That word suggests a miscellany, a mixture of things. That is what this space is today. However, since a pot is a vessel and the French verb ‘pourrir’ means ‘to rot’, a potpourri could mean an unsavoury mess. But think positively. Occasionally there is reason to offer a mixed bag of observations none of which merits whole-column consideration.

• A recent notice from the local hydro-electric people announced that an “unavoidable interruption” would create a power outage “between the hours of 9:00 am and 12:00 pm”.

That would be for 15 hours. That notice meant to say we would be without electricity in our area from 9 until noon (12 m). Next time, how about “between 0900 and 1200 hrs”?

• By similar erroneous calculation there are those who tell us we have now entered the second decade of the 21st Century. We have not. The second decade begins when the 10 years of the first decade are over. That will be at 2400 hrs on 31 December next. Even otherwise dependable newspapers have been misleading us in that way.

• Another common mistake involves the use of the apostrophe. It is used either to show the omission of letters or to indicate possession, e.g. ‘I should’ve taken John’s advice’.

It should not be used to pluralize a word. A roadside postal box sign should read The Smiths, not The Smith’s. Why is there such confusion about that? Why does a shop I patronise have that sign, ‘We love our senior’s’?

• The matter of punctuation reminds me that a Michigan firm (visit Sarcmark.com) has invented a symbol to indicate a sarcastic remark in print. It is an open circle enclosing a dot, designed to emphasise the nastiness of any written statement and make sure that the reader gets the message.

• U.S. President W.H. Taft said 100 years ago that it was not necessary to conquer a country when you control its economy. There were those in Cuba half a century ago who would no longer tolerate ‘American’ economic colonisation. That island has paid the price of its independence ever since. What will be Haiti’s future? Or ours?

• In the United States, however, it would be unthinkable for the president to shut down the House of Representatives for a couple of months. In the U.K.’s Mother of Parliaments there is a growing feeling that the prime minister should not be able to ask for prorogation without a prior vote in the House of Commons. Silenced by prorogation, watchdogs like the auditor general are unable to make their reports. A snap election called this March would deny us full account of the record of the current ‘pro rogue’ government.

• In Toronto the idea is being floated of building a civic aquarium to attract tourists who have not recently been attracted. If one is built and opened to the public for few years, it is to be hoped that it will not eventually suffer the fate as did the Royal Ontario Museum’s McLaughlin Planetarium. The mosaic ceiling of the old ROM rotunda reads, “That all men may know His work”. The planets are part of that but the Planetarium is currently storage space. It should be reopened.

• Speaking of T.O., construction of the new visitors’ centre at the Fort York National Historic Site will begin this spring. Standing where Lake Ontario’s shoreline once stood, it will be framed by the structural pillars of the elevated Gardiner Expressway.

Most people forget that the much reviled British torching of Washington and its Executive Mansion in 1814, during the War of 1812, was in retaliation for the burning of York (Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada, and its Parliament buildings by an invading U.S. force the previous year.

• And thinking of tourist attractions, what Dufferin County needs is a glass conservatory complex where a variety of flowers and trees are available year-round for celebrations of all kinds and for those who in mid-winter might simply want to “come to the garden alone”. Facilities for food service would also be desirable. Such an escape from winter would have a wide appeal.

• The press paid little attention to the 2009 return of A.N. Wilson, a popular author, to Christian belief. Defections from, not accessions to, the Church make better headlines. In the 1990s Wilson had published ‘hatchet jobs’ on both Jesus of Nazareth and Paul of Tarsus. The former, he said, had failed and died. It was the latter, if any one person, who founded Christianity. The “irrational hatred” of Dawkins and Hitchins made him reconsider his former stance. His next book will sell well.

• This leapt at me from a newspaper letter earlier this week: All the profits of the Olympics go to the developers and the corporate sponsors. All the risk and cost over-runs go to the taxpayer and all the inconvenience to the people of Vancouver. Let the games begin. That will be when the Olympics are over and the true price tag is shown to the taxpayer. The main event will be the dodging of the politicians.

• The late Frank Sinatra singing “I did it my way” has become popular choice for memorial services. Is it really a tribute? Would anybody say to a civil engineer after the collapse of a bridge he designed, “ Fair enough; you did it your way”?

Those who ask “It’s my life, isn’t it?” should be reminded that civilisation means that we are each part of a community. That being so, there are rules that everybody should obey. Those who drive by their own rules make any highway dangerous.

• End note: A young man was fined recently for speeding on Highway 10. He explained that he was hurrying to keep a restaurant reservation at which he and his wife would celebrate their first anniversary. Handing him a ticket, the policeman said, “Congratulations. The first anniversary is paper, isn’t it”