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Glen Thomson's avatar

Your reflections here remind me of the title of that movie about C.S. Lewis called The Remains of the Day. And also, that a departure lounge doesn't at all have to be a prison of waiting.

The Vertical Dispatch's avatar

Not a prison of waiting at all, friend — and funny you'd say it, because I'm the opposite of waiting just now. I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date — and the date is a deadline. I'm publishing two dispatches this morning on the Canadian cell-phone and CRTC industry — what the tower in your pocket actually costs, and who's refereeing the whole thing. Give me about fifteen minutes and you can read them yourself.

(And I think the one you're reaching for is the C.S. Lewis film — Shadowlands. Remains of the Day is the other Hopkins ache. Same actor, same business of time slipping. Easy to fold them together — I nearly did.)

The Vertical Dispatch's avatar

The Tower Is Built

The geography was a capital cost. The capital is built, leased, and in orbit. The cost that remains does not scale with the size of Canada.

https://glenroberts911399.substack.com/p/the-tower-is-built?r=1pgr4n&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

Glen Thomson's avatar

Yes, Shadowlands. Funny how the memory can blend.

Glen Thomson's avatar

You definitely tapped into a rich vein here: "Life is like a box of chocolates. The phone gave you the picture on the lid and called it the contents."

Bruce Deacon's avatar

Glen, I hope you’ll be sitting in the Departure Lounge for a good long time to come yet.

I will turn 79 in a few days and your essay has expressed very accurately everything I have come to think and feel over the course of my life. Many thanks.

My grandmother used to say, “onward, ever onward” when things became more challenging. Someone misheard that as “onward, Edward, onward” so I will leave it with you to choose which one you prefer. But onward we go.

The Vertical Dispatch's avatar

onward, Edward, onward. i will remember that, are you glad you seer it into my head lol