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Second Chas Mall Waldo- Numb" sun Apparently the hottest iiihn this Christmas season isn't Cabbage Patch dolls after all. . _. - . _- A But already the federal agency has asked the Canadian Labor Relations Board to declare the move illegal, and has further requested that union president J ean-Claude Parrot, a self-styled Pied Piper of malcontent, be ordered to retract the publicized offer. - Well, the word from this corner is don't for a minute fall for Parrot's shenanigans, yet another in his endless plots to milk public sympathy for postal workers. - Ui,' iii. The current rage is stamps - the five and 10 cent variety, that is. - __ - -- -. -- _ - - Reason being, that if the Canadian Union of Postal Workers has its way, 10 cents worth of postage is all that will be required to mail first class letters (including Christmas cards) the week of Dec. 11-17. A . The magnaninious gesture (do we detect a note of ...) is designed as an official protest to what the union has interpreted as unfair management practices on the part of Canada Post Corp. Let it be clear, the last thing we're condoning is the unconscionable escalation of postal rates the past two years, especially given that specific services have been eliminated and others reduced. To say nothing of the fact that despite Michael Warren's selected statistics indicating otherwise, postal service is still horrendous in many aspects. What we are not in the market for, however, is a phoney. And that's exactly what Mr. Parrot's grandstanding offer represents. Not only is it illegal, it will cause chaotic conditions and further deterioration ot" relations between Canada Post and the public. Postal workers who partake in the scheme risk firing, and therefore many may not go along with Parrot's game-playing. Besides, there are not nearly enough five and 10 cent stamps in circulation to supply the demand that would certainly be created should the plan be perpetrated. No, if you want Christmas greetings to reach your loved ones by the magical date, toss on the 32 center. Even then, it'll need a hope and a prayer, but at least you'll rest peacefully with the knowledge you haven't contributed to Parrot's every-Christmas-whether-we-need-it-or-not sob story scam. Long gone are Thanksgiving, the glories of autumn foliage, the bright yellow sun of October. _ I don't know anyone who has written an "Ode to November." It is Just possible that some idiot in Florida or California or Portugal, or the West Indies, has done so, because that is the month their oranges, grapes, or sugar-cane achieved their finest flavour. Instead, there are the withered fields. There are the black, accusing branches, like witches' fingers, of the stark and naked trees. There is the first snow, turned to dirty slush. _ _ Fittingly, November has no holiday. The only thing near it is Remembrance Day, a day of mourning, of remembering old slaughters and young men caught In 7 There are the first obscene Christmas carols, the first phoney Sinus. the inmate amusements of colourgd lights., to remind us that If we spend, spend, spend; buy, buy. buy, we are supporting those two great edifieea of the western world, Matty and free enterprise. November, for most Canadians, is I - unease W. WY. m Set. "" Stamp ji'rout BILL SMILEY published every Wednesday by Fairway Press. a division of Kitchenet-Waterloo Recon! Ltd., can»: 225 Fairway Rd.S.. Kitchener. Ont. GiTiiiiiG "mm" W“ Ta; Jitiruia,TkxU-r ' - loo" '). bun-é on In- M d to mm. 0900 Mono" to Ftiday. 9:00 an. to 5:00 on. t-tttocttmetitsot-tocat.ttinth-r,-rqttt_ address corr-deore to Waterloo omee: a Erb St. E., WOW. on. Nil tM. tehrttmse was time of fearful. tentative waiting. shoulders metaphorically hunched. Wait. lng to see what The Lord has in store for us. There is no promise of November. no hope. Ohly more of the same for the next five months. Grey, greasy, unyielding. November grips us to the bone with its certainty that we have sinned, and now we are going to suffer. _ Lien Em: modern heating and lighting, with the tranquilizers of television eye! backyard jolui necessary, November makes us cringe. 7 A Probably it's a legacy from our pioneer ancestors. I can't help thinking what November meant to them. The closing in of days. The black of the morning. The wet chill of the air. The worry about -nttttt hay tor the beasts. enough wood in the woodpile, enough salted meat for the winter. enough spuds and turnips in the cold-cellar. _ It was no time tor watching the Grey Cup, or the Dallas Cowboys. on I Sammy "ergtooet. Publisher: Paul Winner Manager: Bill large: Editor: Rick Campbell It must have been a time o! frantic qtatatAattqdtat54 What a lousy month KLEIN f "We nearly fainted is what we did. I figured we'd have these things on our hands for about 19 years." [(i(iiiil' A CNN sph) (our! "pea.. ol- I 7 Fun THE. UNION Mfr! A HEAK‘I’ OF GOLD . seiambiing for those pioneers. Chinking the droughts between the logs. Cutting wood like mad. sutugttutrfrtgprtf smptring aha "putting down" food forvthe long bitter days ahead. _ . -. ii GG" varies; ahead that eoufd last seemingly indefinitely, with no relief force Mt Margie hquxon. " .. " . . - . -iiGi/ urns no running over to the supermarket for a tew bags of flour. a bag of sugar. an! eightpartlong of mar.teri.ne: It must have been especially frightening for the women. For those long, dark months ahead. they would be virtually locked in their cabins, with almost no social intercourse outside the family. Endless days of preparing hot meals. knitting warm clothes. with no company after the children were bedded down except that of a sullen, exhausted hus- For the men at least. there was some escape; the daily chores. the battening down of hatches against the coming storms. perhaps a trip to the village for supplies, the tending of animals. Ag we turn up the thermostat. mp on the lights, or ttttgh the toilet. we should It is written A N ADA Pee, 'fEAr4,rrsuttE if: A WWL by we May to4 amps. ohlAtstTtotA"tELlf, New COST f be! To muses! Festive Beginnings co-author Carla McLennan on the quick sale of the recipe book's first 100 copies. remember. with a touch of awe, what November must have been like for our grand and great-grandparents. For the skiing crowd, November does hold promise. They sniff the air like beagles. cheer like children when the first flakes fail, and generally irritate the rest It’s even a rather exciting time for merchants. They anticipate the jangling of cash registers, the pushing of hot, sweaty mobs through their aisles. It enables them to blot out for a brief time, the doldrums of January? that lurk ahead, _ " And ot course November holds no tears for the deer hunters and those idiots who stand in icy water to the waist, trying to catch one last big rainbow trout. "Best time of the year," they chortle heartily. But for golfers. batsmen. and most old people, November could be left right oft the calendar. For sailors on the Great Lakes, and at sea. it is a month fraught with discomfort and even peril, with storms howling out of the northwest. A -vGVGnave gathered that I don’t like November and I'm glad It's over. - SEE PAGE 13