~ ANNE! ~

Rocky Mountain House is the place to be
If you like real Western hospitality
And you can't beat us for scenery
(bet ev'rybody's wishin' for our huntin' and our fishin'!)
We're PROUD of our mountains high and royal!
And we're PROUD of our basement full of oil!
So come and visit us...
You'll want to live with us...
You'll be glad you made your home on Rocky soil!

That's right, that's the Rocky Mountain House theme song. I'm serious! And no, I didn't make it up... it was written by some guy called Bruce Haack way back in the day. (I just looked it up - it's copyright 1962, and the directions say the song is to be sung "with frontier spirit"!) As for the tune, think of sort of a rousing 1960's march, like you'd see in Music Man or something. Sadly, I didn't have to look the lyrics up, as I already have them memorized.

I've spent the last few days doing Rocky-Mtn-House-type things... went for a walk to see and criticize the new school, rummaged through the goods at the Next To New, and went to the auction. I see things have been changing in this town (that never impresses anyone in Rocky much unless they directly had something to do with it.) The new school, for one thing. I think it's very ugly, though my mother likes it. It's sort of pink and looks like they just shoved about ten different buildings together - bits sticking out everywhere, no unified lines. Why does nobody ever build NICE-looking buildings in this country? (Also, they're changing the name from Will Sinclair High to West Central High... how boring! Betcha ol' Will Sinclair's relatives aren't too impressed.) Anyway... the other new store of note is what I believe to be Rocky's first ever sex toys shop! I was amused. Wonder how well that will do.

The auction today was really fun. I've only been to a few auctions out there, but Cole's Auction Mart is one of the town's foundations, and they're closing down - so I thought I'd go pay my respects. Also, they were serving free beef on a bun! Can't argue with free food. I went out there with Charlie, the only friend I have left in this town anymore. We had a good couple of hours listening to the auctioneers, examining the merchandise and getting jostled by old farmers and their wives. It was entertaining. I couldn't buy anything, of course, but Charlie had her covetous little heart set on a matching couch-and-loveseat set that was in pretty good shape.

This was the start of a fierce battle, as her step-sister's grandma said she was bidding on the same couch. Apparently, they'd had a pitched battle over a sectional sofa the previous week, and Charlie was seeing red. Tried to talk the old woman out of it: no luck. So Charlie set her jaw and waited until they brought the set up for bid. I left before they bid for that lot, but just beforehand it turned out that the old bird was confused, and was actually after a completely different couch. I was amused, as for a moment there it had looked like a fist-fight was about to break out!

I also ran into Mr. Colin Manuel, possibly the best teacher I ever had in high school (despite being deaf as a post). He had a scope and vision that most of the other teachers lacked - it seemed like most of them were just trying exhaustedly to stuff what knowledge they could into our heads before the provincial exams. Not Mr. Manuel, who grew up in Kenya before ending up in Rocky raising pigs. He made us do essay questions to work on our lateral thinking and told us hair-raising stories about Mau-Maus. If he thought you had a brain, he always pushed a lot harder. I learned a lot from that guy, though it was more in the form of an attitude towards life and a belief in my potential than any lasting knowledge of the First World War!

Tomorrow it's off to British Columbia to take my brother back to school. I'm looking forward to the road trip, even though I know travelling with Dad and Will can be exasperating (to say the least). Be nice to get into those mountains, though!