Treking Fall 2016: Week Three and Beyond

With Week Three the three thousand-mile-trek begins in earnest. Although the sun came out the wind was strong and gusting. Normally I'd try to get off early but since I was passing through the outskirts of Halifax and was driving only 80 miles today I got a late start and ended up driving in cross winds. A short hop I stopped at Masstown for Grapenut Ice Cream and Garrison Hopyard Ale in part to ensure I wouldn't arrive too early at my campsite. Elm River was open and camping was $25/night.

Before I left this morning, Monday, October 24th I spent a tense hour finding campgrounds along my route that are reputed to be open when I get there. Programmed them into Microsoft Trips and the itinerary app of my GPS, after charging said unit.

As I've said before the excitement and lore of travel is often more in the planning and remembrance, the telling, than in the actual experience. And a corollary the most spectacular views will always occur in a location where it is impossible to stop and take pictures. Such was the case as I drove past fields of heath turned brilliant red by autumn everything tinged by a sense of nostalgia as I was leaving the province of my birth.

I stopped at Masstown Market just beyond Truro and picked up a container of Grapenuts Ice Cream after determining that it would just fit in my RV Freezer and a 6-pack of Garrison Hopyard IPA one of two in the NSLC outlet in the store. I didn't want to arrive too early at Elm River Campground. The place was open but the water turned off and the washrooms and laundry closed. The “library” revealed the usual collection the only volumes I'd have considered I'd already read. After a walk around the park settled in to catch up online.

Day Two--Opted to skip the Coboquid Pass Toll Road and found route 4 through Wentworth Valley recently repaved and the views of mountain and heather breathtaking. Stopped for fuel in NB that didn't seem any cheaper. Then followed the long drive through NB on HWY 2. The four transmission towers for the former Radio Canada International no longer stand overlooking Tantramar Marsh. Wind and rain had brought down most of the autumn leaves I'd seen barely a week earlier. I reached Fredericton and remembered it was another hour to Woodstock and the Houlton, Maine Border Crossing Opposite. That checkpoint was a few minutes drive South-West. The bored, humourless, over-weight border guard gave me the most perfunctory of examinations—he didn't even ask about alcohol or tobacco—and sent me on my way. I wasn't complaining. A few miles later found the Maine Welcome Centre proudly proclaiming that they are open year round. A brave undertaking given the lack of traffic. The place was warm and welcoming. I-95 was smooth and straight and I had it all to myself; I didn't even see a moose—again I'm not complaining.

When I found Katahdin Shadows Campground the lights were on but nobody was home. Two tiny file cards were available for one to self-register. I found a sandy almost level site opposite the main building nestled among the evergreens. The washroom was open and warm. I found a Wi-Fi connection that worked and the possibility of awakening to an inch of white stuff! Quiet night.

Next morning grabbed a few pictures thankful there was no snow and started out. Again no other traffic until I reached Bangor. After that highway construction and toll roads ruled the day. The Massachusetts Welcome Centre wasn't, welcoming that is. When I finally reached the KOA I'd found online was still open I got a rude and condescending non-welcome. Noted a place I'll never return to. The open air washroom was open and the water on but the temperature hit 23 that night for the second day in a row. The campsite was not level and exposed to the wind. We weathered it and put away a balky power cord next morning and shook the crushed rock of the site off our heels.

The day did not improve. Opting to avoid toll roads I drove an internecine route through Holyoke and ended up climbing a mountain behind a transport truck labouring up a steep grade joined by a mile-long queue. Loads of morning traffic as I drove through suburb after suburb, rain a constant companion. As I climbed later into the Poconos it began snowing flurries followed by a blizzard that covered trees and fields. Out of the mountains the rain continued unremittingly. Stopped at the Pennsylvania Welcome Centre and was greeted by a disinterested agent. Shortly after turning South I entered a Fog Warning area and dense fog ensued for the next hour. As if matters couldn't get worse I hit an hour-long construction delay just short of my turn-off in Harrisburg.

The GPS found Harrisburg East Campground for me for the second time, the first eight years ago. A young lady unlocked the office to sign me in for forty-some dollars a night. As I'd driven south the temperature that had hovered around 33 all day rose to 48.

Next morning, a Friday, I was greeted by sunlight. I'm writing this as I wait for rush hour civil servants to get around to the state's business. The Wi-Fi service having decided I've used too much band width I'm throttled so that I can download E-mail but not read it. Just as I'm about to leave it starts working.

The day's drive began with an aggressive driver trying to zip by me as I entered the expressway. Heavy traffic continued all day however it was sunny and I had no crosswinds. The drive was 3½ hours. Stopped at the Virginia Welcome Centre after crossing 12 miles of Maryland and 20 miles of West Virginia. I did not repeat the mistake I made eight years ago by visiting the West Virginia Info Centre.

After passing through territory devoid of leaves and missing leaf peeping in fog, rain, and snow I've crossed the Mason-Dixon Line and entered the balmy South where leaves are barely tinged. There are two Shenandoah Valley Campgrounds in Virginia, the one in Verona managed to squeeze me in—just. They take Hallowe'en seriously here. The owners are proving just how rapidly rabbits can reproduce. Bunnies everywhere.

Two nights camping adds up to one day in camp. I was perched on a sand back overlooking what I am told is the Middle River. I took a morning walk and an early evening one discovering a lively little 30-ft waterfall cascading down to join the main stream. Pleasant chat with a fellow camper. I did not participate in the Hallowe’en festivities and settled in to read and was not bothered by scores of trick or treaters who wended their way at 2:00 PM. I did admire the few sites decorated for Hallowe’en.

Sunday the 30th was sunny, indeed it got quite warm as I continued driving South-West on I-81. Before I left Verona I stopped at Food Lion for Groceries tendering the loyalty card I picked up in 2008 and managed to locate in my van the night before. Stopped for gas but got out the binos and discovered it 20¢/gal  cheaper at $1.95 just down the street. Constant Sunday driver traffic all day and it got warm and somewhat windy to boot. While I sat in construction delayed traffic I railed to myself at the yahoos who impeded traffic by insisting on driving in a lane plainly marked as closed 3 miles ahead. Alas, stupidity is not illegal.

Forty miles earlier stopped at the Tennessee Welcome Centre for a break, had lunch earlier at a rest area. Baileyton RV Park is quiet and well run. The list of rules betokens past experience with unruly campers but the staff I met were pleasant. East Tennessee is a hotbed of Trump supporters. Even the Devil has fans it seems.

An entire valley on fire just East of my campground, seems lit by a campfire.

Spent the evening reading Combat Crew by John Comer. In the morning began with a fill-up for $1.93 at a local Greenville gas station. Ten miles later it was $2.35 and later as low as $1.83--quite a spread. Save for the large volume of truck traffic the day was unremarkable.

Two Rivers Campground was little changed. Visited the kiosk at KOA and met  with a Viking who failed to find tickets to the Opry at the Ryman, sold out as it is opening night for the 84-year-old Tammy Wynette. Pictured she looks like a dried prune. Browsed Camping World but didn’t find anything to spend my money on. A windshield cover for my Van is supposedly a special order item, even a custom job.

Stayed over a day to rest and indulged in a bag of “Organic” Corn Chips and a 6-pack of Blackstone APA. Watched two movies downloaded to my Laptop.

Got caught in morning rush hour traffic. Stopped an hour later for gas at Flying J where Good Sam got me a 3¢ discount on the $1.96 price. More truck traffic making finding open road a challenge. Do you pass or go with the flow? Trucks grind to a snail’s pace on hills. Construction around Memphis and traffic made getting in the right lane difficult. One exit was blocked or no longer in use.

A stop at the local Shoneys buffet in West Memphis was filling but not a gormet experience. Tom Sawyers Campground is little changed, the access road further broken in town. I got a site down by the river, paid my respects to Ole Man River, talked to a fellow traveller and settled in for a nap after quaffing a beer.

Thursday, November 3 was a day of spotty showers and calm air. Heavy truck traffic on I-40  to Little Rock. Passed the potential First Man’s Presidential Library. For whatever reasons Arkansas Roads are uneven and bumpy due to eroded concrete block chinks. Today’s was a long drive. Heavy construction and realigned highways in Texarkana confuse my GPS and me, the driver. Old Highway 71 beaten to a pulp.

Was greeted at Shreveport KOA by Cookie, the doggie mascot. Good to feel at home. Free morning coffee another plus. What I needed most was a good night’s rest.

Friday Morning got off around 8:30 after a slow start. Entered the Great State of Texas around 9:00, stopping to visit the Welcome Centre and pick up bumph. Ignored my GPS that wanted me to drive over to I-35 and brave the construction, speed zones and traffic. Rather I turned left on Texas 259 and continued along 79 South West. Save for the small towns along the way the speed limit is 70 all the way. Driving at that speed on a two-lane takes some getting used to but for the first miles the drive was remarkably smooth and devoid of other traffic. Further South the road lacked passing lanes and getting stuck behind slow moving traffic can be frustrating. The road also got rather rough in spots. Stopped briefly in Thorndale driving a few backroads to have a look at the farm country.

Arrived in Austin around 3:00 and slowly got settled greeting Gilbert who was waiting to pick up his wife Janey as usual.

Trekking Fall 2016 Week Two

My memory may be slightly off recovering the events of week two. It began early with a drive out of Lunenburg through Alder Swamps past Maders Cove and the famous three churches in Mahone Bay somewhat obscured by fog which followed me up the South Shore. Made Fall River driving nearly to Armdale in Halifax before heading up past Bedford Basin on the 104. My GPS still gets lost in the area. The rotary as one exits the highway to Old HWY 2 is new. I made it in time to attend church with my Sister and Brother-In-Law at Saint John's United, Fall River. The congregation is lead by a choir, the words for hymns projected on a large screen. I recognized one of the tunes. The sermon at least kept me awake. After Lunch Richard and I went for a walk around the subdivision up over the hill.

Monday. My favourite handyman performed a few repairs and installations on my RV. The rest of the day was relatively quiet.

Tuesday. We made it to the Dartmouth Ferry Lot and had Clams and Chips at John's Lunch, then took the ferry to the Halifax Waterfront, a first for me--$1.25 cash fare for seniors each way. Walked the waterfront past moored ships and a 3000-passenger cruise ship to Garrison Brewing where we sampled glasses of their ale for $2 each. Walked back checking out the Harbourside Farmers Market on the way.

Wednesday. My sister had a meeting in HFX and Richard took his truck in for rust-proofing. On the way stopped at Canadian Tire for a replacement air filter, my garage charges $60 for the 30-second task. Had arranged to meet up with a former classmate from Hebbville Consolidated High School I last saw in the Spring of 1967. We had a glass of cranberry juice each at Franklins, a pub I can't find because the Waitress told us to forget about it when I offered to settle the bill. As we were leaving town rain scuttled plans for a waterfront picnic. That night we drove over to St. John's Church to set up for KD the next day.

Thursday. Shopping at Sobeys. I got a pound of Ganong's double thick peppermints. Picked up a gratis Blue Jays bottle-sized shirt at the liquor store, gratis and second time trying time, got a flu shot at Shopper's Drug--$15.00. In the afternoon we stumbled along the shore of Soldier's Lake picking wild cranberries. Slim sunburned pickings, we got 2 pounds between us.

Friday. Finished waxing my Van, the rain assisting with the washing of same. The threatened heavy rain and wind proved to be late and a non-event for us anyway when it finally arrived later that night. We drove over to the church so Richard could install the new Defibrillator outside the Men's Washroom. Other chores ensued at one point calling for moi to stand in front of mikes in the chancel and sing, then talk for half an hour while a trio adjusted the sound system. Recently moved neighbours dropped by in the evening. I talked one noon-time with the neighbour on the other side and said hello to Charlie the Scottish Terrier.

Got off to a late start on Saturday before saying my goodbyes to my sister and headed out in the rain and fog for Falmouth. Brief patch of sunlight as I got to Windsor and parked in my niece's yard and hooked up. A quiet couple days, save for Oscar and Jimmy, the Dachshunds. The high point was a trip to Sobeys for Groceries. We watched the Leonardo DiCaprio movie Body of Lies in which he plays a bearded scruffy looking CIA Agent performing covert operations in the Middle East. Violent, dark, and confusing it deserves its low critical rating in my estimation.

Trekking Fall 2016

Yes, I've been busy of late.

Departed Oakville on Thanksgiving Day, October 10^th Canadian Style around 5:00 AM after a hectic couple days of moving into the Roadtrek. The struggle began a week earlier when I got a slow leak in my right rear tire repaired after picking up a nail. Second flat in a million miles. Getting to the tire and paying for the repair were both a pain, at least it was repairable. Next came a couple days of shopping.

The trip across the top of Toronto was remarkably quiet though watching the thermometer drop to one above and frost appear in the fields beside the highway was unexpected. “Be ware highway may be icy.” Breakfast at Dennys in Napanee to mark a break and wait out sunrise. I was not amused when I realized the toll collector at the bridge across the Saint Lawrence on HWY 30 east of Montreal had cheated me out of 15¢--no going back and it's the principal of the thing. Always some yokel who decides to speed up when you go to pass him. Didn't bother with the cheesy Wi-Fi at Camping Alloute, spent a quiet evening for $29.00.

Fog over the North Shore of the St. Lawrence but mercifully didn't extend over the Eastern Townships. The only slow down was in construction just East of Quebec City, Levis on HWY 20, where I drove by a sign advertizing gas at 99.9¢ only to pay $1.05.9 at the next exit where a median and construction made getting back on the highway a pain. Ratty old Shell Station at that. Rough roads ahead. Right turn onto HWY 185 south to Edmundston, NB where construction is finally complete after at least a decade. The earliest portions already need repaving. When I reached Woodstock, NB discovered the cottage/campground complex there was closed for the season despite online checks that declared otherwise. Another 100 KM to Fredericton and Hartt Isle where the high season rate is now goosed to $75 and the low season rate was $56 with taxes—any port in an emergency. A quiet, cold night with fog off the Saint John River, but no rain.

Wednesday now, stopped for gasoline down the road and used a scraggly squeegee and dirty fluid on the bugs adorning my windshield. Next stop was lunch at the Nova Scotia Welcome Centre which was quiet but still open. Stopped a few miles later at Masstown for honey and maple syrup. Decided I was good for a few more miles so drove to Halifax, took the construction riddled Hammond's Plains bypass narrowly missing being caught in a one-mile tie-up. Dropped in on my Aunt Muriel appearing in front of her just as she was saying she didn't expect to see me this year.

Camping at the Lunenburg Board of Trade Campground was $42.00/night + Wi-Fi that finally works. Made it just before the office closed. Went for a walk along the Lunenburg Waterfront and said hello to the Bluenose moored awaiting its new wooden rudder after the 5-ton steel debacle. Spent Thursday with my 97-year-old Aunt Muriel who gave me the dope on half of Lunenburg County, the other half being planted six feet under. She had requested this picture of me with a beard which makes me look like her father who died before I was born:

Stopped at ESSO for gas on the way home, it went up two cents/litre overnight.

Friday the rain hanging off I wandered around Lunenburg early in the day stopping at Foodland for Tancook Sauer Kraut and cod bits to get $100 cashback so I could go buy tickets for the Nova Scotia Symphony that night at $30 and Old Man Luedeke Saturday Night at $21.50. At the Ironworks Eau de Vie with an actual pear in the bottle is only $125 for a small bottle. Since the rain held off drove up country to pay my taxes in Bridgewater and see the Olde Sod. Visited with the neighbour across the road before paying my respects in the Midville Branch Cemetery mourning as much the missing church spire just up the road. Walked back to the old home place to visit with the new people there. Dan was headed for the library to return borrowed books and Fred was about to sow winter rye on a field. The drive back to camp was bittersweet.

Walked over to St. John's Anglican Church and scored an eighth row aisle pew for the concert. In that acoustic the symphony was extremely 'present' and the piano in Chopin's First Concerto was well balanced with the orchestra. Beethoven's Fifth was exciting. A nearly full moon lit my walk home again.

Spent a quiet day Saturday catching up online. Construction on the blockhouse siding got me up Friday Morning. Had to look up Zion Lutheran Church on Fox Street. My printed ticket showed that evening's concert half an hour late but I arrived early and got a front row seat. Christopher Luedeke stood alone in the chancel with his banjo and sang before a mike, the mixing board in front of me. Excellent concert. Moonlit walk home again.

September Bile

So what is it about these 6' 5” country music artists? Is it the thinner air up there or are they bumping their heads on low hanging objects?

Is it just me or have there been a plethora of celebrity deaths of late? Possibly I'm paying attention because many on them are Baby Boomers and hence my age but most recently W.P. Kinsella and Edward Albee were 88.

Just when I'm thinking of traveling South the Canadian Dollar starts dropping in value—from 78¢ to 75. At least the price of gasoline is down as well.

A Line from Ed Burns She's the One

You don't believe in God.

That doesn't mean I'm not a good Catholic.

A few scenes later the priest is out on the boat fishing with that good Catholic.

You've heard of the BetaMax Video recording system, the one that lost out to the inferior VHS system. I remember seeing the sell-off of BetaMax titles when video rental stores stopped carrying them. You remember video rental stores? Well it's just been announced that the last company producing VHS Players has ceased production. Of course the latest battle was between BluRay and HD Video on DVDs. Well SD cards may soon be capable of storing an entire TV season on a single card at an affordable price. All this is being made irrelevant by video streaming services that have seen stores such as Best Buy cease selling DVDs almost completely. Having trouble keeping up?

Why do I listen to the news? Another terrorist bombing this week and yet another Hollywood divorce in the works. Why do they bother? Hollywood weddings should come with a best before termination date renewable by mutual consent.

Reading about Royal Tours leaves one in no doubt that it must be difficult for them to confront the reality of their subject's daily lives. Everywhere they go streets are repaved for them, lawns painted green if they weren't already, garbage collected and houses repainted. Their days are filled with celebrations, exciting sights and events, things to do and see, cheering crowds. Could they get more remote from reality. Well, there is Donald Trump.

Catholic Church in Alberta to refuse to conduct funerals for assisted suicides.

Just got online to figure out how Air Miles is screwing over the public with its expiry policy.

August Bile, so I'm a bit late

Hollywood Marriages should come with an automatic expiry date. Who knew that Johnny Depp was married?

Windows seems more broken than usual and Microsoft today issued 3 updates. Now that they're no longer trying to foist an unwanted Windows X upon us Update has finally returned to normal without the need to uncheck the auto-update button and the pretence that it is downloading the new OS.

A book publisher liked my review of one of their books. They read online reviews?

In the land of the free and the home of the brave governments may not feel free to tell you not to build in a flood plain but water will take its natural path nevertheless.

The Donald hasn't self-destructed yet? Pity.

Vandal(s) spreading peanut butter on children's playground equipment.

Florida cop kills senior with live rounds during a public relations event.

Doesn't seem to be much job security in being a CBC interview host. Is it the hosts or the failure of senior management's screening process. Ask Strombo or Shad. What did they expect from a Rap Artist. One thing the Gomeshi fiasco served to highlight is flaws in the Canadian Justice System and the reason why more woman don't come forward with accusations of sexual abuse and harassment.

Testosterone, youth, and alcohol, always a dangerous mix as four American Athletes in Rio are discovering. Their chef de mission has had his hands busy baby sitting the team.

Oakville received its second drenching rain of the summer Thursday Night.

I'll be up front. I consider highway tolls an abomination. Governments already tax drivers more than enough to maintain and build highways, unfortunately those taxes enter general revenue and are not designated for highway maintenance and improvement. I resent having to pay for highways twice. Tolls also slow traffic. What we do not learn is the ratio between the tolls charged and the expense of collecting those tolls. Worse, from my driving experience it is often obvious that the moneys collected are not spent on maintaining the highways involved.

The War on Drugs

The war on Drugs has miss-placed priorities. Our courts are clogged prosecuting small-time users and sending them to over-crowded prisons where their education in crime begins in earnest. Drug pushers use juveniles to peddle their wares because those under 18 will get only a slap on the wrist. The “Mister Bigs” of the trade are better funded than law enforcement agencies and have more sophisticated tools and weapons. The off-shore suppliers are more powerful and better funded than most small governments placing Drug Cartels above the law. Sovereign governments resent interference from first-world agencies where the appetites for drugs fuel the problem in the first place.

All this misses the point that if there is a demand and easy profit to be made someone will seek to fill it. What do people get from these drugs that makes them risk mental, physical, and financial health to take them? We understand alcoholism and drug addiction and many of these drugs are instantly addictive. The affects are artificial elation, numbing, and altered reality—hallucinations. So what is missing from people's lives that they seek these artificial means of escape?

Let's look at the causes of most crime and racism:

Poverty

Malnutrition and poor diet

Disease

Suicide

Lack of education

            employment

           self-worth

           feelings of accomplishment, self-fulfillment.

If we want to stem the flow of drugs we have to start looking at the reasons people feel the need to escape the realities of their lives. Unfortunately these issues are not confined to the lower class—middle and upper income types are just better at hiding the problem.

It starts with how we run our governments and other institutions. How we build our cities. Schools that meet the needs of their students. How we fund our schools, the arts, recreational facilities. Rethinking our capitalistic system. Is it right that CEO's make hundreds of times the wage of their lowest paid employees. Minimum wages, the administration of welfare, guaranteed annual income. Should sports be about defining winners and losers or opportunities for recreation and camaraderie?

A world where it is more profitable to grow drug crops like poppies than food to feed starving people. Where third world countries grow consumer crops to pay off IMF Loans rather than food. Where the price of food goes up because corn is used to make gasohol. Where the arms industry and the wars it supports and feeds is more profitable than foreign aid to better people's lives. Should the rich live in gated communities where they lobby for greater law enforcement and tougher laws on crime or should we tackle crime at its source?

Ravings in July

Have been doing some wash. I have a long-sleeved T with an Orange stain mid-chest. Perhaps rather than attempt to bleach it I should have tie-dyed it. 

Is it just me or have there been a lot of iconic people we grew up with popping off lately, and more disturbingly, a lot of them younger.

Since I've been back home I've been looking through my cupboards. Back when I picked up a small container of Freeze-Dried Red Rose Tea that obviously didn't catch on. It's freshness date is 1993, it's over 23 years old!

Just got a friend request on Facebook from an unknown female. Before I had a chance to check it out the profile had been taken down. Must have been another one of those come hither sirens trolling for victims.

In America the separation of church and state is supposedly enshrined in the constitution "In God We Trust" on coinage notwithstanding. In Ontario Separate (Catholic) Schools are supported by the province. In contention right here in Halton Region where I live is a conflict between provincial policy on gender identity and orientation and Catholic Church Dogma on Sexuality. And in other news Ontario is removing gender from Driver's lincences and health cards. 

The Donald: the Joker's Wild. 

Senator Mike Duffy was found "Not Guilty" on all charges relating to his expense account spending. One suspects the original charges to have been politically motivated. Who is guilty of the greater crime, Senators for fudging their accounts or those who prompted the spending of millions on prosecuting these individuals to no result? Could not a less expensive means been found to tell politicians that business as usual was no longer acceptable? 

Another Tarzan movie hits the big screen proving naked torsos and yodels a great movie do not make.

Just thought I was tuned into the wrong radio station when a jarring commercial aired and was about to switch stations when I suddenly recalled that CBC is now reduced to airing commercials. Add to this the fact that CBC 2 is reduced to airing only 4 or so hours of Classical Music weekdays. What is the world coming to?

Ah, the joys of transgender politics. Would you rather she hoiked up her skirts to use the urinal in the men's or tinkled in the ladies'. Neither? In Quebec matters are far less circumspect. In most campgrounds I've stayed at everyone uses the same facility. The water-closets and showers are behind locked doors and everyone uses a common washup area. 

More ravings

Donald Trump is rich enough to be able to afford his appetites and convictions and the hell with the rest of the world. No one earns that much money without exploiting thousands and stepping on the lives of hundreds more on the way to the top. What bothers me is not the wacky unsupported rhetoric he spouts but what it says about America that so many support him. Does anyone think he really has their best interests at heart. Just how does he define making America great? Will it do anything for the common man? Remember trickle down Reaganomics? 

It takes a disaster to unite people or in many cases to get them to meet their neighbours. Too many don't truly feel alive unless they face the threat of losing that life. Without that adrenaline rush life just doesn't seem to have meaing. Witness the nostalgia Londoners felt for the blitz or the let down vets feel when they return to civilian life from war. Have we become a society of adrenaline junkies? It is the search for that high that motivates many to join the military and re-up for additional tours. Some get it through virtual reality and violent video games. In Nova Scotia teens have been climbing hydro towers without safety harness. Today comes word that someone jumped from a plane at 24,000 ft without a parachute. From that distance the net he landed in was a mighty small target. 

Civility on our highways seems to have descended into fits of road rage. In the last 8 years I've drivens 100,000 miles through 48 states and 10 provinces and been witness to much. Our highways are not a racetrack but too many treat them as such. I too have pet peeves but getting off on them is not good for my health or raod safety.

1.Lane hoppers

2.those who leap frog in front of me at a traffic light particularly when they compromise my braking distance
people who feel they have to pass and then drive slower, especially those who speed up at passing lanes on two-lane highways or jump in front and slam on the brakes to make an exit

3.left lane hogs especially when there is no other traffic.

4.tailgaters, I once took my foot off the gas and had dropped to 20 mph before the idiot got the idea, there was no other traffic for miles and it was a dark rural expressway

5.drivers who fail to enter the lane they need to make an exit until the last second and feel other drivers should brake to let them in.

6.the circus that is a traffic jam and often caused by the rubberneckers gawking at the collision in the opposing lanes or the officer who pulled over a speeder.

7.Construction zone speed restrictions where no work is being done. There should be fines for leaving those signs up.

8.Speed zones that don't seem to mean anything particularly when there are frequent changes. So do you become a traffic hazard by driving the posted speed or go with the flow?

Leaving in time to arrive early or at least on time without running traffic signals and getting all tense is a lost art it seems. Stopping on an amber light, it is the law, will put you in danger of being rear-ended. Before the local police station moved by a cop--they seem to be among the worst drivers. Parents driving their chldren to school or other events teach them that stop signs are optional. Leave a safe stopping distance between you and the car ahead and some yahoo will feel obligated to fill it. Some even seem to feel you should tailgate the car ahead just as they do and get incensed if you let someone into traffic slowing them down. 

It has been proven that in heavy traffic emergency vehicles running lights and sirens make no better time than if they went with traffic. Lane hoppers gain only seconds but run the risk of causing collisions. There are very few true accidents but many collisions. Drivers who make sling shot starts and slam on the brakes at traffic lights waste gasoline and cause brake wear. They obviously never drove on icy highways.

When was open season on pedestrians declared?

Most cities were not built to accomodate bikes. Creating bike lanes on narrow winding roads, insantiy. 

Profanity adds nothing to civil discourse. Children who use it appear less, not more mature. One may expect it from sailors, street urchins, and dock workers but why would others want to appear course and common. Its use in print media, online, and on TV serve to enure the public in the same way that constant exposure to aggressive behaviour and violence in video games, social media and film makes it seem acceptable and everyday as well. 

True beauty needs no make-up to enhance it. Body art was once the pervue of sailors and remote tribes and practised in back alleys and sleazy joints. Tattos, body piercings, and even brandings, no longer restricted to cattle, seem to have gone mainstream. Why anyone would want to emulate the likes of Justin Bieber or Marky Mark is beyond me. Young men who spend years in a gym honing a ripped physique and shave their body hair to show it off mystify me when they hide it with extensive bodyart. Grafitti is grafitti whether on the wall of a building or your skin. 

Thoughts on Islam

Deuteronomic in nature. System of laws for right living the faithful are expected to live by ignoringt them at their peril. Faithful act out of absolute obedience, submission, not out of response to a loving god.

No sense of humour, can't laugh at itself.

In prayer prostrate themselves like slaves in supplication to a master. God is to be feared and obeyed, not loved.

Muhammad may have been an illiterate prophet who served as Allah's mouthpiece but his leadership and that of his relatives descendents is honoured. His word as revealed in the Koran is the final word on all things.

Shia—dogmatic, hierarchical. Imams are often political as well as spiritual leaders whose word is final and beyond debate

Sunni—adopt a more collaborative community approach.

Sufis are ascetics.

A religion that should appeal to fundamentalist inclined persons who want to learn all the answers and submit to its dogma. Does not supply an approach to looking at the questions but the final word on all things. 

Separates men from woman in worship and casts them in a subserviant role much as does the Roman Catholic Church or the Mormons. 

Disney

George of the Jungle is an example of a movie so ridiculous it's good. It glories in its own hyperboly. Riffing on older examples of feral children such as Tarzan and Mowgli it anthropomorphizes animals and pokes fun at modern society and its values. The less successful portions of the film are those shot in LA. Is George's intelligence related to the number of trees he smacked ino? Since we meet young George later on we know that part of him works. It ends by invoking the symbolism of the presentation ceremony at Pride Rock in Lion King another Disney production. 

Whereas George is a cartoonish live-action film Lion King is an animated adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Here animals behave as humans often ignoring the anatomical limitations of their species. Certainly they can't talk or walk upright but elephants can't run. An elephant stampede is little more than a stately trot. This is a musical where the storyline is interrupted for production numbers that rival Fantasia. 

Disney has now taken on Kipling's Jmgle Book twice. First in live action and latterly in animation. Not only do the animals here behave in human terms but the adaptation does violence to the original on which it is based.

The Curmudgeon Rants

Schools and Learning

The North American School System seems to be more about regimentation and regurgitation than critical thinking and life-skills. Just look at the fuss over sex education and creationism, censorship and testing. Children are kept dependent and out of the workforce for twelve to sixteen years in a regime designed to prepare them for a 9-5 work experience that to a large degree no longer exists. Driven everywhere for their own safety they don't even learn how to navigate their own neighbourhoods without a GPS. Not allowed to walk to school where frills like phys ed, libraries, and music programs are dropped for economic reasons they are over-weight and culturally deprived.

Raised in a permissive system where self-discipline is lacking and self-expression trumps grammar and spelling recent generations use a calculator to do basic math and a hand-held device to communicate with the world. With the demise of newspapers social media sites spread fads such as Pokemon Go at the speed of light—or fibre optics if you will. Camera phones and social networks spread sensational events unfiltered instantly as they happen. Violent video games and America's preoccupation with guns and the false sense of security they feel they provide have led to a sense of unease and schools monitored by marshals where children pass through metal detectors.

The military establishment has trained killers and returned traumatized vets to a society with which they seem incapable of coping. The costs of all these guns in the hands of PTSD sufferers has become very evident of late. A history of racism and class struggle has impacted schools where parents have moved their homes to avoid the wrong neighbourhoods and forced racial integration—busing. The discontent, lack of critical thought, functional illiteracy, and dependence on social media for social interaction has enabled a Donald Trump to co-opt the primary system and present the RNC with a candidate few want but are powerless to resist. And we thought having a president who declared war on countries he couldn't find on a map was bad!!

 JulySoapbox

If the president's wife is the First Lady does that make her husband the First Man?

The Toronto Cop who pumped 6 bullets into the dead body of the disturbed teen his first 3 had already killed was sentenced to six years in prison. What is significant about this is that Canadian Law is so written that this makes it the first time a cop here has been convicted of murder while on duty. His ultimate trial will be surviving prison. If this makes police anywhere think twice about the use of excessive force.... Those who wear the uniform may have a different take on the matter. In Dallas, Moncton, Mayerthorpe.

Cross Country Checkup gets new host. I'm not generally a fan of the hoi poloi and talk shows which elicit the opinions of the great unwashed. Perhaps it's the kind of cranks that tend to be attracted to call-ins.

Healthy bacon is healthy because they removed all the flavour so no one would eat it.

Birthday Rhetoric

Is there a better time to stage a diet cheat day? I’m about to have cake, ice cream, and jam. Tomorrow morning bacon and eggs whenever it is I finally stagger out of bed. Many more birthdays and I’ll be an old curmudgeon, I already have the curmudgeon part down.

Visited Swiss Chalet today and will probably not be going back. In Canada a waiter should be fluent in at least one of our official languages. Cantonese is not one of them. Service was slow relieved by the fact that I was able to use Wi-Fi. My beer had set in the drum too long was foamy and on the way to getting skunky. My chips were remnants not fresh from the fryer.

At Longos I got a glimpse of my possible future. At the checkout the older gent in front of me took ten minutes to fumble with the credit card machine while four people checked out in the next line. While his Care Van Driver waited he fumbled for his grocery bags then left his cart blocking the lane. Almost out the door he remembered he came in with a walker that he couldn’t manage to place at this point having used the grocery cart to manoeuvre the aisles.

Later in August

Cost of a cheap pair of distance glasses to see me through the next year: $315.00.

Ahead, the hottest week in the GTA ever. Number of Days over 100 in Austin Texas in 2015: 5. Number below 100 this summer, about 5. Any connection with the amount of hot air Trump is spewing?

Poverty and ignorance are the greatest causes of the spread of disease. Because Moslems resist vaccination Polio was not wiped from the face of the earth. A false medical report led parents to refuse childhood vaccination. Childhood diseases such as Measles and Chickenpox have seen recent outbreaks.

Use of DDT may be banned in Canada but it is still the world's largest producer of that insecticide. Our songbirds over-winter in Central American countries where it is used to fight malaria. Hence birds further up the food chain are still exposed.

Public Behaviour

We seem to have raised an entitled generation that is totally lacking in self-discipline. Young parents who have no qualms about holding an entire restaurant or aircraft hostage to their squalling brats and then are incensed if they are asked to leave or get off the plane. Couples who have no manners with regard to engaging in public displays of affection—PDA's in social media parlance.

A peck on the cheek or a brief hug have long been acceptable terms of endearment. In acknowledgement drop-off points at public transit sites are called kiss and ride. But to expose a captive audience in a line-up for an attraction in a public park to protracted advanced petting or snogging is just plain rude no matter the gender or sexual orientation of the exhibitionists.

These would be the same generation that seem attached at the hip to their smart-phones as distracted driving statistics prove. Who can't sit through a public arts performance without whipping out their devices to disturb fellow audience members while they text, it seems they are incapable of waiting til the movie, drama, or concert is finished.

These same people cannot seem to enjoy a meal with friends without interrupting it to take a call or answer a text.

Don't get me going on the topic of Pokemon.

The Post Office-At it again

To begin two questions:

Is mail delivery an essential service and if so why were Postal Workers given the right to strike?

If mail delivery is a public service why was it made a Crown Corporation, a for profit corporation?

The last Postal contract was dictated in essence by government legislation when that strike/lockout was ended by Act of Parliament and a rather mean-spirited act it was.

Knowing that any strike/lockout is likely to be ended by Parliament Post Office Management has little impetus to bargain seeing binding arbitration as likely to come down in its favour.

One of the major issues at present is Employee Pensions. Those of us with long memories will remember a time when Corporations were arguing that they be allowed to raid bloated pension funds to support their operations. The Civil Service Pension Fund was invested in the National Debt at 0.5% interest at a time when my own Savings Account was earning 20% interest. Those days are gone.

We've been hearing a great deal lately about the actuarially unsound nature of the Canada Pension Plan. The Baby Boom Generation of which I am a part have been retiring at a rate that has seen a third of all government employees retire in five years. Couple this with Governments laying off employees by the hundreds of thousands to save costs and we are left with too few present employees making contributions to keep pension plan reserves healthy. Technological Change and efficiencies have further reduced the number of employees making contributions, at Canada Post down 10,000 from 60 to 50,000.

You may remember that USPS famously declared their pension shortfall at $700,000,000.00. Should the Civil Service Pension Fund be bled down to zero those costs will be borne by the Government of Canada's General Revenue. Canada Post Deficits are a similar drain on the Government of Canada. The question remains, should future employees be liable for the short-sightedness of past governments?

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

S o is he? The god of the Old Testament is a rather vengeful misogynist sort given to fits of temper and rather aloof from his creation. It is the Good News of the New Covenant that introduces a loving saviour who is engaged with the universe. Can an omnipotent god be held to moral precepts or is she above petty human concepts of good and evil?

The charismatic denominations would have you saved by the blood of the lamb, a personal saviour who brings comfort and solace in times of need. A soothing concept to which the faithful are driven by threat of the fires of Hell.

The cartoon and following paragraph outline a debate that has raged for millennia. Just how active is God in the operation of his universe and does he intervene in the day to day affairs of his creatures. Creationists would have us believe that a loving God actively created the world and all that is therein. Science and logic would hold that universal laws exist that operate unattended by a higher power. Prayer has as its object in many cases a hope that God will intervene and miracles can happen.

If you jump off a cliff and your parachute fails to open.... If your drinking water is poisoned by lead or mercury.... If two vehicles approach one another at 60 mph.... The universal laws of nature exist. They are neither good nor bad. The moral concepts of good and evil apply to man's use of God's Creation. If you get trapped under water you will drown; on the desert without water you will die of thirst.

Always we suffer from the unfairness of bad things happening to good people. In the OT paradigm such misfortune would have been seen as punishment for wrongs committed by an individual or the society in which he lived. However loving or caring we conceive of our god to be she cannot protect us from the consequences of our decisions and actions. Our lifestyle choices will affect our health, the climate we live in will affect our clothing and housing choices. If we build on a flood plane sooner or later our house will be flooded.

God Is. He is neither bad nor good. But is there a God, ah, that's the question.

Best Buy is offering a free in-home consultation regarding a tech savvy world in which appliances would interact with other tech such as your cell phone. Which presupposes one owns such a thing. Experience counsels caution. This morning my tablet's OS was updated. The keyboard that interacted fine by bluetooth connection suddenly is no longer recognized. I'll let it charge for a day to make sure that isn't the problem before I panic. What if that were the high-tech entry system that suddenly decided not to grant me entry to my home?

In my grandmother's day the likes of Publisher's Clearing House and Jay Norris made her feel important keeping her mailbox full of ads for snake oil remedies such as Minard's Lineament or Dodd's Little Liver Pills. Cod Liver Oil and Spring Tonic--the latter mainly a sweetened brandy. Today the internet has taken up the slack with spam offering male enhancement, someone to occupy your bed, weight loss remedies, you're a winner or the latest enhancing your gut culture. Well we know that exposure to bovine gut culture will kill you. Cures for invented syndromes such as that little blue pill for erectile dysfunction have even gone mainstream.

The first browser I ever used automatically blocked all ads. The Lycos Browser came with my IBM home computer. It was only later I became exposed to the world pop-ups on Internet Explorer. Anyone who still uses Microsoft's free hotmail account knows of the thousands of daily spam that litter their inbox. So of late I use software to block ads on Zuckerberg's Facebook and Ghost anti-tracking plus AdBlock generally. Seems I live in a fool's world. It's those ads that keep the internet free and pays the bills for content providers. As I have discovered even the lowly Bridgewater Bulletin want to charge you for reading their content.

In an attempt to fight back websites are refusing to grant access to their content if your computer blocks tracking cookies and AdBlock is paying for its free software by white-listing sites for pay. Oh what a tangled web we weave!

Playing catchup

The liabilities of bearing your father's names, of being Junior, The Third in a line of like-named family members had never occurred to me until I heard Sherman Alexie talk about standing at the foot of his father's grave as the coffin is lowered and seeing his name on the tombstone as it comes into view. At issue is personhood, of having an identity that is uniquely one's own not to mention the pressure of living up to the reputation attached to that name and the apprehension of failure if you don't to live up to those expectations.

Ben Mulroney to cohost morning TV. Son of The Jaw that walks like a man, until the Harpie Canada's most despised Prime Minister. Fortunately we have the option of ignoring the son. Remember, a biography of Mila was first remaindered and then pulped because no one wanted to read it.

Taylor Lautner. His dimpled chin and bulging bis and pecs got him through 4 episodes of Twilight. Unfortunately there's more to acting than flashing a cute smile and flexing sans shirt.

Woodstock, Ontario. What makes it a hotbed for teen suicide? I've been there. A sleepy little town with no major industrial operations surrounded by farmland on all sides. 

 Prudery in NA

If you want to see the difference pick up a European Magazine at a specialty news stand. Even in America sex sells in advertising and social media sites are full of pictures of teenage boys proudly showing off their boners and girls show little more discretion.

Contrast this with the screaming meanies that occur when some repressed harridan catches sight of a mother discretely breast feeding her infant on a bus, in a mall, or a restaurant. And then there's the phenomenon of children expressing revulsion at the sight of their parents sharing physical affection or horrors stumbling upon them "doing it". Just how do they think they got into the world. In third world countries where an entire family and their livestock count themselves lucky to have a single roof over their heads children are not scarred for life by witnessing "the primal scene". Nudism and clothing optional beaches are no cause for excitement outside America. Contrast this with Muslim cultures where only family members are allowed to see their female relatives and women appear in public, if at all, covered from head to foot lest they tempt the appetites of a man. 

Canada Day

I'm visiting this site on CBC:

http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/canada-2017/

To Peter Mansbridge, I have one of those RCMP pocket knives.

To Jay Baruchel, my flag will ever be the Canadian Ensign under which generations of Canadian Soldiers fought and died.

To Kim Campbell, recent scandals have tarnished the image of our once proud RCMP: the commissioner convicted of perjury – lying to Parliament, the deaths, their image including knives such as Mansbridge's sold by Disney.

To Joseph Boyden, early trains were indeed flying bombs – large boilers of high-pressure super-heated steam.

To Murray Sinclair, I regret the past and have met people subjected to residential schools. Schools in general throughout North America need to promote true learning and teach students to think for themselves. The school I attended was a place of rigid conformity, ringing buzzers and lines of students heading from class to class.

Anthems tend to jingoistic, martial affairs with unsingable ranges and tunes. They are what they, I just wish they'd leave it alone so I can remember the lyrics dated though they may be.

To Charlotte Gray, humour and the art of the insult are credited with being one of the pillars of all civilization. The attempt to reach accommodation rather then reach for a gun is so Canadian.

Elizabeth Hay, frugality, practicality, ingrained in me since birth. Making do rather than grasping for more.

Like the founders of this nation I may not agree with all those opinions but I defend the right to hold them and join with all in affirming a country that logically cannot exist but has despite that for nearly 150 years.

Reflections on Gun Violance and Losing Face

In Japan losing face is major cause for social disgrace. Youth who lose face have been known to commit suicide and relatives whose behaviour reflects badly on the family have been murdered. North American Society is filled with symbols that serve to enhance male virility and macho.

On the lowest level are Apps that allow one to add friends and followers on social media sites lest we appear unpopular. Your spam filter probably catches scores of e-mail for male enhancement schemes. A little blue pill served to invent an imaginary syndrome of impotence the opposite of a teen's embarrassing boner. Camo has become wildly popular due to its association with macho Navy Seals. In my college years Army Surplus stores sold used clothing bullet holes and blood stains a bonus.

No phallic symbol matches the allure of a rifle, the more bullets it can shoot the better. In Peace River a rancher friend interrupted his dinner to pick up his rifle and shoot a coyote 3/4s of a mile distant because it threatened his herd. His was a sniper type single-shot rifle. In that context any dog that threatens your herd is fair game. Once again association with the military adds to the cachet of any weapon. Outside of the ranch setting and hunter/gatherer society guns serve no purpose beyond the status they infuse. Handguns serve only one purpose and one of the ten commandments apply.

I am diametrically opposed to anything that would make gun ownership in Canada easier to attain. I personally would not feel safer with a firearm in my home, in fact it would have the opposite effect. The urge to go out and kill something particularly when the only objective is a trophy seems a childish pursuit. Passing legislation will not be as effective as attempts to change attitudes. We need to teach males to define their self-worth in more fulfilling ways than in their ability to go out and kill something. The ethos attached to weapons in America to our south spills over into Canada through the culture attached to it in movies, ads, and social media. The absolute right to defend you castle and stand your ground should not be grounds to commit murder. Try that in Canada and you will be charged with the use of excessive force.

Americans learn with shock that they can't bring their guns into Canada. Deprived of that fire-power many feel anxiety. It is this false sense of security that gun ownership seems to enhance that needs to be fought. 

Just burning sawdust but does mixed martial arts and bodybuilding in its extreme forms fueled by steroids fall into a similar category?

Musings for a Spring Day

You need a licence to drive a car but any couple past puberty can conceive a child through premature ejaculation in the back seat of that car. No training is necessary for raising a child. The death by starvation of a child in Alberta causes an online media storm amid recriminations as to why the authorities did nothing. Take the social workers who man child care agencies. The average agent is poorly paid and has 40 to 50 clients spread over a 200-mile radius and is supposed to visit each at least once a month. If she exceeds her car allowance she'll probably be reprimanded. Obviously doctors and teachers let this one slide. The same parents would have reacted with righteous indignation had someone suggested they were abusing their child. Children's Aid meanwhile are branded child snatchers and need find foster parents for seized children and we've read plenty about that experience and loads of horror stories.

Eight winters spent touring the US and I still fail to understand American's fascination with guns. "People kill people, not guns." But if you have an assault rifle that will spew a thousand rounds a minute you can kill a lot more. Orlando will now forever be known for something more than theme parks and the Magic. There's an outpouring of emotion over the more than one hundred victims of this atrocity but NRA advocates will still say take this weapon out of my dead hands before I'll give it up. Am I the only one to see a double standard. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

Hockey is in the news. With all the expansion teams these days the regular season means little as most teams make the playoffs which today stretch almost to Summer. The Penguins and a middle-aged Mario Lemieux celebrate their victory while honouring the memory of Mr. Hockey from Floral Saskatchewan who is elbowing his way into heaven.

Wal-Mart and VISA are having a spat over credit card fees. When elephants fight mice get hurt--in this case the customers. In related news Canadian Banks unsatisfied with Trillion-Dollar profits and overpaid executives are raising consumer fees yet again.

Read a microwave guide and they'll pretend it will cook anything. Ever produced a water geyser in a cup, watched butter erupt, or exploded an egg? BBQ Season is in full swing and a similar phenomenon applies. Seems you can grill anything: Corn, peppers, mushrooms, ice cream, bananas, peaches?

My favourite browser has finally undergone a major update. While it no longer crashes every time I attempt to clear the cache the context menus have changed and it's behaving differently in many ways. Ughhhhhhh!

Kobo, Chapter's/Indigo's E-book venue, seems to have borrowed their marketing strategy from the likes of K-mart and the Bay. Variations on 3 for the price of 2, Buy 2 get 1 free. Buy two over-priced items and try to find a lesser priced item you don't need to get for free. Alas Canada's book seller has become the purveyor of smelly candles and useless household items. Meanwhile independent booksellers hang on by their toenails in a struggle stacked against them.

The wind has finally eased granting us a calm day. The sky is almost cloudless and it's cooler. The bird feeding season having ended with the exhausting of my supplies I got out to take a scrub brush to my balcony. Birdies have a strange way of showing their thanks. The next rain will rinse my work, that way I won't be responsible for the drips below. I should get out for stroll this afternoon.

VISA vs Wal-Mart

When a customer swipes a credit card  the company they are paying incurs a fee for the use of that card which is a percentage of the sale. It becomes a part of the cost of doing business. That percentage ranges around 3% decreasing somewhat as the volume of sales increases. Hence gas stations pool billings to lessen the impact. A cutrate company such as Wal-Mart is feeling the pinch as the margin between pricing and costs for them is tight leaving them with few options:

1. Raise their prices to cover those costs which penalizes cash sales.
2. Institute a fee for credit card use--a movement that is catching on.
3. Refuse to accept VISA cards--an option at least one grocery chain has already embraced.

It has been announced that Wal-Mart stores are moving toward the latter option beginning in Thunderbay, ON. Will the banks blink? Will the move hurt both the credit card industry and Wal-Mart? Certainly customers will be inconvenienced.

June Wail

Have been doing some wash. I have a long-sleeved T with an Orange stain mid-chest. Perhaps rather than attempt to bleach it I should have tie-dyed it. 

Is it just me or have there been a lot of iconic people we grew up with popping off lately, and more disturbingly, a lot of them are younger.

Since I’ve been back home I’ve been looking through my cupboards. Back when I picked up a small container of Freeze-Dried Red Rose Tea that obviously didn’t catch on. It’s freshness date is 1993, it’s over 23 years old!

Just got a friend request on Facebook from an unknown female. Before I had a chance to check it out the profile had been taken down. Must have been another one of those come hither sirens trolling for victims.

In America the separation of church and state is supposedly enshrined in the constitution “In God We Trust” on coinage notwithstanding. In Ontario Separate (Catholic) Schools are supported by the province. In contention right here in Halton Region where I live is a conflict between provincial policy on gender identity and orientation and Catholic Church Dogma on Sexuality. 

The Donald: the Joker’s Wild. 

Senator Mike Duffy was found “Not Guilty” on all charges relating to his expense account spending. One suspects the original charges to have been politically motivated. Who is guilty of the greater crime, Senators for fudging their accounts or those who prompted the spending of millions on prosecuting these individuals to no result? Could not a less expensive means been found to tell politicians that business as usual was no longer acceptable? 

Just thought I was tuned into the wrong radio station when a jarring commercial aired and was about to switch stations when I suddenly recalled that CBC is now reduced to airing commercials. Add to this the fact that CBC 2 is reduced to airing only 4 or so hours of Classical Music weekdays. What is the world coming to?

Ah, the joys of transgender politics. Would you rather she hoiked up her skirts to use the urinal in the men’s or tinkled in the ladies’. Neither? In Quebec matters are far less circumspect. In most campgrounds I’ve stayed at everyone uses the same facility. The waterclosets and showers are behind locked doors and everyone uses a common washup area.