TubaOrNotTuba

And what if she actually touched a teddy bear? Is it now worth more to the buyer? Those are the questions that follow a recent visit to a local toy store by the world famous Celine and her son and spouse. Don’t get me wrong, I think being a fan is a wonderful hobby, but I also understand that fan is derived from fanatic (thank you, my teachers that were etymologists at heart).

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Some people are unable to avoid being noticed. Take our mayor, with a guitar (please!). Last weekend, the police in a small town north of Montreal wondered why one of the local fire trucks was “wandering” around town, with the siren and power lights on, when they’d heard nothing over the radio. They gave chase (at low speed), and when the big red tanker was finally immobilized, the driver jumped out (hurting himself from the fall) and then ran away with the forces of law and order in pursuit. I didn’t see it, I didn’t hear it, but I can imagine the scene. (Taken from a CP story).

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There once were two sisters. The first, older and wiser and prettier, found herself under the shadow of the second, who was infinitely more worldly and famous. No matter how hard the first sister (let’s call her Quebec) tried, everyone continued to remark on how the second sister (let’s call her Montreal) was superior in all that mattered.

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Another year had passed, and another closing concert for the school bands arrived. Last time around, I’d tried to “tape” the show for posterity, using my MP3 player that can take voice memos. This procedure is not one that bears much musical fruit; the quality of the recording was about equal to the early efforts of Edison. I’m one that follows the advice of others, so when a little extra cash came along, the family invested in a proper digital tape recorder. After all, it could be useful some day.

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So, which one of the fans got a little excited this time? In a world where basic city police techniques are taught by the cast of The Simpsons, does it really matter? Last night there was a hockey game. Last night the hometown team won. Last night there was no system of functional law in place in downtown Montreal. Are we clear on all the facts here?

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Up here in Canada, there are a certain number of things that are inevitable; snow, mosquitoes, cascaded taxes, potholes and hockey on TV. Given the number of sports networks, the value to advertisers and the propensity of a certain subset to stare fixedly at any screen with a black dot, hockey rises to the top of the subject vat this evening. It’s not my fault.

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This evening, while I was reinstalling and testing a pair of webcams (stereo narcissism), the news channel was showing what happens when you have good quality surveillance equipment AND technically naive criminals. You guessed it; caught on candid camera.

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Finally, just as we get a whiff of spring air, the roof-cleaning mania is in full swing. None too late for some, but it still leaves me wondering at what point a building administrator stops waiting for a sign from a neighbour and just goes and does the job. Do we need a record to be broken for the common sense gene to kick in?

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It’s a given that I’m a creature of habit. I ride the same bus, go to the same office, purchase coffee grains at the same wonderful little shop in the middle of the old city. In fact, when I can go in and the girl on the counter remembers what variety of grain I prefer, it’s clear that I’m at home. Or maybe she doesn’t sell such particular orders to people that look like me; either way, when I went in today between two of my (regular) buses, the sense of belonging was enough to make me think spring had arrived.

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Perhaps if the lost pilot had been found, the story wouldn’t have even made much more than the back pages of the local newspaper. Instead, when Steve Fossett and his airplane didn’t arrive at the destination, the story “took wings”. After all, here was an experienced navigator with boats and planes; if there’d been a locomotive handy, he’d have driven it too. He’d gone around the world non-stop. This time, the plane didn’t arrive at the airstrip.

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