BOUQUET To the staff at Georgia Avenue school. You do so much every day for these kids and create such a supportive community. Thank you all for being so wonderful.
BEEF To the dog owners who robotically haul their sad little genetically modified dogs back and forth to the institution’s lawn twice a day. Pets and pet ownership are devastating to our environment. Caring for a medium-size dog, in one year, contributes as much damage as a mid- sized SUV. You and your pet, cute they may be, are unfortunately a blight on the planet.
BOUQUET To Geoff at Alpine Technical, a rock star. Not only does he have a great personality, he is always there to help when needed. Thank you.
BEEF To the irresponsible people who smoke in buildings that don’t allow it. Why put others at risk? Be smart, not selfish.
BOUQUET To Liam, the dedicated newspaper carrier who went above and beyond to assist a senior in need. When she was unable to reach her daughter, Liam took it upon himself to personally deliver her message. His act of kindness was done without any expectation or reward. Thank you for your selflessness and compassion.
BEEF To the City of Nanaimo for taking down me and my friend’s tree fort. What a waste of time, money and materials to take down a fort. We were just harmless teenagers having fun. There are so many more important things to put resources towards.
BOUQUET Nanaimo Auto Body is the very best body shop. They do fantastic work, go above and beyond the job and do not take advantage of the seniors in our community. A million kudos.
BEEF To the mall that allows a store to use a disability parking space closest to the entrance of the mall for a storage unit.
BOUQUET To all organizers and volunteers for the district elementary schools’ track and field meet. And to all the young athletes. What a great day at Rotary Bowl.
BEEF To the lack of highway and residential traffic enforcement. Today brought another crash on the parkway because the speed limit is not enforced except during an occasional blitz in the spring. Locals and trucks are always 20 kilometres per hour over the minimum and if you dare drive only 5km/h over, someone will tailgate and flash high beams.
BOUQUET To Ecoline Windows and Doors. Superb job replacing old, sweaty aluminum windows, original at 33 years old. The new ones are spectacular. I highly recommend Ecoline.
BEEF Why is it people with special needs must pay doctors over $200 to get a form signed for their disability tax credit? This credit is there to assist in reducing their taxes, but some can barely afford living without finding this extra $200 to do so.
BOUQUET To Nick and Michael at Hartmann and Company for changing the foam in our chair. Their customer service is the best, as well as their furniture.
BEEF I get a laugh at some of the beefs. They are the dumbest beefs about little things. I am beginning to believe that some of the beefers would beef at the Last Supper because something is wrong.
BOUQUET To the News Bulletin and Canada’s freedom of the press.
BEEF To morning glory the plant. You are the bane of my existence. The other one is fine. By that I mean the muffins.
BOUQUET To my sister and brother-in-law for making our holiday to Nanaimo absolutely fantastic. They went all out to show us what a great place Nanaimo and the surrounding area is, there’s so much to do and so much beautiful nature to experience. We’ve returned to West Sussex, England, with so many happy memories.
BEEF To the construction company whose workers treated our streets like a circus. Shouting at pedestrians and reckless U-turns? Save the antics for elsewhere. We’re not amused.
BOUQUET To the kind lady at the NightOwls game who ran to the snack bar to help my son get a new hotdog after he dropped his. That was almost as great as coming back from eight runs to win.
BEEF To the store for not having more tables at the food court. And a bigger beef for only having one person doing returns, the line and wait time was long and seniors can’t stand that long.
BOUQUET I just adopted my second catnap baby through Bosley’s University Village. From talking with manager Lisa, then arranging to bring my girl home, absolutely love dealing with the staff. When I went to pick up my girl all the staff that were working came to say goodbye to her. What loving and caring staff.
BEEF I had to send a team member to the hospital for a concussion because they got hit in the back by the side mirror of a truck while walking to work. When will we finally decide enough is enough with these anti-community trucks?
BOUQUET To the lovely lady at Bodhi’s Artisan Bakery who paid for my coffee and pastry when credit cards weren’t accepted and I had no other method of payment. My report card comments were far more productive, thanks to you. I was thrilled to be your ‘cheap date’ that morning.
BEEF To the university for cancelling a music program that made it – and Nanaimo – known all over the world.
BOUQUET Many thanks to the staff at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital and in particular Pat, Anthony, Kristy, Dr. Quinn, Dr. Wu and Dr. Katsios, who did everything in their power to keep me alive so that I could return home to convalesce.
BEEF To the woman at the theatre. Her young daughter placed flashing-light rabbit ears on her head, extremely annoying to people behind. When an elderly man politely asked her to turn them off, she refused and sarcastically said, “isn’t it past your bedtime?” An usher told her to remove them and she did briefly before letting her put them back on.
BOUQUET To the lady working at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital’s medical imaging booking office. After dealing with a painful health issue, she was the first person who really tried to help me. Her kindness and help did not solve my health issue but her caring made me feel better. She is a real health-care angel.
BEEF To the thinly disguised advertisements for local businesses. The Beefs & Bouquets section is so great because it allows our citizenry to keep a pulse on the issues and pros and cons of living in our fair city. Please stop misusing this service for your personal ends, social media has you covered for that.
BOUQUET To my carrier Kush who is such a polite, friendly and conscientious newspaper carrier. You do a great job.
BEEF To the city for its traffic planning. Narrower roads, reduced parking, eliminating right-turn lanes, all creating congestion and frustration. Why are we not helping traffic flow rather than hindering it?
BOUQUET To the nice men who run the Nanaimo Fruit and Vegetable Co. I stopped there to buy produce (which was all delicious and reasonably priced) and my car battery died. Not only did they help me, the man who runs the place drove home to get jumper cables for me. Thank you so much. I’ll be doing all my produce shopping there this season.
BEEF To the white van dropping off garbage into our bins. Got your licence plate number. If I see you or anyone else I will turn you in.
BOUQUET To the chilled-out motorists on the road, I see you. I see you using the left lane of the highway as it was intended, I see you not taking a mistake made in traffic as a personal attack, and I see you not putting lives at risk to get somewhere 30 seconds faster. I see you, I appreciate you, I salute you.
BEEF To Nanaimo property owners who continue to clear lots of trees in order to squeeze in as many overpriced homes as possible that won’t sell anyways.
BOUQUET To the city worker who was cutting the roadside grass along Hammond Bay Road. He got his huge cutting blades in the tightest spots. Best job I’ve seen in 30-plus years of living here.
BEEF To the utility for its absurd charges. We used 2.9 gigajoules of gas in May-June for a cost of $6.47 to heat our water. The entire bill was for $56.17. That is $49.70 for basic charge, delivery, storage and transport, municipal operating fee, carbon tax, B.C. clean energy levy and GST.
BOUQUET To Craig the Magician. The best magician in Nanaimo. We always look forward to your shows. Thanks for entertaining us at several of the events here in Nanaimo including the night market. Always a treat.
BEEF From one landlord to another for the $200 rent increase with one week’s notice. You must give two clear months’ notice and the increase can’t exceed something like two per cent. You probably know that’s illegal but are counting on your tenants being ignorant of their rights. A bigger beef to the tenants for not taking responsibility to learn your rights, it’s easy to find if you check the residential tenancy website.
BOUQUET To the lady immediately in front of us in the long return line at Costco who suggested we put the not-so-light package we were carrying in her shopping cart. We chatted amiably until we reached the front of the line and then she suggested we go ahead of her to make our return.
BEEF To the person who thinks it’s cool to ride his motorcycle up Malaspina to Laguna up to the lookout. His exhaust is so loud and annoying to everyone who lives in the area.
BOUQUET To the businesses downtown, specifically around Commercial Street. Due to a family issue I have been spending a considerable amount of time there and I have to say, I love the vibe and the small businesses. My fave places are Guava Apparel, Lucid, Fascinating Rhythm, Funk Revival, Cayo Fashions, Input Cowork and Cold Front Gelato. I also have to give a shout out to the Hullo ferry. It’s super easy and convenient.
BEEF To the B.C. government handing out money to financially insecure families during an election year. Shameful behaviour at best. Last gasp?
BOUQUET To Chris for picking up the check for seven women celebrating a birthday at Cactus Club. You have no idea how this impacted all of us. Thank you.
To submit a beef or bouquet to the Nanaimo News Bulletin, e-mail editor@nanaimobulletin.com
