Mike Farwell

What a welcome return to milder weather this weekend. Not only did it add a decidedly spring-like touch to the Elmira Maple Syrup Festival, but it just brought more people “out.” Everywhere you looked there was another jogger, dog walker, or family simply enjoying the opportunity to be outdoors without a parka. Some even wore shorts. It might be a little early for that in my mind but hey, more power to them.

Of course, the end of winter raises the inevitable question in these here parts. Would we appreciate the spring and summer as much as we do if not for the winter that interrupts it? Most people I talk to say no, we wouldn’t. I say there’s only one way to find out. I’ll send you a postcard from California in December and let you know how much I miss the snow.

While en route to the Rogers Television studios the other night, I made a phone call. I know that makes me a horrible human being in the books of some, and I apologize. But the fact of the matter is that I find the ten minute drive to the studio to be quite useful for getting things accomplished every now and again, and the other night was no exception. Still, with recent talk of provincial cell phone bans ringing in my ears, I was more aware than ever of the chance I was taking. When the person on the other end of the phone started giving me the phone numbers of some other people I should call, I knew I had to take drastic action.

I pulled over to the side of the road. I might have been able to remember one number until I had a chance to write it down later, but certainly not a handful of them. So I pulled onto the shoulder of Highway 8, just as you come off the flyover. It’s a wide shoulder and there’s plenty of room. Or so I thought. But as I sat at the side of the road, scribbling down phone numbers and staying out of harm’s way, not one or two, but several passing cars blared their horns. So much for safely pulling to the side of the road to continue a cell phone conversation.

 I’ll just assume that each blast of the horn was a blast of support.

When I was a kid, my dad used to take me to Kitchener Rangers games. My fanaticism would have been at its peak when the likes of Brian Bellows, Al MacInnis, Paul Coffey and Scott Stevens were skating on Auditorium ice, though the significance of that was lost entirely on me at the time. I was just a kid watching my hockey heroes.

It occurs to me that things haven’t changed all that much. Though calling hockey players half my age my “heroes” might be a bit of a stretch, I certainly admire the season the Kitchener Rangers just had. The thing is, it didn’t dawn on me until after the fact just how special this season has really been. I suspect it’s got something to do with being so close to the team, covering it as I do for Rogers Television. This past season, winning just became sort of routine. And it wasn’t until the day after that record-setting 53rd win that it really occurred to me that I had watched history unfold over the past six months. The 53 wins put up by this year’s edition of the Kitchener Rangers surpasses the 52 victories earned by those teams that featured the likes of Bellows, MacInnis, Coffey, Stevens et al. The significance this time is not lost on me, and I’m proud to have been as closely asssociated with the team as I have been this season. In fact, every one of you as fans should be equally proud. More than six thousand of you packed the Grand Ol’ Barn in Kitchener every Friday night. We all had a first-hand account of a historical season.

I couldn’t help but reflect on this last night as we watched the Rangers exorcise a ghost of playoffs past by sweeping aside the Plymouth Whalers — the team that eliminated Kitchener last year.

Of course, it’s worth noting that the Rangers also swept their first round series last season.

I put something in the mail today. Not in the electronic mail, but in one of those red boxes that are serviced by Canada Post. I know, it’s strange. But believe it or not, the company that provides heating oil to my home does not offer the option of making an online payment, so I write a cheque every month and drop it in the mail. Still works, too. Imagine that.

As I carried out the monthly ritual this morning, I did as I have always done. Open the slot, drop in the envelope, then re-open the slot to ensure the envelope found it’s way into the box — lest the mail carrier miss it. Just the way Mom taught me when I used to mail letters as a kid. I guess old habits really do die hard.

So researchers at the University of Florida have decided that red light cameras cause more crashes. Of course they do. I mean, I’ve driven through the four intersections (soon to be eight) in Waterloo Region that have the cameras installed and every time I do, that darn camera flashes that blinding light that causes me to lose control. Huh?

What the researchers found is that there are more crashes, especially rear-enders, at intersections where the cameras are installed. The theory is that drivers realize too late that they’re about to earn a 110-dollar ticket, so they slam on the brakes. And the driver behind slams into them. Presto! More crashes. But to say it’s the camera causing the crash is asinine, if not downright irresponsible.

Note to researchers: it’s not the camera’s fault. The driver is to blame, same as always! The bottom line is that if the first driver wasn’t in such a hurry, he or she wouldn’t be gambling on hitting the gas pedal at the first sign of a yellow signal. And if the second driver wasn’t following too closely, he or she would not have run into the back of the first car.

Here’s the simple equation that should come out of every driving study. One bad driver plus another bad driver equals one rear end collision. They ought to make that required learning in the driver’s ed curriculum.

I am a self-confessed radio junkie. I love it to the point that I would spend childhood evenings with a small transistor radio trying to tune in the furthest station I could find on the dial. Even today, I’ve been known to get in my car at night just to hear what I can pick up on the AM band. Yes, I am a geek.

But having grown up right here in Waterloo Region, my radio most often found itself tuned to the local radio stations. Which meant, much of the time, I was listening to 570 CHYM (yes, before the flip to FM). So just imagine, if you will, what an absolute thrill it is for me to call the likes of Gary Doyle a colleague today. Ditto Glenn Pelletier, Don Cameron, Lisa Drew, George Michaels, et al. Even Jeff Allan, who is new to us, but not to radio. I used to listen to him when he worked at another radio station and I love getting him talking about those old days now.

I’m filling in on the Jeff Allan Show today. Tonight, Don Cameron has invited me to join him at St. Louis Bar and Grill for the Don Cameron Show. And as I handed over the radio reins to Gary Doyle earlier this afternoon, it occurred to me that I was on the air, sharing the same studio, with a guy who I had listened to and admired for so many years. And Gary treated me as a colleague. A much shorter colleague, mind you…but a colleague all the same. I’m in elite company over here. These are some great radio voices and some great radio people. It’s a privilege to be one of them, if even in my small way.

I can’t tell any of them this, of course, because they’re much too humble to accept my praise. But let me just say again what a thrill it is for me to be associated with such a top notch group. Thanks to all of you for giving me so much to listen to and enjoy as I grew up. Thanks also for not taking the time to read my blog…because I’d have to deny ever saying this if you did.

“A British politician is usually caught with his hand up a woman’s skirt while a Canadian politician is usually caught with his hand in the till.”

Or so a friend of mine would have us believe. He sent me an e-mail yesterday extolling the virtues of the American president for his implementation of the earlier flip to Daylight Saving Time this year. Truth be told neither my friend, nor I, can be sure if it was the brainchild of President Bush alone. But no matter where it came from, that added hour of daylight at the end of the day is a welcome sight.

Now if I could just catch up on the sleep I lost this weekend…

When I first started in radio, I moved around a lot. In fact, my first full-time job took me all the way out to the left coast. Many people told me that once you go west, you don’t come back. And having spent a few years in BC, I can attest to its beauty and appeal. Still, I always wanted to one day return “home” which, for me, is Waterloo Region. And yesterday I was reminded why.

I was called on to fill in at the last minute for Gary Doyle on the afternoon gabfest. I’d done the shift before, just never on such short notice. But it was all worth it when I got home from Farwell Live late last night and had a message waiting for me from Grandma Farwell. She had called to say that she heard me come on the radio at Noon and thought it was “so cute” that she was still listening to me read the news with Kate Stockmann four hours later. The time stamp on my answering machine confirmed that Grandma had, indeed, been listening until 4:30 at least.

Home is not a house. Home is where your family is, and it’s nice to be here.

So Conrad Black has reported to prison to begin serving his six-and-a-half year sentence for fraud and obstruction of justice. He says he’ll spend his time “inside” teaching, writing, and praying. Sort of sounds like the life of a Catholic school teacher. Although, considering Black’s prison is in Florida, he likely won’t be getting as many snow days.