Checkered Lounge Pants

Darn it all anyhow.... I got back from Montreal last night and never made my ritual culinary rendezvous with a smoked meat sandwich at Reuben's Deli and a Greek salad from the lunch menu at Katz. I found myself dreamily reflecting on all the little things taken for granted, that, now surfaced on my junket to Montreal. *End dream sequence and snap out of it with smoked meat dangling from mouth". ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoked_meat ) I was, however, finally presented my retirement clock from my *tongue in cheek* employer. I retired last June and had relegated the gift as summarily confiscated in their usual pettiness, for costing the employer upwards of $30 million when I lead the bargaining unit to a strike in 2004. Voila, sitting on the boardroom table was the engraved mantle clock. It was, due to a longstanding dispute that I was summonsed to Montreal to act as a witness and attend a hearing at the employers headquarters. Nevertheless, the employer didn't disappoi...

Setanta Sports......ever hear of it? I first heard of it sometime back from a British colleague that piqued my interest in European football (soccer). Colin and I exchanged emails after he bellowed his fight song at our breakfast meeting early in February. He took exception, when I belittled the theme song for his die-hard team, West Ham United FC ( West Ham fans comprise the most notorious fan club in England tagged the Inter City Firm and are primarily from London's working class East End), when he started singing "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eHq0BTeUqY ) at our breakfast table in Montreal. My beloved Val announced, last week, that our satellite provider was comping a month of Setanta Sport channel for March. Sure enough, the English channel was now available and allowed me the opportunity to deepen my understanding of a sport that, if for no other reason, has to be respected for the pure endurance required by the players to susta...

"The Treasury Department and the Fed on Monday threw a new $30-billion (U.S.) lifeline to the ailing insurance giant, which marked the government's fourth effort to stabilize AIG since September. Both Democrats and Republicans expressed skepticism over whether the action would work, said they were worried that more taxpayer money will be needed to rescue the company and demanded more accountability and openness. Mr. Bernanke defended the government's repeated rescue attempts on AIG, saying “the failure of major financial firms in a financial crisis can be disastrous for the economy.” The U.S. will be better off “moving aggressively” to solve economic problems because the alternative “could be a prolonged episode of economic stagnation,” Mr. Bernanke said." -Globe and Mail. This follows Citi Corp last week, and whose next before Citi and AIG are back. I was watching Charlie Rose the other day and his guest (the creator of Netscape) proposed that the US governments let ...

Well, I don't know about you, but, I am hard pressed to find something as, if not more, entertaining than the US politics this month. I don't mean to marginalise the world events and all their moral denomination, but really what competes with this stuff, eh? The absence of concern when politicians agreed to funnel almost $800 billion into 10 US banks last fall (displaying the absurd US Treasury modicum that paying 10 banks would protect the exposure of the 3 insolvent banks..did you see Citi Bank this week?) adding to the alarming US debt already ballooning from the two wars. Quite frankly I think US working /middle class that are bearing the brunt of these taxpayer bailout stimuli would be better served for future generations from good old English common sense. London's previous mayor Ken Livingstone was quoted as saying, “We should shoot one banker a week until the others improve." Now the US government is endeavouring to inject another $800 billion into several form...

"Whatcha do on this GLORIOUS day Off?" popped up on my MSN from Gerry Desharnais. Well, I slept in, which is no big deal when retired. After having my morning coffee, I drove my beloved Val to work and headed out to meet my retired railway comrade, John, for coffee in Blenheim (the cherry capital of Ontario...you hear that Ma..CHERRYS). I drove down the winding Hwy #3 that snakes along the Erie shore from Leamington right to, well, I turned off at Blenheim, eh, but the scenic road goes a lot further. I promised to make the rendezvous no later than 14ooh (u-hum...railway time for railway compadres) and I was 2 minutes early. Anyhow, after a couple coffees we contemplated strolling through the county liquidation store when I mentioned it was a holiday and businesses were closed. "Holiday??" said John. Oh ya, I love being retired. LOL. So, did you read about the two European submarines getting into a fender bender in the Atlantic Ocean. Is this indicative of how stealt...

Just quickly touching base to bring you up to speed on that call that interrupted my last post. The insurance adjustor called to say that my car was not a write-off. “Give me the body shop of your choice and we will have the car sent today” she politely informed me. I was hoping not to have to go through the work of replacing the car, especially now that financing terms have taken a narrowing turn over the last year. No more 0% offers out there unless you are prepared to take something off the lot that wont sell any other way. “How long before I will see the car?” I asked, fishing for the quantum of damage. The ETA of completion is 18 days, I was told. Now, I am thinking to myself concerned, that’s “fairly” significant. Well, long story short, my friend, Joe, experienced in auto wrecking sort of stuff, accompanied me to the body shop and after an hour of “look/see” and grilling the mechanic and the shop proprietor and the receptionist and the owner’s two daughters (not that parlaying t...

I am just waiting for the insurance adjustor to call. They are appraising the car to see if it’s a write-off or repairable. You see, I rolled the car last week. BOO-UMS. Black ice, they say ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_ice ). I narrowly (so close I entertained some form of spiritual influence) missed the Jeep that had spun and hit the ditch moments earlier. She was oblivious to my car tracking the ruts of a vehicle that had narrowly missed the ditch seconds before us, until the avalanche of snow from my grounded car, sho wered her Jeep. It was her voice calling as I escaped out the window, saying, “Are you OK?" No serious injuries to report albeit, the attending police deemed it prudent to summons an ambulance to “look me over”. Once electronically examined (my-oh-my they have hi-tech equipment) and summarily treated to the readouts and tacky removals of the sticky electrodes, and biting swabs on an overlooked cut or two, I was given a clean bill of health (reserving my ri...

So like I am on the phone with Gramma Marceniuk (my boyz maternal grandparent) to tell her I put Kevin on the airplane in London, when she said Cam got a job. Yahooooo! He had gone through some training supplied by a security firm and had told me he was applying for work (I always told him to go to actors school and head to New York, be cause, you know, he’s Cam, eh…). He works at the MTS Centre. Amanda, after some health concerns, is back working on the yachts and spending port time between her home in Vancouver and the Caribbean islands. Kevin has used some down time (the grow cycles in greenhouses) to go visit the grammas and grandpas back home. Did I mention he got married earlie r this month?? Yup, he and Audra whipped up a whirlwind wedding on her last visit. They have been wrestling with US immigration since last May to get him a US visa so they can set up a home in Boston. I hope that comes soon and this love story will have a happy ending. We are under snowfall warnings in th...

I was listening to The Current on CBC radio this morning in the car and there was an interview concerning a new by-law in a major city in Canada. The by-law restricts demonstrators by making it unlawful to protest with anything that obstructs police from establishing a protesters identity. At first blush, the cop being interviewed seemed to make sense that authorities need to be able to confirm the identities of "hooligans" (circa I was talking to a football/soccer fan of West Ham and their Inter City Firm, in Montreal last week, but that's another story). The CBC announcer asked, "well, what if I was peacefully demonstrating outside CBC and I didn't want to be recognized by my boss and fired, and its against the law to wear a balaclava or a gas mask?" It was at this point that the cop began to leave the realm of common sense. "Peaceful demonstrators would not have to be worried about any confrontation UNLESS THEY ARE CONTEMPLATING CONFRONTATION" ...

My legatee, John Burns, (an experienced Union activist long before I cut my teeth on social justice and the labour movement) called the other day and invited me to visit my old office and staff, followed b y lunch. When I arrived I soon discovered we had been joined by my predecessor and links partner John( or as his sister coined him the "Aged One") as well. John has blessed us with a visit or two on CLP over the years. (photo: l-r, John Burns, John Moore-Gough, alias the Aged One) The 3 local union presidents reunional afternoon was very enjoyable, in spite of , or perhaps due to, the interuptions of periodic industrial crisis of one sort or another, as is the nature of the vocation of a Local Union President. The admin assistant, Barb, had been very busy, inspite of a horrific car accident, since my retirement. Barb (see her blog Lakeside Lair link on CLP) and her partner built a chicken coop at their home to supplement the worm farm they started a couple years ago. She g...

Its been a busy couple weeks. I really haven't had much time to keep abreast of current events and I don't seem to be worse for it. I have been visiting blog commentaries regarding the Gaza strip invasion? offensive? shock and awe? whadda ya call it? Nevertheless, Bush's war machine seems to have left some residuals on how to murder what... rebels? insurgents? Hamas? and their families and communities. Israel seems to have learned the lesson well. Not to over-simplify but, notwithstanding the decades of rhetoric, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to conclude that war profiteers are the biggest promoters behind the Zion and Arab weaponry, followed closely by the absurdity of political interests. WTF, how can we forget the politics behind the Iran-Contra Affair when US squirreled deals to Israel to provide arms for Iranian ...what? insurgents? terrorists? rebels? that opposed the Ayatollah, until, the US had to authorize payment directly to the Ayatollah... what? terrori...

I have to apologize to our New Years Eve host. To make a short story shorter....we never made midnight. Ouch!! Cocktails were in abundance and dinner was nothing less than haute gourmet, but the old peepers just could not stay open to see the ball drop or pop the cork on the Champagne. Sorry Tim and Alexis and Austen (I do take some comfort in outlasting SweetPea and Kevin. LOL). Checked out a book on modern folklore from the library and chuckled when I came across the story about Neil Armstrong dedicating his first step on the moon and then whispering "Good luck Mr. Gorsky". Mr. Gorsky was allegedly Neil's next door neighbour when he grew up. In the spirit of Neil Armstrong's fairy tale (appears to be a myth) to bring his neighbours wishes to fruition (google "Good luck Mr. Gorsky" if you require details), may all your New Years resolutions be realized. Speaking of resolutions, I read a popular blog commenting on New Years resolutions and the futility of pr...

I got a call the other day from my friend Peter Kydd, a rail worker here in Windsor, asking if I was going home to Winnipeg for Xmas this year. "No" I said, "staying home this year". Winter storms are wreaking havoc on Xmas travellers this year, eh? Once we caught up on the rail gossip he signed off. The next 24 hours seemed to include a kaleidiscope of the harshness of Old Man Winter. Its started snowing outside and it seemed to be a string of crappy weather from coast to coast. I had hoped it settled down before Boxing Day. I got my eye on some sales. BRB...gotta get the shovel and do the sidewalk.... .....no sooner had I shovelled the walk, and, Xmas came and went, the weather m an changed the forecast from snow to rain. The snow disappeared, that covered the electrical cord to the lights in the little tree in my back yard, and is laying like a long orange snake (see pic on the right) winding through the yard feeding off my outside plug. Well, we had a white chr...

"Well it looks like we are going to have a white Christmas after all," Kevin said, "it finally feels like Christmas", regarding the heavy snowfall on the drive to his work this morning. That is pretty much typical for a Winnipegger that's moved to Essex County. I remember the first Xmas I had herein Windsor Essex County, and it snowed Xmas eve. Sweet Pea Valerie and I were in some kinda funk that we were going to have to experience a green Xmas (which is a bitter sweet phenomena for Winnipeggers, because, we dream of such a thing when living in the prairies, but go into culture shock when thrust into a green Xmas). I remember my folks saying, "it might be a green Xmas this year", when the snow had not yet arrived, on the prairies, at November's end. Have no fear of that, was going through our youthful prairie minds. Speaking of youthful...its my mother's birthday tomorrow. Happy Birthday Ma (do I recall an earlier blog regarding a gauntlet of D...

Fireplace is crackling (built a fire early today to ward off the dampness from the rain) and most of my Xmas shopping is done. The remainder on my Xmas shopping list has to be purchased in town (Windsor) and Thursday is "town day"on this months calendar. I couldn't wait for a haircut so I got Kevin to cut my hair the other day and he did a good job. Its pretty short, but the "mop" was getting annoying, so short is good. Speaking of good, my long time friend John arrived home from a mission to dig wells for drinking water in Liberia. His wife Charlotte sent us a few pictures of the adventure, but, this one is so typical of John Kuban. I would describe John in one sentence... "A man with a strong sense of determination and will, with a heart as big as all outdoors, and a very good friend to make in life". Welcome home John. I wish I could drop in to Lorette to hear the stories, sitting in your shop over a case of Blue. Speaking of a mission of mercy, I w...

POLAR BEAR DIP...... Hoooooooly Moly that was cold. I walked out on the stacked ice pack ( don't ask me why!!) yesterday and fell through when I stepped on the lake ice, 50 feet from shore. Good tha ng its shallow out there. Now having to plod through the broken ice and halfway back to shore, I had to turn back to thrash around and fish out my boots....wasn't going to lose them to the lake. By the time I was back on shore, my sopping wet clothes were starting to get pretty froze. Val said I was turning an ever darker shade of purple while peeling off the wet clothes in the porch. I had to promise Val that there would be no more winter swimmin' or Polar Bear dippin ' without supervision. Yo, did I just throw down a rhyme?? LOL . The day was not a total loss. I took Kevy job hunting, after dropping Val at work, since his layoff (greenhouses are inherently seasonal) and we stopped at the (Un)Employment Insurance offices (actually they are now called Service Canada) an...

So this is Christmas......house rules have prevailed and Valerie Sweet Pea's birthday is complete so on to the Xmas festivities. The weekend was quiet and reserved (Forbes and Suzanne opted to stay home in Sudbury, but Audra brightened our weekend) and now its tree time. We will get out our little munchkin tree and ceremoniously decorate it with Sweet Pea placing ALL the decorations in their proper place (her OCD kix in big) on the tree, while I observe. We spent Saturday morning at the local hockey rink watching the neighbour's Austin play in his peewee hockey game. It was mega fun. So many things reminded me of the boyz playing hockey back in the day. I got right into the game and caught Valerie and Alexis (Austin's sister) looking at me like a nut while I was cheering on the lil guys. I found myself recalling the winter I was coaching the kids (bantam) one year and losing my voice in the playoffs. Nevertheless, with a decisive victory for the Kingsville Kings, as the bu...

Hi Hi Hi Ho Ho Ho......how are things going? Have you done all your Xmas shopping? I have not even started.......GeeeeZ. I have a gauntlet of December birthdays to get through before Xmas. Just sent 2 cards off today with gift cards (from Timmies.....dont tell, k?) and Valerie Sweet Pea has a birthday on Saturday ( and neighbours threw a party 4 her last weekend ) so, house rules prevent me from any Xmas preparation until after birthday girl is celebrated fully. Furthermore, Kevys fiance is flying from Boston and Forbes and Susan are driving in from Sudbury for the weekend. Speaking of house rules, have you seen the crazy drama in Canuck parliament??? I saw a hasty interview with GG Jean from Europe and she was hardpressed to fill in the sound bite. Canadian politics have finaly outlegged US politicians for spinning fervour and misspoken rhetoric. Its very very difficult to keep your finger on the string of developments that lead to a coalition option for parliamentary governance. Ever...

I was exercising responsible news philtering, and surfin my media sources when I came across this in the Las Vegas Sun. Is this a sign that the green conscience of North America has seen behind the curtains of the Coal Industry's greewwashed "Clean Coal" campaign???? "Times they are a changin" as Bob Dylan sang. "Up in smoke Environmentalists say future of three proposed Nevada coal plants in jeopardy By Phoebe Sweet Sat, Nov 15, 2008 (2 a.m.) Sun Topics Coal Power Plant Debate The Environmental Protection Agency’s rejection of a permit for a Utah coal plant this week spells trouble for three coal-fired power plants proposed in Nevada. Environmentalists are hailing the decision, released Thursday by the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board, as the final straw for new traditional coal plants. Utah’s permit was denied because it did not limit greenhouse gas emissions — and every new coal plant will emit millions of tons of the climate-change-causing carbon dioxi...

Helloooo, did you all have a good Guy Fawkes day? November 5 is the anniversary of the Gunpowder Conspiracy and Plot (and coincidentally my nephew Jeffy's birthday) in 1605. Sometimes I think some governments throughout the world are deserving of a successful Guy Fawkes mission. "Government should be afraid of people, not people afraid of government". I let you google the plot for further details. Kevy and I are baching it this week. Sweet Pea Valerie has gone to Winnipeg to see her family. I drove her to London to catch her plane on Thursday. Man, what a ride, some 18 wheeler operator was playing highway monitor on the trip out and tried to run me of the road while making a pass that he thought badly of. I see why they dont lets us bear arms in Canada. A touch of road rage and my possession of a loaded weapon would have been "lights out" for that rig. For some reason I imagine the scene in Good Will Hunting when Matt Damon asks the pretentiously obnoxious grad ...