Nobody tries to boss a senior citizen………..

I trust you all had a great Christmas. I didn’t bother doing a post with seasons niceties this year, the bobble head post sapped the last bit of blogging energy right out of me. I fully intended to give this blog a rest over the holidays. But as always, that was dependent on whether I found anything salient to write about, which apparently I now have.
I was at a Christmas party a few nights ago and my gracious host introduced me to someone whom I had seen at a couple of political shindigs, that evolved around the recent municipal election.

The following is how the conversation went:

Nobody: Hi I saw you at a couple of the political gatherings over the election. What did you think of the election results?

Uninformed Cooper Voter (UCV for short): Yes I was happy with some of the candidates that were elected and very unhappy with others.

Nobody: Oh that’s interesting. Who were you unhappy with?

UCV: I can’t stand Brian Saunderson, he seems like a typical sleazy lawyer. I also dislike that Cam ……. what’s his name……….?

Nobody: Ecclestone………

UCV: That’s right, I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him.

Nobody: So I am assuming that you voted for Sandra Cooper?

UCV: Of course I voted for Sandra, who else would I vote for? Carrier? He completely ruined the town when he was Mayor. The last council spent 4 years fixing everything he messed up.

At this point the hairs start to stand up on the back of my neck. I also feel my blood pressure rising up towards Kevin Lloyd territory. But I persevered.

Nobody: Did our gracious host tell you that I write a local political blog?

UCV: What’s a blog? I am not very good with the computers and stuff. But I keep my ears to the ground I know what’s going on politically in town.

Nobody: Well how come you don’t then?

UCV: (with very puzzled look on her face) What do you mean?

Nobody: You say you know what’s going on politically, but you actually haven’t got a clue……..

By this time my voice had started to go up a couple of decibel’s.

Nobody: …….. do you know that your successful candidate for mayor is still under investigation by the OPP? And……..

UCV: That was a sham and part of Carrier and his backers behind the scenes plotting to undermine the last council.

Nobody: ……. and also Cooper was just a figure head. The town was actually being run by Deputy Mayor Rick Lloyd. I saw evidence of that at many council meetings that I attended.

UCV: That’s not such a bad thing, Rick Lloyd is a good person and we have been lucky to have him in public service in this town. He was a way better Deputy Mayor than this Saunderson will be.

Nobody: Excuse me? You are happy to have a puppet for a Mayor with other people pulling the strings?

UCV: The last council was the best council we have had in years and got a lot accomplished.

Nobody: How would you know that?

UCV: What do you mean?

Nobody: I have never seen you at one council meeting. How many have you attended in the past year?

UCV: I don’t go to council meetings, I’m too busy.

Nobody: You’re retired right? What about on Rogers Channel 52, do you follow the council on those weekly broadcasts?

UCV: (puzzled look again) Council is on TV? No I have never seen it.

Nobody: So let me get this straight. You say you are an informed voter and that you know what’s going on politically in town and yet you have never watched a council meeting in any form……….

At this point a number of people had gone quiet around us and were looking at me very awkwardly, so my voice trailed off…… My volume had got a little too high. For those of you that don’t know me, I am 6ft 2in and around 225lbs, usually dress in black and look like I should be doing door duty at the Casbah. This lady was around 75 years old 5ft nothing and 100lbs soaking wet. I realized the optics of my current situation were not really putting me in a very good light. So I excused myself, mumbling something about agreeing to disagree and needing another beer.

I thought about this encounter after the fact. This is actually the first time I have ever met someone from Cooper Nation and actually had a conversation with them. I have been railing against Cooper, Lloyd’s, Chadwick et al for two years, but all that time I was preaching to the choir, not to people like this lady. Another thing that struck me; this is probably the demographic of your average member of Cooper Nation and voting bloc supporter. Retired, non computer savvy, don’t follow or watch council meetings, have lived in town for many years and fear any kind of change.

Plus they know exactly what is going on politically in town…….