SMH in Steveston

Marine goods and Hardware

There wasn’t a time or season that was slow, the days were full of transactions between his customers, and the Merchant’s heart was brimming and happy. The streets, filled with noise and the shop floor covered in mud marked the end of another busy day at closing time. Fisherman and farmers came in quickly looking for marine goods and hardware to replace used or broken supplies they had used for as long as possible.

For the fisherman there was no reason to throw away a shackle, a main sail hook, snap hook or swivel bolt snap. Often they repaired everything before they would buy new. Farmers would come by to pick up pad eye’s with rings in order to tether their cattle into a cordoned off area there they would graze on the rich soil that was fed by the Mighty Fraser Rich with mineral rich clay and algae….

He sat down behind the counter remembering those days of long ago and with a deep breath he then picked up the phone to call his brother. He decided to go forward and set up a small booth at the Vancouver Boat Show and he wanted to present the plan to his family.

It was a long ways from here and would take 10-14 days to ship the goods north by horse and carriage. It would be costly, yet it seemed to him a investment for the future. Beginning something new was always hard but he knew if he worked with good intentions to grow the business and held a positive attitude that it would move him forward to where he wanted to be.

“To be In the running, in the race, to be a part of the game, in order to play; learn the rules and then make a start of it everyday….” uttered his Grandfather ….

erichharvey:

Winter - Milk Weed, Greely on Flickr.

breakingnews:

Sixteen-year-old Laura Dekker from the Netherlands sailed into St. Maarten harbor today, completing her yearlong solo journey around the globe aboard a ketch named “Guppy.” - AP

[Image: Laura Dekker poses on her sailboat in 2010. (Judy Fitzpatrick/AP)]

Africa internet use hits 2,000 per cent growth »

prepaidafrica:

Growth of Internet use in Africa has superseded global average in the last decade reaching 2,000 per cent compared to the global’s 480 per cent.

The significant growth is attributed to information technology (IT) developments in the continent in recent years including improved means of connectivity such as links with the global fibre-optic cables, declining prices of computers as well as increasing access to mobile phone Internet enabled handsets.

However, a report by a market research company, Frost &Sullivan, still shows that Internet penetration is still lower in the continent compared to the developed world.