The
Squamidian Report – March 9 / 13
Issue #563
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Well, if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m taking it kind of easy these days and letting my innards finish healing, I’d be out riding with my motorcycle friends. They’ve been riding all winter, whenever the sun has been shining. Several of them dropped in on me a few days ago, on their bikes, just to rub it in. We had lunch down at one of the local spots and then they enjoyed a sunny ride back along Howe Sound to the city. Oh well, I’d rather take my time and not hurry trying to wrestle with my 900 lb bike, than end up setting recovery back by doing too much too soon. I’ll leave the bike parked for another 2 or 3 weeks, and probably put her back on the road on the first nice sunny day after I get back from visiting ‘the homestead’. Yup, I’ll be back again, seem to do that about once a year. Normally it would be in late Feb but that got shelved for obvious reasons. Flying is out of the question during March Break because of the inherent tendency of our wonderful airlines to double the price and out right gouge during times when people want or need to travel. So, looks like I’ll be flying east on March 20, sticking around for about 5 days and then flying home on the 25th. The timing actually works out fine because it is forcing me to leave the bike parked until I’ve had over a month to heal up. By the way, if anyone wants a copy of my 4th CD, the one I finished in December (Volume 4 – Can’t Think Of Anything To Play), let me know and I will bring some with me. I had sent out a bunch back then but might have missed someone, just never know.
In the mean time there is lots to keep me busy. We are getting geared up for the riding season to get fully under way. It never really went away but now its time to get all our planning in place. We’ve been training our road captains and regular members in the skills needed to properly and safely partake in group riding. We’ve been planning skill maneuver sessions and generally getting everyone ready to get out and ride. One of the hardest things to put together is a ride schedule, where our dates and destinations are worked out and posted. There is also the BC CMC Officer’s meeting in Nanaimo this Sunday. Most of my officers and myself, as well as several from the Fraser Valley chapter will be attending. We will catch the Horseshoe Bay ferry to Nanaimo as walk-on passengers. That’s a lot cheaper than trying to bring vehicles or even bikes across. It has gotten so expensive to take these ferries that they are now sailing half empty all the time, no one can afford the trip. And BC Ferries keeps raising the rates and can’t figure out why they are loosing customers. Go figure.
The reason the meeting is on the Island is because while there are 2 CMC chapters on the Lower Mainland now, there are 5 chapters on the Island. There are chapters in the Interior but they are too far away to make attending very practical. Should be a good time, it was last year. Our chapter is going to do a presentation on the bike-to-bike com systems we have started to use. We got a lot of flak from the 1st officer of the Victoria chapter when we first mentioned this system, he uses illegal, high powered walkie-talkies with headsets for communications between his road captains while riding and he basically told us that our system was crap and would not work at all, period. Well, we have been testing ‘our system’ quite extensively and have found it to meet every criteria that the manufacturer claims. In fact, we have found that it can do some things the manufacturer didn’t even know about and the manufacturer has become quite interested in our YouTube postings. The thing that the Victoria 1st officer does not understand is that they are using radios, and radios work like radios. Ours system operates on Bluetooth, a form of computer networking and is definitely NOT radio. Anyone trying to use our system like a radio would be very disappointed and frustrated. Likewise, anyone trying to use a radio like a Bluetooth system would be disappointed and frustrated. The trick to using and liking the Bluetooth systems (and there are several on the market) is to understand HOW to use them and what they are meant to do, and not do. The thing that sets the system we are using apart from the other similar systems is that it does not use a boom mic. Boom mics stick out from your helmet, in front of our mouth. They pick up wind and other background noise and they are in the way a lot. The system we are using, the UClear 200, has the mic built into the ear peaces, and uses computer algorithms to identify and process speech, while very effectively filtering out unwanted sounds. Anyway, we have been requested to do a presentation and demonstration at the meeting. Many of the riders on the Island have been following out testing postings and are quite interested in them. We won’t be pushing or ‘selling’ the system, just giving an honest report of how they are working for us.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Things are getting back to normal for my typing skills at least. The hand is coming along but will be tender for a few weeks yet I’m sure. Nothing to worry about but just have to keep in mind that I can’t push it too hard for a while.
Well, Canada got some sad news today with the announcement of the passing of a truly great Canadian, Stompin’ Tom Connors died of natural causes on Wednesday of this week. He was a character for sure and one that deserved more recognition than he got in the music industry! His style of music was not for everyone but if you knew his songs at all you had to give him credit for his loyalty to Canada. He wrote and sang about the people and places he visited, worked and played his music in from coast to coast. He refused to ever “Border Jump” as he called it to promote himself or his music by heading to places like Nashville TN. He could have easily done so early in his career and became an international mega star in the country music industry but he chose to stay loyal to his country of birth and never once wavered from that dedication.
I have my own personal “Stompin’ Tom” story to pass on today and I hope you all get a kick out of it. When I was attending The Ontario Fire College up in Gravenhurst Ontario back in the early 80’s I met and became friends with a Captain from the Mississauga Fire Dept by the name of Reg Landriault. He told me one night over a beer in the OFC student lounge that he was personal friends with Stompin’ Tom Connors and I kind of chuckled and said “Ya sure you are!” Reg assured me that he wasn’t joshing me and if I had time for a little detour on the way home at the end of our course at OFC, he’d take me to Tom’s place of residence and introduce me to him. I said I’d be happy to stop by to meet Tom, thinking I’d call his bluff.
It just so happens that I had taken a load of whiskey barrels from Seagram’s in Waterloo up to the college to sell to the staff and other students to make “Swish” in and I had a few that I promised Reg I’d drop off at his house for him on the way home. He lived in Acton which was on Hwy 7 and he told me that Stompin’ Tom lived on Trafalgar Rd just south of Hwy 7 so it would be an easy detour to stop at Tom’s place! At the end of that week, we headed for home on the last Friday of the course and I was wondering if Reg’s friendship with Tom really existed. He hadn’t wavered any from his stories of friendship with Tom so I figured he was telling me the truth after all. I was actually quite thrilled about the prospect of meeting one of Canada’s most famous entertainers in person let alone being welcomed (hopefully) to his personal residence. We finally made the turn onto Trafalgar Rd and after about a two-kilometer drive south we turned left into a long dirt driveway. There was an unassuming raised bungalow built into the side of hill at the end of the drive and a quadruple bayed driving shed with a couple of old cars in it on the right side of the driveway. As we rolled to a stop in front of the driving shed, a lady and a boy about 10 years of age met us. They were accompanied by a huge St Bernard dog. The woman hugged Reg and asked who his friend was and Reg introduced me to Lena saying she was Tom’s wife and the boy was their son. I don’t recall the boy’s name since it was 30 years ago that this happened. After we talked a little I still hadn’t seen any sign of Stompin’ Tom but then I heard the banging of a door in the front of the exposed foundation of the house. Out of what had been a garage in the basement of the home came a rugged looking fellow carrying three bottles of OV and wearing a Persian lambskin hat like I’d seen on Russian fellows in the movies. He laughed as he handed me a beer and extended his right hand to greet me saying “I’m Tom Connors” and I shook his hand and said “I’m Greg Payne!” He chuckled and said haven’t you any better sense than to hang around with a reprobate like Landiault? Hahahaha….!” We stood in the drive for about 10 minutes finishing the introductions and how we knew each other and the reason we had stopped in at Tom and Lena’s house that day. He then invited us inside for a visit. It was about 3pm and before we sat down to chat, Tom said to us that he had something to show us that he needed our help with. The “Rumpus Room” as he described the room that had once been a garage but was now converted into his social and bar room was about 20’ by 20’ with old chairs and a couple of couches around the perimeter with a table or two in the middle. He had a large square in one corner that was hidden behind what appeared to be plastic shower curtains. He walked over to it and pulled back one of the curtains to show us what he wanted help with! It was a pile of cases of two-four of Crystal Lager that was about 8 cases by 8 cases square by another 8 or more cases high! WOW! I said, “What the heck are you stocking up for Tom?” and He said “Well Greg, do you remember how they’ve been threatening a beer strike for the past month or so? To which I said “Yes but now it’s not happening!” Tom said, “That’s exactly why I’m sitting on this stock pile of beer! I have many musician friends that play all over the province and I told them all to pick me up a couple of cases of Crystal when they got near a beer store so I’d have lots of stock for when the Brewers Warehouse boys went on strike! This is the result of that request and now the buggers have settled the contract and aren’t going to strike after all! We laughed like crazy with his story and decided to help him with a few pints before heading home. Well, a few turned into a few more and all of a sudden it was 6pm and Reg and I were in no shape to drive the rest of the way home that evening. Tom said “You’d better call your wives and let them know that you’re stayin’ the night ‘cuz I won’t let you leave in the shape you’re both in!” I phoned Carole and told her where I was and what had happened and she wasn’t sure if I was tellin’ her the truth or not so I put Tom on the phone and he assured her that I was in no shape to drive and that I really was in good hands and staying with “The” Stompin’ Tom Connors! He told her where he lived and gave her the phone number with a promise that he’d have me on my way home early the next morning. Reg slept in the guest room and I slept on the pullout couch in Tom’s Rumpus Room! We had a fun evening and he was one of the most down to earth people I’ve ever met. I told Tom about the little Ice Cream shop “CG’s Ice Cream Parlour” that Carole and I owned and ran in the Frederick Mall in Kitchener and invited him and his wife and son over for a treat any time they felt like enjoying a drive and some ice cream! In the morning Lena had made us a bacon and egg breakfast and insisted on feeding us before letting us head for home. I thanked Tom and Lena for their hospitality and Reg and I headed for Acton to drop off Reg’s barrels. I also thanked Reg for introducing me to Tom and Lena and for the interesting time we had visiting with such a famous individual!
I got home around noon that day and figured I’d likely seen the last of my famous acquaintance! The following week, Carole and Adam and I were working the ice cream parlour and in the middle of the afternoon, in walked Stompin’ Tom with Lena and their son to take me up on the invitation for some ice cream! Their son and Adam were almost the same age and of course they pigged out on as much ice cream as a kid can handle! Tom and Lena visited with us for about an hour and then said they had to be going since Tom had a gig to play in Toronto that evening!
That was the last time I saw “Stompin’ Tom” and I’ve never forgotten his kindness or his gentle character! He was most certainly a gentleman and a True Canadian Icon!
R.I.P. Tom!
Tom apparently has several more albums that have yet to be released for sale and I’m going to be sure to pick up one or two at least just for keepsakes!
PS: I also like his music but have never before purchased his albums.
That’s it for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
Stompin’ Tom Connors was a true and loyal Canadian.
It wouldn’t hurt us all to be a little more loyal to this fine Country! Even if it means just buying Canadian goods whenever we can and supporting out Canadian music artists!
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Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.