lunchmeeting

Two surprise visitors came to our luncheon today - guys I haven't seen/spoken to in many many years. Franck Arsenault and Ken Watson stopped in on this beautiful day and we all caught up on each others' news. Frank has his daughters living close to Ottawa and came up from Moncton-area to visit them. Ken Watson turns out to be a neighbour of Chuck and me, as he and his wife are just on Union Street in the 'Burg.

We numbered 16 today which is a large number for such wonderful weather. Unfortunately, we will miss Bev as she returns back to full-time work. But - there are always the Lime Nights when our good pal Roly can bring her. (Roly, note spelling and no calling me Shir>>>>>>>>, or else!)

Jim Rogers, Stan Fockner, Chuck. Me, Frank Arsenault, Moe the Finger, Roly and Bev. Barrie and Gary, Lou. Ron C, Art B, Al Couture, Ken Watson, Don C

Lunch was large - the pork snitzel was excellent as usual. I forgot to get the Sept. menu from the exec to add to this post. I would like to mention that when we were ordering, Art demanded his immedly as he had an early start to his afternoon game. Pushy golfers!!

Barrie came in wearing a very nice burgundy shirt. I asked him quite bluntly if he bought it to match the colour of his brand-new Miata. He was totally honest. Yes, was the answer.

Chuck and me spoke about the absolute mess happening on Rideau Street. This is costing the tax-payer 28.9 million and won't be finished until the Spring of 2013. What a pain! On the other hand, some of the derelict buildings are coming down. I've heard thru the grapevine that Rideau St is supposed to become tres posh.

We finished lunch and then were immediately ordered to get in front of the bar for a group photo. Another pushy EL! He insisted on using Jim's camera - lazy so and so - now Jim will have to upload it to the Old Farts homepage.

I bring this up because it broke up the lunch - however, several of us die-hards remained to catch up on our war stories. These were shared about the table when we all were required to be adhoc couriers with the red bags and what we had to endure. Don beat the bunch of us with his Greek machine gun threat. For extreme distances, Jim beat us all out with Ulan Batoor and the local sign language. The train, Boss, the train )))

Lou joined the first round table and told us of his disappointment in his current trailor and it's leaking problem. Doesn't sound good but I'm sure that Jim R. will share his good fortune on that front by next week.

A Webmaster is currently being stalked for the Old Farts' site. Volunteers? I kinda stuck my oar in there but it will depend on the up-coming union elections. Not only is my other presidential position up for election, but now the Retired Guild is looking for one. I promise I will only look after DFAIT and that's it! Who knows? A younger firebrand might be in waiting in the sidelines. I wish!!

Lou shared his laments about his trailer leaking even after his oh-so-careful research and purchase. Jim nodded in agreement and I think they will be speaking more on this issue at our next luncheon.

Gardening came up and Al C. is having a very interesting situ happening with spring perrenials popping up continually. Daffodils are beating out the dandelions?

And Jim also spoke about Legacy which is apparently a free-download and is of great use to those who want to search into their ancestry. I'm very interested in this as I had an uncle who insisted we (the Gillettes) come from a long line of sheep stealers in England. He is also known to be a great embroiderer of truth. ))

This must be the longest debriefing I've ever written - perhaps I will wait 2 days the next time before doing this so I can forget half and half again of the stuff we debated.

The only thing I want to add is that I recently had to install an ironing-board holder and the frustration of trying to get a good anchorage into a 90-year old door with less than a finger-sized space to insert the screw. The problem was getting the aluminum screw to adhere to the bit. I can tell you the air was purple but I got it done. And that door is solid wood. I also kicked the tires on a new set of LED strip lights I put into my exercise room. Purchased at Costco, and I'm impressed.

Lunch Meeting