I was recently re-acquainted with an old friend.
It all started in November 1986 when I began work at The Western Producer.
To say that the folks who had hired me were unprepared for my arrival would be an understatement. There was no desk, working phone or video display terminal (yes, that’s how far back we’re going here).
To make things worse, I showed up on a production day, and my immediate supervisor was too busy to have much to do with me. As a result, I got stuck in a corner with a stack of policy manuals and advised to keep out of everyone’s way.
Read Also
Agriculture needs to prepare for government spending cuts
As government makes necessary cuts to spending, what can be reduced or restructured in the budgets for agriculture?
The situation improved, of course, and I had more than 34 fruitful years at the paper, but there’s no denying that I didn’t hit the ground running.
One of the absolutely-must-have items in any self-respecting newsman’s toolbox is a dictionary, and yes, you guessed it, they didn’t have one of those for me either.
The managing editor rooted around the office for a while and eventually decided to give me the newsroom librarian’s dictionary. I believe the idea was for me to get my own copy and the librarian could then get her dictionary back.
But that never happened, and all those years later, my work dictionary still has “Library Copy” neatly labelled on the inside front cover and two “Western Producer, Library, Saskatoon, Sask.” stamps firmly imprinted on the first few pages. If this was to ensure no one walked off with her dictionary, it didn’t work.
The dictionary itself is a Funk and Wagnalls Standard College Dictionary, Canadian Edition, printed in 1980.
It has served me well, but while I have grown attached to it, I have had to face the fact that it’s getting a bit long in the tooth.
A list of U.S. presidents at the back of the book ends with Jimmy Carter.
These days I use online dictionaries for more modern words but still like to have the old standby close to hand.
Except for the last nine months, that is.
My COVID move in March to a home office was a rather hasty affair, and I left a lot of my essential journalism tools back in our brick and mortar place. I kept thinking this would be a temporary arrangement, but it wasn’t.
So recently I had a bunch of supplies shipped home, including my old dictionary.
Hello, old friend.
