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Celebration

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Canada and stuff

July 3, 2022 in Life in BC, Photos | Permalink

“The cool thing about being famous is traveling. I have always wanted to travel across seas, like to Canada and stuff”.

Britney Spears

Last Friday was Canada Day.

I have mentioned this event several times in these meanderings since first I visited these shores. It is perhaps little surprise – given recent (and more distant) history – that the reaction to the celebrations has become considerably more equivocal over the years. As an outsider (and in particularly one with the background that is my inheritance) I hope that I can empathise appropriately with all (or most!) parties. There is much that is good here – and that should be celebrated. There is also much that is bad – and that needs to be repaired.

There are also fireworks – the which we get to see from our deck. Here be some pictures thereof:

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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CODA

January 21, 2022 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

I am pretty difficult to please when it comes to films – though there are those that I love deeply. Back in the day – when one used to go to a ‘Video Store’ to rent a VHS movie for the night – I would find myself wandering round and round in despair, unable to find anything that appealed. These days, of course, one can achieve the same effect on Netflix without moving from the comfort of one’s sofa. Netflix – incidentally – apparently uses sophisticated Artificial Intelligence to determine what to push as recommendations to eager punters. With me it just gives up and offers any old rubbish!

Hmmm! Where was I?…

Oh yes…

Irregardless (definitely a word – first used in print in 1795!) I do sometimes encounter a film which completely restores my faith in the whole business of movie-making. Such was the case recently with one of last year’s Sundance Festival award-winning movies – ‘CODA’ – the which we discovered on Apple+.

Rotten Tomatoes offers this synopsis of the movie:

“Seventeen-year-old Ruby (Emilia Jones) is the sole hearing member of a deaf family — a CODA, child of deaf adults. Her life revolves around acting as interpreter for her parents (Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur) and working on the family’s struggling fishing boat every day before school with her father and older brother (Daniel Durant). But when Ruby joins her high school’s choir club, she discovers a gift for singing and soon finds herself drawn to her duet partner Miles (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo). Encouraged by her enthusiastic, tough-love choirmaster (Eugenio Derbez) to apply to a prestigious music school, Ruby finds herself torn between the obligations she feels to her family and the pursuit of her own dreams”.

“Well“! – you may think – “that sounds like pretty much every coming-of-age movie that I have ever seen”… and you would be right. I don’t have to worry too much about spoilers because you could probably write the movie yourself without having seen it. In this instance – however – narrative suspense and unforeseen plot-twists are not the point.

What is the point is that CODA is beautifully written, hitting all the right notes – beautifully characterised and acted, particularly by Brit (you’d never know!) Emilia Jones and deaf actors Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotspur and Daniel Durant – beautifully shot, in the fishing village of Gloucester, Massachusetts – and beautifully judged, making you laugh, long and out loud, as well as blubbing like a baby!

The film brought home to me once again (not that I really needed it to) the vital importance of music – and, of course, of family!

Don’t take my word for it, however. I strongly urge you to seek CODA out and to watch it for yourself.

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‘Tis the season…

December 22, 2021 in Life as we know it, Photos | Permalink

…Not so sure about the ‘jolly’ though!…

Who would have thought when I was writing this last year:

“There is no getting away from the fact that this is a Christmas unlike any that we have known. In fact, unless one is old enough to remember the Second World War it is highly unlikely that such a level of disruption to the normal cycle of celebration will have been experienced before. None the less, we will persevere – because that is what we do. And come next year – when much has returned to a state considerably closer to the ‘old normal’ – we may find it difficult to recall just how weird this one was.”

…that a year down the line I could easily have found myself writing exactly the same thing!

Funny old world – ain’t it?

Still…

…to friends, acquaintances and gentle readers…

…from the Kickass Canada Girl and the Imperceptible Immigrant…

we wish you a safe and peaceful Christmas and a Happy Hogmany!

Christmas piccies…!

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson ReidPhoto by Andy Dawson Reid

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Back on the tracks

December 1, 2021 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Regular patrons of these marginalia will doubtless greet as old friends those posts that recur – in some form or another – on a regular basis. Into this distinguished category fall the annual November reports of our most recent outing on the Cariboo Express, courtesy of the engineer in chief – Barney Bentall.

We enjoy these evenings (in support of the Sidney Lions Foodbank) so much that we are quick to purchase tickets each year as soon as they become available. This we did as per usual last year (2020).

On that occasion, of course, the concert did not take place – for reasons that require no further elucidation. The dates were once postponed – and then postponed again. This was deeply sad but necessary. The run-in to Christmas just wasn’t the same without this jolly evening out, but we were not prepared to take any risks that might endanger our (or other people’s) health and well-being.

The final postponement of the event resulted in us being offered the chance to let the tickets spill over to become valid for this year’s equivalent pageant – and fortunately this time the precautions were deemed to be adequate (vaccine passports and photo IDs thoroughly checked) and we were able once again to gather at the Mary Winspear Centre in Sidney – well be-masked and well-behaved – for a most welcome live performance.

It really was quite moving to suddenly find oneself once again in the proximity of real live musicians and singers – and, of course, in a real audience. An object lesson – I think – in the need that we all (many of us anyway!) have to experience live performance… something else of which we clearly need a regular shot! A good evening was quite clearly had by all!

At this juncture we do not have anything much else of a similar nature in the calendar and – with new COVID variants looming – who knows how things will pan out or when we will next get to sit in a theatre watching a live show.

We are (said he through gritted teeth) determined to remain optimistic…

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Happy Birthday!

October 2, 2021 in Kickass Canada Girl | Permalink

It is The Girl’s birthday! Yaaaaay! Happy birthday to The Girl…

It is always nice when such celebration days fall upon a weekend – ‘cos then one can really relax and go to town (or indeed stay home should one prefer!).

We have already indulged in a certain amount of (non-alcoholic) celebration and this afternoon will find us visiting a nearby spa – followed mayhap by a celebratory repast…

…and it is not actually raining or blowing half a gale at the moment!

Life can still be good…

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Sporting life – 1

September 12, 2021 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

The Girl and I watched the other day the extraordinary denouement of the US Open women’s tennis championship from Flushing Meadows, New York.

In the unlikely eventuality that any gentle reader might somehow have remained unaware of the details of this unprecedented match – here they are:

  • The final was between two teenagers – nineteen year old Canadian Leylah Fernandez and eighteen year old Brit Emma Raducanu.
  • Neither girl had been seeded and both had had remarkable and unexpected runs to the final.
  • The winner – Emma Raducanu – is the youngest Briton to win a Grand Slam title.
  • She is also the first British winner of the women’s US Open since Virginia Wade (who was in the crowd) won at Flushing Meadows back in 1968.
  • Ms Raducanu is the first woman or man ever to win a Grand Slam title having started as a qualifier.
  • She is the youngest Slam winner since Maria Sharapova in 2004 and the first woman to win without dropping a set since Serena Williams in 2014.
  • Both young ladies appeared to be supremely self-assured and nerveless throughout. Oh to be so at any age – let alone when still in one’s teens.

The Girl had, naturally, been rooting for Leylah Fernandez and the knowledge that Emma Raducanu was actually born in Toronto and moved with her parents to the UK when she was two years old didn’t really help much. For both Brits and Canadians, however, the current plethora of sporting talent on show from both nations is extremely pleasing and its like has not been seen since eons passed.

Hearty congratulations to both youngsters – but in particular to Ms Raducanu who, in addition to becoming US Open champion, earned herself two good passes in her A Levels a couple of months back (goodness knows how she found the time!). It think it is fair to say that neither of the girl’s lives will be the same again.

Writing about this event reminds me that I have not posted anything at all to this journal on the subject of sport for some considerable time – the which is all the more peculiar given that there has been a fair bit of it on offer this summer.

I feel that a brief catch-up and explanation is due and promise same for the very next posting (or one shortly thereafter should other ‘stuff’ intervene).

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A game of two halves

June 26, 2021 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Well, it was originally my intention – just a few days back – that this post would go in one direction – but in the light of subsequent events it has had added to it another, unexpected, twist…

…which, given that even the original subject was going to be somewhat out of character for me, is even more of a surprise.

Let me explain…

It is the time of year that many sporting competitions across different parts of the globe reach their climax. As the intensity and excitement increases, unforeseen and daring deeds are done – giants are slain – and underdogs unexpectedly have their day.

This post was to have been just about the Montreal Canadienes – ‘Les Habs’, who – wonder of wonders – have made it through to the finals of the Stanley Cup. Hoorah!

Canadians – being already very familiar with all of these details – can just skip ahead, but for everyone else… the subject is Hockey (or, as we call it in the UK – ‘Ice Hockey’).

Now – hockey is to Canada what Rugby is to the All Blacks (and what footie is to the English!). Domestic Canadian hockey has a long and tortuous history leading to the eventual hegemony of the National Hockey League (the NHL) which took over the Stanley Cup as the major trophy to be competed for by the winners of the two league conferences – East and West.

The ten sides that made up the league in 1926 were whittled back to six as a result of the Great Depression and the outbreak of World War II and this remained the full complement until 1967, when the NHL entered what is now called the Expansion Era. This extended time of change left the league with its current thirty one sides – far more than Canada can support, with the great majority of the teams being spread across the US.

The problem with this, of course, is that – as in all things – the Americans pumped money into the sport and the centre of gravity shifted south from Canada into the US. As a result Stanley Cup finalists nowadays tend both to hail from the US (though some were originally Canadian sides that moved south). The last time that a Canadian team featured was in 2011 – when the Vancouver Canucks lost to the Boston Bruins – and the last time that the Canadienes made the final was all the way back in 1993.

So – when ‘Les Habs’ won their playoff series against the Las Vegas Knights a few days back there was great celebration throughout the land. The final – over seven matches – starts on Monday!

 

With my having little (no!) interest in the footie (Euro 2021 continues, I believe) and with Bath failing to feature in the playoffs for the UK Rugby Premiership (by a considerable margin!) the Canadienes suddenly seemed to be the major sporting interest chez nous. Our attention was attracted, however, by the club that finished fourth in the Premiership – Harlequins. Given that the fourth club gets an away playoff fixture to the leaders (the mightily impressive Bristol) it didn’t look a though the Quins had much chance, particularly when they went 28-0 down shortly before half time.

Quins have, however, been making something of a specialty this season of Lazarus like resurrections and they came back in extra time to win 36-43. It was an astonishing game all ways round.

The final was today at Twickenham against Exeter – a side who have featured in the final in each of the last six years – winning on three of those occasions. Surely the Quins could not produce another miracle game.

Well – they did! – coming from 31-26 down with fourteen minutes left to win 38-40. Wow! These guys do not know when they are beaten.

So – long story short – congratulations to the Harlequins – and ‘Go Canadienes!’…

 

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Product placement

June 24, 2021 in Life as we know it | Permalink

With regard to the recent strand upon these pages concerning my health issues – here and here – I have in the last few days been in receipt of good news. Having once again been relieved of a goodly measure of my precious blood (analysis for the purposes thereof) my nutrition doctor has declared that my liver enzymes are now firing as they should. I don’t suppose enzymes do ‘fire’, of course, but as the writer and proprietor of this online journal I get to play with language (meaning and metaphor) as I please!

This does not mean that the fattiness with which my liver has been flirting is necessarily all gone – as yet. That apparently takes time and would require another ultrasound to determine for sure, but the good doctor is sufficiently content that he has now parked me in ‘maintenance’ mode and doesn’t even want to look further at my blood for the next half year. “Yay!” – say I to that!

Even the nutritionist herself (not the doc – the other one!) announced proudly that I had excellent levels of Vitamin D (not sure what that has to do with anything) and asked if was taking a supplement. The cheek!…

The point is that my shiny new diet has clearly not only dropped me a couple of trouser sizes and taken me back to the weight of a much younger version of myself, but it must also be doing the job of restoring my internals to the shape in which they should be (sort of squidgy, since you ask)…

Now – I am not normally one to endorse products upon these pages but – in the manner of a good award winner (which is what I feel like) – there are just a few ‘people’ that I would like to thank.

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidI have admitted previously to my habitual taking of a single drink each night to accompany my repast – the which I have done since I left home back in the 70s. This was always something of a indulgence but the point was to give myself a little reward for getting through another (hopefully) fruitful day. To be able to willingly give this up I needed some alternative that actually felt like a treat. Water is all very well but is, in my book, for exercise – and that ain’t a treat!

So – here is my new nightly beverage of choice – the very wonderful range of Zevia Iced Teas. No sugar – zero calorie and (should you so require) caffeine-free to boot.

What is more – they are delicious!

Not cheap…

…but delicious…

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidAt the other end of the meal I still need something sweet. Many such lovely things are now ruled out – but how about a little… chocolate?…

“Surely not” – I hear you cry – but worry not, for this is no ordinary chocolate. This is Lily’s ‘no sugar added’ chocolate – and it is yummy!

It is sweetened with Stevia (of which I am a huge fan) which has apparently no downsides (unlike sweeteners ending in ‘ose‘ and suchlike). Some folk gripe about the aftertaste. All I can say is that Lily’s seem to have cracked the Stevia thing in this case – this one, for example, having only an aftertaste of salted caramel.

Yummy, indeed!

Not cheap…

…but yummy…

Photo by Andy Dawson ReidFinally – there are snacks. You know – late night munchies! Nothing that a thick slice of toasted sourdough and marmalade wouldn’t fix – or maybe a nice strawberry jam sandwich. Hmmmm!

So for those occasions – there is Fatso!

I have, as it happens, never been a fan of nut butters. They just don’t quite do it for me; something to do with the texture, mayhap.

But Fatso… A range of low-carb, low-sugar nut butters made with plant-based fats… right here in Victoria!… These things are awesome – and quite addictive. A nice big dollop of Crunchy Salted Caramel (or Maple) Peanut (or Almond) butter on top of a couple of Walker’s Oat Cakes (“They’re delicious!”)…

TDF!

Not cheap…

…but TDF!

There now – dieting’s not so bad…

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Nostalgia…

March 27, 2021 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Image by <a href="https://pixabay.com/users/radfotosonn-8242629/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=3204680">Radfotosonn</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=3204680">Pixabay</a>…as they say… ain’t what it used ter be!

Or… maybe, actually, it is!

Now – my last post offered you more nostalgia to come – and come it will, but events have conspired (as they so often do) to disrupt our good intentions and in this case to cause a slight nostalgia hiatus…

…though – actually – this substitute post also in some ways concerns that very same subject.

”Enough with the cryptic references already!” – I hear you cry.

Fair enough. On with the show…

It seems but a few short weeks back that I was celebrating the fact that the Scots had just defeated the English at Twickenham in the first round of this year’s Six Nations Championship. This was a feat that they had not achieved for some thirty eight years and was thus cause for considerable jubilation.

My next post on the subject of Scottish rugby was a great deal less cheery and documented the sad loss at home by but a single point to Wales – and the further miserable loss, also at home, by a mere three points to the Irish. That post was titled ‘Same Old, Same Old‘ with good reason. In that post I also mentioned the postponed Scotland/France game – as a result of the French frankly playing fast and loose with the COVID lock-down guidelines.

On what should have been the final weekend of the tournament last weekend I could not raise the enthusiasm to discuss the Scots beating the Italians by a handsome margin (because that is what everybody else had done as well) and nor did I refer (drawing, in fact, a discreet veil over the matter) to the English losing to Ireland and thus ending the tournament in fifth place. The Welsh failed to beat the French in Paris and thus did not win a Grand Slam, but the outcome of the chamionship was left hanging: if France could beat the Scots in their rescheduled encounter (which took place today) by a certain amount they and not the Welsh would win the title.

OK – to cut a long story short – not only did the French fail to reach the necessary target but the Scots matched them throughout the game and – courtesy of a little unnecessary French generosity at the end – sneaked the win, 27 – 23. This was the first time that Scotland had beaten France in Paris since they famously did so in 1999 – the last year of the Five Nations before it became six.

Not only does this mean that Wales did eventually take the title (congrats!) but also the Scots have now within the last year broken their hoodoo on winning away games – and  have beaten the Welsh (last autumn), the English and the French on their respective home soils.

Now that is cause for celebration (particularly if you are  a Scot)!

Slàinte mhat!

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“Feminism isn’t about making women strong. Women are already strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.”

G.D. Anderson

March the 8th is International Women’s Day!

The Kickass Canada Girl – though certainly by far the ‘kickass-iest’ that I have met – is certainly not the only lady to whom the epithet might be applied (with appropriate permission of course). As an irreflective member of another gender I would just like to say a heartfelt “Thank you” to The Girl and to all other women who by their indefatigable efforts help to make the world a better place.

I hope that you have a good and productive day.

March 8, 2021 | No comments

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