Partying with Tim Banks

Every once in a while Catherine and I get accidentally transported out of the hoi polloi and invited to party with Charlottetown’s elites. As the city lacks for wealthy industrialists, the elites here are mostly dentists and judges. A few politicians. And Tim Banks. Last night was one such.

Regular readers may recall that two years ago I took Mr. Banks to task for being a megalomaniac. Last night was my first time sitting couch-to-chair with him in a social setting, and, to my surprise and delight, he neither gave me the finger, tore anything off the wall, nor threatened to replace my comfortable couch with an office tower. He was actually somewhat aloof, and didn’t appear to have it in him to rip out my still-beating heart and eat it for breakfast. What a relief.

By fortunate happenstance, among the elites in attendance at last night’s party were several people I knew, so I was spared the indignity of hiding in the corner nursing my drink while my arch nemesis scattered bon mots to those that would listen. Oh, and there was absolutely amazing tzatziki to boot. If not for the presence of cats and their attendant dander, which saw me lose my ability to speak at any volume after about 45 minutes, it would have been a perfect night.

Tonight we will resume our regular mundane life of Seinfeld reruns and being entertained by G. about his adventures in the Hindu Kush.

Comments

Kevin's picture
Kevin on March 11, 2007 - 20:41 Permalink

Having been grotesquely misunderstood in deeply affecting ways a few thousand times in my life I, long ago, decided to utterly refrain from determining anything about a person’s character, good or bad, until directly confronted with a personal example. It is this (to the extent that I’ve been successful) that has left me completely open-minded about your “arch nemisis”; to my great delight.

A personable man of great character, with (like myself) unusual head wiring, and who wades through a foam of misunderstanding every day of his life (which is about how much resistance it provides). I wish there were in PEI, twenty of him, fourty Ray Brows, and a quarter million more (to add to our numbers) — preferably 90% of them being ‘of colour’.

Stan Rogers's picture
Stan Rogers on March 13, 2007 - 22:24 Permalink

I have always found Tim to be very approachable and pleasant in person. That made me quite comfortable in buying a house from one of his companies — Roseneath Homes. That’s a decision I regret. The friendly down home charm disappeared once the cheque cleared. Broken promises and outright lies marked every dealing I have had with them since then. Threats and calls from lawyer were the only way to get a response. Thankfully I held back part of the final price. It didn’t cover what it cost to get the problems looked after but I take some solace in knowing they didn’t totally screw me. On the plus side I don’t go to any store linked to APM so it keeps me out of a lot of the big box stores.