BOUQUET To walkers and cyclists who wear bright-coloured clothing while navigating rural roads with no sidewalks. To those out exercising in dark clothing, please know that you blend in with the scenery and are very difficult to see on these dark, dreary days of winter. Be seen, stay safe.
BEEF Went to the thrift store, gathered up a number of clothes to try on and discovered they no longer have change rooms. Why would a store that sells clothes not have at least one changing room? Asked if I could buy the clothes and return the ones that didn’t fit. Nope. I was a long-time customer, not now.
BOUQUET To McLean’s Specialty Foods for the wonderful haggis towers. We have been to the royal mile in Edinburgh and your towers taste much better.
BEEF To meat departments hiding too-old meat in the middle of packages of ground beef. When does the customer find it? When we’re about to cook dinner. Unfair, unsafe, underhanded.
BOUQUET To the kind woman in the Thrifty’s at Longwood Station who offered a random act of kindness and paid for my groceries. I plan on paying it forward this weekend on my grocery run. In her words, we need to take care of each other. Thanks so much.
BEEF To our B.C. addictions minister. You say these unnatural high drugs are OK, yet the government defunds music in schools which is a natural human high. This makes no sense. You get no flowers from me.
BOUQUET To Pat M. from the military museum. My grandson can’t wait to show his model plane for show-and-tell at school. You went far and beyond. Thank you very much; he won’t forget the experience he had.
BEEF To the B.C. government for its new policy of encouraging work from home for those already entitled and overpaid employees on the payroll. Good luck to we the public accessing the constantly diminishing services we are getting now.
BOUQUET To the young lady in the Commercial-Wharf street area who, with cellphone in hand, was walking straight for me. I said with a smile that I was thankful she wasn’t behind the wheel, and her apology was genuine and welcomed. Please use cellphones only when totally safe to do so.
BEEF To the constant freeloaders. You get free food, free housing, free healthcare and soon to be free drugs. The least you can do is not rob, steal and assault the hands of the taxpayer that feeds you.
BOUQUET To the Nanaimo Christian School junior boys’ basketball team. They were slated to be the eighth seed. They gave up their position to allow Cedar Secondary to play. These players and coaches are what sportsmanship is all about. Kudos to the team for doing what many others wouldn’t.
BEEF To the driver of the Hummer that backed into my new car in the shopping plaza in north Nanaimo. You could have at least stopped and left a note or checked to see what damage you did to my vehicle. You should be ashamed of yourself. Thanks to Caesar, who witnessed you hitting my vehicle and captured a picture of your vehicle and licence plate.
BOUQUET Shout out to the Seahawks football fans from Nanaimo who braved travel on the holiday weekend and joined Seattleites in a sea of blue and green. Your energy and spirit equalled the locals’ effort and impressed us with your knowledge and love for the game. Will save you some seats for the coming season.
BEEF We need more family doctors in Nanaimo, now. And more walk-in clinics.
BOUQUET To the Nanaimo Squash Club for hosting its annual tournament. It was such a great time meeting players from all over the province for a little friendly competition and camaraderie. Special thanks to Alastair and all the volunteers for their hard work and good cheer. Already looking forward to next year’s tourney.
BEEF A criminal who was cornered was then brought to the Nanaimo RCMP detachment where he was held overnight. Yet another example of the Liberal government’s catch-and-release policy, protected by the NDP. We are fed up with this. It has to change, and we all know how to do that. When is the next election?
BOUQUET To Margarita and Justin who generously delivered a free chaise longue that turned out to be too big for my vehicle. What might have seemed like a simple act of kindness for them, means that I now have seating in my home. I am on a restricted budget and have been trying for months to get something I could afford, nevermind the additional cost of having it delivered. Sincerely grateful and so happy with my new chaise longue.
BEEF To Nanaimo’s bylaw officers who do nothing about the plaza on Metral Drive that continuously wakes up residents in the middle of the night. Do your job.
BOUQUET To the woman who retrieved my purse from a shopping cart and turned it in, everything intact, to the grocery store. Because I have been unable to reward you I will donate to a local charity. Thank you.
BEEF To the freedom fighters or whatever they call themselves now for displaying the Canadian flag upside-down. I thought this was a sign of treason, punishable by prison or death. If you don’t like Canada, get out.
BOUQUET To Superette Foods. Years of going there for good, affordable groceries. Dependable place, dependable people. Thank you.
BEEF No greater proof of trucks being an unsafe size than bylaw not seeing, running over, and then getting stuck on a parking barricade. Get a safer, practical-sized truck.
BOUQUET To Lynn at New Balance Shoes. Your time and patience helping me find exactly the most comfortable and manageable runners for my poor old swollen feet, with my good friend Mellissa assisting, are so much appreciated I have no way to really say thank you to you both.
BEEF To the drivers on Williamson Road pulling into people’s driveway to try to chase deer. I got a picture of your vehicle and yelled at you to get out of my neighbour’s driveway. Then after that you sped back and forth up and down the street.
BOUQUET To the beefer about the lack of a program to neuter and spay your pets. Last November this young, beautiful male cat decided to adopt me as his forever mom. Now what? I guess I should start saying our goodbyes? Because of no fault of his, or mine, he is destined to a short life. This makes me angry and very sad. Goodbye my Charlie, it’s been a joy to love you, as short as it may be.
BEEF To the government bodies allowing my natural gas use of $24 to become an $82 bill after taxes and fees added. Really? Over 200 per cent added in fees and tax? Unbelievable.
BOUQUET To Vicky of the Nanaimo Minor Hockey Association. Vicky manages the office, staff and a ton of volunteers with patience, honesty and kindness. Reminders, schedules, events, she does it all. Thank you. You make our volunteer jobs easier.
BEEF To the politicians and others (unions) responsible for squandering the funding to build the Nanaimo Parkway. Traffic lights were put in to cut costs and people died. Now a study says interchanges are highly recommended. Who’d a thunk?
BOUQUET Homeschooling is a good decision. No pressure, no agenda, good education, happier kids. Period.
BEEF To governments at all levels. You are now using our hard-earned tax dollars to pay public servants the same wage to work from home. If indeed that’s possible, can we not contract these jobs overseas for a much better value?
BOUQUET To raisins. Oatmeal raisin cookies, butter tarts, and scones – where would they be without succulent raisins?
BEEF To our tax-and-spend city governance. A recent job posting offers $40 per hour for a recreation coordinator for special events, for ‘liaising with community organizations.’ Is there no one currently on city payroll who can do this without burdening suffering taxpayers further? Time for a reality check at city hall.
BOUQUET Thank you to the kind person who returned my lost wallet at Superstore.
BEEF To the fans of today’s music. The relentless pursuit of technical perfection is all that you have left to savour, because most of the melodies that you think are great will be long forgotten by all of you, while the music of the Baby Boomers and older generations will long be remembered as enduring standards that will last through the passage of time.
BOUQUET To whoever braided and corn-rowed the shoplifter’s hair. Nicely done and a fine attention to detail.
BEEF I have yet to see a bike using the bike lanes on Metal Drive. After all the millions to create this mess, I would like someone to tell me what time I would have to be there to see a bike use these.
BOUQUET To the lovely lady who paid for my parking at Millstone Medical Building. I only had Samsung Pay on my phone. I paid it forward to another person. Thanks again. Your kindness really made my day.
To submit a beef or a bouquet to the Nanaimo News Bulletin, e-mail editor@nanaimobulletin.com.
