monty python visits canada

I’m not sure how this survived. In fact, it barely survived. It’s a poster from 1973. A very young group of comedians from Great Britain had a new TV show - Monty Python’s Flying Circus. It aired on the BBC and was picked up by the CBC. The group decided to tour Canada, including Calgary. I‘m not sure how I got the poster. I know I did NOT go see the show. God knows I wish I had. I found this rolled up in a tube in our basement. The edges are torn. I looked into restoring it but couldn’t find anybody locally to do it. I finally decided to frame it “as is” and it’s on display. Note the price of tickets.

gridlock at the border

Trucks blocking the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor Ontario Canada are giving me déjà vu. Seeing gridlock at the busiest crossing at the Canada U.S. border takes me back to the aftermath of September 11, 2001. I was a radio reporter for the CBC, reporting on a closed border. There was a good reason for the shut down. Everybody was scared, especially on the U.S. side. Nobody knew what was going to happen next. Hundreds, maybe thousands of truckers were inconvenienced. They parked on the road and lived in their cabs for days. I interviewed some. Frustration but no complaints. Everybody pitched in in 2001. In 2022 it’s the opposite. The only reason for this traffic jam is inconvenience for the majority and economic mayhem for Canada.   

my evening walk

I went for my long evening walk for the first time in a while. It was a good time to check out what’s new in the ‘hood. I grew up here, the Altadore -Riverpark area of south Calgary, Canada, now lumped in with the Marda Loop shopping district. Two blocks away from my house, there used to be a Texaco gas station and a corner store. I’d buy penny candy in the shop when I was little and smokes when I was a teenager. They’re gone. Now there's a real estate agency and trendy coffee shop where the gas station and store used to be. And, very soon, a shiny new, friendly neighbourhood cannabis shop. I'm sure I was quite stoned several times when I walked into the corner store in my high school days. If you told me back then, they'd open a marijuana store there someday I would have been gobsmacked. Truth is, I haven't touched the stuff in years.