The Bridge with Peter Mansbridge - The Weekend Special #37 -- Tell Me Something Good

Episode Date: November 27, 2020

Your answers and the winning one gets a signed copy of "Extraordinary Canadians"!

and hello there peter mansbridge here with the latest episode of the bridge daily it is friday of week 37 and fridays as you know, mean the weekend special. Well, this is the weekend special, but it's going to be a little different than usual. And it was kind of a last minute thought. I dropped it yesterday in yesterday's podcast. This idea of you writing in, if you had something positive, something good, something about this year that in fact, in spite of all the horrors, in spite of all the difficulties, there's still been something that shines through for you as something good that you can take away from this year of difficulties.

Because we've all had the difficulties. We've all shared in the pain. And we've all had the difficulties. We've all shared in the pain. And we've all seen loss, either close or not too far away. So that aspect we know. But even through all that, have there been moments or a particular moment

that kind of shines through for you. So I threw out this idea yesterday, not really knowing what to expect. Thought maybe I'd get a couple of emails. It was kind of like the book plate thing. The emails flooded in. There'd be dozens and dozens from many of you from all over the country. And I appreciate that very much.

Obviously, I can't read them all, but I have narrow out from the rest, I would sign a copy of Extraordinary Canadians, number one, for the second week in a row on the Canadian nonfiction book list. I would sign and send it. Well, there will be a signing and a sending as a result of the letters that I read today. So let me get started. And once again, just as in a normal weekend special, these are in no particular order, although I will end with the one I've judged. Best doesn't sound right because they're all really good. Even the ones I'm not reading today, they're all really good. But I guess the one that kind of made me imagine good in a way

that was different than the rest. So let me try that for this week anyway. We'll see what happens in weeks ahead when I come up with perhaps other ideas and other questions. But let's get started. Once again, no particular order and no guarantee that I'll read the whole letter,

but certainly part of it. The first one comes from Carol Lavallee in Chelmsford, Ontario. I'm not sure exactly where that is. The area code, I should have looked it up. The area code looks like it's kind of Peterborough area code. Anyway, Chelmsford, Ontario. And whether it's Carol Lavallee or Carol Lavallee, I'm not sure. But we'll have tried both.

Here's her letter. The moment I heard your invitation to share with you one good thing in my life, the thought that instantly popped up is the fact that my quiet, except when not quiet, husband is recuperating beautifully from a triple coronary bypass this fall. Yes, this can't wait surgery had to wait a couple of months because surgeries were cancelled in Sudbury, as elsewhere in Canada, due to COVID. Okay, Sudbury, so maybe Chelmsford is closer to Sudbury than Peterborough. I think that's the same area code, though. Nevertheless.

And yes, this surgery was juxtaposed with a heartbreaking but no-brainer decision to cancel our long-planned intimate 50th wedding anniversary in August with our kids and grandsons. There was no way anyone wanted to jeopardize his chance at extending his life. Indeed, thanks to the expert husband and wife cardiac surgeons, we now can sit snug in our home out of COVID's harm's way as he recuperates. Thank goodness for FaceTime. That's how we stayed connected with the kids and the grandkids that live miles away. Thank goodness for expert doctors who kept him going past his best before age.

Thank goodness for a faithful, alive husband of 50 years. My alive husband of 50 years. That is my best one good thing in my life right now. All right, Carol or Carol. Maggie Gostick from Winnipeg, Manitoba. I've been listening to your podcast since March when everything shut down here in Manitoba. I find your voice very comforting and love your honesty and point of view. Over the summer at the cabin, my sister caught the Mansbridge bug as well and started listening daily because I was always quoting you maybe too often. Listening to your podcast tonight,

while I cleaned up the dinner dishes, you asked the question, what good has happened this year? My answer is not a short one. I'm very privileged. I'm a stay-at-home mom. Prior to this March, I ran a very busy home daycare, but shut down to keep our bubble small and my family safe. We've cut back on extras and can still live a great simple life on just one income. Very lucky. This school year was going to be the first time in six years that I would have time to myself child-free. My daughter would go to preschool three mornings a week and my son in grade one so full-time. I was excited to have the time to myself, but extremely nervous to send the kids to school with COVID going around. Here in Manitoba, over the summers,

our numbers were very low and things were pretty relaxed. Things changed drastically this fall. At the end of October, our school asked anyone able to keep their child home and school from home. Of course, I did this. This has been one of the most fulfilling moments for me as a parent. I am into one month of school from home. Being at home all day with my children is not new to me, but the school from home is. I've never been prouder of our children for their ability to take this pandemic in stride, their ability to learn just about anything and quickly,

for their understanding that it's okay to miss friends, but it's better to wait till it's safe so that when we get to play, we are all there. I've been able to witness my son's reading abilities soar and to teach my daughter her alphabet. We've been cross-country skiing together, baking regularly, and have even invented a new yard game we call Shovel Ball. I'm soaking up every moment. 2020 has not been great for so many people, but I feel very lucky to have such quality time with my family. Thank you, Margie. Margie.

Maggie. Maggie Gostick in Winnipeg. And one of my daughters is a teacher in Winnipeg, and it's been really difficult for her. She's been a teacher for, I guess, almost 20 years. She's got a big class of 11-year-olds, big class, about 30 of them. It's so big that when things started to get ugly here this fall, they instituted distancing rules in the classroom, and as a result, they've had to split the class, which she's still responsible for all

of it, into two rooms. So she's going back and forth between rooms. And some of them are taking homeschooling, which she's also got to do via her computer. So a lot of stress there for teachers and for students and for parents. It's a very difficult situation all around. Randy Shantz from Toronto. I enjoy my bike rides around Toronto as I run my errands. In particular, I get a kick out of watching, as Robin Williams used to say,

the little people as they play and enjoy all the new and exciting stuff that they are discovering. And I guess you see a lot of that when you're biking around. Even in Toronto, biking past parks and playgrounds. Kathy Wills from Calgary.

This is kind of funny at times. This is kind of a mosaic, a landscape of certain things Canadian here. Hello, Peter. I've been bored out of my mind since beginning of September. I spent the summer walking and biking all over Calgary. I even got a flat tire that ended my riding for several weeks. As everything COVID, suddenly everyone in Calgary was biking and there wasn't a tube in my size anywhere.

A family member was planning on a road trip this way from BC, so she brought me two tubes from small-town Canadian Tire in BC. How weird is that? September, I put the bike away and became a COVID sloth. My grandkids didn't need me to transport them to school, homeschooling since March. Their mom is working from home, and they're all collectively going nuts together. And since my husband is immunocompromised, we've been staying away from them all for months, sadly. I've been so bored and gaining weight. I know that story. I told my husband we have to

move back to the lower mainland or southern Ontario, sell everything, just take what fits in the van. Won't that be fun, starting all over at our age? Because I need a new view of either the Pacific Ocean or Lake Ontario. I need something to do. Have I mentioned I'm bored? But until then, I have an amazing fitness room right next door in my condo. Not next building, but right next door.

I've never gone in there except to view an outfit that I've made. It's wall-to-wall mirrors. It's great for pictures. I should mention we've lived in this building for five years now. But one day I started working out, went online, discovered many fitness gurus. And as anyone knows, it doesn't take much for something to become an addiction. Whenever I've been bored, I go into the fitness room and get on the kayak, it's a rolling machine, and kayak around the inside passage amongst the whales and dolphins and BC fairies.

I download an hour's worth of podcasts at a time or an audio book and retreat into that room. Sometimes twice a day, sometimes once a day. I even skip a day. I got a fitness instructor to come over once to show me what to do with all the stuff that's in there. So that's my one good thing. Yes, I'm finally here at my good thing at long last. I've become a very fit 64 year old and even went down a size so far and boy do I sleep better and suddenly eat better I even went gluten free and discovered the arthritis in my wrists

isn't such a problem without the gluten and my migraines aren't as severe or as often minus the gluten who knew it all started by figuring out what to do with all that stuff in that room next door. But the plan to start over, it's still on. Just have to wait till the vaccine.

Maybe, hopefully, May or June 2021. Kathy Wills in Calgary. Great letter. I love the small-town Canadian tire in BC reference. That's great. Okay. Here we go. Still the same theme.

What's good? This comes from Patrick Talon or Talon. Let me begin by saying that by nature, I am a proponent of small government. Actually, I didn't say where Patrick is from. He is from Hawkesbury, Ontario. That's not far from Ottawa. Okay. By nature, I'm a proponent of small government Don't get me started about the various types of registries

And government bodies that have been created, disbanded And repurposed over the past 20 years By saying that, I am thankful for a government agency Is counter to what I believe in So here goes I'm thankful for Elections Canada, the government agency. When I see the mess in running the U.S. presidential election, I can't help but think how well we run federal elections. Juxtapose our experience versus the USA and think about this.

Every Canadian has the exact same format ballot and it's on paper. Seems like the Americans have hundreds if not thousands of different types of ballots. I have never had to spend more than 15 minutes of my time to exercise my right to vote. The chief electoral officer reports to the Parliament of Canada. The whole organization is politically agnostic. No elected officials with party alliances are involved in any form of our election. We have common roles and responsibilities in each riding. We don't have these crazy, diverse roles and boards that seem to exist in the USA. Other than a recount, we get comprehensive election results within hours of the polls

closing. The Americans are still counting ballots, and we are almost a month since their election. Elections Canada's governance is completely removed from political officials and, in fact, arm's length from the entire federal bureaucracy. Patrick Tallon, Hawkesbury, Ontario. Greg Hussey in Old Barnes, Nova Scotia.

Now, I don't know whether that's the name of the town or the village, but I hope it is because what a great name. Old Barnes, Nova Scotia. Hi Peter, I listened to your latest podcast this morning before I got out of bed to start my day and I thought I would write to share with you my good news during the pandemic. As I'm sure you

know Canada has become a hotbed for selling and buying homes. I was very proud to announce that I purchased my first home in September, a proud accomplishment I have achieved at 24. As my parents told me, save your pennies. The home is 183 years old and once was a local carriage works and an inn between the historic ship building town of Maitland and Truro. The home requires some retouching, as most old homes do, but this has given me a unique opportunity to learn a multitude of new skills to home ownership from plastering, painting, drywall, and stripping off old wallpaper. With a new home will come new adventures, and it makes 2020 not as bad to swallow.

All the best, Greg, in Old Barnes, Nova Scotia. 24 years old, he buys his first home. That's incredible. Good for you. You must have saved a lot of pennies to do that. I bought my first house when I was 32. I was a renter up until then and could never have afforded a house at 24.

That's for sure. But listen, have fun in that renovation. Make sure you do the right things. I don't know how, you know, it's 183 years old. I don't know how much has been updated already, but make sure the basics, plumbing, electrical, all that kind of stuff is updated to the grade that it should be today. You don't want a lot of your work to go for naught.

And when you're stripping wallpaper and whatever else, take a good look around for things that may have been left from a long time ago. Magazine articles, newspapers, whatever. Crystal Steers. I'm not sure where Crystal is from. You asked on today's podcast what the one good thing is. Here's my answer.

While this year has been hard in a lot of ways, I think the great thing that has come out of this year is more people from all around the world are going out of their way to help others. We as humans have stepped up to give time, money, food, and many other things to charities, to people who may be self-isolating alone to people we may not have always paid attention to before all this happened i think we've gotten back in touch with our humanity and have placed an importance on caring for others in a way that was lost over the last 50 years. I'm grateful for that and hope that we continue to do so.

Deborah Zaks. Deborah's in Ottawa. Peter, I am much like others right now. There are so many things I could complain about. I'm a senior. It seems to be the thing to do. But what makes me happy are my grandchildren, essentially watching them lead as normal a life as possible under the circumstances. I'm sure you will get this topic from many others, but maybe not for the same reason. I live in the same city as my daughter and my grandchildren. I could perhaps wish that I could see them in person however and whenever I

want, but I chose to say no. Let them go on with their lives as normally as possible under the circumstances. Go to school, hang out with their friends who are in your classes. Go to those tennis lessons. Do things that kids do. They need to be kids. They need normal. I can wait. And I shall until there is a vaccine and we can safely visit with one another again. In the meantime, I love their regular FaceTime calls. Hi Nana, let me tell you about my week and you can tell me about yours. I don't have to wait for a letter or a phone call as my parents would have had to do. I can see and hear them whenever I wish, and they can do the same.

It's technology and the ability to connect me with my grandchildren so effortlessly that makes me happy. Despite all the times I've cursed technology, how do I update my contacts list? How do I install this app? I'm eternally grateful and happy to have this convenience at my disposal. Technology makes me happy. Never thought I would say that. You heard it here first. I'm sure you find this to be true as well.

Yeah, I do, Deborah. And as much as I've at times cursed technology, you know, I can remember when we replaced the typewriters in the newsroom. It used to drive me crazy, the early kind of computer boards. There were always problems, and I used to, I'd lose my temperature and temperament with them, and I think there's been a few broken keyboards as a result of my inability to watch progress happen. But technology, I mean, listen, as I say often to groups that I speak to, the children who are growing up now are living in a world where information is at their fingertips in a way that has never been the case before in the history of this

planet. How fast you can get information, and hopefully accurate information. That's one of the challenges of technology, obviously. But the potential is incredible. Anyway, thank you, Deborah. Steve Mitchell. He's written before. He calls himself the educational optimist.

So here's Steve's offering. He's from Chatham-Kent, Ontario, deep into southwestern Ontario. I was lucky in 2020, even though I suffered loss in my life. I also fell deeply in love. Love, to me, is the most powerful contribution of the historical human being. We have fought wars, suffered through multiple pandemics, and discovered that conflict is easy to find. Love continues, jumps up, and takes the place of suffering, loss, and heartbreak. I was lucky to find someone to love with all I have in 2020.

And that has propelled me through this pandemic with an ever-optimistic perspective. I'll keep it short and leave you with this. For those people that have experienced the loss of a loved one or found themselves at odds with someone that they loved in the past, take this holiday season, especially this 2020 holiday season, to practice forgiveness. If you do, you may find that love might be closer than you ever imagined. And it's amazing what love can accomplish. Take the time to love someone as this year comes to a close. I have. Let me tell you, it's made this optimist all the more optimistic

about the future of humanity. Thanks to my love, Corrine, for loving me. I'm a lucky man. That's nice, Steve. Good luck to you and Corrine. Okay. This is one of my favorites. They've all been favorites. I mean, I love these letters, and I love the way you kind of open up a little bit about yourself and understand that, you know, we're all different. We all search for different things. We all find optimism perhaps in different places.

We're all realistic about what's going on around us and understanding the difficulties in the world around us and the difficulties on the street around us. But we've all found time, at least those who've written, to also talk about some of the good that you've realized

in this very difficult year. Okay, this next letter comes from Wendy Bateman in the Highlands of Halliburton. Now, does that sound like a great signature? Hi, I'm Wendy Bateman in the Highlands of Halliburton. The wonderful part of this unusual time in our lives is the discovery of podcasts. Being of the older generation and now living alone, I was missing family, friends, and volunteering. Discovering the bridge, I assume many others, has been good for me.

This is the line I like. You ready? This is from Wendy Bateman in the Highlands of Halliburton. She says, I take Peter Mansbridge to bed with me every weeknight. Nice. This has been so great as his familiar voice couldn't put me into a deep sleep. That's me.

Put you to sleep. And I get the second half of the bridge with breakfast the next morning. Thanks for being my companion. Wendy Bateman in the Highlands of Halliburton. Sounds like a movie. Wendy Bateman in the Highlands of Halliburton

starring I don't know. You tell me. Okay, we have got to the final letter. And this is the one that's going to get the signed book for this week. Although I got to tell you, if I had lots of books, everybody deserves one. However, the deal was, and you recall, I'd pick one.

So this is this week's winner for a signed copy of Extraordinary Canadians, number one on the Canadian nonfiction bestseller list. Available at bookstores all across the country. The chain stores, the independent stores, you name it. It's available everywhere. All right. I will save the winner's name till the end of the story. And you'll have to pardon me for some of the pronunciations here

because I'm not sure, and I try to check them out, but I'm not sure. You'll see what I mean when we get to it. Hello, Peter. This is indeed a year like no other. Normally at this time we'd be in California or Florida, playing golf, hiking, and also birding, which we've discovered the last few years. This year we are going through an often damp and dark November at home.

Sadly, golf is over. We have no plans to go anywhere this winter. So here we are at home in Pickering, Ontario, with our bird feeders loaded with bird seed. Much to our surprise, we've had two visits by evening grosbeaks, previously unheard of in southern Ontario. These are lifer birds for us. Hiking locally, we've been delighted to find more lifer birds in our area this bleak November. Long-eared owls, purple sandpipers, red phalaropes, phalaropes, red phalaropes, eastern bluebirds, a harlequin duck, northern saw wet owls, and even a very rare variegated flycatcher, which is normally in South America at this time. Who knew that an unexpected November at home could hold such lovely surprises in nature?

Much to be grateful for. Here's hoping for more wonderful birding hikes this winter in Canada. Isn't that wonderful? Now that's different. Okay? That's different. Okay? That's different. And, you know, we've got a great backyard for birds. And Cynthia makes a big deal about making sure the bird feeder is always filled appropriately for the season

and for the type of birds that kind of navigate around our neighborhood at the different times of year. And she, too, has noted this, birds that we've never seen before are coming through. Now, we don't know what any of them are. I know what a robin looks like. I'm really good on first robin of the year. I always catch those, gllimpses of those. But all these other ones that are mentioned in this letter, I wouldn't know them from a five-ton truck going down the street.

All right, we're at that point where we tell you who wrote the letter. Because she knows. She's sitting there right now listening to the podcast going, I won! I won! Why did I go and buy that book? Why didn't I just wait? Well, Gloria Schwabe from Broadgreen Street in Pickering, Ontario. You are our first winner of a signed copy of Extraordinary Canadians.

And I will get it out to you in the mail, hopefully in the next little while. Well, that was fun, wasn't it? That was different and and I really appreciate all of those and I'm sure there's still emails coming in well keep this in mind

and try to come up for the next couple of weeks as long as the book's number one, it would only be reasonable of me to give a few signed copies away, right? And that is what I'll do. But we'll have to come up with some other ideas of, you know, tightly focused questions that deliver great answers as exampled by the ones we read today. And as I said, there were more, many more. Okay?

So that wraps up week 37 since the bridge went daily on the COVID story in mid-March. A number of things have been happening in terms of the future of the bridge, which I'll probably get to discussing with you in the next little while. There's been conversation. Bruce and I have talked about trying to institutionalize

something at least once a week with Bruce because he's so good and some of you really like him. So we have to figure out some way of institutionalizing that and work our times because we're both kind of busy beyond the podcast, which we'll do. The other issue has been keep it daily or maybe go to three times a week. But then in the last month or so, something else has entered the equation, which is there are two serious attempts to make an arrangement with the bridge on the part of different broadcast and journalistic organizations that would love to have the bridge as part of their operation. And I've got to look at those seriously, obviously.

This has been a hobby for the last year, and all expenses, including the stamps on the letters sending out to you guys with the book plates, which still come pouring in at the Mansbridge podcast at gmail.com. Anyway, it, you know, after a year of paying for everything myself and somebody else may want to become involved in a financial way with the bridge. It's something that I've got to take seriously and look at seriously, which I will do.

But when and if something comes along, I will certainly share that with you. But for this week, I'm looking forward to weekend. I'm sure you're looking forward to the weekend too, but it is the weekend in the midst of the throes of the second wave and times are tough in many parts of the country. So you got to remember the basics and I know you're sick of hearing them, but it's worth repeating as always. Wash your hands, wear a mask, a proper mask, and wear it properly. Keep socially distant. Avoid big crowds. Be smart.

Be kind. And beyond that, the weekend is upcoming. And you want to find a way to enjoy it. We're into the downhill to the holidays. We're into the final stretch run of the year. And we want to try as best to make it a time that we can remember for good things. So good luck with that. All right, that's been the Bridge Daily for this day and this week, week 37.

I'm Peter Mansbridge. Thanks so much for listening. And we'll talk to you again on Monday. Thank you.