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lfl never saw another palm tree, I would not weep. They are ugly, misshapen things, on the whole, with nothing of the elegance of a maple or an oak. There is one type that is rather impressive. soaring up like something in the South Pacific. but WELL. I've been to Florida, after years of denigrating those cowards who flee the true north, strong and freezing. to loll around on beaches. amidst palm trees. acquiring tans which are supposed to make us hewers of snowbanks and draw- ers of rusty fenders feel like an inferior breed. beyond the pale, across the tracks. You can have ii. They may be more comfortable, out of doors in March. than we fre, but they‘re no)tappier. l lolled around on exactly two beaches. in both cases, the water was too cold to swim in, except for little kids and crazy old ladies. You had to be smeared from head to toe in soap or the sun. if it happened to be out, would burn you to a potato chip. 7 They all talk about their weather, which isn't that great, when you add up the cost of getting there, their cars. their houses. their rotten kids. and all their old friends who died last year. Just like us. According to news reports, these figures have not only all three parties astonished, but also the Gallup people themselves, who dutifully rechecked data for confirmation. Their figures stand, they say. Should anyone be surprised? We think not. On the one hand, the country finally has had a chance to digest Prime Minister Trudeau’s low-key resignation, which whether justifiable or not, has to have had a positive effect on Liberal popularity. Call him a brilliant statesman or monumental screw-up, Trudeau loomed the target for all of this country's ills. His exit could do little to hurt the party's image, and as the poll shows, it is.likely a key influence in the turnaround. Again, that's not to say it should have been the case, but many a voter blamed the man, not the party, for making our country what it is today. He's going, so they're back. Even the Conservatives expected this sort of negative/positive backlash. _ So what is all the big deal about the latest Gallup poll? The end-of-March survey by the polling organization sees Liberal popularity zooming to 46 percent from a murky 32 per cent earlier in the same month. At the same time, the Conservatives have dipped to 40 per cent from a lofty 54. The NDP also rose a pair of percentage points from 11 to 13. __ And speaking of the Tories, they are also a great deal to blame for the recent numbers. Or more to the point, their leader is. When Brian Mulroney pranced on the scene last year as a novice politician gifted with sophistication and charm, he appeared to be just what the country ordered. Now, the same country is not so sure. Know why? Because instead of fortifying his image with a shrewd political accent, he cavorts around the campaign trail as if it were some yellow brick road. Not that he's done any more fumbling or verbal stumbling than the magnificent seven chasing Trudeau's tail, it's just that Mulroney's image seems to be that of court jester rather than the man who would be king. A joke here, insult there (even his own boosters feign laughter), a parting shot. Cute? Maybe. 8A3 6 - WATERLOO CHM. WEDNESDAY. MAY 2. 1900 But enough to siray the obinion of countrymen who are at their lowest emotional level in years? Not a chance. It's time to get serious, Mr. Mulroney, before your party's popularity is washed away like so many footprints in the sand. Second Class Mall Registration Number 5540 Dust in the wind published every Wednesday by Fairway Press. a division of Kitchener-Waterioo Record Ltd., owner 225 Fairway Rd.S.. Kitchener. Ont. Waterloo Chronicle otWmt as located in the lumen Haney and White Law Mice Balding (real entvance. uppev t5oort. Parking at the rear ot the bum. Open Monday to Friday. 9 oo a.m.to 5:00 pm address correspondence lp Waterloo oftlee; " Erb St, E., WaterIoo, ont. NZJ ILT, telephone 886-2830 most are grubby little things that have to be clipped or trimmed. and the fronds hauled “my. Just like home, except that I'd rather deal with autumn leaves than palm tree clippings. And you don't clip them. You need a chainsaw, unless you’re Tarzan. Show me a palm frond and I'll show you a pile of dry leaves, burning scarletly on a crisp October evening. They" unabashedly brag about their accommodation. They seem to eat out every night. They run around i with: As far as a tan goes, I got a dandy. My nose and my knees and the tops of my feet peeled. Otherwise, I came home as white as the belly of a fish, with a few freckles across the shoulder. Back to the people. The Canadians who go to Florida. that is. They're rather a sad lot. And they're everywhere. They think they are having a hell of a time. They delight in telling you that it is 68'? and it's M'F' back in Canada. That’s after you’ve slipped on a sweater and put on some long pants, while they sit around. growing goose-pimpies because they insist on wearing shorts and sleeveless shirts. _ 7 Publisher: Paul Winkler Manager: Bill Karges Editor: Rick Campbell Mixed feelings Bill Smiley Syndicated columnist established 1854 "We're not a facility where little old ladies with blue hair or smoking old men go to talk, play crib and checkers." He is extremely generous and hospita- hie. but by the time I got there. he was a little on edge, And I don’t blame him. In his place, I'd have just moved out. into I motel, and said, "Help youselves.“ He also had a dog, Cyndy, I big golden retriever, and a step-son. a big. golden boy with a cheerful charm and the awkward- ness and laziness of all teenagers who like sleeping In. eating like alligators. and forgetting everything serious they are supposed to do. that I wouldn‘t even attempt. driving forty miles to a "great restaurant" which serves fair food at arm-and-leg prices. Pity them. My little brother, The Colonel, put me up, or put up with me, for ten days out of the fourteen I wasted. Before I arrived, he'd had my daughter Kim and the boys, Nikov and Ben, for two days. Before that, he'd had my sister for about two weeks. But he pressed on, cooking special meals, taking people out to dinner, at great expense, and trying to convince me that I was ttopelessly Incompetent. We'd both lost our mate ln the past seven months. It is written In addition. he had a house. which seemed to be surrounded by jungle, and sixty-tour glass doors which he kept so highly polished that I frequently, ran straight Into one, thinking it was open. I have a large bump on my forehead to prove it. The glass doors were constantly being locked and unlocked, an unnerving expeHence for tt guy who scarcely eve} locks anything. Spent the final two days with the old friends. went to a cocktail party. was fed on such as fresh melon and strawberries. and lined up a door-to-door limousine service from there to home. Some Incom- petent! Two days at Disney World nearly finished me: Ben, the whirling Dervish, and Nikov. who wanted to ride anything that would scare the wits out of a human being. And Kim, who seemed inexhaust- lble. and wanted to get their money's worth. Maybe I will so back. Sometime. Adult Recreation Centre program coordinator Kathy Durst. - SEE PAGE 5