Right in the Centre

Walking barefoot is one of my favorite summer things to do. That goes way back, in my memory, to running barefoot everywhere! As a farm kid there certainly were hazards that added to the thrill of the sport. I recall bringing in the cows from the back pasture, watching for and avoiding as much as possible, the fresh patties that dotted the path. Rounding up the sheep involved running through scrub bushes, ducking and dodging and leaping over dead fall. Often this sport occurred after dusk, bringing them in for sorting and shipping, or penning them up overnight before shearing. Truthfully, running in the dark, along familiar paths was routine. With the help of a semi trained farm dog we prevented any errant ewes from missing the homecoming. Walking the trails habitually imprinted one to know exactly where a root protruded above the soil, and exactly where the track deepened or widened. Perhaps it is because I was young and lithe that these excursions provided enjoyment and entertainment, or perhaps my daily life was dull enough that the thrill of the chase won the moment!

and towns went to the brink of bankruptcy to get a railway, the planners of the day put tons of money into the railway companies totally unaware of the risk presented by automobiles. A large amount of the investment in railways has been unfortunately lost as 1000s of miles of railways are now gone. The planners can’t be blamed for not foreseeing cars as they weren’t even a thing when the railway boom was underway.

So today, we have many miles of (rough) roads and still many miles of railways. What we are missing is internet connections and cell phone service. While cell service is OK, it is very expensive compared to other countries and very spotty. Cell calls frequently drop between towns. That’s unacceptable in terms of service and safety. There have been endless initiatives to get cell service and internet services to everyone. They have continued to fail. Even the latest and greatest new services are fraught with stories of non-service, high rates and poor maintenance.

Government money has been poured into these initiatives for 25 years or more and there’s still no end in sight. There is huge pressure for a solution, one that gives everyone equal, fast, secure and complete access to cell and high speed internet service everywhere.

I don’t have the answer but hopefully we don’t make the same mistake as we did with railways, that is overbuild and then abandon.

And, just like railways were ambushed, so to speak, by cars, trucks and highways, is there a new technology out there awaiting us that will make current cell phone and internet connections obsolete. If readers have that answer, I would be pleased to hear from them.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this column are the writer’s personal views and are not to be taken as being the view of the Banner & Press staff.

Digging my toes into the fresh tilled earth, walking along the shore of a still body of water, paddling in a gentle creek, are all great memories. Any farm kid knows the hazard of stubble, canola fields aren’t fun, but mown patches of rag weed are deadly- one could puncture a foot as easily as not if one landed directly on a shorn stalk. I know.

Safety decreed that shoes be worn when operating farm vehicles, probably not a prerequisite for the generation above me. The most common footwear in summer was a pair of soft soled canvas sneakers, black and white, lace ups. The downside was that any footwear was beastly hot. Often at the end of work day there were water blisters on the soles of my feet, and never being one who could by pass a good itch- I would rub my feet of the edge of the concrete sidewalk until every blister had popped and everything hurt like heck! Only to repeat the agony a few days later…Walking on a prefect lawn is delightful. A soft, springy carpet that feels real. Not my lawn….yet.

My barefoot days have changed with my increasing age. I still love to pad around my home with no shoes on. The downside is that I have the best possible floor covering to hide debris, and with no shoes on crumbs crumble, but pebbles poke! Not even a pebble, simply a large grain of sand…. Reminds me to sweep occasionally, or put my shoes back on!

I do wonder what ritual there was with my shoes and socks when I was a wee one. To this day I can not abide a sock that slips or has a hole in it. I can not walk if my shoe is tied just the right amount tight, with the tongue correctly positioned. And socks can not collect in the toe of the shoe. Maybe my parents found it easier for me to simply live shoeless!