Sam and Matt and hilarity

Matt came back from the mailbox and said, "um, Mom, one of the letters went into the mailbox rather unwillingly. So I'm not sure if it will get to its destination. I hope that is OK." Kate & I cracked up laughing. Upon further questioning we found out that the mailbox was full and Matt had shoved it in the top but it got stuck. I explained that from my days working for Canada Post (my Grandma was a postmaster), I knew that the postal workers would always check to make sure there were not any letters stuck up there.

Today Matt walked up to the local Royal Bank to trade rolled coins for bills. Now picture this - I think Matt's head would have barely reached over the top of the teller counter. The teller asked if he was a member of the bank. Matt said, "no, I'm not." She said, "then there is a $3 charge for exchanging rolled coins." Matt said, "Oh I didn't know that." Fortunately a supervisor came by, asked what the trouble was and told the teller to waive the fee. That teller is very lucky. It was only $14 in coins and if they had charged him $3 she would have gotten the full anger of a mother bear. At supper we were re-telling this story and we started imagining what the media would do with such a story - everyone loves to hate banks and their fees. That supervisor was a very wise man.

We also went skating at the Oval today. Our Mayor Peter Kelley was there and asked me if I was having a good time. I told him the truth, "this is the best thing Halifax has ever done." Matt saw him while skating by himself and said, "Hey aren't you Peter Kelley? Where's your helmet." Peter laughed. Matt said, "are you going to prorogue me for a minute?" Peter pointed at his hand and said, "this is my prorogue button."

Matt's birthday is coming up and I asked him what he wants to eat. He said, "the usual. Curried chicken, greek salad and rice. But make it brown rice this time. My teacher says white rice doesn't have any nutrients." This same teacher, bless her, is responsible for Sarah being a vegetarian - which I don't mind except that whenever I serve beans Dan goes on a hunger strike. He has come very close to claiming eating beans is a form of child abuse. A vegetarian diet without beans, lentils and split peas? Tricky, very tricky.