We’ve been flooded with news about a plant closing in Ontario. Some said, “We might have thought that the government subsidies to the company might have bought some loyalty.” I must be just an old cynic, but that made me smile at the optimism.

The people at the bottom of the socio-economic scale don’t have time to be resentful. They are just trying to survive. That’s one of the startling points Francis Fukuyama makes in his book “Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment”. 

Our kids presented us with 50th Wedding Anniversary certificates from the Prime Minister and the Premier – creating a variety of humorous and cynical responses from our assembled friends. They know how much I like that sort of thing.

His eyes welled up with tears at the memory of the ringing of the bells throughout town. Mr. Marshall was an old harness maker, a child in 1918. But the memory of the joy at the end of the “war to end all wars” still brought tears to his eyes when we spoke decades ago.

A few years ago we had a row of hydrangeas planted beside our driveway. The foliage was lush the first year, but no blooms. The following years the blooms were sporadic and hidden beneath the foliage – so not much beauty. The garden centre experts suggested shocking the roots, fertilizing, pruning at different times of the year – all of which I tried for the last few years to no avail.