TubaOrNotTuba

Some things are mysterious. Some things are not. In a world where many people travel by air and pass through airports those shops that are marked duty free must seem very mysterious. I mean, a shop where they do not take your money period. We all know I hope the tariff and duty are synonymous. When you arrive in a duty free shop the government decides not to collect your money for objects that they sell you. Have I lost you yet? You see right now the United States government plans to collect tariffs from all and sundry fun stuff produced elsewhere. Synonymous with a sales tax but for a different jurisdiction. In fact if we jump to the obvious conclusion a tariff is just another way for government to take your money from you. Do those people who think that the president and his tariffs are not there to collect their money have a clue. Or are they by extension clueless. The opening of a new arm of the government called the external Revenue Service told me all I needed to know. This was a way for the government to collect more money from all and sundry. At least from those that travel. To be fair the last time I knowingly had to calculate what was meant by a tariff, it came with a different name. We used to buy photography equipment from another nation and in the calculation of cost we had to put in the amount of duty that we were going to remit to our own government. Not exactly a sales tax but just as much of a burden on the wallet. Giving 20% more for whatever you buy it’s hardly a way to keep your own costs down. The government gladly collects money. The taxpayer is not as apt to want to give that same money to the government so if there is a legal reason the government is going to do its best to make sure you pay for whatever it is. When the US government announced yesterday almost every nation in the world would have new tariffs applied did that not awaken consumers? I am looking forward in a way to seeing what the press has to say after today. Does anyone notice that they’re voluntarily paying more for the things they want. There will be a price to pay. Probably a recession on the economy. And it takes a long time to recover from such an event. I suggest that you go and redo your family budget because you now have less money to spend. And believe me, the government will spend that money but not necessarily for your good.

We are in the midst of a federal election. And of course there are polling results. You see an election all by itself has no interest for people. The results are future based and the results are tenuous at best. We go in Canada to great lengths to keep a party structure alive. And yes I have railed against that whole idea many times. Here is the term that counts. The whip. That is the person who is tasked we’re keeping party members on task. What does that mean. It is an attempt to make sure that any given member of a party votes with the goals of the party itself. Blatantly undemocratic. As we move along through this campaign the polling results are all that there is for the news to report. Keep in mind that all politics is local. What your elected representative does your views is supposed to reflect. Even if you have never met that person or even had so much as a visit from their friends. With enough news coverage you can develop an idea of what might happen take power if a given group of people. Again not exactly what I understand by the terms of democracy and freedom of thought. We’re only halfway through the current campaign and already patterns are beginning to emerge. Humans love the idea of patterns. It allows our tiny animalistic brains to keep ourselves pointed in the direction of a goal. In the absence of a whip of course. I try to believe that I am reasonably informed about issues. Until I am not. I learn new details every day which is the point I guess. If you drive by my house there is no sign out front telling you how I might vote. Some of the older members of the community can tell you how my grand father voted but not me. Therein lies the pleasure of politics. Trying to keep the others guessing. If I lived in a country where the votes are commonly miscounted I would worry but in Canada that is not the case. When the numbers are finally posted the day after the elections they will probably mirror closely but the polls have been telling us. It keeps me intrigued because I look for the failure rather than the success. Glass half full or glass half empty.

What makes you anxious? Not the major items which affect all of us but the simple things in life. I’m going to put this out there. I just like wind chimes. Each element taken by itself is anodyne. Even with two of them you can in some ways anticipate what comes next. But, if you place a large number of random sounds together it does not create music. Something like that old idea that 1000 monkeys with 1000 typewriters could produce something useful to society. The wind chimes never get there. And as I get older I have noticed that our memories are a little bit like those chimes. We all have a lifetime of moments and unless you are slowly sinking into madness all of the elements do not rise to the surface at the same time. We can plan a little bit of where we want our stream of thoughts to go. However once that whole memory buffer starts to fill up moments slip out. Suddenly we find ourselves recalling a time or a place or a person that have not been in the view for ages. In that sense we are a little bit too close to the randomness of wind chimes. Perhaps I am too much of an introvert. Hours of time spent with my own memories as the main data stream. We do not invent memories. We do tend to give importance to the ones that have affected us personally. But if your thought process is make you think that wind chimes would be a good addition to your environment seek advice. Someone, near you, might have a different perspective.

I have been talking to the wall if you will for more than half a century. Going back to my first efforts in college radio and then trying other communications media I have taken the time to speak to people that I do not see. I have also tried reading and probably spend time just thinking. However I am puzzled. I fail to understand the need that many people have to create something known as a blog. I like the sound of my own voice but I do not feel forced to share it with others. I have grown used to this side of my own face sort of in the mirror. But I do not feel the need to put it out there for others to actually see my lips moving when I talk. However there are a lot of people who invest time and money and intellectual effort to speak to the rest of the world including those who need to read your lips when you’re talking. That is the only reason I can figure out for getting involved in the idea of a blog. I might change going forward although my doubts are high. I figure I have reached my zenith with what I am doing here. Letting the microphone translate what I say into a visual document. If someone else can let me know the why behind the need to blog I will add it to my list of things to learn. We had more snow last night a true sign that spring is on a delay. As are the schools right now. It makes it very hard to plan on any travel when we’re still waiting for the ground to thaw. I no longer have kept an account of how many months this winter has stretched on. Never severe. Never too cold to handle. I have avoided any opportunity to get frostbite or chillblaines. No reason to dream about heading off to a warmer place. In fact when I hear that someone has gone to a island in the Caribbean to get some respite from winter I wonder if they live in the same world that I do. I think that the stress I’m going from here to there would far exceed any pleasure that I would find in being on a beach near the ocean. Did I mention that I live just beside the beach near the ocean? Cold but that is purely a detail. A month from now this will all be forgotten.

It has been almost a year since our last major road trip. In that time a lot of the world as we know it has closed to us for political reasons. That is I am taking S off my compass. Anyhow the question then comes up where would I go next. Truth be told I almost want to do parts of last year’s trip again. We did not see everything. At least I did not. And so I found myself earlier today wondering what lies beyond the border of where we went. Like, what if we went over on the ferry and then another fairy and then we traveled for days into new territory that could take us back home. A giant loop if you will. Of course you can find almost everything if you spend some time looking. What I could tell from the videos I watched this afternoon is that there is a lot of rock and water in the area that interests me. That is not a problem. I wonder what it would be like to redo our steps from last year but to go further. For days. We would obviously end up back home at the end of the trip and so the danger of being forced to spend a winter away from my front yard is low. We still have the same vehicle and we are even better prepared in how to do things with the least amount of interference to the world around us. There are no firm plans in place just yet but if you get word that I have gone off on another long road trip do not be surprised. So much left to discover and as I said even with my compass has lost the South heading there are other places to visit or revisit. Summer is still a couple of months away from what I can learn. Take it as a given that I have the easy part of such a trip. I am a willing traveller with none of the heavy hauling. No need to paddle my own canoe.

I did not see the event. That does not infer that it did not happen. Last evening our weather wizard, J, was positively gleeful. Filled with the sort of pride down a new parent excludes. This morning at sunrise we would have a partial solar eclipse. Visible along the shore because that is where the sun best crosses the horizon with the sea. One more reason why I was not present. Shall we review. During a solar eclipse full or partial the sun is not actually covered up. This is a visual thing based upon where you are in line with the sun and the moon. Something that every schoolchild learns even if they never witness an eclipse. There in lies the reason why I did not bother getting out of bed to possibly see something that was only partial. Not even important enough to be marked on my kitchen calendar. But I am sure there will be pictures tomorrow or the next day. On a weekend everybody puts that sort of thing aside for a busier news time. Based on my assumption that the eclipse actually took place I will let you know what happened. Outside it was a little bit darker. Almost as if the sun had been partially obscured by a cloud. Or the moon. Take your pick. Around here we know the clouds are a constant risk and trying to plan ahead for something that is of minor importance is often difficult. So if you ask me where was I during the big eclipse of 2025 I can only respond safe in bed. I will wait to hear from others. Perhaps someone was out there with a camera hoping to see what happens during the big mystery. Or I can wait for the weather forecast and report on Monday. At this time of year we have no big storms so this may be the lead story of the evening. Back to you J.

Advice is often inexpensive and rapidly received. However if a school offers you options, explore them. Take your time. We had arrived in a new province just as I was about to begin my time in high school. Given that it was summer time I stopped by to meet with the guidance counselors and get some direction. In those days that came down to choosing your options. Would it be art or music or manual arts. Actually I was offered only drawing or music. My previous experience with a cheap guitar and a introduction to bagpipes had led me to believe that music was for others. I opted to take up my pencils and learn to draw. It sounds easy but in my case it was not. If I was to say that I lacked talent that would be an understatement. I was not drawn in by the myth that anyone could be an artist and I failed to catch that ink and pastels and pencils were meant for others. And so I settled in for a very long year. Yes I received a passing grade. In truth I believe that everyone did. And so when I returned the following September due to demographics there was an option open to me. I could put aside my pencils and transfer over to music. To me it did not matter that I had missed a full year of instruction on instruments. I want it out and as the numbers played out I was given the chance go down the hall. The only catch was that I would have to learn a full year of music theory in a matter of a month. I was ready. The stains to my fingers the previous year show me that there were other ways to live and I was willing to learn all the key signatures and all the time signatures and all the odd Italian words required I made my move. I had no background in piano so the teacher was left with few options. At the bottom of the room there was a chair for someone who would learn to play drums I was ready and willing and able and so I did. Changed my life. And for those that wonder I have never looked at a box of crayons in the same way again.

Although this blog has no comment section I do receive comments from some involved readers. Recently I received a question about the lack of modern content on these pages. As in why do I seem to avoid talking about the here and now. From where I sit that is not completely true. My content is basically anecdotal. Since so little of note happens in the here and now filling my pages day after day was mentioned that I had a bagel and coffee for breakfast or that it snowed last night become a little stale. Just like bagels. So for those that worry about such things here’s another way of looking at it most of my good life is probably behind me. Thousands and thousands of daily life and the big changes that would take place back when I was in the workplace are triggered by different things now. We have fox is by the front door but the raccoons only seemed to come out at night. Hope that helps a little. Going forward unless the world dissolves into a pile of mush I do not see my days filled with big changes. Even when we travel we know enough to avoid catastrophe. I’m sure that a few big moments would make this better for the reader but like reality you have to put up with the bagels and coffee. Will tomorrow be different? I am unsure but I do avoid putting myself in situations where change will bite me in the bum as they used to say. Right now I am staying tuned in to the important things going on. There is that election. And there is a crazy stuff down to the South. And we might get the bridge tolls taken away. Those are important things but they refused to become predictive hello I tend to be predictable. If the bridge tolls go away will I travel more often? Hard to say. I have not actually driven in years. And walking from here to the bridge would take the better part of a day even if the weather was nice outside. I can however plan for the future. If someone comes to visit I will be prepared and I will be able to offer coffee and bagels. Does that interest you? Let me know by whatever means you see fit. As an aside I will not be turning on the comment section any time soon.

One can learn many things from books. But, to be fair, some things are easier if someone shows you how. Many years ago a man came to our door and sold us some books. Dozens of books. So many they had to be delivered by railway train although that was a rule for many things. In our case although I was the only one apt to ever open them we bought a whole double set of encyclopedias. The person who came to our door explained that we could teach ourselves just about anything if we would only take the time to do some research . And so, in a couple of weeks, the curtains of books arrived. We had no plan. I decided to try and learn something based on the TV program that I had seen. Building a kite. I found some large pieces of wood which I tied together to make the requisite cross. Then I found a spool of thread and this used window blind. Do you follow me so far? I fabricated a kite that in proper conditions could probably have lifted a small car. It flew like a rock. Not my fault. I had followed the plan in the book. I had even constructed one of those tails that you see in pictures. Neither of my parents had any interest or background knowledge to help me so I put it down to experience. We needed better wind. I am glad that wind never came because I could have become a tourist in another province. This kite was well constructed even if it never had any chance of taking flight. And what I really learned is that even the best of instructions go better when you have someone to demonstrate where you had gone wrong. It took me many years to discover the errors of my ways. By that time you could get a kite at the local gas station and it actually worked. Plastics. And since that time I have tried other designs in other places and I have managed to fly a kite as the saying goes but the first time is a memory that will stay with me because I was so close and yet so far. Those books stayed around the house for many years mainly to hold windows open. Too much knowledge for the time and place.

Back in my day getting to school was an adventure. It literally was uphill in both directions and usually in a snow storm. At certain points the school board provided bus transportation. Usually. I have a fund memory of the day that the bus picked us up and took us to school. This was not great comfort. Our school bus I believe have been used for military transport in the day and then sold to the municipality. Forget those padded seats that children have now. Anyhow it was cold. How cold? Think of living in the high Arctic if you will. On this particular day the bus dropped us at the school door. We went to class but sometime before lunch the announcement was given that buses were cancelled for the rest of the day. That translates into find your own way home. And with that came our challenge. A group of us set out. Downhill in frigid cold in a snowstorm. None of us were lost or you would still be reading about it in the history books. What we did learn was that getting the school might be more of a challenge then we thought on certain days. I did get home and I did not freeze but at that point all of my trust in transportation by the school board went away. I would like to say that we did not go back to school until summer but that would be a fallacy. The next day we were back on the bus aware that getting to school and getting home was little more then a government promise. Keep that in mind kids when you decide to complain about having to go to school by bus. In your case if it even looks like nasty weather you will be told to stay home. I doubt that you will ever be delivered to school and then told to find your own way back. Yes it was a long time ago but some things remain etched in our memory. I also think that the school board decided to get better buses going forward but I am unsure because I graduated from school and for those that came after me they will form their own mythology.