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x Immigrants - Continued from page 5 I am an immigrant, too, obtaining my citizenship in 1967. When I came up here from the US, my friends asked me how I could contemplate such a move because I didn't speak French. I scoffed at such a suggestion, knowing that knowledge of French was unnecessary. Then I moved to Montreal. I often wondered, as long as I couldn't speak the language, why didn't I move to a Spanish speaking country? I couldn't speak that Spanish, it's true, but the country would tend to be warmer. Mexico, Costa Rica, or Brazil would have been more pleasant in January than Quebec. I remember when my mother visited me at in my bachelor digs in Canada. She didn't stay there, of course, as they were appropriate for someone who had evolved only slightly beyond the cave dweller. At that time, Canadians were not permitted to buy colored margarine. You could mix the yellow colour in, sure, but who would bother? It didn't change the taste, only the appearance. She was shocked. "Good Heaven's," she cried. "Why are you eating bread with lard on it? Can't you afford butter?" Later, as we drove through town, she said, "Look, you have bowling alleys with automatic pinsetters!" She had thought that, living in such a backward country, we would not get modern innovations for twenty or thirty years after the civilized world. Canadians feel unjustly superior to our fellows in the U.S. because our knowledge of the U.S. is fairly comprehensive, while their knowledge of us is laughably limited, but we shouldn't. If most of their TV was sourced in Canada, they'd know quite a bit about us. Quick, who's the President of Panama? I don't know either, and I venture to guess Americans would score about the same as Canadians on that question. Come on, they're the big dog. Most of them don't even realize they have stopped live importation of cattle, that there is a lumber dispute, or that Canada is their largest trading partner. I think if positions were reversed, we'd be as uninformed about them as they are about us. I hope our government wouldn't be as self-centered and cruel, but we'd be just as dumb, so there's no call to feel superior on that score. There's lots wrong with my old country, and to tell the truth I'm kind of glad I don't live there. But there's lots that 1s right, too. One thing we have in common, though, and that's that we have many citizens of other nations who wish they lived in North America. So while we bleat, whine and complain, we are envied. - George Underhill Plan Ahead - Cont'd from page 7 Hurricane Ivan resulted in our basement being flooded with 5 inch of water over the carpet resulting in the need to ad- dress my accumulated junk. With the help of a neighbour and his pick-up a significant amount has been transferred to the dump and numerous car loads have since been trans- ferred. Major items such as a toaster oven, micro wave, Chinese woks etc. have been given to the Thrift Shop. We also added a sump pump to the basement, never needed be- fore Ivan, but its absence providing the loophole so that our calamity wasn't covered by insurance. Our Councilor, Monica, advised us when we were discussing the effects of Ivan, that we can expect heavy rains such as Ivan's every one hundred years. Quite likely I'll miss the next one but if a downpour like we had happens in the reasonable future, we are ready. Since the contractors arrive next week to install new carpet Valerie felt it was timely to sort out our library of both books and movie tapes and while we were at it paint the family room before the new carpet and rethink our approach to decor. So we've done that. Good often comes from hardship. Son is picking up about one hundred books for his library and 120 VCR movies. Clients of the Thrift Shop will benefit from appli- ances and furniture we don't need and we will be happier in our new family room atmosphere and the extra space available in the basement and garage. To top off the good things from Ivan we got a nice thank-you letter from the Mayor of Peterborough for our donation for their flood problems which the government matched at the rate of $2 for every $1 given. Planning has its place but often coping with the un- expected in a successful way is more rewarding. - John A. Jackson BARBER RARRREEEDRRBRRREMNAEBRRRBBRRND s CINEFEBEST N y Coming to Cinefest: 'dl dl 4] A Nov 1: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, ..and A Spring 3 Nov 5-6-7: Second Annual Cinefest Minifest! 2 this year: Shorts In November: a variety of 3 short films, from student to experimental to 3 A mainstream A & Nov 15: Japanese Story 3 NNN INN YY NN YY NYY YN NY NYY