Home  >> Stories  >> The Tale Spinner #2018-10

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IN THIS ISSUE

• Ann Kemp writes about an eventful year
• In this Heroic Story, a truck driver goes above and beyond
• Jean Sterling is not looking forward to bike week
• Burke Dykes forwards an article about a special bank account
• Irene Harvalias sends a story about jumping to conclusions
• Catherine Nesbitt shares a number of wild thoughts to ponder
• Sites are suggested by Judith English, Tom Telfer, and Tom Williamson

Ann Kemp wrote this letter from her home in the Okanagan:

2017 WAS AN EVENTFUL YEAR

This year we have experienced a number of unusual events.

It started with some wonderful steam train journeys in Germany, starting in Leipzig, then travelling in the Hartz Mt. area, and finishing in Berlin. Steam train enthusiasts are always an interesting group. We also spent a short time in England, before returning to Canada.

John had some falls during the year. Finding his heart rate was sometimes as low as 29 and gaps of 4 1/2 secs. between beats, he quickly had a pacemaker put in. This solved the tendency to fall and he felt much better.

In May, Okanagan Lake started to rise after big snowfalls in March and a lot of spring rain. This caused major flooding all around this large lake. The stormy weather was quite frightening. Many people had their docks washed and blown away. We were lucky as ours is still there, though damaged.

Many trees and plants died as they didn´t like to have such wet "feet." There was a lot of water damage everywhere. The crawl space under our cottage was full of water. Everywhere there seemed to be water where there isn´t usually any. By August the lake level was back to normal.

Then the smoke started. It was a very hot, dry summer, which resulted in forest fires raging for a few months. While most were not too close to us, we experienced thick smoke with ash and embers falling like rain. This lasted off and on for close to a couple of months. It was a most unusual summer for us.

Another nuisance was that I injured my back trying to do too much of the heavier gardening that John was unable to do, and also from lifting sandbags during the floods. I now know how painful and incapacitating sciatica can be. I was unable to sleep in a bed for two months. For the first time ever we had somebody to help in the garden and the house - a treat I could easily get used to!

Also during the floods, family and neighbours rallied round to help with sandbagging. Our summer was not all doom and gloom. We still managed to enjoy seeing family and friends and going to some enjoyable events. Our young great-grandchildren are a joy, as also are our grandchildren, and even our children (now in their 50s!)

We were happy when life started to get back to normal. Normal didn´t last long as John was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in early September. There had been difficulty getting a successful biopsy, so we just kept waiting and we hoped before too long we would know what treatment he could have. In November John was feeling very well. In fact, if he hadn´t had the CT scans we wouldn´t have known there was anything wrong other than significant weight loss.

We decided to travel while we can. So far, we have spent a few days in Vancouver in a friend´s lovely apartment overlooking English Bay, and more recently we stayed several days in Victoria, sightseeing in glorious weather. On both jaunts we spent happy times with friends we have known for years.

We realise more than ever that we should all try to do what we want to do while we can. With that in mind, we left for a few days in England and then a cruise in the Western Mediterranean with our long- time friends, Bryan and Frankie, for close to three weeks. John celebrated his 80th birthday in the Mediterranean. That time we did not have time to visit friends in the UK, but hope to remedy that next year.

After our return home a successful biopsy was obtained, and right before Christmas we had the wonderful news that John does not have pancreatic cancer. He actually has a Follicular Lymphoma, which is much less scary and much more treatable. A terrific Christmas gift. He still has to have chemo, which was started in early Feb, but it´s not as bad as it would have been under the previous diagnosis.

We anticipate 2018 will be a better year than 2017!

John S. of New Jersey remembers

A PRINCE OF THE ROAD

It was about 1984, when cell phones weren´t in common use, and truckers were renowned for helping travellers in need. My brother was heading home from Connecticut in the wee hours of the morning. He was very tired and fell asleep at the wheel on the Merritt Parkway.

The old style guardrail ripped his car in two, folding the car in half just behind the front seats. The front wheels/axles were literally in line with the rear wheels and axles. The accident was witnessed by a trucker, who used his CB radio to call for aid.

My brother seemed pretty banged up. Police and emergency vehicles all arrived at the scene and my brother was taken to the hospital. After being x-rayed and examined at the emergency room, my brother was ready to leave. He had miraculously only sustained bruises and cuts; very minor injuries considering the accident.

My brother was looking for a phone to call home, when to his amazement he saw the trucker who had seen it all happen in the lobby waiting for him. The trucker asked him about the injuries and then asked where he lived and how he planned to get home.

My brother told the trucker he lived in New Jersey and didn´t yet know how he´d get home. He needed to find a payphone.

The trucker replied, "I´ll take you home."

Over 100 miles later, a full size tractor-trailer rumbled into a quiet neighbourhood, and the trucker made good on his word. My brother was home.

My brother offered to reward the trucker for his incredible support. Our parents´ house was very large so it was evident our father was well to do. I´m sure the trucker must have known he could get a very decent reward ... if he accepted.

He did not. He refused to even be compensated for the fuel he had used. My brother headed to the house as the trucker pulled away, never to be seen or heard from again.

The incredibly kind and unselfish actions of this man have stayed with both my brother and me all these years. My brother and I have had good lives and we routinely perform random acts of kindness to this day. I was not even there and was forever moved by this man´s actions. One day, if an opportunity arises, I will give of myself as the trucker gave of himself.

I wish I had met him. I´d love to see him face to face today and tell him of the way he affected me. My deepest thanks and appreciation go to this unknown man for the help he gave my brother - and the men he helped us become.

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Jean Sterling writes about

BIKE WEEK IN FLORIDA

Next week is bike (as in motorcycle) week here. They are all over the place. There are people who actually leave town during bike week.

Bike week is when a great number of motorcycles come to town. According to Wikipedia, 500,000 people attend the Daytona Beach motorcycle rally. That is considerably more than our population.

The Daytona 500 and the Fire Cracker 400 (stock car races) probably attract as many people. However, I know when the stock car races and prelims are going to take place at the speedway, so I can plan accordingly.

Not so with the motorcycle riders, who delight in just driving around. They want to see and be seen, and I think they commute between bars. They are all over the place.

Harley Davidson motorcycles pride themselves on what they call their throaty rumble (a euphemism for LOUD noise). I don´t think they believe in mufflers. So there is a constant rumbling noise during bike week. I can tell when the bars close at 2:00 a.m. There is also sitting at traffic lights with (noisy) motorcycles before and behind and next to me.

The good news is that they spend a lot of money, which in a tourist economy is a good thing.

Burke Dykes forwards these thoughts about

A VERY SPECIAL BANK ACCOUNT

Imagine you had a bank account that deposited $86,400 each morning. The account carries over no balance from day to day, allows you to keep no cash balance, and every evening cancels whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day. What would you do? Draw out every dollar each day!

We all have such a bank. Its name is Time. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever time you have failed to use wisely. It carries over no balance from day to day. It allows no overdraft, so you can´t borrow against yourself or use more time than you have. Each day, the account starts fresh. Each night, it destroys an unused time. If you fail to use the day´s deposits, it´s your loss and you can´t appeal to get it back.

There is never any borrowing time. You can´t take a loan out on your time or against someone else´s. The time you have is the time you have and that is that. Time management is yours to decide how you spend the time, just as with money you decide how you spend the money. It is never the case of us not having enough time to do things, but the case of whether we want to do them and where they fall in our priorities.

Irene Harvalias doesn´t know if this story is true or not, but it is funny, and a little sad too:

HIT THE FLOOR!

For anyone who didn´t see the episode of David Letterman´s show where this story was told, read this:

On a weekend in Atlantic City, a woman won a bucketful of quarters at a slot machine. She took a break from the slots for dinner with her husband in the hotel dining room. But first she wanted to stash the quarters in her room. "I´ll be right back and we´ll go to eat," she told her husband and carried the coin-laden bucket to the elevator.

As she was about to walk into the elevator she noticed two men already aboard. Both were black. One of them was very tall and had an intimidating figure.

The woman froze. Her first thought was: "These two are going to rob me." Her next thought was: "Don´t be a bigot. They look like perfectly nice gentlemen." But racial stereotypes are powerful, and fear immobilized her.

Avoiding eye contact, she turned around stiffly and faced the elevator doors as they closed. A second passed, and then another second, and then another. Her fear increased,

The elevator didn´t move.

Panic consumed her. "My God!" she thought, "I´m trapped and about to be robbed!" Her heart plummeted. Perspiration poured from every pore.

Then one of the men said, "Hit the floor."

Instinct told her to do what they told her. The bucket of quarters flew upwards as she threw out her arms and collapsed on the elevator floor. A shower of coins rained down on her. "Take my money and spare me!" she prayed.

More seconds passed.

She heard one of the men say politely, "Ma´am, if you´ll just tell us what floor you´re going to, we´ll push the button."

The one who said it had a little trouble getting the words out. He was trying mightily to hold in a belly laugh.

The woman lifted her head and looked up at the two men. They reached down to help her up.

Confused, she struggled to her feet. ´"When I told my friend here to hit the floor," said the average sized one, "I meant that he should hit the elevator button for our floor. I didn´t mean for you to hit the floor, ma´am." He spoke genially. He bit his lip. It was obvious he was having a hard time not laughing.

The woman thought: "My God, what a spectacle I´ve made of myself!" She was too humiliated to speak.

The three of them gathered up the strewn quarters and refilled her bucket.

When the elevator arrived at her floor they then insisted on walking her to her room. She seemed a little unsteady on her feet, and they were afraid she might not make it down the corridor. At her door they bade her a good evening....

As she slipped into her room she could hear them roaring with laughter as they walked back to the elevator. The woman brushed herself off. She pulled herself together and went downstairs for dinner with her husband

The next morning flowers were delivered to her room; a dozen roses. Attached to EACH rose was a crisp one-hundred-dollar bill.

The card said: "Thanks for the best laugh we´ve had in years." It was signed: Eddie Murphy and Michael Jordan.

Catherine Nesbitt shares these

WILD THOUGHTS TO PONDER

* If you attempt to rob a bank you won´t have any trouble with rent/food bills for the next 10 years, whether or not you are successful.

* Do twins ever realize that one of them is unplanned?

* What if my dog only brings back my ball because he thinks I like throwing it?

* If poison expires, is it more poisonous or is it no longer poisonous?

* Which letter is silent in the word "Scent," the S or the C?

* Why is the letter W, in English, called double U? Shouldn´t it be called double V?

* Maybe oxygen is slowly killing you and It just takes 75-100 years to fully work.

* Every time you clean something, you just make something else dirty

* The word "swims" upside-down is still "swims".

* Intentionally losing a game of rock, paper, scissors is just as hard as trying to win.

* One hundred years ago everyone owned a horse and only the rich had cars. Today everyone has cars and only the rich own horses.

* Your future self is watching you right now through memories.

* The doctors who told Stephen Hawking he had two years to live in 1953 are probably dead.

* If you replace "W" with "T" in "What, Where and When," you get the answer to each of them.

* Many animals probably need glasses, but nobody knows it.

* If you rip a hole in a net, there are actually fewer holes in it than there were before.

SUGGESTED SITES

Judith English forwards this link to a video that shows various ways to get up after a fall, which a third of people over 65 will experience every year:

Tom Telfer forwards this link to a video of animals that adopt babies from other speciies:

Tom also sends this link to a compilation of every winner of the Academy Award for Best Cinematography from 1927 to 2016:

Tom Williamson sends the URL for a video of men flying with small parachuttes over dangerous terrain in Portugal, France, Brazil, and South Africa:

From the Good News network comes this video of a woman walking into frozen Trout Lake to rescue a stranger´s dog:

This Graphene filter makes dirty saltwater drinkable, which could be a major game-changer for much of the world that does not have clean water:

Hang in there, golfers! Spring is just around the corner, and soon you may be exposed to sights like these: