Winter squatters improved cabin

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/06/2017 (3065 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: We recently opened our remote cabin in northern Manitoba and discovered someone had been there before us. The place was spotless and the floors were washed and waxed — we were never that clean ourselves. Nobody else has keys. Who would come in and do that for us as a surprise?

Then, through various clues, we discovered someone had been living there, maybe for a few months. Our old sheets were replaced with newer ones, also white, but of a higher quality. An ugly stain on our living room rug had been lifted. The food cans left in the cupboard were replaced with the same foods, but different brands. We don’t know whether to be upset or happy for our good fortune.

They got in through a back window, which they broke and replaced with a new frame. We don’t know how long they stayed here, but they did no harm. My husband I have decided not to fuss about it. If our cabin gave someone shelter from the cold, it sure didn’t hurt us. Is there some old rule of the wilderness about shelter in a storm? Do any of your readers know it? — Anonymously Yours, Manitoba

Dear Anonymously Yours: I don’t know about here in Manitoba, but there have been such rules or understandings in other remote places in the world. Does anybody know about these rules (not laws) to do with shelters in the wilderness in Manitoba or the rest of Canada? One might call it squatting, but it seems more like guests came and went, and left the cabin better than when they arrived.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: Your advice to Scaredy-Cat was excellent. (That’s the young woman who is leaving her boyfriend and her home to move to university elsewhere and is scared stiff.) When I attended university away from home, I spent the first two years living off-campus in my own apartments (that was a big mistake). The second two years I spent in residence on campus and loved every minute of it. I met some of my lifelong friends during those years. That was more than 30 years ago, and though we are scattered all over the world, we still keep in touch and visit when we pass through each other’s locations. Scaredy-Cat will love dorm life and meet many of her life’s most important friends there! — Sold on Dorm Life, Winnipeg

Dear Sold on Dorm Life: As a young woman, I lived in three different dorms while going to university and mostly they were good experiences. They provided a group of friends quickly if you were outgoing enough and didn’t hide in your room. One of my best friends from that time is still very close to me, although she lives in Ontario. We disliked each other on sight when moving in, but after a half bottle of rum and some Rolling Stones on my record player, we became good friends. That very first night she came around the corner from the room next door with a bottle and two glasses. Her attitude was, “If we’re stuck on either side of this wall together, we might as well get to know each other.” We both turned out to be pranksters and got into all kinds of mischief at Mary Speechly Hall. We still phone and visit each other.

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: My new boyfriend has a strange-looking digit. It is crooked where it should be straight. I’m not referring to his penis, but to his second finger. It looks silly and I laughed at it when I first saw it. This was a bigger mistake than I ever thought possible. Now I notice he is cooling on me and hides his finger whenever he can. I think he is thinking to drop me. What can I do? — Big Mouth, Wolseley

Dear Big Mouth: The problem here is you don’t have enough currency in the romance bank to draw on the account. You hurt and embarrassed him right at the beginning of this flirtation and there are no other great memories to make it feel less important. Try opening the subject one more time and apologizing from your heart. It may make things better or it may just make him more embarrassed. How is he going to feel about running his crooked digit across your skin as you become more intimate? Mighty self-conscious. Ask him if the initial screw-up means he’s cooling on you and if you should just let this awkward romance go.

Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave.,Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6

Miss Lonelyhearts
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