I dont believe it!

This man Garcia contiues his fairytale replacement of Donovan McNabb, with a christmas day victory, best christmas ever...

Christmas ends at 4.59pm

Apologies to Deadspin for pinching a quote from their excellent site, but the biggest story here is that at 5pm Philadelphia take on Dallas live on MY tv, for MY entertainment so that I dont have to watch National lampoons christmas vaccation for a third time....

Blogging instead of cooking

In case you were wondering, and I Know some of you are, we are having the tofurkey again with a medley of seasonal vegetables and herbs, oh and some sparkling wine!
We have cream, chocolate , liquor chocolates, a chocolate orange, and baileys for dessert (around about midnight).
Whilst my other half was talking to the family back in Ireland with a excellent video link over the computer, I went for a run! About a mile and a half, it is christmas.
Peaceful times to all those back in England, Ireland, Hungary , Northern Ireland, Portugal, New Zealand, and those travelling between them!

Dancing in PJ`s

It is traditional at this time of year, well in a week or so, to pledge to get fitter in the new year .
This year I have the jump on the usual pre christmas binging, and have already started( several months ago) to turn the clock back -it`s a form of time travel!
Back in Leeds a friend and I made regular trips to the gym , where we lifted very heavy weights and did virtually no cardio. As a result my bench press rose to a one time record of 98Kg. Since comming to Canada that dropped off , perhaps due to having to convert it to pounds, its about 218lbs I think. Well THIS Year will be different, I am going to finally take up a martial art.
I always fancied Kendo, you know with the ornate face mask and huge bamboo sword, I don`t know what that says about me; karate especially the Bruce Lee Wing chung style was something I grew up watching; I have done some Tai chi!
Down the street is a Ninja school, every new member gets a suit belt AND a full HOOD (scared the life out of me even in a window display).
Above is Ju jitsu, I have been told that this is a broad style which may even have some practical uses, I have the opportunity to join a convenient club ( experience tells me convenience is the way to go) so after today we have christmas day then a few days before a decision eary in January, merry christmas one and all, or as they say here happy holidays...........

Baiji

" Functionally extinct", a six week trawl of the Yangtze river by a team of 30 scientists, has turned up not one of these river dolphins.
They agree that it is possible that one or two may have been out, or at the shops, during the extensive sonar search, however a population of 20-25 would be needed to have a chance of survival.
Back in 1997 they found 13, today none....

Embarrassing facts of life

Yonge street December 2005. It was very cold, very windy, and and as a new arrival fresh from the old country absolutely Great.

All the traffic was forcibly slowed and the citizens walked the streets with smiles on their faces ( may have been grimaces).

Last night as I rode my bicycle to work, a small spaceship was doing donuts on a local tennis court.

At second glance it was a Zamboni ice cleaning vehicle creating an ice rink,

they must plug them in or something as it was a balmy plus 6C.

I sighted several more rinks around town during the shift and it looked great fun, although I only know it as painful!

Toronto has no snow, and its warm, the numbers are in for the UK and it`s going to be another record year for temperatures, Lapland has no snow!

In an article in the Independent newspaper today a father talks of his son`s visit to Santa`s Hood, only to get mired in slush, "I had to have a little talk with him about global warming!"

Transport Services published a small paper and added it to the junk mail in our letterbox. The main priority is to keep main roads and expressways clear for emergency and transit vehicles.

" If 5cm of snow has already fallen and it is continuing to snow, ploughs are sent out to these roads. If 5-8cm of snow has fallen, ploughs are also sent out to collector roads, bus routes or residential streets with hills."

It goes on to advise waiting for 24 hours after snow has stopped falling, before ringing them to moan about your street, and if you live downtown with it`s narrow twisted boulevards, you can forget it!

My snow shovel is on standby.......

Mr Benn is at it again

I wanted this bigger, must be a way of doing that.

Anyway its Mr Benn, walking, probably down Festive road, perhaps he`s going for a pint, or a cup of tea or something....

not fluffed up!

Just had to put this photo up to illustrate that when we get a dog next summer we will be getting a BIG one, or at least a very scary medium sized one with the ability to "fluff up" a bit when alarmed.
It looks heavy that`s a sizeable bin it has removed the security rock from. I watched it climb our tree with ease. Unlike our neighbours we have no first floor balcony outside the bedroom, ther is a reason for that...

We have movement!

So I am reading an article on how there may be water on Mars, and it states that water may have flowed in the last seven years!
Now naturally we look for the typographic error , only to find that there isn`t one!
A comparison of photographs taken recently and in 1999, appear to show drainage patterns down a slope.
The argument about whether this is a dry dust movement or liquid will rage, but I am backing Professor Pillinger on this one, because he is mad enough to be right!
http://citizen146.blogspot.com/2006/08/brits-are-comming.html

tony & george search for an exit strategy

The UK has four of these, we only need four because they are crammed to the gunwales with TRIDENT nuclear missiles.
I know gunwales does does not apply to submarines, I just like the sound.
I thought I had misread the paper were tony blair has just decided to state that the UK needs a NEW nuclear missile program independent of the US.
This seems like madness on so many levels. The old ones have never been used and are probably fine. New ones will cost hundreds of billions and also will not be used. The nuclear non proliferation treaty still exists.
By far the worst is the possibility that our "special relationship'" with george will be ruined!
Suggesting that we wont play with him anymore , will leave us looking for a new best friend country.
The French are out for obvious reason that they hate us, ditto the Germans, the Irish are not reknowned for the military might, anyway they hate us, perhaps Norway, Spain?
Looks like tony may have to appologise to the Australians for sending them out there, and hope that aeroplane technology reduces International travel times by" a lot".
tony wants not to be thought of as that moron whom bullied his cabinet over weapons of mass destruction and followed george to Iraq, george and his new defence minister wants out of the same. Tony has bullied the cabinet again, THEY have to be held responsible THIS TIME!
Both men are headed to the golf course for the next thirty years.
speechless......

season saved, da dah!

So here it is , an interception in the end zone ( its like the defender clearing off the line for those in blighty) in the dying seconds, clinches victory and leaves a season of 6 wins and 6 losses with 4 games to go. To guarantee a place in the play offs we have to win them all, un morceau de gateau as they say in Leeds...

The great Pyramid at Giza

Built by Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops) in BC2575, visited by me in AD2002.
We have also visited Newgrange
in Country Meath, Ireland, which is older than this AND Stonehenge.
Anyway it snowed last night as I was cycling home. The Army/Navy football game is on tv, and I need to get a haircut. The centre for advanced sarcasm http://centerforadvancedsarcasm.blogspot.com/ has a good video clip under title "white people, what is up with us?" Found Top Gear and the nun in a monster truck video clip http://www.topgear.com/content/timetoburn/sections/videos/15/broadband.html

April 7th 1348

This is Charles University in Praha (Prague), said to be the oldest in Europe.
A year later The Plague arrived in England via a Dorset port, and proceeded to remove large numbers of the population.
A repeating tale through most of western Europe between 1347-1351, estimated to have killed one third of the population. I started thinking of the 75 million or so believed to have died after having an odd conversation with a nurse. Obviously just returned from a important meeting re the war on flu pandemics. She wondered what I was doing to prepare for Avian flu?
Nothing , with less interest, was probably not the response she was expecting. The SARS history of Toronto has made this the centre of alcohol gel and and huge precautions for for MRSA in the emergency room, which weaken considerably before the patients are returned to their retirement castles, which seem designed to pass these things around.
People get ill and die despite the best advances of modern medicine.

Our coach tries something new

The Eagles are not living well, prime time football saw them stuffed, I heard the end of the game on the radio , perhaps it was worse without pictures?
Deadspin http://www.deadspin.com/ had an interesting video clip and picture of our new Hope at quaterback.

Death of skating?

Here in Southern Ontario winters are getting warmer, is that not true everywhere? Last winter was our first in Canada, and bitterly cold in the way that only Newcastle or Aberdeen can seem when you are very ill and inappropriately dressed.

It was apparently terribly mild and the locals said, as locals do, that it was nothing compared to the big freeze of..(pick a year).

Statistics Canada agrees, and the skating nuts of which there are many are bemoaning the fact that it is now not cold enough for skating. Last winter many of Toronto`s outdoor rinks oppened then closed again in unseemly haste as the ice melted, several did not open at all.

This season officially begins on Dec.9th, which the parks dept. has determined is the optimum day for outdoor skating(though later than normal), time will tell if the weather agrees with the scientists in the employ of Toronto`s parks dept.

Ornamental lakes in the parks are also fair game for skating, and crucially are FREE, instead of very expensive and time controlled! In a good year you can skate all day in huge open spaces and the very best of Canada can be seen -apparently! It sounds great , but as a none skater will just have to watch, which is also fun. The parks dept. is moving towards artificially cooling the ice indoors or out and the cost to the punter and planet goes up.

Interestingly I read that the outdoor (artificial) rinks that I experienced for the last few years in Leeds are booming all over the notoriously mild and wet UK. If there is one thing you know as an ex-pat, it is that the UK is very mild , has very crowded and narrow roads clogged with people driving stick and drinking tea.....

Giving thanks for something

Stuck in a cycle of night shifts. Last night was my last night "asleep" before going back onto the nightshift.
I went to bed at 1am and shortly before 6am got up having not slept at ALL!
For the last hour and a half have been wandering the ether, checking out the regular sights and branching off into weirdness, wasn`t that normal to start with. http://skookumjoe.blogspot.com/ http://foljy.blogspot.com/
http://sandrascanadablog.blogspot.com/ http://triplecrankset.blogspot.com/ http://centerforadvancedsarcasm.blogspot.com/ http://www.deadspin.com/
For a 24 hour house the temp is "just right" if you happen to be up and about at any hour! Back in Leeds it was painful getting out of bed for the early shift for most of the year.
It is sub zero outside, and great in here, I justify the pleasantness because 1.The thermostat is fairly efficient, and 2. We dont have air con and therefore spent no money on cooling the house during the summer.
I have a rental car booked for today, two and a half hours away. They owe me a free rental and we need some serious bulk shopping, plus a once only christmas shop.
Not partaking in the two cars per household race can be fun when you WALK to the shops to do LOCAL gift buying and don`t get a parking ticket.
The rental place oppened half an hour ago , and if I dont start feeling tired soon , will have to take it, then immediately feel dreadful all day until it is time to go to work at 6pm!
If I call them to cancel will just feel bad for wasting the rest of the day trying to sleep.
Today is Thanksgiving in the states , I noticed this by the fact that Spiderman is on the TV tonight and that everyother article on MSN has a turkey in it. I believe spiders are traditionally chased away by turkeys for which everybody gives thanks. Canada is too cold for Turkeys which explains why we had Thanksgiving here about a month ago!
We are officially in the holiday season, as marked by staff christmas parties. In my soon to be ex company, you have to pay upfront, and get the money back if/when you arrive, having not got a better offer on a saturday night shortly before christmas.
This is a new policy this year after last years great time/disaster WITH THE FREE BAR.
Needless to say I shall not be going to sit down for a meal with people I will only nod to if there is no hedge to dive behind.
Time to decide what to do, another cup of tea first, just had a lovely batch arrive as a gift in the mail from an expensive shop in London. Usually have to say London England, as there is a smaller version here , it even has a Lambeth at the correct point of the compass
the early townspeople were either very homesick or lacking in imagination.
Cup of tea and mail to steve I think.............

flooded cathedral..

Lots of things to talk about, late at night , whilst I can`t sleep, currently night shifts over long weekends and off during the week.
Missing the gym, but got out to see "Borat"-highly recommended.
Christmas in Toronto is pretty good lots of lights downtown but no strings of holly/elves / snowmen/santas, just ice blue and white, soom nice reds(must take the camera out).
Having a blogging block so resorted to Soul Reaver2 for an hour and despite having done this level in the UK , am stuck in the flooded cathedral again!
Ask (instead of googling) for a walkthrough and take some five year olds advice and we are in the swamp, as far as I ever got-hurrah,off to watch the Colbert report......................

Happiness is playing Bingo.

Been talking to several people recently re Consumerism, the Media and how it`s all going to hell.
Popular themes for the internet to be sure.
How I know that the conspiracy theorists have it right.
1. THIS http://beprepared.com/Default.asp?
2. My television here in Toronto is running adds with the jingle 'Happiness is playing BINGO"
3. The American`s have their first Muslim Senator, a fellow Senator asked him to prove he was not part of a sleeper cell out to destroy America!
4. OJ has a book out saying how he did it and adding" hypothetically of course."
5. The above book is being pushed by FOX tv in a two part special.
6. The war in Iraq can still be ended with a handover of power to the local police says a senior army General.
7. Global warming still nothing to worry about, a Toronto Zoo Polar Bear dies of WEST NILE DISEASE.
8. Canada votes to extend "detain without trial" laws for another two years, for parties suspected of links to terrorism.
9. For my NEXT "Leaf Blower" why not upgrade to the Leaf Blower 2007 models?
10. The new Al Jazeera tv may be "hard to get" due to US pressure to have only High quality TV with integrity available to its citizens, plus they dont want any lies broadcast.
There are of course hundreds more reasons, but perhaps Alan Partridge summed it up well , this country ........http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/partridge/...............................................

Freeze dried verses crushed!

Quick point, my famous bee-shot( many/most of these blog shots are not my photos, this one is)!
Last night`s paper had a review of a Candian Science Journal, and work done on bees.
I could point out that in my youth I dabbled as a lab scientist, not the kind in CSI , more the crazed lunatic model.
Thus my interest in real scientists( and I know a few) and their work.
The Lab Boys ( probably women) looked at the reaction of real bees and artificial flowers with nectar added.
To half they attatched freeze dried bees ( to simulate real ones but without the hassle of them f****ng off), and to the other half crushed bees ( to simulate bees killed in situ by predator spiders).
The bees went 5 to 1 to the freeze dried bees , and it is suggested that this is because they recognize hazzardous situations, and prefer non hazzardous competition.
Anyway I found it interesting and if you didnt , well , you can all just.. ,...... perhaps my wife is right.

Brave New world

Finished a run of quiet night shifts, decent conversations with a kindred spirit, coffee, and the radio sans advertissements.
My friend has no car either and no plans to get one, I feel I can rent , drive them hard and return them covered in mud( and because this is downtown -salt).
Toronto resembles a beach for much of the winter.
The Argonauts lost the semi final of the Canadian football whilst I slept, I got up to snatch a quick peak at The Eagles hanging on to their season, then went out to shop then on to work.
The radio had a live phone -in on time travel with an astro physics professor, several people rang in from Ohio to discuss their plans and half-built devices.
I developed a sudden urge to buy a 35mm camera and build a dark room here in the basement, had some more coffee.
The paper had the great quote from Donald Rumsfeld on "Unknowns" both known and unknown , and a good article ( re saddam) on hanging and how Canada was quite keen right up until 1962.
Returned home by fast bicycle( wind in the correct orientation), visited a few blogs I like including this http://triplecrankset.blogspot.com/2006/11/grannys-wayback-machineapproaching.html with a great video from the eighties and certainly the golden age of commentary a young Phil Ligget on the Tour de France courtesy of you tube.
At work I bumped into a Bulgarian Doctor, whom proceeded to demonstrate his skill at a form of Bulgarian wrestling on my colleague. He really was quite impressive in his balance and strength, and a discussion on the various forms of effective martial arts ensued ( I used to be a big fan of televised sumo wrestling( watch american football and the essentially sumo beauty comes screaming out).
I intend to take up a martial art next year and am open to suggestions!
We also stopped off at a drum shop and remembered that I keep threatening to buy a Bhodran as well as a violin.
Lots of plans, no car , music , martial arts, new job, more internet exploration, Brave New world indeed , ps "Run lola run' meant to be a great film , Anyone seen it? ......................

stopped looking!

After days of ringing round insurance companies, finding a good one and comparing cars then going to the dealers and shopping.... The insurers admit to an error in their calculations and it is now Hideously expensive to get insurance as a new immigrant.. back to more green ways of travelling, buses trains and hitching.........

Bison

Just a quick note, spotted in a free copy of the Globe and Mail (it came with a free orange which I declined then regretted).
re earlier Bison blog , there are approx 8,000 in captivity , a major improvement on the turn of last century. Better than that they are moving on in vitro fertilization and are a looking for a suitable herd to inseminate ( phone in if you know of such). TB & Brucellosis are rampant and producing still births and respiratory problems.

Still looking for a car

Lots of cool cars around, but as an immigrant the Insurance companies feel morally obliged to kick me repeatedly.
Have to play a waiting game for a proper car, and until one of THEM wants something from me.
Not withstanding 22 years of driving , manual gearboxes, (double declutching on one driving course), small roads, lots of people, emergency service training, I score a "1" on the insurance company scale!
It matters not how far the scale goes, "1" is not good,( it goes up to 9).
If had gone all the way to grade 12, and been one of the 70% whom finish high school, taken my junior test aged 16, still at school, and upgraded over two years to a full "g " class licence, I would be in the same position(with more hair and acne)!
Come the revolution....
Still at least they didn`t make me take a driving test, about 4 years ago they were still insisting on that, rumour has it that Northern Ireland still gets treated like C**P.
If they would only let me vote...
The car I buy will therefore be dictated by what the Canadian insurance industry thinks is safe, strangely this appears not to be as bad as at home! In the UK I would be on for a SMART car or something similar with 800cc of power , NOT HERE.
Apparently it is all about the number of accidents, and crucially injuries and deaths ( and therefore cost) reported per model, a hummvee may not be out of the question, desperately safe and very slow..
all is not lost...................

immigrant by numbers

A few days ago the numbers came out for the 2005 immigration wave, the one we were part of!
Appart from ourselves , there were 5,863 other people from the UK ( not withstanding that my better half is Irish).
The Uk reached no 7. in the top ten countries, previously we were outside the "big ten", so I suppose that is an improvement.
The top ten nations provided 144,447 out of a total of 262,236 for the year!
Canada like most countries plays around with its immigrant numbers in various classes to appear to be fair to everyone and to quote at election time.
Obviously most rich nations take cases of asylum, which is as it should be, family members, skilled workers( us apparently), entrepeneurs, and famous people, all in varying numbers.
There do not appear to be readily available statistics for those whom have emigrated from Canada.
Some things I know: It is not that easy to get in as a skilled worker from the UK, I had to sit exams in English as well as French!
I had to demonstrate a long work history and reach a reasonable education level.
I had to chop down several trees to provide all the documentation.
I am glad to be here.
I cannot vote until I am a citizen which will take three years, unless I join the army in which case that may get accelerated .
I may be eligible to join the army soon if Canada raises the max entry age from 35 to 42 which the US is considering doing shortly.
China provided the most people at 42,291, (will have to try to learn chinese at some level).
India was in second place at 33,146.( I already know a few words in Urdu).
US was No.5 with 9,262 ( my American English is fine).
France was No.10 with 5,430 ( still working on it).
Over 100,000 came from Elsewere.
Car insurance sucks, later.................

bullet quote

Just been looking at this blog, which apparently has won awards and talks about sport or sports as it is called on this side of the atlantic. If you dont like sport give it a look anyway, there is something for everyonehttp://www.deadspin.com/sports/soccer/today-in-the-premiership-212468.php I loved the bullet quote!

North American Bison September 2003

Once 30 million strong now down to a few thousands in reserves around the world.
This one ranges the plains of Toronto zoo, and is seen here exiting stage left for some shade perhaps?
The zoo had two Polar Bears, one of which has recently died of suspected West Nile Virus a disease common to all US states and provinces in Canada since its first detection in 1999.
During the summer months Toronto issues warnings about removing standing water from properties, in an effort to reduce mosquito numbers and therefore control the disease carriers. Global warming is blamed for the presence of increased numbers of mosquitos in Canada. The near extinct status of the Bison was not due to global warming, the Polar Bear was unlucky to be in captivity.
We spent an enjoyable day at the zoo until comming to the Bears and Big cats etc. The Tiger was not happy, most of the patrons were eating and bored, the zoo has a questionable role in society despite some excellent research on species preservation.
The case for keeping the public out, and allowing more time for researchers to attempt captive breeding in much larger habitats , falls down when you ask were the money will come from?

Pesky Climate

Geographical naievity plus days on a bus led to being under prepared for a snow storm in Northern India 2003.
In the foothills of the Himalayas (it seems obvious now) lies Shimla, where once the British govenment types went to escape the heat whilst clinging to the notion of Empire.
They get snow like the British get snow, infrequent and wet!
Here in canada we get slightly more and it hangs around in great bull-dozed piles into the spring.
Do I have a point?
oh yes Tony Blair has hired Al Gore to advise the British government on climate change.
As said before this is probably political expediency, but it cannot hurt, unless you count the thousands of PROPER scientists whom have been warning of climate change for generations but were not in any way famous.....

Climate looks fine in New Zealand!

Wanted to write something about climate change having heard the politicians setting ambitious targets for Canada by 2050!

With elections galore in Canada and the Uk in political turmoil, an unseemly scrambling is occuring to suggest that green politics has a place at the core of every politician. They appear caring, statesman like, and( particularly in Canada) as if they are playing on the global stage. The North Americans 300 million in the US, and 30 million here in Canada, know that if they could just persuade India and China to stop delvelopment everything would be FINE.

Canada is desperate to develop an International image after several polls found that it didn`t have one, aside from lumberjacks and bears. The environment would appear to be perfect. As one of the least densley populated countries on the planet, the second largest by area, 10% of the worlds fresh water-we have it made!

Unfortunately, are politicians are even worse at prevaricating than most, perhaps reflecting a population that is making a huge thing out of Halloween and "Canadian Idol" and doesnt want to be bothered by voting...

What the f**K

Ok, not been at the blog since reading a great article in Macleans about the internet being a total waste of time.
Actually I have been very busy, but if I may sum up...... 95% is 'Adult content" the rest is the daily diet we get on tv, the top ten google searches being about pop stars, somebodies wedding night video, Manchester United and a basketball rapper.
The rest is peoples` uninteresting blogs about the daily grind and how they hate Mondays ( I have every Monday off in November).
NOW , whilst I don`t doubt that blogs are written in an attempt to gather witty comments from all over the globe from like-minded individuals, many are written "just because".
The internet can be a fascinating place at the blog level. Whilst so many servers and on-line journalists and wanabe journalists, repeat the same news stories from around the globe, many bloggers, wikipedia people ,and the like are putting their tiny pieces of the jigsaw out there.
Surf the net, go out and add your own specialist knowledge/theories, see what happens.
I downloaded a picture of Niagara falls for a fascinating blog on eating sandwiches and reading the paper whilst on a work break at one of the most beautiful natural wonders on the planet, ....and I got this,
I think it is either a nanobot or a new species of err, something...............

Citizen Smith

This archive image from promotional material published by the Tooting popular front early eighties .
Walking past the subway early today, was stopped by a man handing out leaflets on behalf of Mr Che, whom is running for the city council.
Mr Chen appeared out of left field and shook my hand. I told him that Iwas an immigrant and therefore could not vote, he said"I am an immigrant too" and moved on to kiss a baby .
He had not really addressed my issues which are that as a landed immigrant and not a Canadian citizen I am unable to vote. I own property, live, and pay taxes in this city, not enough.
Until 1988, being British was enough, now perhaps because there is an election for Mayor going on there are rumours of a change?
This brings up the whole citizen thing.
Citizens born in Canada do not have to swear alleigance to the queen.
Citizens born in the Uk do not have to swear alleigance to the queen.
To be a Canadian Citizen I have to wait for three years, apply, memorise the names of a lot of hockey players, swell as the national anthem, and then swear alleigance to the queen!
Swearing alleigance to Canada would be so much easier for all of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants whom chose to come to Canada.
The Australians keep having votes to become a republic and staying the same, perhaps the Canadians are saving themselves the trouble and expense, but why not let all your citizens vote?
I for one am desperately keen to have my say on the issue of storm water runoff and the implications for the number of new car parks created this fiscal year, I fear that in three years time people may have moved on......

Kayak

Queued to get into the basement parking area of the Mountain equipment coop for its bi-annual sale.
My friend bought a boat, well a kayak, as opposed to a canoe. There was lots of good advice on how to carry the 60lb weight(over the shoulder with the cockpit facing in and the nose down) how to pack in camping gear, and the best way of getting it safely on to the roof of the car!
How we laughed, ......to be fare to the staff member he didn't laugh when my friend said he doesn't have a car, and anyway wants to tow it from the back of his bicycle on principle.
At fifteen feet long everyone was impressed when it went into a second floor appartment without a crane ( we borrowed a car to get it home..just this one time).
When the trailor gets built , it should be a cinch to get my longboard on as well, Lake Ontario here we come....

life in the city

Starting to get cold again, busy sweeping leaves off the deck. New job offered it`s final hurdle today in the form of a medical, five stops on the subway( could have walked but was wearing the suit).
Small office in the basement of the shopping mall, I am the only one in a suit (never can over- dress, unless its` a particularly rough bar), we all look nervous as today we find out if we are blind ,deaf , or just not up to the mark. I pass with an unexplained hearing loss in one ear, and an unexplained excellent result on the vision front.
My current job now has seven weeks or so before I tell them where to go, it has not been fun, but concentrating on taking their money and drifting through the day has helped! I mastered this in my last post and wonder if they noticed?
Been to busy to blog recently, though have noticed that two cricketers have gone down to NANDROLONE, they must put it in everything these days.
Tomorrow am due to get up early and accompany a friend to buy a Kayak, hit the gym, watch some football, all around the Canadians continue to celebrate Halloween, someone should get them a calandar...

helicopters f***ing expensive.

Was reading this excellent blog the other day when the issue of military helicopters came up(it always seems to come up doesn't it)? joe.

The Aussies are forced into taking second- hand US ones and the British have been told the cannot have any at all!

Its amazing how few helicopters (& ships) actually exist. At any given point every military, Aid and NGO agency is flying around in somebody else's aircraft. It is of course COST. AK 47's are cheap, Sea King helicopters are not.

The photo was taken when a colleague and I managed to blag our way onto a Military search and Rescue helicopter for the day.

It was a fantastic day flying on one of the TWO aircraft in the unit, they were both around 30 years old at the time and this was 8 years ago! It had crashed and been repaired, something that doesn`t happen with pc`s tv`s or pretty much anything these days.

Several years ago, the issue of cost arose in the purchase of several new Chieftan tanks by the UK military. Essentially they go about 50mph ANYWHERE with a crew of 4. It was pointed out that for the same money as one tank, they could purchase 625 Fiat Panda 4x4's. These small cars could hold 2 crew and go ALMOST ANYWHERE faster than the tank.

Moving on.. back to the future

Back when shirts and ties were the order of the day, before squad suits then polo shirts , when we all had faith in the future, I started a job as a trainee Paramedic.
that's me on the far left, coincidentally as far as possible from a group of senior management ( if you look very closely you can see the dream of sitting behind a desk glinting in their eyes)
Several years later I have the chance to do it all again, another uniform, another training facility, another country.

Racing them

During the life of the horizontally opposed flat four, we went to "BUG Jam 2000" (BUG Jam 1999 sounding like a sci fi series, and Bug Jam 2001-so yesterday).
Held at Santa Pod international Drag circuit in the UK.
We rolled south out of Leeds joining other bugs on the M1, before queuing for hours in the country lanes.
A night spent in the tent no more than 3 feet from our neighbours and ten feet from a mobile DJ passed all too slowly but in the morning we were good to go!
Exactly like car heaven I didn't know what to see first which was how I came not to sign up for the drag racing. You had to be 14 years and have long sleeves, and sign a waiver for the usual death problem. The long sleeves is a British Motor sport archaic rule, ok to be smashed to pieces, but lets not get those arms cut!
The cars and vans lined up in matched pairs (there were professional VW racing beetles in attendance) and ran the quater of a mile in around 25 secs! I know 3 or 4 is the norm for the tv dragsters but this is the real world!
The racing beetles went about 12 secs, they ran a few Golf Gti's all modern and quick with their skirts, big exhausts, and baseball cap wearing slackers, best did around 18!
I believe their are street racing clubs for VW`s in California, here in Toronto we are plagued with illegal street racing and they haven't even the decency to drive cool cars .
So todays message, if there is one is, if you are going to do something dangerous, stupid or both do it in style. The world will forgive you, and if not, hey you still look cool......

Cool cars!

No explanation needed, its a `73 (Good year!) , not mine but had a fun time driving it around.
Can I just say that those people whom bother to spend all their time and money on such things need a "tip of the hat" from the rest of us for brightening the day...

Circus of the damned?

Let me just say that this is not my idea, but that I am intrigued, AND, since I work with the people creating this project, and they are great people, I thought I would use this blog (which has a readership in excess of myself) to publish a picture or their flyer.
According to the accompanying script it features an evil clown amongst others , is there any other kind? So I will leave my better half at home !
I don't really blog about my work, as to do so honestly would lead to "problems", suffice to say it is a big company with a miriad of interesting employees, two of whom do this when not in the 9-5 grind, will go and check it out.........

la voiture

So this looked like a great car, so at the appropriate age I traded MONEY for a horizontally opposed flat four, a `73 vw "bug" which in the proper tradition of great cars made me weep on walking away!
Oxygen, water, and salt, combined to to make me cry rivers at the welding bills, and we had it shot.
Weeks turned into months, and the golf GTi was so special I have no photographs!
On the day it was stolen I had porridge for breakfast and had a so- so shift in the EMS business.
Months passed, we bought a 214i Rover, drove it to Portugal and back-FAST, no photographs.
We arrived in Canada, the place is crawling with AWESOME RIDES in the summer and 4x4s and wind tunnel boxes for the rest of the year. What to do ?.......... Back to the days when LOOKS WERE ALL, for the record I think I remember a late 60`s Morris Minor, also a Ford Escort of the same period, (you had to bring your own air-bags) I was better looking as well ,mid- life crisis..........

Catching waves in downtown Toronto.

Back to my second love, we took a trip to New York City. It took ten and a half hours, and a further 60 minutes to here LONG ISLAND, the nearest surf to the downtown core of Toronto!
There were lots of surfers out and as soon as I change jobs and get some four day weekends and a VERY economical carhttp://citizen146.blogspot.com/2006/10/why-dont-i-just-get-decent-car.html I should be set! It seemed warmer in New York state, the sea was definitely warmer than Lake ontario, all I need is a surfing buddy. Those I left behind in the UK have an arduous two hour drive to Scarborough and some quality waves. I wonder if any New Yorkers need a British surfer to to make them look good ?

why dont I just get a Decent car?

Since arriving in Toronto we have been "existing" very nicely thank-you very much on infrequent diet of hire cars from the local Budget.

In order to pick up large quantities of Wine from our local supplier/to shop at all the supermarkets(field testing them)/or just to get out and see the sights, they have been invaluable. It is hard to go to the supermarket on the subway.

My work situation may change shortly and a residential course is part of the deal, I have been dreaming of cars, our current rental is a Ford 4x4 with a "full leather package" and heated seats, honestly it was all they had left at the back of the shop, will it be our last ever rental?

Above is a Pontiac Parisienne, there is some debate on the spelling. I drove past one whist working and as usual had not got a camera with me. This one was matt black due to the sun/salt and had cracked and dirty red leather interior, it was gorgeous.......

I was just walking the dog...

This scientist(?) looks pleased!

I dont need to say that she has a Coelacanth, though it doesn't look very lively, rediscovered in 1938 after being thought to be extinct for 80 million years.

It is good to get some good news wrt the planet, so I was dragged in by an article in the Toronto Star about animals that had been written off, only to annoy all the experts by being re-discovered by someone walking their dog.

As recently as 2004 High range dwarf Cattle have been rediscoveredin India. -its a big country.

Likewise Slater's Skink in Australia in the same year. A year earlier the NZ Storm Petrel blew back in, two years after that the Laotian Rock Rat believed extict for 11 million years "was first seen by a western scientist" -the Eastern scientists are marginalised in the Western press.

There is still a Asian Grey whale rediscovered in 1973 and living in Russian waters- nowhere is very far from Japan and their "Scientific" whaling, so the jury is still out on that one.

Anyway latch on to nature's bloody minded resilience, rejoice in every Tiger that bites off the arm of its tormentor at the zoo, and know that just outside your town there is wildlife that doesn't care whether you like it or not, and may just kill you if the 4x4 runs out of juice...

Waves!!!!

Been in the land of far too many flags for five days (can you guess where it is)?
The weather was perfect but so was the surf, yep a mere 11 an one half hours away , people are waxing down their boards, getting ice cream headaches, bruises, heads full of sea water.
Back to work, but now I know what I am saving for, and on this beautiful Autumn day inToronto life is good.........
ps anyone surfed in New Brunswick? I think it is an hour or so closer

Hockey? not today thank you!

So, we pay $50 for the cheapest seats (five times the price for the Canadian football-and they were better seats) to watch a dreadful contest in which Toronto lose 4-o!

The highlight of the game was each of the three fights, for the crowd that is.
They stopped talking on the phone, reading, eating, and walking around the venue, to cheer three pantomime fights which would embarass WWF
The referees were complicit, like the WWF, but at this pre season stage they forgot to bring the beer bottles and chairs with which to supply the combatants.
It seemed so much more of a night on the town (everyone texting eachother and generally being trashy) than a sporting contest.
I shall stick to a proper sport and save myself the embarassment of hearing "go leafs go" again.

Subliminal education

In order to surf the net, I have to be doing something else, so as not to appear frivolous .
I listen to http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/brainofbritain/ for some unbelievably obscure facts that seem to defy the title general knowledge , mixed in with things I know to make me feel intelligent!
some of this stuff sticks!
The quiz itself has four contestants whom are all obliged to come up with an answer if the first contestant doesnt know the answer, so they guess a lot!

Canadian sports

Going to see my first ever (ice) hockey game on Monday.
As a resident Canadian this is probably overdue, and we are getting dragged there by some tourist friends from home!
Watched it over many years as an olympic sport though am still hazy on the rules, though know they are different at the olympics, and the pitch is bigger?
As a huge american football fan ,went to the Rogers dome for a CFL game last week. Whilst the game quality was unusually poor, the setting was fantastic and at $9.99 a great day out even if you dont like football.
I gather the hockey may cost more than $9.99.
I like to tell people I have an open mind, but the one thing I tune out at football is the endless advertising, the annoying music , the random announcements. I am hoping none of these things are are a feature of hockey.
If you are sat next to me watching "the leafs" on Monday 18th at the air Canada centre, feel free to enlighten me on the rules as well as why THIS is going to be their year.

"oh dear"

Whilst the case of Floyd Landis rumbles on with his complete denial of taking Testosterone, and Justin Gaitlin has accepted that he had Testoterone (or a derivative) in his system, accepted a ban , but completely denied taking anything , along comes Marion Jones.
Marion Jones was found guilty of taking EPO ,with the usual leaking of the "A" result to the internet, Unfortunately her "B" sample was NOT positive.
So, despite having been married to an athlete convicted of doping , and long suspected, she is innocent!
Are the "Lab boys" letting us down, is it the CIA, or should we listen to the golfers and police ourselves?