Spring nears, but with snow on the ground and below-zero temperatures, the only thing growing at our house is my collection of auction posters.
Auction sales are one of my passions, born and nurtured in the Ottawa Valley and honed in rural Saskatchewan.
It’s not just the buying, it’s the thrill of the chase for some dearly wanted object listed, the thrill of the unknown, for you never know ahead of time what will be found under that heading of “too many other items to be listed,” and the thrill of being the buyer of the green ink well that no one else noticed, or the perfect turkey platter for just $1.
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Yes, there are still bargains to be found.
Why, just last week I went to a sale and came home with two hair dryers for $1.
This particular auction was a little different than your standard farm auction. It was put on by our health district and the goods offered were all taken from area facilities, some of which have been closed, others converted.
One item in the sale was the board table from our long-term care home. The home still functions, but I guess the powers that be thought there would be no more meetings, the board having been long disbanded.
The rowing machine that used to be in our long-term care home was sold too. Now that the home only accepts the more frail patients, I guess they had no use for that either.
Or for the chair, still with the plaque on it, that the lodge auxiliary bought for patients back in 1970. It looked like a good chair to me, but I guess they had too many or maybe it’s an old style. Still, I wish someone had thought to take the plaque off.
Just days before the auction, it was announced that former health minister Louise Simard would become head of the organization that binds together the district health boards in our province.
The announcement probably wouldn’t have made the headlines it did in the normal course of events, but Simard was the minister who closed 52 rural hospitals in the early ’90s to usher in the era of health reform in this cradle of Medicare.
As a health critic in her opposition days, she was relentless and people are wondering which hat she will wear now. Will she dare to call her former colleagues to task if she doesn’t like what they are doing?
Simard is a canny politician and an intelligent lady. I don’t like what she started but I admire her courage for doing it. I have no doubt she will stand up to her former colleagues if and when she has to.
Given Simard’s background, this may not be the smartest of appointments, but it is one of the most interesting.
