John Hartig

Time in a Bottle Trilogy John Hartig

Book Three of Time in a Bottle Trilogy has a bit of a cynical subtitle: "The Golden Years Suck -- Fine if you are Healthy!" Vineland author, John Hartig, writes in his diary about how he and his wife, Marjorie, cope with getting older, and how they navigate through Ontario's Health Care system. John also describes his visits with Uncle Walter Janzen and his favourite Centenarian, Harry Rittenhouse, both ensconced in the United Mennonite Home in Vineland. From 2011, John casts his memory back to his school teaching days in Crooked Creek, Alberta, in the 1980s, and how singing along at nights with the records of Gerry Rafferty and Jim Croce kept him going in his job as a teacher. Phil Britton, the Math teacher, invited John back on wintery nights to his double-wide trailer to sing cowboy songs with his family. John jumps back and forth in time. He recalls his year in France at the University of Perpignan and how he and his wife, Marjorie, survived there, strangers in a strange land. He also describes his thoughts about politics, religion and science. Stephen Hawking is one of his heroes despite the fact that Faith in God was not a part of Hawking's life. John looks at his dependence upon a Faith in God as opposed to looking at God as a Delusion, proposed by Richard Dawkins. On a lighter side, John draws life lessons from his favourite black and white TV shows from the late 1950s and early 1960s: The Rifleman and Peter Gunn. John's favourite radio station is Classical 96.3 FM whose slogan is "Beautiful music for a crazy world." John wrote in Chapter 79 of Book Three: "Well, Kenny, I've had my say; I hope I've had my say for both you and me. There's got to be more to life than merely living!"