The Globe and Mail (Ontario Edition)
May 23, 2024

Re “Sitting on the dock of the bay, wasting time? Not in this family” (Opinion, May 18): This made me feel very lazy.

The family cottage that my sister, brother and I share in the Gatineau comes equipped with all manner of creature comforts: a bathroom with a shower, an electric oven, a dishwasher, laundry facilities.

However, when we were growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, we lacked the latter two amenities, which meant going into town to use a laundromat. My late father resisted getting a dishwasher, maintaining that if each of us did their own dishes, it would be unnecessary. But my willful mother, who was a hardworking doctor with little time for chores, insisted on getting one.

She ultimately prevailed, and even posted a sign above the dishwasher that said: “This is an equal opportunity kitchen.”

Deborah Viets, Toronto

There’s something liberating about an occasion like Halloween that encourages children to take candy from strangers, as has been noted. But there’s something strange about taking candy from an armed soldier.

That was the prospect I faced as a 10-year-old living in Ottawa’s Rockcliffe Park during the fall of 1970. The October Crisis had reached its height. In response to the FLQ kidnappings of British trade commissioner James Cross and Quebec labour minister Pierre Laporte, who was ultimately murdered, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau had imposed the controversial War Measures Act and dispatched soldiers to guard the many diplomats, cabinet ministers and other notables with homes in our area. I had gleaned this much from my parents’ discussions of the newspaper headlines.

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