The play's the thing…I hope!

Well, it’s April 16 today, ten days since I last wrote. In some ways, things have gone downhill since then. My shoulder got worse, and I began to notice similar problems in my right arm. That shoulder I injured over a decade ago when I slipped and fell on sloped ice in Banff. Severed the rotator cuff tendon. It had to be stapled together. And now the left one is very sore. The physio tells me I have strained the left rotator cuff. No arm swimming for at least two weeks, perhaps a month. Solution? Snorkel mask and leg kicks only. If only I can learn how to assemble the mask and breathing tube. THAT kind of stupidity doesn’t happen when you are twenty-two years old either! Again…the joys of aging!

Political life has picked up speed. With a Provincial election of May 5, and a government sinking in popularity each day because of the high-flying Premier’s awkward statements, it’s getting interesting. I am sticking New Democrat sights beside every community mailbox, and have had one election sign stolen from y lawn. The same thing has happened in other parts of town as well. I think such behaviour is against the law, but I have to check to be sure. I know that defacing signs is illegal, and carries a fine.

Of course, this situation has prompted me to think of ways to exploit it for political gain! One way I thought of is through sardonic humour. Apparently, when I use this sort of thing in letters and columns, it gets some positive response. So here is the “Letter to the Editor” I have drafted for submission later in the week:

Dear Editor;

Recently my “DOUG HART” election sign was stolen off my lawn in the dark of night. I understand a similar thing is happening in other parts of Ponoka.

I wondered if they have been taken by disillusioned and frustrated members of other parties, embarrassed over their own candidates, or by their party’s election promises. Perhaps they wish to support Doug in a surreptitious manner, as well as obtain a keepsake of his campaign.

It would be so much easier if they just called me to ask for a sign. I would gladly deliver and mount the sign in the light of day, thus saving them both blame and embarrassment.

James Strachan

I giggle even as I read it, because although it is a preposterous idea, it will make some people smile, and will let the thieves know, if they should read the paper, that their actions have been interpreted in a manner to make them look stupid. And if none of this is true, at least it makes me smile, which is almost enough!

Until I can figure out how to assemble my snorkeling mask, I will be walking in the morning. Yesterday, as I walked, I figured out three places to strategically place election signs. I set them out last evening. Today, I even got to sign a few checks for the Party, thus felling like an Important Cog in a very minor wheel!

The weekend is almost upon us, and it is one of those weekends where I am responsible for worship in a nearby town, and committed to attending two dramatic presentations. One is a one-woman show at the Canadian Legion (my spouse’s choice, the other a High School presentation of Dracula. Supporting amateur theatre is fun, but sometime wearying. More in a few days, with reviews of the stage presentations included.