A gift that keeps on giving: I immigrated to Canada in 1963 and my present for my first Christmas from my aunt, Winifred Perryman who was also living in Canada, was a subscription to the Guardian Weekly. At the time I was living in an Alcan company town in northern Quebec, Arvida, no longer to be found on a current map, and was in desperate need of international news in English. Our English media exposure was limited to a top 10 radio station out of New York, which we could pick up after dark.
My enthusiasm for the gift was so over-the-top that she has given me a subscription every year since. It now becomes due in May so we can calculate the number of issues I have missed from various strikes and other problems with the mail over the past 55 years. She too has subscribed all these years, so every time we talk on the phone or get together, an article we have both read invariably comes up in the conversation.
I read almost everything but first do the puzzles, Maslanka and the Quick crossword followed by the Discovery page. The environmental stories were useful when I was teaching environmental issues at Concordia University. I have always passed on my copy to either friends or family members. It would be interesting to know how many times each copy of the Guardian Weekly is read.
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