BECAUSE I’m a stereotypically-undervalued arts and culture worker, I don’t have a whole lot of disposable cash to spread around, all carelessly and willy-nilly and stuff.

So when I do spend my hard-earned pay, I like to do it at companies that I feel have somehow earned, or at least in some way deserve, my business.

I GUESS if I had a nice, cushy, well-paying job, and it were up to me to decide whether to eliminate it, I probably wouldn’t choose to do so, either.

It sort of goes without saying, doesn’t it? Even if, by eliminating my own job, I were serving the larger interests of the organization that employed me, it still wouldn’t seem like a very palatable option.

WELL, IT SEEMS I was right. I’m not the only person frustrated and frightened by what’s happening on Portland Street.

Given the deluge of responses I received in reaction to my July 12 column on the traffic situation there — the chaos and congestion that too often occur where it intersects the Circumferential Highway, Baker Drive and Eisener Boulevard — I now know I’m not alone.

Some owners of heritage homes in Dartmouth will let members of the public have a peek inside their homes next month.

The Dartmouth Heritage Museum has organized a tour of heritage homes on Saturday, Sept. 25 and Sunday, Sept. 26, from noon to 5 p.m.

EVERY SEPTEMBER, there is a virtual media bombardment of safety information concerning children, playgrounds, streets and crosswalks.

Anybody who has anything to do with the welfare and well-being of children seems to want in on the annual autumn advice action. Anyone with safety advice to offer seems to feel that the beginning of the school year is a logical time to offer it; an appropriate time to repeat what are, really, basic, logical and common-sense facts and rules.

IT IS the last two weeks of August. If I was to pick my preferred annual period of weather, it runs from mid-August until Thanksgiving.

The temperature dips a little lower at night. We don’t have air conditioning in our home so the sleeping is easier. The sun is magnificent as it reflects off the water and the steadily changing colours of the leaves.

PAUL ROY thinks it’s time to put Bedford back on the map.

He says municipal amalgamation has left many residents throughout Halifax Regional Municipality feeling disenfranchised and he wants to rebuild community pride in Bedford.