The
Squamidian Report – Sept. 3 / 11
Issue #484
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
I don’t know who comes up with this stuff, or who does the surveys, or checks the facts, but on some world wide list of ‘most livable city in the world’, Vancouver has dropped from 1st place down to 3rd place. Cost of living is definitely not one of the considerations because only the very rich can afford to move there. So, the survey must assume that someone already lives there and that their living experience has dropped slightly as compared to two other cities somewhere in the world. Now, here is the reason Vancouver lost it’s 1st place position…
Vancouver in no longer number 1 because of traffic problems on the Malahat highway. Makes sense at first until you think about it. The Malahat is no where near Vancouver. In fact, it would take a couple of hours of driving and an hour and three quarters ferry ride to get to the Malahat from Vancouver. It’s a bit like saying that the KW Octoberfest has been down graded because of long lineups to go up the CN Tower. Or that Niagara Falls has been down graded because of the tornado damage in Goderich. The Malahat is the section of highway 19 on Vancouver Island that is north of Victoria and connects Victoria to the rest of the island. It goes over the Malahat Pass and is a very scenic drive in nice weather but is not so nice in fog or snow. But, that has nothing to do with the city of Vancouver on the Mainland. I guess these ‘all knowing, world wide people’ who like to make these lists don’t know their geography and don’t check their facts. Kind of funny when you thing about it.
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Now here’s something cool that has very little to do with world-class cities. My trusty Harley, Big Blue, has just turned 40,000. That’s kilometers, not years of course. That’s right, between the 2010 riding season and this years weather shortened season that isn’t over yet, I’ve put 40,000 clicks on the bike. She still looks and feels new. I still think of her as new. But, I guess she’ not, at least mile-wise. I don’t know how all those kilometers got there. They just seem to have piled up. Mind you, it’s pretty hard for us to go anywhere without putting on a hundred or so. And its not uncommon to head out on an overnighter or longer ride that puts on a few thousand, and they do add up. We’ve seen a lot of spectacular country as we rumbled along. And there are lots more rides waiting to happen so I guess there will be many more miles clocked on the odometer over the rest of this season and the seasons to come.
Generally speaking, she has been pretty reliable. She has never let us down and has always run strong and steady. There have been a couple of small warrantee issues that were dealt with but that’s normal for any mechanical machine. She’ll soon need a new front tire but considering the miles on her, that’s down right impressive. Motorcycles don’t get very good mileage out of their tires. She is on her second rear tire and had gotten very impressive use out of the first one. So, she’s shinny and polished and sitting there ready for her next adventure, and her next 40,000.
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I had alluded to the very high cost of living in and around Vancouver. One very big factor pushing that cost up is the over abundance of off-shore money buying up everything in sight and paying way over market value simply because they can. The off-shore, very wealthy, come here for many reasons, including out tax paid benefits, and BC’s embarrassingly lenient legal system. And they bring their poor little rich kids with them. Vancouver has been having problems with these over-indulged maggots for years. Almost every weekend night there are incidents of street racing, and the racers are not always but usually are the offspring of the owners of the off-shore money. They seldom stick around to face the consequences of their actions which are often quite sever. And when they do get caught, ‘daddy’s lawyer’ usually gets them off scot free.
Well, get this…. The cops pulled over 13 high priced cars in one group that were racing (opps, allegedly racing) on a Richmond area highway. The drivers claim they were just out having fun, witnesses say different. Now here’s the stats, all were under the age of 21, 2 were under 18. Six of them are ‘new’ drivers and do not hold full licenses yet and one did not have a Canadian or BC license at all.
The cars they were driving included:
3 Lamborghinis
3 Nissan R Series
2 Maserati Tursmos
1 Ferrari
An Audi, and several Mercedes SLSs
The cars are valued at over 2 million dollars.
Only 1 car was registered to the driver, the rest assumable belong to ‘daddy’.
Unfortunately, charges will be very light if at all and ‘daddy’s lawyer’ will get them all off so in the end it will have been a waist of time. But it does demonstrate the sad, boring life of the offspring of the owners of all that offshore money that comes over and bumps up the cost of living for the rest of us.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
It won’t be long now and summer will be over! Seems like only last week we were starting our summer looking forward to a long hot one. We got what we were hoping for, for sure, a long hot summer with loads of sunshine. It’s sad to hear that Doug and Sue’s summer only started a couple of weeks ago but that didn’t put too much of a damper on their riding season. I hear they still put plenty of miles on the Harley this year! I on the other hand didn’t get out on my bike as much as I would have liked. As it turns out, I have developed arthritis in my hands over the past few months and have been unable to squeeze the clutch lever on my bike to enable me to ride it! Ticks me off to say the least! I am however able to type with some moderate discomfort so I just tough it out when it comes to writing my Ontarion. I have a date with a specialist at the end of September to see of they can do anything for me with regards to my hands. I sure hope they’ll be able to give me some relief, it sucks when every time you reach for something you get shooting pains from your finger tips to your elbows! There are days when I can’t even pick up a cup of tea without using both hands! Oh well, I’ll just have to wait till they take a look at the end of the month and hope for the best. Getting old stinks!
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Speaking of getting old, I’d like to wish our good friend Clyde a Happy Birthday! He turned 39 on the 31st of August! “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Clyde! Hope you have many more indeed!
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As you may recall, I’ve been intending on flying my kite to a record elevation for about three years now. Well, I finally got out the other day to the local schoolyard and took my kites with me. I managed to find enough wind to launch two different kites. The first was a delta wing kids kite with “Spider Man” on it. Not your classiest kite for an adult to be flying but when you fly them to release them it’s impractical to spend money on expensive units. Besides, this style of kite has plenty of lift for my purposes! It’ll easily carry the amount of line required to get it up to the cloud level for release with only a moderate breeze. I managed to get it up to an altitude of what I figured was around the 5000 foot mark. I have about four and a half times that amount of line on my reel but decided not to spend any more line on this particular flight. I cut the line and watched “Spidy” drift off into the eastern sky! My next flight was with another of the same sized “cheapie” kites with some cartoon figure on that I didn’t recognize. I sent it aloft to about 2500 ft but it started to loose lift when the wind died. I had to wind it in and try a second time. While winding it in, the line became entangled in a small tree on the edge of the schoolyard. I decided to keep on reeling! I have devised a system with a 20” reel on it that I can power up or down with a Makita 12 volt cordless drill. It works great! I dragged the kite right through the tree without any damage. It collapsed as it pulled through so all I had to do was find the support rod that holds the wing stiff and reinstall it in the kite.
The second attempt was a success and I managed to reach about 5000 ft again. This meant that I still had another 12000 ft or more that I could let out if I wanted to. However, I thought at the moment that it wasn’t the right time to go for the record so I cut the kite loose once again. This time the kite just seemed to sit there in one spot. It neither gained or lost altitude. I packed up my stuff and headed for the car. As I drove toward my house a couple of blocks away I could still see the kite in the distance. I decided to follow it as far as I could. I was able to keep it in sight all the way to the corner of Westmount Rd and Fischer-Hallman Rd where I got caught at a red light. As I sat at the light, the kite finally disappeared into the clouds over what I estimate would have been the Cambridge area. The best distance I’ve had with one of my releases has been about 200km two years ago on the shore of Lake Erie. So, knowing the distance capabilities, there’s no telling how far the kites from the other day might have gone. I hope someone finds them and writes me an e-mail. It’ll be fun to find out where they landed. I still have to go for that record flight but I’m going to save that for just the right weather. Hopefully I’ll get to go for the record this fall! I’ll be sure to keep you all posted! I know how exciting you all find this!
That’s it for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… Greg.
PS: Something To Think About>
Winston Churchill was born in a ladies washroom at a dance!
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Have a good one..
the doug
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