WHERE THE OPINION MAKERS GATHER

You will find them gathered in little huddles at coffee shops, A&Ws and McDonalds throughout the city. They arrive early for the best seats and wait for the Telegram to be delivered.  These are the retired guys and they are a fun and insightful bunch of people to listen to.

This morning Conor and I popped down to our local McDonalds for pancakes for breakfast at 6:30. They had already gathered. The talk was all about Puffins, "Dannys huffing about our puffin" one said. They all laughed. I thought great, this puffin thing may have taken ABC completely over the top.  The election talk continued and one fella suggested that Elizabeth May was going to be a part of Dion's minority government cabinet. "Watch and see, you heard it here first boys." and the taunting continued.

Than the papers arrived. Like a bunch of school children craving a snack they devoured the half dozen copies and started reading in unison. The headline mirrored an earlier comment "Puffin and Huffing..sure that's my idea. Copyright infringement", says one.  They read the stories and one says "Jesus look Craig Dobbin's book is out this morning, I worker with him once you know, fine fella." and they all flick over to page A-6 to read the paper.

Than someone spies a story about the ongoing gynecological oncologists issue "That's all about money. Der not going anywhere boys. If I was Danny Williams I would fire the works of them. Up and fire them. It is all about money. Greedy monsters.", says one.

I felt kind of envious. A group of people to have a morning coffee with, share the news and discuss the days news. The pulse of the day and it is not even 7 am. How I wish I had stayed with journalism.