A Spoonful of Sugar

by Ed Smith

This is either volume seven or volume eight of the collected wit and wisdom in “The View From Here.”

I don’t know which because when I count those that have gone before I’m never sure whether or not I’ve missed one. I could get someone else to count for me but I don’t have either the time or the inclination. All you need to know is that these are the best of “The View” from the years 2000 to 2002.

You shouldn’t be turned off by the fact that none of these collections have won any awards. I expect these will come posthumously so the value will no doubt increase beyond my lifetime and perhaps yours. There are your grandchildren and their financial security to consider. Forgetting modesty, perhaps I should point out that the columns themselves have won several awards over the years. Except for a nine-month hiatus for rest and recreation after a car accident, “The View” has been appearing in provincial newspapers for more than a quarter of a century. Someone must be making money off this stuff.

It isn’t me.

225 pages, Paperback

First published October 12, 2010

About the author

Ed Smith has taught in schools all over Newfoundland, finally settling in Springdale, where he and his wife, Marion, still live. He has been a high school principal, an assistant superintendent of education, and principal of a college campus in Springdale. Ed retired in 1996, just over two years before a car accident left him paralyzed from the shoulders down.

He began writing a humour column for the local newspaper in 1980. Other papers soon began running the column, so that today "The View from Here" appears in six papers and magazines. He has been nominated for the Stephen Leacock Award for humour and has written for the Toronto Star and Reader’s Digest.

In 2001 Ed prepared a series of short radio clips on life with quadriplegia, which he wrote and presented on CBC radio. These earned him The Canadian Nurses’ Association award for excellence in broadcasting and an international Gabriel award for writing that "upholds and uplifts the human spirit." Ed has been recognized by the Atlantic Community Newspapers Association for "hilarious" material. Five collections of his columns have also been published.

Ed Smith and his wife have four children and six grandchildren.