Rant

The first time I heard about planned obsolescence was in grade nine. The idea that things are manufactured with a specific life span so people would need to continue buying new things irks me. Since August 2000, we have bought 5 kettles. The most recent being today, making the average life span of a kettle 22.75 months, or under 2 years.
OK, we are heavy kettle users. Admittedly we make an average of 3-4 pots of tea a day. Making 2128 boils per kettle. But Studyboy and I have a habit of forgetting to use the first kettle of water and we have to re-boil it probably half the time, so add another 50% to that to make it 3192 times before the average kettle gives up the ghost.
Plus, if you read the directions, they always suggest boiling it twice before using to clean out any manufacturing debris, thereby cheating you out of two perfectly good boils.
It is not the element that goes. It is not the cord. It is not the on/off button or any of the moving parts on the cover. In all the kettles that have crapped out in the past 7 years, it has been the plastic bottom that eventually starts to melt and then bubble where the heat of the element weakens it over time. But get this, no matter what the brand or the style, or the price, all kettles have an exterior plastic bottom. (or at least all the ones at Cambodian Tire) Co-incidence? I think not.
But I got my small revenge. When you register the product for the 12 month (aka the 11 months too short) warrantee, they ask you to fill out a voluntary survey so they can 'know their customers better'. I always fill it out. Today, I am a 65+ single woman, who is retired, makes over $500,000 a year. I own a cat and my main hobbies are skiing and investing money. Take that Black and Decker!

Newfoundland Comedy Hour

I have written previously about how St. John's doesn't have sidewalk clearing in the winter. The city itself doesn't have the funds for clearing sidewalks, and there is no bylaw that makes people shovel out the sidewalks in front of their houses. Partly this is because in heavy snowfall winters, there would be just no place to put the snow on the crowded city streets where row houses sit right on the sidewalks for blocks and blocks. The alternative for years has been for pedestrians to walk on the streets. After heavy snows, the narrow streets are even more narrow and motorists have to weave around parked cars and walkers and people waiting for buses. When the snow blower does come round to clear sidewalks, it leaves a hard packed layer that alternate rains and freezes turn to ice. It is pretty dangerous. Just before Christmas there was a public demonstration to pressure St. John's City Council to approve funding for sidewalk clearing. Last winter there was a pilot project that cleared sidewalks close to schools and hospitals for about $180, 000. Council voted to not fund that project this winter.
Then Mayor Andy Wells was given a new job. He will be the head of the Public Utilities Board in March. This lead to a whole new controversy about whether he should resign as Mayor in March, triggering an expensive by-election or staying on as mayor until September, when there will only be 12 months left until a full election and the Deputy Mayor is allowed to fill in for that time.
After news that Andy is leaving was made public, the Deputy Mayor Dennis O'Keefe decided he wanted to listen to the public opinion on sidewalks and brought the issue before council again. He proposed they fund sidewalk clearing on all major roads to the tune of $500,000. St. John's City Council meetings are broadcast on the cable network each week, and the locals call those broadcasts the Newfoundland Comedy Hour because Andy et al can get a little feisty at times. Listen to this first 3 and a half minutes of this Real audio clip from council meeting that the local CBC morning show aired the next day. It is hilarious! You can also read the CBC news item here.

The Postman Always Knocks 'Shave and A Haircut'

It doesn't have the same ring as the title of the classic dark thriller, but it has the advantage of being true.
Our postman really does knock "Shave and A Haircut' when he has a package to deliver. We get a lot of packages. Study boy has substituted buying tools on EBay with buying books on Barnes and Nobel (and Ebay, and Amazon...).
A few weeks ago I was walking the dog on Merrymeeting Road and we passed a postman delivering mail. It was our postman, I didn't recognise him because postmen are like waiters, they all look the same, but he stopped me and asked if I was going to be home that morning as he a parcel for me. I was blocks away from my house and he not only knew me out of context but also knew that somewhere in a truck full of mail, I was going to get a parcel that day. I am amazed at this. We live in a city! It's a small city, but I'll bet that his route has as much mail to deliver to as many households as a postman in TO.
Then this week, we came home to find a notice of attempted parcel delivery in the mailbox. That's the card they leave to tell you where you can go to pick up your mail, after noon the next day. Usually it is a postal outlet in a drugstore, in our case it is the Shoppers on LeMarchant Road. The card indicated we could pick it up at number 10. The postman had left our parcel with Fred and Jean next door. I'm pretty sure he's not supposed to do this. We live in a city. They don't even do this in the country! I'm not complaining, I liked it.
The next day I was walking the dog on Aldershot, blocks from my house when I saw our postman again. He asked if I got my parcel, and said that Fred and Jean have lived at number 10 for years so he figured it was OK. It's true, Fred and Jean have been at number 10 for fifty years. Apparently a constant address is a good enough reference for Canada Post.

Pancake Day

It is called Pancake Day here in NL. But whatever you call it; Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras... it is a BIG DEAL here. For weeks CBC radio has been advertising that the morning show would be broadcasting from a hotel in the Battery this morning while serving up Pancakes. Every church and community group in the city is hosting a breakfast, lunch or supper of pancakes today. Even Studyboy took the electric frying pan to school today for a special pancake lunch in the sociology department. I cannot stress how important today seems to be for the average Newfoundlander, and all I've been thinking is "If this is how they do Fat Tuesday, what will Easter be like?"
St. John's is a pretty Catholic place, and anticipating that a foreign student friend of Studyboy's would ask about the significance of today's ritual, I consulted a local I know at the pottery studio to get my facts straight. She let me in on an interesting custom I think may be unique to NL.
Newfoundlanders put stuff in their pancakes. I don't mean like blueberries. She listed off a number of unusual items which, when found in your pancake, were meant to predict what you would grow up to be. Such as:
A cross - the recipient would grow up to be a priest or a nun.
A thimble - who ever found this would become a tailor.
Money - the finder would be rich.
A small piece of nail (not too sharp, I was assured) - and I didn't quite get the significance of what the finder would become, although the nail itself was symbolic of the ones used at the crucifixion.
All this was confirmed today by another friend at the studio, who says his mum used to put her wedding ring in the batter, and whoever found it was sure to get married. It was interesting though that he had forgotten or never knew the whole reason for Pancakes to begin with.