The Squamidian Report – Aug. 13 / 16
Issue #742
Including:
The Ontarion Once Greg Is Back
Hi All,
For anyone who noticed, this email has come out a few days late. We
took off on a small road trip on the bike so I wasn't home over the
weekend. And face it, you get what you pay for.
I had been asked if I'd like to play up on the gondola deck last
Saturday and of course I had said yes. I've played out on that deck
several times and it's a great place to play. When I play there its
'background' music, quiet and peaceful. Anyone who cares to listen can
and anyone who cares to ignore it can do that. A win – win situation. I
can sit there doing my own numbers as well as covers of other people's
song that fit the location and situation. I can look up at the mountain
tops and the snow, I can look down at the Sound. Very relaxing. Thats
how last Saturday started out. I was suppose to play from 6 to 8, sort
of covering the dinner timing. People like to sit out on the deck and
eat their dinner this time of year. All was well until shortly after 7.
There was a wedding reception happening inside, in the party room and
they had a DJ who had a very big sound system. Well, the DJ decided it
would be more fun if she moved her sound equipment, and the wedding
party, out onto the deck. That was the end of my musical evening and
the end of the peaceful background music for the none-wedding people
who were enjoying a quiet dinner in a scenic quiet setting. All of a
sudden the whole deck vibrated from the intense volume as the DJ
started cranking up the power.
Even though this was not part of the gondola's agreement with the
wedding people, there was not much point in trying to tell them then
didn't have any right moving out onto the deck. They had rented the
room, not the public deck but that didn't matter to the DJ. The manager
was not very happy and many of the dinner people got up and left, as
did I. I packed up my equipment and headed out of there. On one level
it actually worked out OK because the day had been on the cool side and
while I was playing the breeze had picked up and the temperature had
dropped to the point where my fingers didn't really want to cooperate
any more so it was fine with me to cut it a bit short. I couldn't keep
warm any longer, even after putting on a nice warm sweater.
And thats been the story most of this alleged summer. We've been having
none-stop high level low pressure systems move in from the gulf of
Alaska and they linger for days and weeks at a time. They are cold and
damp and its been cold and damp. Most afternoons we need to wear a
jacket or sweater if we want to sit out on the deck. Bummer. This last
cold low was supposed to move out over a week ago but it didn't. It
lingered, and lingered, as usual. Finally, at 4:47pm last Wednesday the
sky brightened a bit and the temperature started to climb. It had been
about 15 C out on the deck and the temp rocketed up to 20. We aren't
used to that kind of heat around here so with forecasted temperatures
up into the high 20's we are going to cook.
This current weekend was going to have been my bike chapter
over-nighter in the Interior but interest had dropped off to the point
where I cancelled the event. As an alternative for any who might still
have wanted to do the biking weekend, one of our members has a weekend
home over in Princeton, about a 4.5 hr ride from here if you go to the
city, then catch the slab and ride out to Hope and then take #3 over
Alison Pass. Riding the slab is the pits but #3 is a great mountain
ride if traffic and weather permit. By the time this weekend came,
there was just 'The Wife' and I as well as the couple who have the
Princeton house attending. So much for chapter events. Funny, everyone
wants there to be planned rides and events but then they pooch out. OH
well.
Here's something that struck me as funny, dumb, weird, or whatever....
We've been seeing in the news that due to the ridiculously high price
that Ontario Hydro is charging it's rural customers, many are finding
their electricity has become unaffordable. Now it seems the Ontario
government wants to encourage as many as possible to switch over to
electric cars, as soon as possible. Now it seems to me that while
electric cars are definitely the way of the future and once the battery
technology has advanced to the point where charging is fast and range
is good, this idea simply won't work for many residents of that
province. How pray tell can there be any sense at all in jumping to
electric vehicles if people are already struggling to pay the cost of
simply turning on their house lights? I guess the real question should
be, where do these brain dead politicians come from? Because they sure
don't seem to be members of the 'real world'.
doug
****
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.
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