialists & take in the Nationals & the Ohio Swap Meet. What a meet & show I have never seen any thing like it! If it wasn’t there for sale you don’t need it. Nothing in Canada even comes close, worth the 10 hr drive just to see it. Only downside is getting ripped off by Canada Customs coming back.

Now have all the parts (I think) so Scout should be drivable when I return in the spring.

The last of the parts for the Checker Taxi arrived so it will be finished next week & I have finished the long road trips & have a buyer for the company Caravan so can sell it at the end of the month. That leaves me with just the wheel chair bus to operate until the company year end next July.

Flight to Ft Lauderdale is booked & paid for as is the hotel & cruise to Nassau so on Oct 20 I am gone!!