Looking at life through a funhouse mirror
Although I dearly love living here, I cannot deny that some things are better in other parts of Canada. And at the risk of getting deported from the GTA, here are some examples of stuff that is better in Montreal, courtesy of a recent visit to a GMA client. • In Montreal, they pay attention …
You may not know this, but St. Patrick’s Day is an official holiday in Newfoundland. No, honestly it is. I only know this because of the time well wasted I spent with a motley assortment of Newfoundlanders when I attended Dalhousie University in Halifax. I guess in Newfoundland culture, going to Nova Scotia to get …
I do not think it is a coincidence that famous people usually end up married to other famous people. I know they are more likely to hang around almost exclusively with their own kind, which would somewhat explain it, but I also think there is something of an ‘other worldliness’ at play. Kind of like …
When you grow up in a small town best described as on the outskirts of nowhere, you don’t need much more than two wheels or your own two feet to get around. That is, unless you wanted to go somewhere exotic, like a place that had more than one clothing store. Back in those days …
For some strange reason I saved my meal tickets from my resident days at Waterloo. Maybe that’s because I can always say I have a ‘meal ticket’, but who knows what I was thinking. Clearly not me. Anyhow, the meal ticket was kind of like a transit pass, except the photo was put inside a …
Matchbooks are definitely on the endangered list. It used to be that every restaurant had a bowl of matches on their front counter. Now, paper matchbook marketing has all but disappeared, although you can sometimes score wooden matchboxes at expensive steakhouses (I guess so you will have something to light your cigar with). Otherwise you …
Apparently, a short 200 years ago Charles Dickens was born. This has prompted all manner of hoopla, including Prince Charles cutting a birthday cake at the Dickens Museum (although the recipient was hardly in shape to partake) and Ralph Fiennes reading from Bleak House at Westminster Abbey. I must confess that Bleak House is the …
Whatever season you decide to visit the area, you will find citizens of the Ottawa Valley enjoying a variety of activities. Here are some examples: Huntin’ Once the leaves are off the trees, hunting season cannot be far behind. It is first heralded by the festive orange quilted vests and the matching flash of orange …
I have just finished reading a book called A Discovery of Witches, which was highly educational. Apparently, we unknowingly co-habit the earth with three types of non-humans: witches, vampires and demons. Each of these has its own strengths and weaknesses: • Witches, as most of you are aware, excel at spells that can control their …
As a general rule, fine dining is not a concept that is familiar in small towns and my experience has certainly proven this rule. Not that fine dining is the only acceptable form of food you pay someone to make for you, but when chips with gravy are the pinnacle of the available taste experience, …