iFrom magazine

      The cost of good tripod for taking photographs is exuberant. Can you get by with a much cheaper one? There is a low cost one and a middle cost one. Perhaps the low cost one will do the job. It does not. It is a piece of junk, so you buy the middle cost one persuading  yourself it will be a big improvement on the low cost one. It is an improvement but it is clearly not the real thing and you know there is such available. The third purchase is the  expensive one. The marketing term is   versioning. I have witnessed this with snow shoe buying, power tool purchases, software packages and holiday excursions. I have heard of  tales of low cost guided cycling holidays where the bicycles often failed the definition of bicycle. 

            I call it the Luke syndrome. It  means  you bring up an issue  that  draws attention to  your own imperfection. There is often is no need to mention the subject that inevitably  draws fire from a person or group. We do it often. It seems we all have a bit of self-destruction programmed into our psychic. This is how I first identified the Luke Syndrome and have witnessed it repeatedly. I recognize myself when I do it; usually too late to avoid the consequences.              A group of us were staying at a ski cabin near Mount Baker.The two actors  who illuminated  the Luke syndrome were Byron and Luke. Byron   is funny because he so rude. He comes from somewhere in England near Scotland where abruptness is the norm. Luke is a polite calm  individual. It was during breakfast  that  Luke casually asked Byron  when w...

     A rite of passage that all males have to  go through.     I consider myself a polite male, and my interactions with young pretty girls, to be cordial and proper. It is true that I do notice a mild endearment from waitresses when accompanied by an out of town business men. I attribute this to being   always well groomed and possible my table mate making me look good with my reticence, since some of these visitors are a little flirtatious. The away from home  syndrome perhaps? This all changed for me when I was about forty two years old. I remember the time and place. It has since been re-acted   many times but never so dramatically. It  was mid week  when I went to dinner with  Andree in Ottawa; the Glebe region to be exact. For those you unfamiliar the Glebe area it is a trendy region bordering Bronson and the Rideau Canal. It has many boutiques and its history houses beg for writers to take up residences providi...

I call it the Fleetwood Tennis Centre   annual meeting syndrome but it could be any company gathering or social club. The chairman of the committee  stands up and says how  wonderful everything is going. Some one else on the committee states that so and so contributed to the  smooth running of   the organisation. We then learn  that  the place is a marvel of success and  used as a  model  in new  regions of the  province. Some one else is noted as a key contributor and they shyly acknowledge the clapping. Membership is up and the  finances are explained with handouts  signed  by  a double C.A. No one understands a word about the finances except the delayed increase in fees approved by  in absentia  by the quorum  With in five minutes everyone on the committee has been applauded  plus  four ex members  who were instrumental in having  the place built. Of course, the only thi...

  Have you seen them? Decked out in white robes, whirling around and around. What do you think about them? I first saw them in Istanbul and tried to come up with something positive to say about them. What a waste of time whirling like that. The positive observations I came up with they don’t fall over when they stop. A couple of whirls out of me and I will be prone to topple. I know there is a history and a hint of religion associated with them and I don’t wish to be disrespectful but all that whirling in groups. When they have some Sting or Led Zepplin like Arab music, it is not too bad. I am fine with just the music. The other Monday I went for a swim as I usually do on Mondays. The fast and medium 25 meter lanes were full with swimmers going up and down. All obvious to the world around. I went to the slow lane and swam twenty eight lengths. Up and down without stopping. The other swimmers and I were in our own world. There was some music echoing in the pool and I distinguished t...

     Off Marine Drive there use to be an old bicycle store that was called Modern Fix It.  They sold and repaired bicycles plus fixed lawn mowers. There was a boss man that stood at the till in his grey lab coat. I never saw him without the grey lab coat which was clean and usually contained two pairs of glasses in the top pocket. I think he slept in this lab coat and will be probably be buried in it. He had thin hair which he brushed to cover the balding. The store door opened with a Miss Maples like shop bell ring and he would glance at you but not glare at you. After explaining the problem with the lawn mower, he would instruct me in a few words to take it around the back of the store. Often two technicians would be working there and usually one would be seated on a stool engrossed with a motor or greasy parts laid out like a meal. He wore blue overalls. There was no mistaking the looks. These were glares which silently said “What are you doing here? Why do y...

Woody was doomed before he arrived. It didn’t matter what he looked like or said. I would not like the way he dressed, the length of his hair, his job if he had one. No Woody was doomed from the beginning. I would not like the car he drove, the sports teams he supported or where he was born. I would not like the music to which he listened and I am sure he didn’t read books and if he did I couldn’t believe anyone would waste time reading those ones. He was not well travelled and if he been any where he hadn’t learnt much. He had no hobbies of consequence and the more I thought about it there was not much to Woody. I couldn’t imagine anyone spending time with a Woody. Yes, Woody was doomed before he appeared. Woody was a friend of Leona: Woody was arriving with Leona on the 1:08pm BC Ferry from Swartz Bay, Vancouver Island. I was cycling down to Fulford Harbour here on Salt Spring Island to meet Leona and her friend, Woody. I would guide them back to the cabin on St Mary Lake where I was...

Karen and Tom met at ballroom dancing lessons. They become good at dancing. They spent a lot time together. There was romance in the air and all the other dancers haled the new queen and king. Perhaps behind the enthusiasm there was latent jealousy. Two of the boys think that if they could dance better, Karen would have warmed to them. Three of the girls think it is not fair Karen got a boy after joining so soon. They don’t they like her revealing clothes and her new aloofness.  So Karen and Tom get married and live happily ever after. Wrong! About a year after the Cancun wedding Karen doesn’t come to the dances and then Tom stops. They both appear at the Valentine Dance but don’t actually dance much. A few years later you hear Tom re-married went back to dancing but his new wife is big with embroidery and hates dancing. Some one heard Karen was running an equestrian centre with her new partner.  Karen conveniently married her dance partner. Her Grand-Aunt would might have cou...

    Now when you are born, married or die, it is generally agreed  that congratulations and  condolences flow on cue. There is often a party, and if you are crafty it is held at your friend’s clean house. If you win a 10km snow shoe race or a chess tournament you might win a medal and a trophy but not at the same time, however you will be applauded and savagely criticized by last year’s winners: usually at the same time.              There is one momentous occasion in our lives where no congratulations ensue. Unlike the 10km snow shoe race or chess tournament there is even a nagging doubt that the event takes place. But it is the big day and with a personal best of 19 years 4 months and 3 days you visit your financial institution to close out your mortgage.  You will own your own home. You expect the managers to be there in their best clothes and friends and relations to take photographs on th...