Here’s to the Kitchener Rangers!
While they could not pull off a win in the Memorial Cup championship game, they had the best regular season ever by a Rangers club. Most wins, most points and capped off the season with an OHL championship.
A Memorial Cup title would have been nice, but not winning it takes nothing away from this most remarkable of seasons.
It was my pleasure to meet with some of the roughly 130 residents of Atiwapiskat First Nation the other day as they prepared to leave the student residence at the University of Waterloo for the three-hour flight home to their James Bay community.
Having been evacuated from their homes because of the threat of flooding, they had spent a week at the university…..and were excited at the prospect of finally returning home. On the day I visited with them, their scheduled departure was cancelled at the last-minute because of unfavourable weather conditions at the airport up there.
It was touching to see so many children playing with their mothers, touching to hear how well they had been treated by university officials along with members of the Red Cross, and touching to hear how appreciative they were.
Who knows? Perhaps some of them will return to live in our area one day and will share fond memories of the week they were helped by a caring community.
For all the criticism that Grand River Transit takes, much of it unwarranted, I am here to tell you I don’t have a problem with it. Took the IExpress to the Ainslie Street staion in Cambridge last night….2-and-a-half bucks, 36 minutes from Ottawa and Charles. Relaxed on board, flipped through a magazine, sent a few text messages and before I knew it I was there.
The 7 Mainline is a great way to get from Fairview Park to Conestoga Mall, and there is frequent service at most hours of the day. If you’ve been thinking about using public transit as a way to help the environment or maybe just to save money, I encourage you to get your hands on some schedules at the downtown bus terminal and explore it for yourself.
I guess you could call it an extreme example of catching my second wind.
Nice weather the other day and I decided to take my Nishiki road bike out for a ride. Got off work at 11:30 a.m., feeling good, enjoying the sunny weather and headed down King Street from Water Street, toward my home on Betzner Avenue. About a kilometre-and-a-half. Home in six minutes.
Didn’t feel like stopping though and just kept going. King to Preston. Through Galt. Along highway 8 with the sun in my face and the wind in my hair. Flamborough. Rockton. Copetown. Heck, let’s keep going. Jerseyville Road. Ancaster. Never been before. Pretty town. Lunch at the Coach and Lantern. 60 km.
I have always marveled about how much distance one can cover on a bicycle with a bit of effort and determination. It is also gives you a sense of accomplishment when you cycle a long distance and finally arrive, get off your bike and sit down for a pint and some lunch or dinner.
Looking forward to my next destination, wherever that might be!
So the other day, I popped into an estabishment on my way home from work for a pizza and a pint, entering the place sporting my bike helmet (I cycled there), and ended up departing minus the head protection. Don’t ask me how I could forget. I’m the same guy who got a bass lure embedded in his hand at work in December.
Well, not only did I forget my helmet, I forgot that I had left it at the bar! I assumed that I had left it at work and that someone I work with ripped it off! Actually, I couldn’t imagine any of my co-workers deliberately stealing it….more like taking it thinking it had been there a while and that it didn’t actually belong to anyone at the station.
So I fire off an e-mail to all of my co-workers to the effect of “Hey, who ripped off my bike helmet?” Within minutes and in the ensuing days, concerned colleagues queried me on whether it had been returned. “No”, I replied, “someone has my helmet and they don’t have the +_*&^% to bring it back!”
So last Monday I’m sitting in the aforementioned establishment having a pint and a pizza, when one of the managers approaches me and says “are you missing a bike helmet?”
Now what to do? Fess up to my co-workers that they had been unfairly accused….that I had actually left the helmet in a watering hole? Or, make something up to preserve my dignity.
I came clean. Henceforth, if you see a guy at a downtown eatery having a pint and pizza whilst wearing a red bike helmet, come over and say hi.
I attended the Gordon Lightfoot concert at Centre in the Square the other night, drawn to the event by a deap-seated love and admiration for the man. And that’s a good thing, because if one had been dropped in from another planet merely hoping to be entertained, one might have wondered what all the fuss was about.
Unlike Mick Jagger and the rest his sixty-something bandmates who appear to be defying father time, Gordon Lightfoot is so clearly all of his 69 years of age, not to mention the fact that he cannot erase his years of hard living and recent flirtation with death. As Jagger appears to have gotten stronger and more powerful with age, Lightfoot’s voice is not what it used to be.
Still, he is an icon, and most people in attendance love and respect him for his vast musical contribution, and were merely happy to see him standing and singing in whatever voice he had left.
Lightfood is a legend, and a distinctly Canadian one. I have wonderful memories of being at the family cottage in the Kawartha Lakes in the 1970’s looking out over the lake, stubby in hand, listening to the call of the loon and the sound of Mr. Lightfoot. His music places me there whenever I hear it. God love you Gord. We love you.
It’s funny how dependent I have become on my cellphone. Not only for texting, which has become an essential form of communication for me, but in my case, my mobile is also my primary phone. I don’t have a land-line.
So imagine my distress when I got back from a weekend visit to my parents’ place in Cobourg, only to discover that I left my phone charger there. Dead phone. No communication.
Ya I know I could go out and buy a new one, but the thought of buying a replacement for something that I have a perfectly good version of, even if it is 2-and-a-half hours away, just kills me. By the way, what do chargers cost, anyway?
Can’t help but cling to historical fact in hopes that the my beloved Montreal Canadiens can win the Stanley Cup this year.
When they won it in 1971, a rookie goaltender by the name of Ken Dryden led them to victory. In 1986, when they won their 23rd championship, first-year goalie Patrick Roy was between the pipes.
And as the Habs prepare to dust off the Bruins in the opening round of this year’s playoffs, rookie goalie Carey Price is in goal for the Canadiens.
A good omen? Only the hockey gods know for sure. Go Habs Go!
The curtain is set to rise on another baseball season for the Toronto Blue Jays today (March 31st). The Jays look like they could contend for a wild card spot this year, and as usual, the question mark will be starting pitching. After Roy Halladay, who was scheduled to make his sixth straight straight opening day start today, there are uncertainties.
Still, hope springs eternal on opening day, with endless possiblities. I invite you to listen to the Jays on 570 News this season. Go Jays go!
I’m hooked.
Hello. I am Glenn Pelletier, and I am a “textaholic.” After purchasing a cellphone last summer, I used it only to make and receive calls, not knowing what wondrous technology awaited me, until my daughter grabbed it and began texting her friends.
Thanks Lucy, for getting me hooked! I no longer roll my eyes when I see young people feverishly plunking away on their phones. I get it! This is the most fun I have had since “PONG” was introduced to the market in the mid-1970’s.