Chris Mulligan Band Debut Gig

OK. By way of preamble, let me say, the next couple of postings will be mostly photos. I'm catching up on some things that have been happening in recent days. Regrettably, I am not necessarily able to be present for all these things, why? Cuz I'm cooped up in the Yoni School. For Wayward Poets.

Nurse Ratchet has only so many gears. Slow and stop. Sometimes when I ask real nice, she gives me the day pass, and the day passes without incident. Wherever that incident might be occurring. But sometimes Nurse Ratchet says "Whoa there, Mr. Keiler, buddy, what do you think this is? Hotel Yoni? Think you can waltz in and out whenever you feel like? Don't forget, this is incarceration! For Miss Phelonius Spelling. And you too! Sit back and do your time, meter and rhyme awright? And don't bother me so much."

Well, first of all, this ain't no incarceration. It's more like incineration, a conflagration of memorization, insanitization of the po-tic nation. Some days she gets me in that vice grip of hers. You know, she turns the little screw and it slowly squeezes until all the little vices floating around in my cranium begin to squirm and I just want to scream, "All right already! I promise I'll conform. I'll perform. I'll reform. I'll bee the speling bee champ for you. VICE! V. I. S. E! VICE!"

And B: Nurse Ratchet, I don't waltz. I can't rhyme in 3/4 time. Four on the floor for me, see? That's the problem. I can't do that ther Yoni Waltz. It ain't no ballroom. It ain't no Johann Strauss Orchestra. It's the Wayward Poets wandering the halls, climbing the walls, kickin' in the stalls, catcalls and pratfalls. And I need to get out of it sometimes, just to be assured that sweet chaos still reigns in the po-tic jungles of Ontariario.

But a day pass is a pass for a day and some days there ain't no way to get a pass for a day. So I have to rely on outside sources, the primary one being HWSRN. He has the run of the roads. I, in my tiny cell flanked by cafetearias and nursetearias and roll-top desks filled with fountain pens and parchment (the tools used by true potes, not we ersatz versifiers) I at least have the run of the Internet, which is not forbidden to us because there are so many resources available to help us rehabilitate our bad language habits. (I've been ordered to stay away from the comments sections of political and news sites, though, because they're overwhelmed with bad grammar and execrable spelling. Sorry, political bloggers and columnists and Yahoonies, but when I see the level of illiteracy, rudity and downright stupidity in the peanut gallery of the Net, it is to weep.)

HWSRN obliges me, however, by providing snippets of outside life. Mostly related to him, of course. I cannot guilt him into starting his own bloody blog. Mine is too convenient for him, and I too desperate for legitimacy.

So. As my friend Veronica Goodheart is wont to say.

So.

Yesterday, HWSRN played the first gig with the Chris Mulligan Band (CMB). I mean, it was their first outing in public, an event called the Come Together Festival. This took place at a place called the Frontier Ghost Town, a rather sad-looking, bedraggled collection of ramshackle buildings and old cars and campsites a little ways outside of Durham Ontariario. Here are a couple of photos of the venue:






















HWSRN sez the pitchers make it look a whole lot purtier than it really wuz, but it had been raining all day and the pathways were a sea of mud. It's probably much nicer when the weather's good.

Too, bad, sez HWSRN, but there's no photo of the Saloon. Which is where all the bands were playing. There was a big tent set up outside, but the bad weather had forced everyone into the smaller venue. The Saloon, however, was comfortable in its own primitive way, and the saloonistas were rockin'.

So here are a few photos of the Chris Mulligan band. The members are:
Chris Mulligan - guitar
Mark Tonin - bass
Andrew Nowak - drums
HWSRN - keyboards

You can find out more about Chris Mulligan Band and hear some recently-recorded clips at Chris' MySpace page.

Kuan Yin Watches Over London Ontariario

A peaceful oasis of compassion at the Duc Quang Vietnamese Buddhist Centre on busy Hamilton Rd. in London, Ontariario. It seems to me, somehow, that not so long ago, this was a Spanish Catholic church or something like that, and the statue in the courtyard was the Virgin Mary. Plus ça change, eh?

The Brodhagen Eagle

Carved into the remains of a tree at the side of Perth Line 44, the entrance to John & Mary Van Bakel's place.

Spring in the Air...

Some photos of a morning in southern Ontariario. Just a few days after the heaviest snowfall of the winter, and just a couple weeks or so before spring...

Update on Caledonia

This past weekend a group of Caledonia residents and others staged a small protest outside the home of Julian Fantino, the chief of the Ontariario Provincial Police. Demanding answers for what they see as police inaction and uneven enforcement of the law.

Sometimes Canajun politics gets interesting.

Mr. Fantino wasn't home. He was in Caledonia.

Coincidence? We think not.

There was some controversy because politicians, including Gory Tory the Leader of the Tories, said it was improper to take your protest to a private home. My take on this is that it's fair game, since it's the residents' private homes and property values which have been devastated by the intransigence of politicians. Good on 'em, I say.

Not that it actually did much good on 'em.

The next day I got to hear both Mr. Fantino and the leader of the protest, Merlyn Kinrade, on a Steeltown radio station. They were interviewed separately. Mr. Fantino started off calmly, but as he warmed up, he warmed up, until by the end of the interview he was positively hot under the collar. (In passing, this is my experience with law enforcement people, or anyone accustomed to authority: they have a wonderful veneer of caring and reasonableness. But the veneer is thin. The merest breath of opposition is likely to arouse the urge to exert power.)

Mr. Kinrade, on the other hand, derided Mr. Fantino's remarks. Fantino had suggested that the protesters and others of their ilk needed to do better research. (My question: Research? What better research than actually living there? Mr. Fantino does not make a habit of living where he works. When he was chief of Hawgtown he lived not in Hawgtown but rather the safe white suburbs north, which is where he still lives.) Mr. Kinrade suggested he would let Fantino use one of his bedrooms for a week.

I'm coming across as critical of Fantino and the police. On balance, yes I am. But I truly understand Mr. Fantino's frustration. He repeated that it's not his job to solve the Caledonia problem. He and his forces are stuck in the middle. Clowns to the left of him, jokers to the right. (I leave you to decide which are which.) He also repeated that he has received no directives of a political nature at all. But I still don't believe him.

And his going to Caledonia when he knew that people were travelling to his home strikes me as typical of an arrogant copper who loves to be a smartass and knows he can get away with it cuz he's got a gun. He claims he's having dialogue with the Caledonians. True. Just not all of them.

Was Wiarton Willie Right?

As I stare out the velvet bars of my window here at the Yoni School for Wayward Poets, it is snowing...AGAIN! Mothercorp tells me it's the result of La Niña, the nasty sister of El Niño.

Whatever.

But get this. A few weeks ago, I was also staring out through the slats, and what did I see? This:



I don't ever recall seeing a cardinal in the snow, or hearing one on the first day of February. I've also heard mourning doves and a chickadee. On the more temperate days.

It's hard to believe now when it's snowing yet again. But maybe Wiarton Willie was right and we'll get an early spring.

Caledonia, Caledonia, What Makes Your Big Head So Hard?

Today is the second anniversary of the Six Nations native occupation of the Douglas Creek Estates in Caledonia, in good old Ontariario.

The second anniversary.

I haven't written about it previously. The world is full of occupations and disputes and land claims. Many of them bigger and more momentous. Israel, Palestine and Gaza. That's one big land claim isn't it?

But Caledonia is closer to home.

On Feb. 28/06, the members of the Six Nations took over a land development site called Douglas Creek Estates, on which building had already taken place, saying it was native land and it belonged to them. They blockaded the road, which was in fact, the main street of Caledonia and took over. The blockade caused major disruptions in the town of Caledonia, gave rise to protests by the local residents, and in some cases incited destruction of property and minor violence. Especially during the first year of the occupation, there was a great deal of tension. This abated somewhat after the blockade was finally removed, but other developments since then have ensured that the crisis is not yet past.

That's a little bit of background. If you want more, Google Douglas Creek Estates - Caledonia ON and you'll find that a little industry has grown up around this occupation.

So now we are into year 3. HWSRN just happened to be in Caledonia today, the actual day of the anniversary. He took some photos (from a distance, without getting out of his vehicle, because it is not a place that is inviting to people taking photos, unless you are big mainstream media, and sometimes not even then.)

The Caledonia occupation brings into stark relief all the problems Canada has had in dealing with aboriginals, land claims, and the reserve system. Overlapping jurisdictions exacerbate the problem. 200 year old treaties raise their hoary heads. Mohawk Warriors slip in and out of the territory relatively unimpeded. It's a mess. And the local residents suffer the consequences but don't have any of the power.

Ultimately, the Six Nations are claiming (based on a treaty of 1784) a huge swath of southern Ontario, six miles on either side of the Grand River, for its whole length, which they say was never legally ceded to the government of Canada. It was taken from them over the years by government fiat or shady dealings, anything but an honest trade.

And here's where the difficulty begins. Jurisdictional troubles. The aboriginal question is a federal responsibility. And successive federal governments, of any party you'd like to name, have managed to drag their feet when it comes to dealing with land claims. They seem to hope it will all just go away if they ignore it or prolong the agony.

It's not going to go away. The First Nations have, if not the highest, one of the highest birth rates in the country. (And there's an interesting anthropological study...)

As a result, the state of land claims by aboriginal groups in Canada is a disaster. There have been some successes, but the looming claims far outnumber those.

Furthermore, any action by aboriginal groups inevitably takes place within some province's territory. So the provincial governments have to become involved. This occurs mainly in the area of policing. And in Ontariario, policing of sites like the Caledonia occupation has become a thorny problem, because a native, Dudley George, was killed by provincial police in 1995 at a similar dispute in Ipperwash Ontariario. The current premier of Ontariario, Malton McGuilty was instrumental in setting up the public inquiry that excoriated the previous government's actions at Ipperwash. So, when it comes to Caledonia, he's walking on eggshells. The result is a lot of football tossing. Back and forth. Back and forth.

Many Canajuns I have talked to just want the governments to do something! On the other hand, their opinions about the Six Nations claims are quite divided. Everybody seems to agree, more or less, on the justice of their claims. The natives have begun to develop the idea that they are stewards of the earth. I think this is possibly just another version of the Noble Savage myth, perpetrated by the "Noble Savages" themselves. But the protesters clearly broke laws and have never been called to account for that. The OPP (Ontariario Provincial Police) has repeatedly failed in its duty to enforce the law, and there is not a citizen in the province who doesn't think the reason for that is political manipulation. Malton McGuilty is guilty. And the continued inaction (or, at the least, failure to make visible progress) is made worse by the fact that the Six Nations groups themselves appear unable to produce a united leadership.

Oh, there's so much more to be said. But I have only one thing more right now. You know, India, Pakistan, most of Africa, parts of Asia...they're all still working through the consequences of colonialism, that virulent strain of thought which presumes that you can take over and actually own somebody else's land, their homeland, their culture. We see it all happening far away.

Caledonia proves that we're still dealing with the colonial past right here.

Iran & World War Three? Pt.II

I hope the NY Times don't mind. I'm including this image of its front page from Nov. 15, 1969:

As you can see, on this day 38 years ago a quarter of a million people gathered in Washington to protest against the Vietnam war.

Oh, how times have changed!

Now, I ask myself, what's the difference between then and now.

I come up with really only one answer: fear.

The quarter-million Murricans (and many others) of 1969 feared neither the Vietnamese nor the Communists nor their own government. Such is not the case today. Murricans now fear Muslims (and that's a whole lot of the world's population these days) whether they live in Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia. They fear Mexicans. They fear their own government.

It's possible that this is not simply paranoia, I admit. Sometimes fear is the "rational" response. But if you allow the fear to rule you, then the logical consequences of that response become irrational.

There is some reason to fear the government. The Bush administration has made a concerted effort to feed that fear, to restrict the rights of US citizens (all in the name of security...and is there any as a result?...) I think most westerners (and that includes the Murricans) believe that they live in freedom. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Most, gazing off into the distance of the Middle East or Africa or China, don't recognize the repression in front of their noses.

Of course there is government repression in the US. In western Europe. In Canada. We may admit that it is relatively milder than so-called dictatorships in other regions, but it is repression nevertheless. Just ask those who do attempt to protest or demonstrate their opposition to unwarranted or unrepresentative government actions. Ask the people who protest against the Security and Prosperity Partnership right here in North America. (And some of these people are not even saying "Don't do it!" They're just saying, "Tell us what the hell's going on, tell us what your plans are!" Is this not anti-democratic? Is this not repression?)

The usual response to demonstrations and protests in the West is not so far different from what has outraged us recently in both Burma and Pakistan. The police (let's call them "security forces" as the media like to do for other countries) let it go on for a while (as long as it's not too rowdy) and then at some point determine that things must be shut down...for security. If anyone objects to being shut down, they are pepper-sprayed, tasered, arrested, beaten, charged and convicted. But of course, that's OK, because they're our police. They're not those brutal riot gangs in Rangoon.

A few years ago, former Premier Mike Harass of Ontariario put up barricades outside the Legislature. He didn't like the idea of people protesting there. At the figurative House of the People! He essentially instigated riots by trying to suppress the voice of the citizens of Ontariario. I had a hard time convincing some of my friends that the sight of police on horseback with riot sticks in front of our Legislature was something to be alarmed about...that the state was committing violence against its own citizens.

The people of 1969 may have been hippies and so-called radicals. But there is no doubt they had courage. They pushed back against a regime that did not seem to have their best interests at heart. Of course, many of those people are still around. But I wonder, have some of them become the people who need to be pushed back against?

As for the rest of us, I fear too. I fear that we have become hypnotized by technology, by media, by bland repetition of the Big Lie, by trivial pursuits, the latest iPod, the latest iPhone, the latest XBox, the latest celebrity scandal, the latest Hummer. And I lament. I lament that we have been cowed by fear. By complacency. By surveillance. By corporate power. By government power.

And I dread. That we have become sheeplike in our acceptance of authority.

BFB Impersonates Oktoberfest Band

Here are a few photos of BFB during Oktoberfest.

Phil In, Drummerguy, who replaced Helmet admirably for the 9 days, Helmet being temporarily unavailable cuz he was impersonating the president of the Lunchbucket Oktoberfest Committee.

Dozey (trumpet), HWSRN (accordion & keyboards) & Sonja (Jodelette)

BFB with Canada's Polka King, Uncle Wally Ostanek

Audience members perform the Polka Head Salute during the world-famous BFB Hokey Pokey

The Stanley Cup Provides a Dharma Lesson

May 2, 1967.

That was the last time the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup.

Game 6 against the Montreal Canadiens.

George Armstrong, the captain of the Leafs, scored on an empty net in the final minute of the game and the Leafs won, 3-1.

And today is the 40th anniversary.

I remember watching that game. I don't remember much about the game itself.

But here's what I do remember. We were all cheering for the Leafs. Hey, I'm from Ontariario. Back in those days, the Leafs were it. (Personally, I liked the Canadiens' colours better. A Montreal toque was way better than a Toronto one...But that would make me the opposite of the kid in Roch Carrier's story, The Hockey Sweater...) Drive anywhere in southern Ontariario when the Leafs are in the playoffs and you'll see that even now, the Leafs are still it. Even though they haven't won the cup in 40 years.

But I believe I mentioned something about a Dharma teaching. Well, here it is. Naturally, we were all ecstatic when Armstrong scored that goal. The Leafs had clinched the cup! And beaten the Habs to do it, too! So there we were, all celebrating. TimHo celebrating. Bob Pulford. Johnny Bower. Frank Mahovlich. Terry Sawchuk. Armstrong. Ron Ellis. And us.

But then the camera panned across the Montreal bench. I never saw such a dejected-looking bunch of guys. Jean Beliveau especially.

I immediately felt sorry for them. Cuz they had worked their asses off. But somebody wins and somebody loses.

Now, we're taught that it's a cause of negative karma to rejoice in the misfortunes of others, or to wish them ill. It seems to me that's a fairly common practice in the world of competitive sports (and its fans.) But at that moment, I learned a dharma lesson, altho I didn't know that was what it was at the time. I could no longer rejoice over the Canadiens' loss. I could still rejoice over the Leafs' win, but now it was tempered by the knowledge that someone's joy could very well be someone else's disappointment.

And ain't that samsara all over?

(Note: the link up above is a Google video of the entire game. How cool is that? I haven't watched the whole thing, but maybe I will...I've also linked to it in Larry's Surfboard. The video is an hour and twenty-seven minutes long, but if you scroll to about one hour and nineteen, you'll see the final goal and its aftermath.)

OMG! It's Friday the 13th!

Maybe I should go back to bed...
Bikers'll be all over the roads today, heading to Port Dover.

Postscript: OK, maybe I should explain for those of you not from Ontariario...Every Friday the 13th motorcycle afficionados travel from all over to Port Dover on the shores of Lake Weerie and have a huge street party. (Not what you might call biker gangs, per se, altho there's some of that too, but just bikers bikers bikers.) I'm not quite sure of the origin of this event but it's been going on for quite a few years.

Yoni School (Federal) Election Watch Pt. 2

Melinda Strongarm Packs It In

I ran right
I ran left
Ran up, was run down
I played House for a while
But too many cooks spoiled the broth
Besides, the Cabinet was bare
When all's said and done
My heart belongs to Daddy

Google Maps Good

I don't use Google Maps too often, but HWSRN has to go to Steeltown today, so I looked up the address for him. Google Maps even knows the nickname for the expressway in Steeltown - the Linc!

Then again, I'm not sure...maybe The Linc has been made an official name by the city?

Yoni School (Federal) Election Watch

Canadian Political Hinterland Hoo's Hoo
Why is this man smiling?

This is a premier specimen of the Silver-Haired Bobrae, who has just been moved from the endangered species list to the "threatened" list, having won his nomination to run for the Gliberal Party of Canada in Hawgtown Centre at the next federal election. A former Near Democrat premier of Ontariario, he joined the Gliberals last year, primarily to run for the leadership of the party, which he lost, which catapulted him onto the endangered list. He has proved to be sturdy and resourceful, however, and may yet come out of the wilderness where he has spent much of his time playing piano for seniors.

Update #2 on Gas Shortage

Just a quick update on the gas situation in Ontariario.

I heard in the last few days that the Esso refinery that suffered the fire is now back up to about 75% capacity. In other words, the supply of fuel to the province is gradually approaching more normal levels.

NB: the supply, the supply, the supply...

And of course this increase of supply came to its logical(?) conclusion yesterday when the price rose by about 4 cents/litre.

So much for the free market. Law of supply and demand. Competition? The only competition here is between anger and frustration.

Update on Gas Shortage

OK, it appears I was wrong, sort of, about a gas shortage. Some stations have actually closed down cuz they was outta gas. The Minister for Lack of Energy in Ontariario, Duncan Donut, says about 10% are experiencing a squeeze at any given time. His reaction to people driving about looking for a station with gas? So What!

"You have to put things in perspective," he says.

OK. Here's the perspective. Two events, a fire at a refinery and a simultaneous rail strike, have put the entire province into a furor, cost industry a lot of money, made people a little panicky, and incidentally cost the operators of those empty gas stations a good portion of their yearly income...

So what. Eh?

Do you think the Minister for Lack of Energy might deign to come up with a contingency plan for the future? After all, this was not a major catastrophe. Only a couple of events coinciding.

Premier Faulton McGuilty called it "the perfect storm," implying it was a sequence of events that was so unlikely it could never be repeated. Come on! If the province is vulnerable as a result of these two events, how would we survive a more concerted effort to disrupt supply?

Gee! Maybe it's time to introduce new and stiffer anti-terrorist laws, hold gas guzzlers in detention without counsel until they surrender their pipelines, and send them to a Middle East country where they might be tortured if they don't reveal the source of their gas...

Or we could examine the gas distribution system in the province and figure out how to make it more reliable. Which would be a job for Minister Duncan (So What) Donut. God help us.

Gas Causes Heartburn in Ontariario

Last week there was a fire at an Imperial oil refinery in Nanticoke. This, along with a strike by CN Rail conductors and engineers, has disrupted the distribution of gas in Ontariario. Today, the price of gas shot up to over 96 cents/litre in some places...Lunchbucket being one of them. Even tho the international price has generally fallen recently. In fact, it's about the same as it was a year ago, but the local price of gas is more like 16 cents/litre more.

Because one refinery in the province had a fire.

Now, admittedly, this refinery is responsible for a significant percentage of the provincial capacity. (Do I smell "putting all your eggs in one basket"?) But still, it's one refinery. One company.

Oddly enough, every company raised its prices. Supply and demand? The news today was all about a shortage...except for the reports that said maybe 75 stations out of Imperial's 450 were running short. Nobody else is running short. Why? Cuz there is no shortage.

How long will we tolerate oil company collusion?

There is, however, collusion, or my name ain't Larry Keiler. A local radio reporter spoke to an employee at a competing gas station and asked him why, since only one company's supply was affected, all the companies had raised their prices. This employee actually used these words: "Because we have to stay competitive." !!!!

Excuse me? Am I standing on my head? Since when does "competitive" mean you match your competitor's upward spiral? I thought competition meant that you might use a competitor's weakness to your advantage.

You see, the more this happens, the more I am convinced that we must find alternative and better ways to move ourselves around, if only to punish the companies that have grown obscenely rich by exploiting our need. Wouldn't we all feel so much better if we didn't need them anymore?

407 ETR Gives With One Hand, But...

Doesn't she look excited? Doesn't she look happy? Who wouldn't be happy? What could make you happier than 407 ETR Rewards?

The 407 ETR is the infamous toll highway of Ontariario, built by the NDP (aka National Deficit Party)(aka Nearly Democratic Party)(aka Normally Defeated Party) guvment in the 1990s. ETR stands for Electronic Toll Road. When it was first opened they touted their electronic tolling system which uses a transponder (and if you don't have one of those they take a picture of your license plate and send you a bill.) The system caused quite a few billing problems in the early days, and still does today sometimes. But it's better than it used to be.

Revenue from the highway used to go to the province. But after the Newly Defeated Party gave up the ghost and bowed out in favour of Mike Harass and his Neo-Constipators, the highway was sold to a private consortium in a deal that caused consternation among many citizens because it was so sweet for the consortium. In other words, the 407 ETR is a private highway now. That explains, maybe, in part, why the billing system has improved a little. But there are still problems (you can hear them periodically on talk radio) and the company has a reputation for arrogance and unresponsiveness.

Ontariario's latest guvment, run by Gliberals, has had clashes with the 407 ETR company as complaints have continued to come in and tolls have increased steadily. (This goes to show why public highways, as essential services, ought not to be controlled privately...it makes me think of toll collectors on medieval bridges: Thou shalt not pass! Unless you pass some cash!) But for the past year and a half, the company has been constructing extra lanes on parts of the highway, which has improved traffic flow (and revenue too, one would think.)

Anyway, 407 ETR must have been taking some PR lessons, plus I think they made a deal with the Ontariario guvment, because a couple of weeks ago, with great fanfare they introduced their ETR rewards program.

It's a complicated piece of business. And really not much of a reward. Have a look below:

ETR Rewards is our way of thanking you for choosing to use Highway 407 ETR.

Using 407 ETR is a great way to skip ahead of congestion and get home faster. Now, it will also earn you great rewards!

And, unlike other rewards programs, there is no membership fee or sign-up process.

When You Qualify:

We will contact you by mail when eligible for ETR Rewards. The letter will outline:

• what tier you are in;
• your free monthly kilometres; and
• monthly gas savings using your ETR Rewards Gas Card (included with the letter).

In addition, your monthly 407 ETR bill will highlight your total savings on tolls and remaining free kilometres.

Eligibility:

To be eligible for ETR Rewards, you must:

• use a light vehicle transponder;
• have no outstanding balance greater than 35 days; and
• travel at least 400 kilometres per month on 407 ETR during the qualifying six-month period.

Tiers:

There are four tiers in the program, which are based on the average number of transponder kilometres driven on 407 ETR. Each tier offers a set amount of free weekend kilometres and savings on gasoline purchases.

Drive more, save more! Accounts will be assessed every six months to determine if they qualify for the program and if so, for which tier. The Program phases extend from February to July 2007, and August 2007 to January 2008. At the end of each period, customers will be advised of their tier status for the next period of the program.

Drive more, save more! Four tiers. Transponder kilometres. Assessment every six months. Free weekend kilometres. (Lovely, since most people use the 407 during the week. It's called commuting!) Excuse me while I call my accountant to figure this out for me.

I do admit that the Gas Rewards is legit -- 3 cents off per litre -- but the number of litres you're eligible for is also determined by how many kilometres you've driven.

OK. It's all good. 407 got good press. HWSRN, who uses the highway regularly got his wish. He always said he wanted the 407 to give the regular customers a bonus. They're the ones paying the shareholders' dividends, after all. He got his notice of bonus. He got his Gas Rewards card. He registered. He signed up. He got 3 cents off. So he was pleased. For a second.

Last week his bill came in the mail. At the top of the bill, it says this:

Effective February 1, 2007, new toll rates and fees will apply.

How can you not be happy? We all get our reward...in the end.

Men With Big Guns

A rare sight the other day while travelling westbound on the ETR thru Mister & Missus Sauga around Hwy 27: five or six OPP cruisers on the shoulder, lights flashing, officers standing around them gazing northward into the brush...holding rifles.

Turned out there had been an armed robbery of an audio/video store in the vicinity. I heard later they had caught 3 out 4.