a few predictions.

Like most people who
make predictions, my track
record is spotty.

I have anticipated revo-
lutions that never happen-
ed and scorned the possi-
bility of others that did. I
have been known to
‘mistake freakish coin-
cidences for harbingers of
change, and have frequent-
ly walked right past entire
megatrends without notic-
ing.

Keeping that in mind, I
find, looking around, that
the. most obvious thing
about the fate of the planet
f at the moment is that we
are still here — and,
moreover, I sense a mood

feeling.
“In some ways, it is nearly
impossible. nowadays to
| predict the present, never

simple reason that it is im-
possible to tell what is real-
ly going on ia the world
| around: us. It is. just too
h' much to keep up with. --

I know, I keep hundreds
‘of files‘on subjects ranging
‘from ‘abortion: to water:
P Any. newspaper or maga-
‘zine left more-than a.cou-

vhowse. is ‘quickly
ipockmarked with -holes
; where . stories have been
. clipped. out and stuck into
: files. :

|. pussyfooting. My- sense of
‘the new year is. based on

| AFTER A WEEK of dipping my toes in the
waters of 1986, I feel confident enough to make

of optimism, the tikes of |
which I can’t remember.

mind the future, for the |

“ple” of “days around my_

But “eh o-w geh:

ithe feeling that Tast “year. |

: wee CAR
Bmw :

‘MAN BMW |
TRAINED.

was a watershed, and now
we are moving into a new
era. Yes, another one!
Consider some of the
things that didn’t happen
last year. There wasn't a
nuclear war, for instance.
If you recall, this time last
year, the Americans had
just slotted their Pershing
missiles into position in
Europe and the Russians
were talking about sending

their nuclear submarines in_

closer to North American
shores, the quicker to
strike back. ;

This year? It's like the
duelists, instead of wheel-
ing and firing on the count
of 10, had simply faced
each other and lowered
their guns, however slight-
ly. Weill, by God, three
cheers!

Another major possible
blip on the event horizon at
this time last year was the .
long-smouldering crisis of ©
the Third World debt.
With the global deficit .

_ Swelling to nearly $1

trillion, there were more
than a few overexposed
bankers with nervous tics.
“Yet “—» praise where
praise is due — the bank- .
ing “system held. Fidel
Castro‘led a drive to get
Latin ‘American governm-

- sents to default on their in-
‘yerest: payments, an action
., Which could have had: the

effect -of dragging the

* Western banks down with
them’ in .a. debacle that

would make the collapse of

1929 look like a recession. "©

(| 985-9344

THE ULTIMATE DRIVING MACHINE &

BMW. MUNICH GERMANY

Park Shore Motors Ltd.

108 Bowser Ave.
North Vancouver

Bob Hunter

© strictly personal ®

‘some kind of sea of

. protests
. EEC and NATO have both

985-9344 J

But the Cuban push sput- }
tered out.

The small banking }
failures and mergers in
Canada were scarcely a
drop in the bucket, even
domestically. The big
banking crunch that seem-
ed to be coming last year
hasn't melted entirely from
the realm of possibility,
but it HAS settled down,
like a cooling lava bowl. -

The economic indicators
mostly seein to point to

The Mulroney
government IS creating
some jobs. Pat Carney
HAS got the oil patch
bubbling again. The Cana-
dian economy is looking

change.

not bad, with inflation
down and the growth rate
up.

The OPEC oil cartel has
effectively . fallen apart
after more than a decade
of pillaging the in- §
dustrialized world’s
treasury. Argentina has
performed political. and
economic miracles. Japan
appears to be backing away
from whaling, a victory for
ecology stability. There
were actually anti-nuclear
in China, The

expanded. .The GATT talks
show promise. Stuff’ like
that.

I think it’s going to be a
“eureka’’ year, yet in some.
ways an odd replay of the
Eisenhower Era as Mr.
Reagan winds up his act.
and Mr. Mulroney tries to
get his together. Us? Well,
we'll have ringside seats at
Expo, won’t we? It’s going
to be a good one! Enjoy!

| ‘sprint <2 wd

AN after-hours visit to a
North Vancouver grocery
store has resulted in a jail
term for a 19-year-old man.

Michael James Prentiss
appeared before North Van-

' We've e marked down everything! Our already low sale prices
to.our newest stock. Shop early for best selection it in fashion
savings.

Next to the. ‘Seabus

5 months for B & —©

* break-in at the Edgemont

NOW OPEN!

North Vancouver's newest meeting place.
Great food, great prices, great music,
great fun. Burgers from $2.50°

At the Lonsdale Quay, North V Vancouver -

couver provincial court
Judge J.D. Layton on Fri-
day, charged with one count
of break and enter in con-
nection with a Nov. 30

Village Stong’ 's market.

Judge Layton found ‘the
North Vancouver man guilty
on the charge and sentenced
him to five months in jail.

Has
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