Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:   
      
   JB>  Would you believe I will copy this to paper with a pen,   
      
   AH>  Yes, I would.  IIRC I copied it to paper before posting   
   AH>  it here.  I'd probably have used a pencil, though...   
      
   JB>  Didn't feel the need to lift my carcass to fetch a pencil.   
      
      
             Okay.  I keep some of each in a coffee mug next to my monitor.  Old   
   schoolteachers never die, they just lose their class....  :-)))   
      
      
      
   AH>  Nice to see you back!  So... what else have you been up   
   AH>  to?  :-)   
      
   JB>  As you might have imagined, I let the evil internet into   
   JB>  my house and spend more time fixing their flaky service -   
   JB>  it seems - than utilizing it effectively.   
      
      
             Ah, well... glad you're not one of those who get such a kick out of   
   Surfing the Web that they scorn the base degrees by which they did ascend!  I   
   find the Internet quite helpful when (e.g.) Nora wants to know the meaning of   
   some obscure word my usual sources don't list & the public library is closed.   
   But Fidonet will probably always have its own special place in my heart.  :-)   
      
      
      
   JB>  Besides that, still perplexed by the grouchy neighbour   
   JB>  that has yet to sell his house and trying to keep ahead   
   JB>  of his flailing complaints to the city. (The city has had   
   JB>  enough of him too. =B-)   
      
      
             Hmm.  I reckon this guy is hoping that if you & others clean up the   
   neighbourhood his house might "sell" more easily.  Awhile back we had similar   
   problems with a recently widowed neighbour.  Once she had thrown out a lot of   
   stuff & cut down the trees which shaded our windows during the heat of summer   
   she began complaining to the city about what other people were doing.  One of   
   the items she complained about was the winter rye grass which had seeded over   
   from her yard to ours a few years earlier... after her husband planted it.  I   
   didn't mind because I knew its benefits & because as a member of the Sandwich   
   Generation I had little time for gardening.  Did she proffer aid when we were   
   overwhelmed & she was struggling to survive the empty hours??  Of course not!   
   The inspector did her duty, but I think she had this person's number....  ;-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)