10th
August
2008
As we waited for someone to clear our parking spot, the realization that our trek of over 6600 km in 26 days had ended set in. Home, where the grass grows green and tall, and the warnings about the danger of dogbite mark her territory. Home, where we now have to unpack the van and repack the house. The savoury odour of home. Too late/lazy to unpack things tonight, I’ll just put the last of the food in the kitchen and then try to convince my back that life on a real mattress is good.
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posted in travel |
9th
August
2008
I remember one particular toy with great fondness: the punching bag clown. You lashed out, he went down and then came right back up, without hesitation. This year, our vacation has that aspect. We should have been homeward bound early today, but I’m currently in downtown Halifax. The vacation continues!
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posted in food, travel |
21st
April
2008
An ad on TV this evening caught my eye (that’s what it was supposed to do) and then took me down the “What If?” pathway. The advertiser: our national passenger rail corporation. The idea: that I come and ride the train, on an adventure through beautiful scenery, in comfortable, “worry free” seating, just because I can. I’m easily distracted by the idea; after all, I have something like 32 trips on The Ocean under my belt.
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posted in travel |
17th
November
2007
For the spectator (that means me), the only important sports game is the one you are currently watching. By the next day, the vicarious pain is gone, and the statistics are of use to someone else. Therefore, I’ll take this one moment to feel sorry for the Rouge et Or football team, who did not win their playoff game today. I admit it; Halifax did not learn how to play ball today. Mea culpa. The season is over. Let the next one begin. With a team as good as this one, we’ll be back in the headlines in less than twelve months.
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posted in technology |
3rd
November
2007
Finally. The people who work at the Canadian Hurricane Centre have something to do. Imagine being the Maytag Man in your department. A nice sign over your desk, some appropriate letterhead in the printer and a website, but nothing ever happens. Hard to keep the respect of the others in the office.
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posted in Wx |
18th
November
2006
This is a huge football weekend in Canada. Due to some kind of calendar jerrymandering, the university semifinals took place today, and Grey Cup will go to a new home sometime tomorrow evening.
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posted in media |
22nd
September
2006
A friend of son #1 stayed overnight, which drove the poor dog into a frenzy but didn’t change too much else in our routine. Came time for him to head east, we gave him directions to the city transit stop. Of course he wasn’t there on time, so when we headed out to forage for supper, we picked him up. Of course, he didn’t even have the bus fare to get into the city core, because he’d stopped to buy a pop (hence missing the bus, but circular logic is everything).
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posted in economy |
19th
August
2006
Halifax has an interesting way of marking their routes. Incoming traffic is continually channeled in directions other than those one wants to go. The result is that a tourist is continually trying to decide which way to go next. In contrast, an outward bound traveller has routing signs every few hundred metres; the only way to get lost while leaving the city is to close your eyes. Hardly a recommended driving school technique.
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posted in travel |
18th
August
2006
Camping trips that end with sunny weather are a blessing from Heaven. No packing of wet tents under sullen skies, while memories of the trip are slowly washed away. We were up while the dew was still heavy (meaning, before noon) to stuff the sleeping bags into their tiny sacks, deflate the air mattresses that have been slowly shrinking for better than two weeks, rolling tents and stowing them on the roof. Twice makes perfect, if the keys to the van are stowed on the roof at the same time. The bright yellow scars of the tenting ground will soon heal, because grass is a very strong weed.
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posted in travel |
