Two stories from the UK made the front page of Canada's National Post today - "seemingly staid British PM had steamy four-year affair." Major yawn. The other story covered the opening of the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum saying that it only struggled into existence due to political correctness.
Meanwhile the Dutch are celebrating the fourth centenary of the Dutch East India Company. The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is mounting four exhibitions.
Monday, September 30, 2002
Island escape
To Toronto Islands for a Sunday excursion, take the ferry to Center Island and have lunch at a restaurant by the amusement park. Sit outdoors probably for the last time this season. Seagulls, ducks and bees (the birds and the bees) attend our lunch.
Escape the crowds on a stroll to Gibraltar Point and return via the small car ferry at Hanlan's Point. A coffee at our favourite Second Cup at Queens Quay and ride the streetcar home. Sometimes you don't need to go far to get the best.
Escape the crowds on a stroll to Gibraltar Point and return via the small car ferry at Hanlan's Point. A coffee at our favourite Second Cup at Queens Quay and ride the streetcar home. Sometimes you don't need to go far to get the best.
Sunday, September 29, 2002
Friday, September 27, 2002
No Halifax Pier
After my visit to Halifax, Nova Scotia I keep finding out more about the place. I received this from my Dad:
"You may be interested - and perhaps surprised - to learn that although I have never been to Canada I once saw Halifax, Nova Scotia from the sea. This was in 1940 when I was on my way to India! The ship on which I sailed was not a troopship but an ordinary passenger liner, the City Of Venice belonging to the Ellerman Line. For our own safety we were ordered to join a convoy with a large naval escort to cross the Atlantic. All the rest of the convoy went into the port of Halifax but we left them there without going ashore and went down the coast of North America. Our next sighting of land was a lighthouse near Pernambuco in Brazil, or so I was told by one of the ship's officers. Afterwards we went ashore at Cape Town and also at Durban before arriving in Bombay just after Christmas."
"You may be interested - and perhaps surprised - to learn that although I have never been to Canada I once saw Halifax, Nova Scotia from the sea. This was in 1940 when I was on my way to India! The ship on which I sailed was not a troopship but an ordinary passenger liner, the City Of Venice belonging to the Ellerman Line. For our own safety we were ordered to join a convoy with a large naval escort to cross the Atlantic. All the rest of the convoy went into the port of Halifax but we left them there without going ashore and went down the coast of North America. Our next sighting of land was a lighthouse near Pernambuco in Brazil, or so I was told by one of the ship's officers. Afterwards we went ashore at Cape Town and also at Durban before arriving in Bombay just after Christmas."
"serious error of judgment"
The Guardian picks up on the spat at the BBC over the bias of The Today Programme and it's lefty editor Rod Liddle. Liddle is in trouble for slagging off the countryside marchers as a bunch of toffs in a Guardian column. The largest political demonstration in British history did little to impress him.
Saying that the BBC is full of left-of-centre apparatchiks is like saying the sun comes up in the morning. The Times had it right with the best placard on the day saying "No Taxation without Morris Dancing."
Saying that the BBC is full of left-of-centre apparatchiks is like saying the sun comes up in the morning. The Times had it right with the best placard on the day saying "No Taxation without Morris Dancing."
Prize-winning cheek
Whilst in Toronto viewing the new Renaissance Train (see below) we took in the 50th anniversary of the CBC celebrations at the same venue - fifty years of telly. This also featured a train, cross-country from Vancouver to Halifax, with artists travelling aboard and performing at the numerous stops. The first act we caught were Frank Leahy and Friends with a tribute to Don Messer - an old-timey violinist from Nova Scotia.
Frank proved to be a jolly fiddler in more senses than one - he rather spoiled the effect when he asked the audience a question and promised a CD as a prize for the first correct answer - when my wife answered correctly he acknowleged her and then absconded without dishing out the prize. Robert Maxwell would have been proud of him.
Anyway the band were damn good notably guitarist Paul Chapman picking on the semi-accoustic Fender Telecaster. Two 'Riverdance' girls periodically trod the boards and they closed their set with a frantic rendition of "Orange Blossom Special," appropriate on the forecourt of Union Station.
Rick Mercer made a brief appearance chiefly to demonstrate that he didn't know what the hell was going on. He was followed by the young Aselin Debison from Cape Breton who sang to backing tracks. After a shaky start she trouped through four numbers including "The Dance You Choose" and "Sweet is the Melody." We saw enough to know that she has a big voice for a small girl and should go far in the business. After some celebratory cake George Leach and his Band closed the afternoon, wildly miscast playing heavy rock to a rapidly dwindling seniors audience.
Frank proved to be a jolly fiddler in more senses than one - he rather spoiled the effect when he asked the audience a question and promised a CD as a prize for the first correct answer - when my wife answered correctly he acknowleged her and then absconded without dishing out the prize. Robert Maxwell would have been proud of him.
Anyway the band were damn good notably guitarist Paul Chapman picking on the semi-accoustic Fender Telecaster. Two 'Riverdance' girls periodically trod the boards and they closed their set with a frantic rendition of "Orange Blossom Special," appropriate on the forecourt of Union Station.
Rick Mercer made a brief appearance chiefly to demonstrate that he didn't know what the hell was going on. He was followed by the young Aselin Debison from Cape Breton who sang to backing tracks. After a shaky start she trouped through four numbers including "The Dance You Choose" and "Sweet is the Melody." We saw enough to know that she has a big voice for a small girl and should go far in the business. After some celebratory cake George Leach and his Band closed the afternoon, wildly miscast playing heavy rock to a rapidly dwindling seniors audience.
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