Super Paper Delivery

     Ron has delivered my daily paper for at least 10 years. I couldn't have had better delivery even if I delivered them myself. 

     Ron has some challenges in this life. Physically his walking is labored and his strength is limited. That doesn't stop Ron. 

     Ron has done 3 or 4 routes at a time. With his short slow steps this takes a long time. Rain or shine my paper is delivered. At times it's not delivered on time because he has so many papers to deliver.

     Over the years Ron has always used a shopping cart to haul his papers. Papers are very heavy . The shopping cart is very hard to push through snow and is awkward to maneuver around driveway approaches. Sometimes he puts maximum effort into pushing through snow. Sometimes people steal his shopping cart.

     When Ron first started delivering my house number was on my paper. Ron's wife would go through each route and write the house number on the paper. This way papers were delivered accurately . Now he remembers all places to deliver. You get notes everyday as to new drops , cancelled subscriptions or people being away.

      To add to Ron's challenge, he packs groceries at one of the grocery stores. That's how he gets the shopping cart.

      Now Ron has fun doing papers. He likes to dress up for special days. So for most of Dec. he wears a Santa Claus hat. Have any of your paper boys worn a Santa Claus hat? So St. Patrick's he finds a green hat. Sometimes it's a flamboyant scarf!

      Ron likes a visit and is always sharp with a kibitz. He tells me when the deer visit my house.

      A few years ago the paper went to a night or early morning delivery where the routes would be much longer and vehicles would be used. Delivery people would pick their papers up from a central point. Good bye Ron. Ron doesn't have a car. However , Ron protested and insisted he be given a route. Well, they couldn't deny Ron. He picks papers up about 1:00AM. He delivers to my house around 2:00Am. Now that's a challenge. He has a short sleep and then he's off to pack groceries.

     How do I know all this stuff about papers? I delivered papers for a couple of years in my retirement. It was a fun job...lots of good visits.

     So , for somebody with handicaps. Ron does a super job. If more people were as persistent as Ron they'd be better off.

Bring Me Back a Present

     When I taught middle school I had a newspaper unit for one of the grades. We looked at all the parts of a daily paper starting with the header and ending with classified ads. We looked at headlines, first sentence of a story, editorials ..absolutely everything. The assignment was to make a scrapbook with about 10 different examples from the paper. The assignment was easy but it made the kids look through a newspaper. I killed a few birds with this stone. It got the kids reading and had them look at writing for a purpose. We did the crossword as a class and generally rooted through the whole paper. For a fine finale we took a field trip through a daily paper and saw how the paper was produced from start to finish.

I think I might need some new glasses

   I hope that some people found newspapers. I know the odd one is working for a newspaper but not likely from my newspaper unit.

   When  someone would tell me they were being taken out of school for a trip, I would look them in the eye and say, "You have to bring a present back for me!" A nervous distraught look would come over their face which said, "Is this guy for real?" I would give them a few seconds to be uncomfortable. The odd one would say ,"No way." Others might say, "Well , what do you want." Usually I got them off the hook and said , "Bring me back a newspaper." A look of relief  flooded across  their face and they enthusiastically said , "Oh sure!" I told them they didn't have to actually buy a newspaper. Their would be newspapers that they could pick up.

    So when they came back with their newspaper , I would make a big deal over the paper and we would briefly go through the paper and pass it around. Later on when they were going away they would ask me if I wanted a paper. Then they would come and say , "My Dad's going to Russia. Do you want a paper?" Some time later they would proudly come in with a paper. 

   I made a lot of mileage out of this gag. Quite a pile of newspapers built up over the years. Sadly there wasn't a lot of storage space so I had to clean out the closet from time to time. When I retired I disposed of all the newspapers that were left. Many memories went with the newspapers I collected. 

    "Bring me back a present" was a lot of fun.