Sir Winston Churchill
By Stephen Pate, NJN Network, Charlottetown, PEI, Canada, March 21, 2009
Yesterday was the first day of spring. It was sunny but quite cold. I wanted to make it special so I went downtown and lost $100 in a money machine. The $100 should have put me in a funk since money is never easy to come by. I put it all behind and spent the most pleasant three hours in recent memory.
When I get on one project it leads to another. I’m trying to finish the 4 song demo Music PEI gave me half the grant to do. Instead of proceeding to do the 4th song in a direct manner, I decided last week to use software called Sonar for mixing and mastering the song. This created a cascade of complexity like getting the software to work. That chewed up a week.
By this Tuesday night all the music was recorded, but the sound wouldn’t come from the monitors. I over-nighted the problem and eureka solved it with the discovery that audio tracks and midi tracks are not the same. All of a sudden my 6 tracks of music were pouring out of the speakers. It’s fun to push one track louder or softer so I spent hours hearing less or more guitar, more mandolin, deeper bass. “That bass is killing my ears,” came from the next room.
Thursday was the mix down day when I was supposed to finish. But the speakers (AKA near-fields) sounded weird. They were six inches higher than my ears and I knew the bookshelf had to get lowered. A better plan at 3 PM on Thursday was to build a new bookshelf. By 8 pm three new shelves were on the wall. Friday, after posting my NJN stories for the day, we fitted the bookshelf ends and screwed it together. Which is a long story to tell you why I was exhausted by 2 pm and had a long 2 1/2 hour nap.
My mind is 13 years old most of the time but my post-polio body only gives me short spurts of physical labour. Two days of light carpentry is a no-no.
When I woke up, I went downtown in a taxi with the nicest driver. Taxi’s are great. They are cheaper than owning a car and the drivers are some of the most convivial people in town. This driver shook my hand while introducing himself when we parted. One last week invited me to go to the car auction in Fredericton some Tuesday.
When I got the to bank, I put 5 $20 bills on the TD Bank machine while I fiddled with making a deposit. It was coming and going money until month end. My card wouldn’t work so I wheeled over to the counter where they did something and then realized the 5 $20’s were still on the money machine. Well, they weren’t. Somebody saw them and got a Friday bonus.
I was mad at myself. Not at the $100, but at myself for being careless. But if someone needed the money then let them have it. It was gone and I was kinda grumpy about it. The bank teller didn’t give a hoot. No one would turn it in, she said. Later my partner said they video everyone at the money machine so on Monday I’ll call Bruce Donaldson the manager to see what they can do.
On the way out, I met a musician who wanted to swap his new songs for my new songs so that put me in a better mood. Having only seen me at Baba’s where I walk, the wheelchair startled him but he got over it. I pretended it was warm and sunny and wheeled down Queen Street singing Love is in the Air. Go figure where that came from.
When I got to Churchill Arms they welcomed me with teasing and boisterous talk and my $100 became a distant memory. Our standing up conversation included the Army and the Navy, people and places we knew in Halifax like Jollimore Village and Spryfield, the Haida and the aircraft carrier the Bonnie, The Cruel Sea movie and navy bands versus army bands. All good stuff over a Keith’s.
Picking out the corner table near the bar, we sat down for supper, a non-Catholic Friday repast of beef streak and kidney pie. So delicious. Along with good friends we sat and talked for 2 hours. Our laughter filled the place and people joined us then left for card games, shopping or just home. I laugh loudly and one of my friends is a match so it was boisterous. My partner, no slouch, was making sly jokes about PEI’s strongman sitting next to us and our physiques. We laughed all the more. I was trying to figure out how she knew this guy with biceps bigger than my chest and a cute girlfriend/wife. Turns out he works with her. What do I know.
When the times are that good you don’t want to leave but her patience is not something to be abused so we came home before 9 PM. I can’t remember a single topic or how we saved the world from disaster. Some talk of Irish folk music and the nepotistic patronage on the public purse I believe.
Spring is truly here when people feel that lightness in their hearts.
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