Jeers: to dubious tributes. After the death of beloved Canadian troubadour Gord Downie last week, some companies were quick to offer condolences in social media posts that skirted a little too close to blatant advertising for some people’s taste. As The Canadian Press reported, Hudson’s Bay Company tweeted a photo of a denim clothing display with the words “Here’s to the King of the Canadian Tuxedo. #RIPGordDownie.” Apparently the tweet was not well received and was removed within half an hour — but not before being captured by Toronto tabloid Twelve Thirty Six, which called out the company in a tweet of its own.
Jeers: to another blow for book lovers. Afterwords Bookstore on Duckworth Street in St. John’s closed its doors last week, posting a sign saying it was unable to make a go of it any longer. The bookstore was a landmark in the downtown, where you could mingle undisturbed for ages amid the pleasantly musty smell of literary classics, travelogues, books from Newfoundland and Labrador, dog-eared children’s favourites, sci-fi and fantasy. In a province has that taxed books, threatened to close libraries and has a low literacy rate, the closure of a used bookstore is a loss indeed.
Jeers: to being bitten by the travel bug. A woman from British Columbia was grossed out on a recent nine-hour flight to London when she discovered bedbugs had come along for the ride. When she arrived at her destination, Heather Szilagyi, her fiancé and her young daughter were covered in bites. But a professor of entomology at the University of British Columbia says there’s no need to panic, and that it’s not likely to become a common occurrence. “…Bedbugs don’t like a lot of disturbance or movement,” said Murray Isman. “They like it quiet, dark.” Well, we all know how rare it is to find “quiet, dark” conditions on a flight. Any flight.
