Ahhhh. It’s the time of year when hundreds of trailers show up and grace our fine town with their presence. It’s pretty awesome how, virtually overnight, we go from a relatively quiet little town to a bustling centre of RV’s and fiddlers, people who truly enjoy their fiddle contests, camaraderie, family & friend reunions, and general good time. However, this said, if you happen to be a visitor, and are reading this, please understand that at no time or place is there any location in our town with a posted speed limit of 5 km/hr. I’m just saying. You can drive up to 40 km/hr on most roads, faster on some others, and we won’t bust you. Honest.
I’m not being down on the visitors specifically. We truly are grateful that yearly they choose our place to congregate and enjoy. It’s just a way for me to introduce this week’s contentious topic: Pet Peeves.
My wife and I are currently conducting a social experiment on Facebook. I started a group called ‘the Pet Peeves Group’, and she started one called ‘The Great-Full List’, misspelt on purpose. Both groups are kind of self explanatory, but I’m not writing too much about her group, as there will be a full article soon with regards to her group. All I’ll say is that we wanted to see if more people were grateful or were angry. So far, many more are grateful than angry, to my relief.
Pet Peeves, it turns out, really don’t reflect an anger level, more of an annoyance level, so the experiment really doesn’t work. That said, it has become apparent that the ‘Peeves’ are numerous, yet, surprisingly, most of the entries I’ve received have been sent to me in private. I suppose that, upon reflection, it is understandable. None of us really want to be perceived as ingrates, or whiners. And if you have posted an entry, I appreciate them. They essentially reflect some of the annoyances we all face daily, and it is meant as a way to share your own pet peeves. Anne’s group was started first, and was meant for people to realize how lucky we are, and to share inspiring stories with each other about the human struggle to persevere in sometimes truly horrendous situations.
I brought up slow drivers in my opening paragraph because it was one of the most prevalent peeve. Noisy eaters was also quite popular. Others, like large drive-thru orders, various eating habits, nose pickers, and talkative people in quiet situations were also brought up. My private messages, however, tended to be much more graphic. Because they were sent in private, I won’t divulge them, but holy cow, they struck a nerve. I share most of them, sadly. I would say that it is likely that most of us do. We just don’t voice them as vociferously as we would like.
This past weekend, I went to Toronto with my friend Luc and our two sons to see a Blue Jays game. We stayed in the Rogers Centre hotel, and watched one game from the room, and one game in the stadium. It was a great trip. We enjoyed dinner in the CN Tower, say some pretty spectacular views, and were treated very well by all those around us. The only fly in the ointment came when, half way through the game, the announcer stated his thanks for all those who came to the game, despite the Gardiner Expressway being closed for the weekend. I looked at Luc, and tried to figure out just what this meant to us. Boy, did we find out. My worse Pet Peeve manifested itself for the hour-and-a-half it took to leave the city: bumper to bumper traffic.
If not for Luc’s GPS, we’d likely still be there. But leaving the Rogers Centre with no Gardiner Expressway is like trying to drive to North Bay via River Valley; it can be done, just be prepared to swear. We saw MUCH MORE of Toronto that I intended. We say much more bad cyclists, many more aggressive drivers, and many more middle fingers than we wanted to, as well. But, we survived. Had we not, this would have made my list of pet peeves as well.
All in all, I ended up with more to add to the grateful list than the pet peeves list. I’m grateful to live in a location where 800 trailer can show up and give us a week of fiddling, drop some much needed tourist dough in our business coffers, and show us just how lucky we are. Thanks, and welcome, Fiddlers!!
Bill's Musings 