This is the second and last column I wrote for a magazine that had a change at the helm. You know what that’s like; the new person wants to make their own decisions and hire their own people. It’s all good. But why let a collection of carefully chosen sentences go to waste? And so I ranted:Â …
Derek and I have been looking around to invest in a vacation retreat. Something modest to match our budget. A little place near water we can spruce up and customize. Our summer home when we’re ready to become snowbirds. We’re looking everywhere – from other provinces to other countries. Nothing is off the table. If you’ve explored the cottage areas of Ontario and you don’t have a million dollars to spend, you know how difficult it is to find something affordable close to home. …
So many young people. Millions around the world and even some in my own city, joining in Saturday’s March For Our Lives. Also, Parkland school shooting survivors and others, enduring taunts and ridicule from adult gun advocates. But gathering support from thousands of others. …
I’m concerned that the new era of openness about harassment, bullying and toxicity is going to have an unintended consequence: driving the sexes even further apart. …
Last week, I ate a cricket. I hadn’t planned to but I got caught up in the moment. Ken and I were interviewing a naturalist from the Butterfly Conservancy of Cambridge about their Chocolate Bugfeast that’s on this week. Ken chomped on some chocolate-covered critters and I decided to join in. Â …
The “progressive” part of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives was removed from their name on the weekend. What a mess. The Liberals were the real winners of the PC leadership debacle that elected Doug Ford. …
A Ford, A Woman and a Tulip Read More »
A report last week claims the federal Heritage Ministry is considering a bailout for Canada’s newspaper industry. While the struggling middle-class in that industry attempts to keep its jobs, our Liberal government might reward the CEOs for their greed and self-preservation on the backs of employees. I hope it’s not so. …
It’s possible that I’m falling out of love with my first love: media. Okay, you got me. My first love was Donny Osmond but that was unrequited so it doesn’t count. Media has mostly loved me back even when I thought I was unlovable. Media has kept me guessing, engaged, interested and energized. And it’s not even media’s fault that my feelings are changing. It’s the fault of its wild child, social media. …
Love’s Labour’s Lost Read More »
Changing the lyrics to O Canada to “of us” from “thy sons” set social media on fire. Here’s a sampling of comments from the CJBK Facebook page. …
Someone in authority recently called me “old school” as high praise because in the old school we put in extra effort and we put on our game faces when we needed to. We followed policy and didn’t make a scene – often to our detriment. Old school wasn’t necessarily the better school, to be sure. …
Caught Between Two Schools Read More »
We spent some time sorting stuff in the basement last weekend, after the temperature plummeted to -22C after hitting 9C the day before. Bins of papers from The World of Motorcycles Expo are stacked floor to ceiling. As suspected, not all of them have to be kept. …
Throwback Thursday – Biker Buddies Read More »
I’ve written and set aside at least a half-dozen columns about the #metoo movement. Most of what’s worth saying has already been said. Then I considered my own experiences and realized I had an unusual one, long ago, that might serve as a cautionary tale. It became my final column before Our London closed its pages for good. I was also invited to talk about it this week on News 95.7 in Halifax. …
Judge With Caution Read More »