Opinion

One of them nearly made me cry, but the majority just wanted some decent food and drink. It’s not what you think either —my church’s community luncheon was last week and yeah, I cried at that, but it isn’t what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the people who sit at a bar by themselves...

This week I was planning to expound at length on the annoyingness of Christmas. How even a spot of routine shopping becomes a full-blown battle as you fight your way down aisles crowded with dithering wrinklies buying cheap Chinese rubbish for their ungrateful grandchildren. I was going to mention how the forced joviality, the relentless...

Several years ago, in the throes of holiday hubbub and debacle, my cat attempted to climb the Christmas tree. As all of these stories go — and we all have one of these stories — the tree came crashing down, breaking almost every single ornament in the process. Left over and free of harm, however,...

A friend who read my recent mumblings about the awfulness of winter suggested my attitude might improve if I found something enjoyable to do in this dreary season. He suggested skiing. Since I used to be rather good at that, I considered it a fine opportunity to impress some of today’s youth with some old-school...

Family gatherings can be marvelous measures of familial love and support. The crackle and spark from a well-stoked hearth, the mellow numbing of mind after a few cocktails shared in the proper spirit of the season, the laid-back luxuriating in one’s favourite chair with the soft chatter of folks well-fed -- all of these aspects...

SEVEN ADULTS TOOK THE OPPORTUNITY TO LET GO OF THE MOULDS THAT WE TRY SO HARD TO FIT INTO OUR DAY-TO-DAY “Should I use my force punch or my scorching ray?” I asked the table seriously. If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my short 27 years on this planet, it’s that if you can’t...