Social Night Part Two

A vicious winter wind chased Linda and I from the car to the warmth of the Olde Stone Cottage Pub, where five members of the Green Party were already at our table and deep into quiet conversation. Lawson Hunter, President of the GPO hadn't arrived yet, but a U of T student journalist was busy interviewing Glenn Kitchen about Party policy for an article to be published in the Scarborough East Observer.

Various GPO members described some of the activities we've been involved with and the issues we were addressing right here in Scarborough Guildwood, including the Woodgreen Ravine, our support of the Zenn electric car, Greg's support for an Ontario wide cosmetic pesticide ban and Linda's campaign against plastic bags. I talked about climate change and global warming.

As the reporter hurried off to write her story Linda the teacher and Stefan the GPO candidate from Scarborough Southwest, a fellow teacher, talked about the heritage gardens both had helped plant at their respective schools. Greg and fellow IT enthusiast Ralph, from Markham, examined the new mini Linux laptop he had purchased. The fully loaded little computer was no more than the size of a trade paperback and cost only $400.

Wendy, the literary agent, talked about her interest in horror stories and the discussion turned to Stephan King and scary novels in general. Stefan and Linda were now discussing the medicinal properties of what are generally considered weeds. Charles the lawyer talked about wills and powers of attorney while Don and I tried talking to each other down the length of the table about the Toronto Regional Meeting he had passed up in order to join us for the night.

Glenn and Stefan were delighted the Provincial refund of their election deposit had arrived. By now Ralph had brought out his flexible key board and had attached it to Greg's Linux. They were also talking about the dangers of shipping old computers to 3rd world countries where they were disassembled or trashed without adequate safety precautions.

The reporter returned to take a photo of the group and we all began to wonder what had happened to Lawson Hunter who was to have been our special guest. Michael talked about the Pub and wondered if the location had been clear enough.

Through it all our tireless waiter kept drinks and food flowing to the dozen people now out for the evening and before anyone knew it, it was already 10:30 and, with work looming the next day, the first people started leaving.

Wendy and I discussed plans for a quarterly newsletter and she promised to send ideas for some designs. The wind wasn't quite so vicious by the time we left and the evening seemed a little warmer.