I remember having a conversation with my Grandpa Imrie one afternoon when we were visiting his farm, back when I was in grade 4 or so; I think you're probably around nine or ten years old in grade four, and I thought it would be interesting to hear what life was like for him when he was nine or ten. So I just went up to him after dinner one night and asked what it was like when he was a kid growing up in rural Ontario and we started talking. He hit me full-force with answers straight away: when he was a kid, the house was cold when he woke up in the morning - no central heating like I knew it. No, his "furnace" was a wood stove downstairs and fireplaces in the bedrooms. If you wanted it warm in the morning you had to get out from under the covers, get some wood, and then get the fire from last night going all over again. By the time the fire was going, you were warm from all the exercise and work of gathering the wood and carrying it around ...
When he was a kid there weren't TVs, he said. Whoa. Stop right there, I replied. You didn't even have a black & white set? No, he said; his entertainment (entertainment only being an option when he'd finished his chores around the farm, which was often late in the day), was a weekly radio programme that that family gathered around to listen to. That right there - hearing that one story - was when I considered my Grandpa old. The fact that he remembered a time when there wasn't a TV, and the radio was the only form of broadcasted in-home entertainment, was incredible to me. (The irony being that I don't own a TV now!) While I still haven't figured out if this makes my Dad old - I haven't found that one comparable thing missing from his youth - I definitely know that when I'm older I will be telling my kids, "When I was your age, Canada Post used to deliver letters right to our door! Honestly! No, I'm not kidding! Yes, a man used to walk around each neighbourhood and take the letters to each and every door." And they'll be thinking, "How old are you?!"
Whether or not you think this is good for the taxpayer's pockets or bad for Canadians' welfare, one thing is certain: this is a defining moment in Canadian history! I was utterly shocked to hear the news, and it will take some time to get used to!!