Wednesday, December 2, 2009

LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE - continued, I hope

Sas to say, my last brilliant post did not appear on my blog. There must have been a gremlin hanging around that day determined to do me in, so to speak

I waxed eloquently about my travel to Britain during late August and early September, 1944. With several other Canadian war brides we were allowed to travel to the UK because the war in the Atlantic was winding down. However, no one had informed a German U-boat commander of that fact and I nearly ended up in a watery grave off the north coast of Ireland when the convoy was attacked at dawn. Five ships were torpedoed, including the one directly aft of the Ariguani, the small ship on which I was a passenger.

But that was then and this is now. Have any of you a childhood tale to tell? A magical moment you remember as if it was yesterday. Or do you have a rant or a strong opinion about what is happening in Canada or the wide world.

Because many of us are in our eighties and lived through the "dirty thirties" - a depression like no other - and lived through World War II and the Korean War, we tend to gaze with jaundiced eyes at the fuss entrancing Ottawa about the treatment of Taliban prisoners in Afghanistan. The jails in that medieval country are not pleasant. I'm not sure where captured insurgents are to go or how to monitor their day to day treatment in primitive prisons while our soldiers are fighting a bloody war. Let the Afghans care for the prisoners. Enough said. That is my little rant for to-day.

A scam warning. A friend of mine in her eighties had a phone call two days ago from a man who told my friend her son had been jailed and needed money to bribe the guards to free him. Her son and his wife happened to be travelling in a far eastern country so my friend was terrified something bad had happened to him. The caller suggested she send $4600, cash, to a lawyer in Montreal who would take care of the problem. That didn't make sense to my friend. Cash? She hung up the phone. However, she was so shaken she couldn't eat for two days. Not nice.

And to jog your memories about what I do, I'm putting up the covers of my "Isabelle" books. Not to weary you with a sales pitch, you can read excerpts of both books at: www.anitabirt.com Leave comment below so I'll know someone out there is reading my blog or I might cast a spell!

Anita


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