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Those who live outside Canada – and those who are not Canadians – may very well not even get this allusion – let alone understand why The Girl and I fell about laughing at its subject. For completeness, this is a sign at the entrance to a pedestrian stairway down into an underground car park at Uptown here in Victoria.
Now – just in case there are any who feel left in the dark by this enigmatic epistle – here is a handy explanation that should clear up any confusion:
Enjoy!
Hope is a feeling that life and work have meaning. You either have it or you don’t, regardless of the state of the world that surrounds you.
Vaclav Havel
I rarely write about politics these days on this blog. That was not always the case. I used to resort to so doing when either I felt the need to poke fun at the ridiculous antics of the political classes, or because I was yet again incensed by some of the malicious, criminal or just downright foolish actions perpetrated by those who we had (misguidedly) elected to serve as our representatives in parliaments and other official bodies.
The reason for ceasing so doing was because things have changed for the considerably worse on this blue/green planet – the political mechanisms of which appear nowadays to have been taken over by lunatics, maniacs and the criminally insane; who jointly and separately appear to be trying their best to destroy human civilization.
Once upon a time is was possible not only to mock the incompetent and the inept – along with calling out the wicked and misguided – but also on occasion to praise the words or actions of one of the few politicians who might possibly have deserved the title of ‘statesman’ (or ‘stateswoman’). It has been a considerably while now since this last was possible or indeed accurate.
Last week two very different national leaders – representing two very different nations – addressed the annual World Economic Forum at Davos. One was the Canadian prime minister – Mark Carney – and the other was… well – gentle readers will need no reminding of who the other was.
Have you not done so (and I would urge everyone to take a deep breath, hold your nose and make the effort) these two speeches really should be closely compared. I am not going to go into the details of either, but I will just say I thank whatever gods there may be that I am a citizen of at least one country that has as its leader a figure that can actually be respected. We do – thank goodness – have an adult in the room!
Here is a link to Carney’s speech in full. I urge you to watch it.
Tags: Canada, incompetence, Modern life, Politics
“Anniversaries are like birthdays: occasions to celebrate and to think ahead, usually among friends with whom one shares not only the past but also the future”.
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Before I get stuck into the list of subjects that I have been ignoring for the past couple of months (as discussed in this last post) here is one more topic that I really should have touched upon before now.
For The Girl and I, 2025 is something of a year of significant anniversaries. When we moved to Canada back in 2015 we stayed initially (and for for several months!) with friends of ours here on the peninsula. This gave us the opportunity to search for a new home of our own – but also gave time for the shipping container loaded with all of our worldly possessions to traverse the globe before catching up with us here on the west coast.
During the summer of 2015 several months of feverish but abortive house hunting left us wondering if we were going to find ourselves with a container full of treasures but nowhere to put them. Several offers on properties fell through before we finally placed an offer on what is now our lovely home, following a single viewing on the very day that the house hit the market
A glance back at my calendar for the period reveals an event on the 29th September that is simply titled “House!“. Yes – this very day is tenth anniversary of our moving into our Canadian home.
Back at the end of July this year there was another significant celebration for The Girl and I – that of our fifteenth wedding anniversary. That event is irrevocably tied to yet another celebratory occasion – this year being the twentieth anniversary of our first having met.
I firmly believe that it is fitting to acknowledge our great good fortune by marking these milestones – even though it does also make one realise just how quickly the time is passing.
We are most grateful to have things to celebrate – and friends with whom to celebrate them – in the face of all of the troubles in this precarious world.
Tags: Anniversary, Canada, Celebration, The Girl
“Many a trip continues long after movement in time and space have ceased”.
John Steinbeck
Back at the top of the year, in my customary “What are we planning for the new year?” posting, I wrote – amongst other things:
“We are hoping to host some friends this year – which is always fun when it also turns into a holiday for us”
I am delighted to report that – following a considerable period of discussion and an even more extended phase of planning – the visit has duly taken place and did – as posited above – turn into a holiday for the Girl and I just as much as it did for our guests. I think it is safe to say that we all had a great time.
In the course of our pre-visit discussions – the aim of which was to establish what might be seen, done and otherwise experienced in order that we all feel that the visit had been a success – we settled on the fact that – The Girl apart (who, naturally, has history of her own in such matters) – none of us had visited the awesome Rocky mountains and their surroundings from the Albertan perspective. We might have approached them from British Columbia – flown over them on our way to the coast and even gazed at then from afar from the environs of Calgary or Edmonton. We had not, however, traversed them – and in particular we had not done so by train!
These – and other omissions – we set out to rectify on this excursion. The results of our endeavours may be measured by viewing subsequent posts in which I will share the photographic evidence of our meanderings.
“Animals are happier than humans because they’re like furry little existentialists, all living in the moment. Their collective motto: live fast, die young, and leave a good-looking pelt”
Richard Jeni
Had you enquired but a year ago of The Girl and I as to whether or not we would be fully ‘retired’ by this point in our lives… I suspect that your query would have been met with some scepticism. Now that we do after all appear to have achieved that state (whether or not it holds) you might well ask what it is like so to be.
Good friends of ours – who retired quite a lot earlier than did we – were fond of opining that one of the best things about the condition was that every day felt like a Saturday. Mind you – they spend their days chasing the sun to various exotic parts of the globe – so their Saturdays were never going to be like ours anyway.
I am slowly forming the opinion that one’s experience of the different ages of man (or Girl) tends to come with expectations that we unknowingly extend to the world around us. Chaps like my father (who commuted for many decades into the heart of the metropolis) would – had they followed the dream (which he did not!) have retired to some bucolic country hamlet or picturesque fishing village – and found the horizons of their world contracting around them; softly enveloping them in a cosy duvet of daily duty and volunteered obligation. Mayhap they would nonchalantly follow the fortunes of the village cricket club – mayhap carelessly anticipate the summer fayre upon the green.
For The Girl and I our world feels very different. Not only are we constantly considerably busier than we might have expected, but the world around us appears to have exploded outwards rather than shrivelling like a deflating balloon. Further – the world outside our door seems to be full of craziness, mendacity and negligence.
If nothing else – it just seems to be full of things (like the times) that are a-changing!
Of the bouffanted autocrat and his brown-shirted barbarians in the White House I have little (of any politesse) to say. The self-professed master-dealer seems determined to wreck the global economy. ‘Nuff said!
To the unbearable and wicked conflicts in the Ukraine and in the middle east we now find added two nuclear powers dancing a lunatic two-step. At the time of writing an insubstantial cease-fire is in place. Tomorrow? Who can tell!
In Rome there is an unexpected new pontif – an American to boot! Back in the day the then Archbishop of Chicago, said that the only way the Catholic Church would elect an American pope was if the United States went into decline as a world power. Now the Church has not only an American pope, but one from Chicago.
In Canada there is an unexpected new government – not of the rebarbative tories but a fourth term for the ailing Liberals. The bright light at the end of this particular tunnel is that – in new ex-banker Prime Minister Carney we do – finally – have an adult in the room.
Thank goodness for small mercies…
Tags: Canada, Modern life, Politics, Retirement, work
I have long thought that…
– no matter how bad things might seem during this particularly dark period in time
– no matter how crazed this crowded little world may of late have become
-no matter how dangerously misguided so many of its self-proclaimed leaders are determined to prove themselves to be
…that – even so – the zeitgeist could hardly compare with the sense of dislocation, chaos and loss that my parents’ generation endured during and subsequent to the Second World War. Could one ever truly imagine living through those portentous days?
Until now!…
Now, I am no longer so sure. Now it really does feel sometimes as though we are living through the end of days.
Let us pause for breath. I feel sure that the gentle reader would thank me not at all for enumerating once again the long list of woes of the world with which we are currently inflicted. A great deal has been – and is (thankfully) still being written, day upon day – that gives us at the very least a chance of understanding the substance of some of these grim matters. But let us look instead for whatever fresh green shoots may be discovered peeping through the fallen snows.
As the post WW2 order that has done a better than expected job of keeping us all safe (and I do mean ALL) is rapidly being demolished by vandals for whom history is based not upon fact but is rather up for negotiation, fabrication and grievance… there are perhaps a few small glimmers of light.
The massive and incomprehensible act of self-harm that was (and is) Brexit may just slowly begin to be revised. Were the UK to build a new relationship with a re-invigorated Europe that would be no bad thing. We really should try to remember just why the countries of Europe – following two devastating global wars – thought that closer ties were a good idea in the first place (and – no! it was just not to disadvantage our cousins to the south).
If the ties between some of the Commonwealth partners (the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand for example) were to be strengthened – that would also be a win.
If more of us throughout the world were to follow the example of my adopted nation in standing up to the bullies – that would also raise the spirits. Feel free to take inspiration from our grassroots “Elbows Up, Canada” campaign, the which is fast spreading across the nation. For those readers outwith Canada here is the CBC’s explanation for the origin of the slogan:
When Canadian actor and comedian Mike Myers, clad in a “Canada is not for sale” T-shirt, twice mouthed the words “elbows up” and tapped his own left elbow on Saturday Night Live last weekend, he was sending a not-so-subtle signal to his compatriots north of the border: Get ready for a fight.
Facing punishing tariffs on Canadian exports and repeated jibes from U.S. President Donald Trump about their country becoming the 51st state, Canadians were understandably riled. “Elbows up” became the rallying cry they’d been looking for.
In hockey-loving Canada, the phrase automatically evokes memories of one of the game’s greatest players, Saskatchewan-born Gordie Howe, who before becoming Mr. Hockey had earned another nickname: Mr. Elbows.
Unfailingly humble, generous and gentlemanly off the ice, Howe would wield his elbows like weapons when battling for the puck.
“If a guy slashed me, I’d grab his stick, pull him up alongside me and elbow him in the head,” Howe once said, describing his favourite method of retribution.
To those who feel inclined to ridicule such an emotional response I would just add another quote – from the Dalai Lama XIV:
“Don’t ever mistake my silence for ignorance, my calmness for acceptance or my kindness for weakness. Compassion and tolerance are not a sign of weakness, but a sign of strength.”
Tags: Canada, History, Modern life, Politics
This year saw the ninth anniversary of The Girl’s return to and my arrival in Canada. It further marks the start of my third year as a Canadian citizen.
It hardly seems possible that so much time has passed so quickly!
This week just passed marked yet another milestone; this being the first time that I was eligible to vote in an election here. Back in the UK quite a lot of folks (such as those from Commonwealth countries) are eligible to vote as long as they are residents in the UK. The Girl used to take advantage of this before she was granted her UK citizenship.
In Canada one has to be a citizen before one can vote in federal elections – hence my inability to do so until recently.
Anyway – I can now so do…
This current election is a provincial ballot and we here in British Columbia are – like so many others in the world – struggling to keep the nefarious tories at bay. This means voting!
In our neck of the woods we can vote early, so we trotted down to the polling station a week in advance of the final tally. On arrival I announced to all and sundry that this was my first Canadian election. The jolly lady there immediately sourced me a ‘first time voter’ sticker (just like being a teenager again!) which you can see adorning my voting card in the photo attached to this missive.
Voting here is quite slick. One takes one’s voting card and photo ID to the dude at the desk and one is ticked off the list in the prescribed manner and given a voting slip and a stiff plastic (or card – I forget which) sleeve. Having annotated the slip appropriately one inserts it into the sleeve – so that it can’t be read by others – and feeds it into the tallying machine. The machine sucks the paper out of the sleeve (which can then be recycled) and tallies the vote as it digests the slip.
All done and dusted, counted and ready to go. Most efficient and no loopholes for any possible suggestion of impropriety – though heaven for-fend that any such thing might be though even possible here north of the border.
And that’s how you do it, chaps!
Tags: British Columbia, Canada, citizenship, Immigrant, Politics
Those who have known me a long time – who have perhaps on occasion delved into this forum – may have noticed that I refrain (these days; wherever possible) from discussing (read: ranting about) politics.
This is undoubtedly a good thing…
It is a lot – however – to ask me to maintain this stance during this particular year in the course of which which there are to be national elections in (amongst other places) the United States of America, the United Kingdom and – indeed – Canada! This will be the first election here since we emigrated in which I can vote – and I will, of course, be eagerly exercising my democratic right.
There are, sadly, many troubles in the world and many good reasons to find everything a terrible struggle.
There are – however – also days on which celebrations are in order, even if the joy that one feels lasts only for a brief moment in time.
Today is one such day – and that is all I am going to say about it!
Hoorah!!
Tags: Canada, Celebration, Modern life, Politics, United Kingdom
I have previously made mention within these meanderings of the fact that The Girl and I do not routinely read print newspapers here in Canada – a definite and somewhat unexpected change from our previous practice in the UK. Yes – I still read The Guardian and The Observer online – but sitting up in bed of a Sunday morning with an iPad on one’s lap is just not the same as having the multiple sections of a paper strewn around over the duvet.
However – just the other day The Girl returned from a few days in Vancouver where she had been attending an Engagement (what you and I might call a conference) bearing a copy of The Globe and Mail that she had picked up on the ferry. Now – if we did read a paper here regularly it would probably be The Globe and Mail – of which Wikipedia says thus:
“The Globe and Mail is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada’s most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it falls slightly behind the Toronto Star in overall weekly circulation because the Star publishes a Sunday edition, whereas the Globe does not. The Globe and Mail is regarded by some as Canada’s ‘newspaper of record'”.
Irregardless…
The reason for mentioning this at all might just be discernible from the accompanying image – of the front page of this particular issue. The piece referred to concerns the 2023 Canada’s Most Livable Cities survey – in which good old Victoria came out as the overall number one city.
Yaay Victoria!
If one is to accept that the data is accurate (and can indeed be interpreted in the way the the Globe and Mail survey does) Victoria comes out top in many categories – with the notable exceptions of the cost of housing, (which is uncomfortably high for many folk) and healthcare (where, as I have previously noted, there is a continuing shortage of doctors). There are those who gripe about such studies and one should certainly not overlook the problems that many localities face, but I believe that the great majority of those who live here are aware that they are inhabitants of a beautiful city and that to be so is a considerable blessing.
Tags: Canada, Celebration, News, Victoria
When I wrote a post recently raising a cheer for the culmination of the long process towards adding Canadian citizenship (and a matching passport) to my existing British variants of both – I assumed that that was the last I would hear of the process. Indeed – what else could there be to say?
Imagine my surprise, then, when an important and most official looking package arrived for me just the other day in the post. The envelope indicated that it had originated in the Canadian House of Commons – the Canadian parliament – and when I extracted this rather swish folder from within the impression was confirmed.
What could the Canadian government want with me? Was I in trouble already? Did they want their citizenship back?
I need not have feared…
The folder contained a rather splendid certificate, signed by our local MP – Elizabeth May – welcoming me as a new Canadian citizen.
How splendid!
Now – I don’t want to draw comparisons, but when The Girl was awarded her British citizenship back in 2012, no-one from the UK parliament sent her an equivalent welcoming memento.
Hmmmm!
Elizabeth May is a resident of our local town – Sidney by the Sea – and is (joint) leader of the Green Party. She has long served the peninsula and the Gulf Islands as member of parliament and is one of the few Green Party representatives there. We like her!
Even more so now…
Tags: Canada, Celebration, citizenship, Politics
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