Cold Weather Makes Writing So Much Fun

Well, I'm not sure if it is actually "fun" to write these days, but I do enjoy doing it.

The day that I started writing this particular Website article was Friday. And what a lovely "fun" day it was. It started snowing very early in the morning.  I began writing this story at around 10:30 AM on Friday morning and it was still snowing very hard at that time. In fact, I just received an email sent from our snow cleaning company about how difficult clearing all the snow would be if we received a huge amount of it and asking us to give them enough time to do so properly. Of course, my wife and I are going to do that considering all the great work that they have done for us to date.

Generally, since living in this part of the Province, I don't remember any monstrous snowstorms hitting this area. Oh sure, we have had some large snowstorms fall in a wintertime, but the amount of snow falling seemed to be manageable in a reasonable time in just about every case.  This time, the prediction that I saw was "15 to 20 cm is expected" on Friday. Moreover, on Saturday we might get another 2-4 cm of snow and on Sunday an additional 5 cm. That could well be why our snow cleaners sent their note explaining the time needed.

We took some time to prepare ourselves for the snow fall. One of the concerns obviously was to make sure that we had enough food in the house even after the snow fell. Naturally, we thought that we would be smart and shop early at the Real Canadian Superstore on Dougall Avenue, our favourite place to buy our groceries.  Sure, it is a bit of a drive from where we are living now, but, as far as I am concerned, it is our best shopping location in this entire area even considering all of the other company operations around here.

Normally, when we go there usually early on a Saturday morning, it is not all that busy. However, on this day that we went there, Thursday at around 11AM, the parking lot was jammed and the number of people inside grocery shopping was unbelievably large. It was probably the most number of people that we had ever seen in the store. Ever. 

I was really shocked by that. Obviously, lots of people had read about what was going to happen and were taking the same steps as my family to make sure they had enough food in their homes. In fact, the demand was so high that I heard that the management of the store was bringing in a lot more people who were not normally scheduled for that day to come in to help handle all of the unexpected, but very heavy business. 

Anyway, we did all of our shopping and returned home easily considering that Thursday was a nice day.  Quite a bit of snow has fallen so far…it is now late in the afternoon… and I figure I should do a bit of writing. So here are some more stories about which I want to give you my opinion.

SHE'S RUNNING FOR  PC LEADERSHIP

Here is a nice ad I just saw for Caroline Mulroney on Facebook.

Will she be elected as party leader for the Ontario PCs?  We shall see!  

It will also be interesting how her father will appear during the election campaign if she makes it ---if he will at all.  Will he be a great reason for her to be elected as Party leader and then as Premier...or NOT?

DOES OUR NDP MP HAVE TO SUPPORT THE AMBASSADOR BRIDGE COMPANY

Unfortunately for him, as time goes on, and as things change, he may well have to support them because who else would there be to build a new bridge around here?

Oh, I know that there are several candidates who are supposed to be building the new bridge, assuming that they can afford a $10 billion one, but here is an issue already.

I saw this article: "Windsor-West MP Worried China Could Be Part Of The Howe Bridge Project" (Peter Langille, IHEARTRADIO.CA, February 7, 2018) 

"Windsor West MP Brian Masse says there is currently a review taking place of a Chinese government owned firm, attempting to buy a major construction company.

China Communications Construction Company is attempting a $1.5-billion purchase of Aecon.

Aecon is one of the key firms in the "Bridging North America" consortium…

"The reality here is that the new border crossing is going to be done by a P-3 proponent in the private sector" says Masse "and is now opened up for other governments including the Chinese to actually have a stake in our actual physical infrastructure"

What will Canada have to do now if the Chinese company wins? Will there be any worries? Will the  purchase be prevented? One can tell that Mr. Masse is not too happy about all of this yet does seem worried about giving the right response to what may take place.  

The answer is really quite simple. Why doesn't the Ambassador Bridge Company just be given now the only right to build an additional bridge crossing here. Ultimately, isn't that what is going to happen!

HOW MUCH RETIREMENT MONEY DO YOU NEED

Here is a story that you ought to read ASAP if  you want to plan for your retirement and especially if you will be retiring soon:

"Three quarters of a million dollars is the magic number Canadians think they will need to save for retirement, according to a CIBC survey being released today.

Well, $756,000 to be precise.

But while that is the average amount individual Canadians believe they’ll need to amass, up to 90 per cent don’t have a formal plan on how to get there. A majority (53 per cent) aren’t sure whether they’re saving enough, but 37 per cent haven’t even thought about retirement, or if they have say they just can’t save.

And it’s worse for women: only 22 per cent have a formal retirement plan or even a good idea of how much income they’ll need, versus 32 per cent of men. Even on the cusp of retirement, by age 55, 43 per cent of women and 27 per cent of men lack a plan. (Jonathan Chevreau, Windsor Star, February 8, 2018) 

The article goes through a number of comments about which I believe that you should read including comments about the amount mentioned. What is terrible is the percentage of people who have not done very much about putting together the right amount of money required for themselves. How these people can live well once retired is beyond me.

I am not going to go through a detailed discussion about this article. Rather, I want you to think about your retirement and what you think that you might need from a financial perspective. It would be worth your while to take a look at what was written here so that you will understand what must be done.

WHAT A DAY

I spent lots of time between the start of writing this article and completing the end of it later on Friday as well.  

I had a rather difficult situation that took up a good part of my time today with one of my product suppliers with whom I debated the return of some of its product that I purchased that had problems in them as far as I was concerned.  Accordingly, I spent time dealing with that Company over the telephone and online rather than completing this material as quickly as I expected to do so.

Fortunately, I was able finally to resolve our differences and get a new product sent to me and I am just about to finish this Website article now.  I intend to post it on Saturday.

That is a nice ending to my day and I will be able to start some more writing in the next appropriate time frame.  

Thanks for visiting with me!