TubaOrNotTuba

I think the point is to maintain your brain in a state of being alert. In other words do not sleep your way through life. However getting exercise for your brain is really rather simple. Go and study something that you do not already know about. This morning I watched some videos on the breaking systems used on railway trains. Air mainly but there is some mechanical involved and the reality is that I do not have a real car to go out and poke around and see for myself. If I want to understand the principles I have to find a simulation of some sort. I have basic familiarity with the systems. I have watched trainman tie break lines together for most of my life. Old technology that is still in use. And of course there have been improvements overtime. That is a positive thing. I can remember watching old movies where someone jumped up on top of a box car and rotated a large hand wheel until brakes came on or came off. Those systems still exist I believe. But we now have things that are better. Computerized. Able to compare air pressures all by themselves. To be sure this kind of thing is important in the real world. Last year we visited the site of a rail disaster. One that came about because the train was parked on a very slight grade and someone did not set F is sufficient number of handbrakes. The train got away and crashed and burned. Not a good thing for anyone involved and the reason why we have a memorial site is that it affected greatly a small town. No need to name names. Just take it from me these systems are still used and learning even a minimum about them is a good idea. I will never run a train but I feel better knowing the why of things. Part of being educated. And to reassure you I have no intentions of going out and trying something dangerous. You can go back to sleep now.

I should have paid better attention during the political science classes. You know, the ones I never took. I am now faced with trying to decode what is going on in the world. I am making very slow progress through the mud. For the last few minutes I have been listening to an interview with a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Trying to explain the current situation. More mud. I lack the foundations to understand the current world situation. I should also have taken a few history classes but that is a subject for another day. What I am learning is that there is no clear answer. For anyone. All of the pundits are left trying to make sense of a world that is turning upside down. For the record that little skirmish with the South of us that is supposed to lead to tariffs being put in place is back on hold. And the situation in northern Europe is that a stalemate sort of. Please do not turn your attention to the Middle East. All confusing. In fact it probably would be easier to try and explain a hockey game where at least there is a puck on the ice. I will continue to watch. With great bewilderment. I had been told in my earlier years that if you studied history it could help to avoid stupidity. Even that no longer is true. I should probably dig a hole and pull it on the top of myself. A cheap form of protection. I am of course uninterested in hole digging so I will sit back and wait for things to evolve. Someone said that all things will pass. I should probably look up that quote to see how it turned out. Meanwhile I will wait for the next government change in my own country. It turns out that our long term federal MP has retired and I want to know who intends to take his place. Spoiler alert. Not me. I hate getting dressed up in a suit. And I understand that the suits that sit beside me are also uncomfortable. I actually miss the days when I could sit back with a good fiction book and go all the way to the end of the story. Now I have to watch reality unspool. If you have ever worked with reels of film you know that getting things back in order can be done but it takes a lot of time and patience.

The building is still there, I think. It became a car dealership or something similar. But for a couple of years it was the most dangerous building in the city. Nothing to do with explosives. This was our roller rink. Now in the beginning we all believed we could handle this. We were Canadian and we understood skating on ice. This was a little different. Really fancy boots with wheels on the bottom. We would go to this location and we would skate around in circles to a soundtrack. Worthy of a movie I think because none of us were good at what we did. The real challenge was to try not to fall on your head. This was before the days of helmets unfortunately there are no recorded deaths. Just a few arms. I was there one afternoon that happened. We had taken two school buses full of people with no experience brought them in put skates on their feet and turn them loose for an hour or two period of course someone had to fall. We all knew that you could skate much faster if you joined hands and then snap the whip. Someone did. The contact between cement and young bodies can lead to carnage. Or broken arms. Your choice. I do not know if the current generation understands how dangerous life was back in the 80s. We had to copy the fads that came from the United states. Go ahead. Ask your parents if they remember disco. Their response should tell you all you need to know. Some things are best left on the other side of the border. Speaking of disco we had dance clubs in the city centre. The floor had flashing lights and the soundtrack was equally loud compared to the roller rink. Same people. Less acceleration. The slow dance rarely leads to sudden death by falling. All of this is now part of my past.

I think that being famous is overrated. In a world where things are transactional I have met very few truly famous people. Unless of course they were in disguise. I have met no Prime Minister or member of the royal family or even a famous politician or musician or athlete. Wait, there was that one time when Gordie Howe gave me an autograph. But he didn’t know my name and I had to be told his so it really was nothing. As for famous musicians, none have ever come to my door and my door was always open to them if they had. Perhaps I am just an unknown. Although I would like if you ever meet a famous whoever that you check to see if they know me. Coming at it from the other direction if you will. What does really show is that I am not likely to be invited to see the man who is richer or the man who is famous or the man who has done more for humanity than anyone else. Do they realize what they’re missing? I have however been to a few places where things are famous. I saw those faces carved into a mountainside and I saw a large ship go by in the night. Those count for something. And once I saw a famous airplane. You see we all pick our moments and our places to be. Never underestimate what you have accomplished. And I have read books and seen movies and listened to recorded music that involved people who have achieved their moment in the sun. We cannot choose where we will go in our lives. Wait. I can choose where I will go. I just will keep that limited. A factor of time and budget. And maybe, tomorrow someone will come by just after the moment they become famous. I will hold that in anticipation. 

Not having much money is actually a good thing. Very few scammers are out to empty my bank account. And I will not be buying a fancy electric car that I would never drive. Ever since our national government placed a retaliatory tariff against that car company this morning the price just doubled. I am watching the news to find out how people react to the silly moves made by various governments. Our neighbors to the South are in full mode of running a clown show by placing tariffs on things they need. Only if bought from this country. Go figure. I mean, I have. If you suddenly make the price of essential items rise only two make your own country richer you depend upon people buying those goods in your country. Hence my mirth at the idea of my buying a fancy car. The tariffs have been in place since midnight and so far I have not paid any mind. Most days I spend near nothing so I am not going to be affected short term. If I decide to go out and buy a ton of aluminum, on a whim, I will have to find a way to spend more money. Oh wait, that doesn’t affect me because I live on the right side of that imaginary line. But somebody must be going to pay them; else why all the wringing of hands and clutching of pearls. Yes I know the economic pressures are bad for all involved but I will have to wait to see just how much of an effect this whole thing is going to have on anyone other than those with a lot of money invested in stocks and bonds. They’re already feeling the pain. Will this push the world to war? Or turn the whole system upside down with a deep seated depression? Actually the depression will be felt by those who pay attention and I think you can get stuff from the pharmacist to take care of that too. But I do not speak from a place of deep experience by virtue of being too poor to care.

This may seem like a painful exercise but you need to do it from time to time. Seek out speeches by your politicians. Try to determine how long it takes before the speaker does a loop. Public speaking is a talent and not every politician is talented. Someone explains to the politician that he must speak for a given amount of time for appearances. And when you only have a short message the tendency is to loop. If that loop is extremely short everyone will notice. Extended by only a few phrases and you can fool the simple persons in your audience. Remember back to when you had to give a speech in school. Most of us never made it beyond a couple of sentences scrolled on a crib sheet. We found it fulfilling to stay on stage for as long as possible even when we had nothing to say. That rule applies equally to politicians. I listened to a curated speech given by one of the candidates to be Prime Minister. It did not go well. The person in charge of the podcast was quick to point out then a phrase repeated over and over again does not make that phrase better. I have another example. We have someone else who wants to be Prime Minister and that person has reduced the message to three words. When the underlying policy changed the speech did not. Proof that the politician does not always listen to what they’re saying. Just saying. Keep an eye on them as we move into election season. See if you can spot the inconsistencies that are required to keep the train of thought going. Like a real train it requires fuel. When you run out of fuel your train will roll to a stop. With it your hold on the attention of your audience. Try to find a politician that has a true message for your own sanity.

I probably haven’t looked hard enough. I tend to shop for things where I already know what I want and what the risks might be. However, after watching some videos on inspecting an RV, it is clear that I need an awful lot more experience before I go off to buy something unknown to me. So many places where things can go wrong. It all starts with the wheels. You hope that they meet the ground in the way they are intended. If the rig is upside down that is a red flag. That probably goes for airplanes as well. If the RV has things that are obviously damaged, you can make the assumption that this happened after manufacture. That is the moment to ask the current owner what might have happened. If the owner says that it happened when he turned the rig upside down save your money and walk away. I’m taking this without any degree of seriousness because I am not shopping. For others with hope in their heart and dollars in their wallet they have to take the whole inspection process seriously. The old axiom about buyer beware applies here as well. Remember, the owner is not going to tell you something to make you want to shop elsewhere. Part of their job description. If what you hear sounds too good to be true it probably is. Keep in mind that an RV usually does not go upside down all by itself. And if there are only three wheels you should be  asking what happened to the other wheel. Think of it as due diligence on the part of the buyer. Remember the seller has no such rule in his job description. We have been fortunate. We are now on our second RV and in both cases we got what we wanted at the price we accepted. Something about buying objects that are pretty much pristine. Do I want to shop for another rig right now? No. That counts as a succinct response. I continue trying to learn just in case but it is reassuring to look out the door and see that our other set of beds is there ready to travel. Eventually. We’re waiting for winter to end and according to the Almanac that will be soon.