The Retirees' Newsletter
The Faculty and Librarian Retirees' Association, University of Windsor, Windsor, Canada

Issue # 15 -- December, 1995

TOM CARNEY REPORTS ON LIFE ON VANCOUVER ISLAND

After retirement this year, Tom and Barbara Carney moved to Saanichton, B.C., on Vancouver Island, where they had earlier bought a home. IN THIS - PART 1 OF A TWO-PART REPORT - TOM CITES SOME OF THEIR PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS, AND EXPERIENCES ON THE INCOMPARABLE VANCOUVER ISLAND. IN PART II, IN THE FEBRUARY ISSUE , HE WILL GO INTO THE MORE PRACTICAL QUESTIONS OF COSTS OF MOVING, INSURANCE AND HEALTH COSTS, ETC.

THE WEATHER is great: warm and mostly sunny, even at this time of year. We're still (late Oct.) planting shrubs, etc. which proceed to grow. The garden was a shambles and we're having to put a lot of work into it, which is fine by us: we like gardening as you know. PEOPLE are, in general, very friendly. Smile at someone in a supermarket or on the street, or when you're negotiating a shopping cart along a crowded aisle, or backing your car, and even the toughest-looking male will smile or grin back at you...But they tend to be busy, so it's not easy to strike up friendships with neighbours. It's not that they're not friendly, but they tend to have large-ish houses and gardens and spend a lot of time and effort working on them--and on their kids.

THE ISLAND ISN'T HIGHLY INDUSTRIALIZED, and people eke out a living, if they haven't got adequate pensions, by doing odd jobs for others who need them. So it seems difficult to make friends, though it's early days. Windsor had all kinds of groups--I particularly miss the Mac User Group, which put an amazing amount of Mac-related experience only a phone-call away. Brentwood helped me a lot: I began to understand the cross-generational consequences of alcoholism, for example, and how damaging to a family a dry drunk (the antithesis of the alcoholic) can be. Here Brentwood is merely the name of a rather attractive suburb. But there's what seems to be an excellent Adult Children of Alcoholics program with meetings many places and times every month, at places scattered all over town (including a police station!).

WE FIND THE TRAFFIC VERY CONGESTED in down-town Victoria, and fast-paced on the Patricia Bay highway (known to locals as the Pat Bay racetrack). You'll know--everyone tells you--that the views are glorious. What they DON'T tell you is that it doubles the cost of a house if it has a view, and, as even 'medium-priced' houses are expensive ($220,000 up), you have to be a professional in your earning years to afford a home with a view. We certainly can't afford one, although our back yard is nice, with lots of tall, tall pine trees.

OUR SON GETS ACROSS FROM VANCOUVER occasionally. It costs very little if you walk on to the Ferry. But he's having difficulty getting anything but intermittent work, even though he's a computer programmer and well on his way to becoming an accountant. Big plants in a neighbourhood make an enormous difference in the availability of work (this translates into a realization that Windsor isn't such a bad place to live in).

MY LATEST FUN EXPERIENCE has been having jaw-bone implants done. Doesn't hurt much, thanks to the wonders of modern anesthetics, but one has to eat carefully till the bone grows/grafts itself into the titanium tubes. I just don't care to think about the costs of mucking up such an expensive process. Can't wait till they screw the spikes into the tubes. Be nice to eat something solid. Besides, I'm not supposed to do anything strenuous (in case I should grit my remaining teeth) till the tubes become part of my jawbone structure. You can think of this as "Tom's had his tubes fixed".

(PART 2: THE PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF A MAJOR INTER-PROVINCE MOVE: FEBRUARY ISSUE #16)

RETIREES AMONG THOSE HONOURED AT LUNCHEON

At a special and well-attended luncheon held at the Faculty Club on Friday, December 1st, sixteen Faculty members and Retirees received special recognition for the honours and awards they had received during the past academic year. Among the retirees so recognized for their respective achievements were Tom Carney, Krishnan Duggal, Charles Fantazzi, and Devamma Puroshotham -- each awarded Professor Emeritus rank; Alex McCorquodale for his life-time contribution award from the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering; Norm Shklov for appointment as Honourary Life Member of the Statistical Society of Canada, and Roger Thibert, for a Symposium and Special Journal Issue on his retirement.Organizer of the event was Mary Lou Drake, President of the Faculty Club.

At the end of the luncheon, a long-standing retiree was asked for his views. His reply: "For the first time in my long and distinguished career, I shall sum up what I have to say in just one word:

"CONGRATULATIONS...

"To one and all..mmm yes

"But let me now just analyse briefly

the underlying reasons for these....

His remaining remarks were drowned

out by applause for the honourés.

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