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March 2019

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Judy Blue Eyes

March 31, 2019 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Image from Wikimedia CommonsWhen booking tickets a while back for last night’s Judy Collins concert at the McPherson Theatre in Victoria we were not without qualms. Nagging reminders of the hugely disappointing visit to the same venue by Gordon Lightfoot the year before last persisted. Treasured memories are sometimes best kept in the mind and not revisited in real life.

Such fears were little allayed when Collins took to the stage – accompanied only by her long-time pianist/musical director, Russell Walden – and during the first number her voice cracked several times. She seemed entirely un-phased by such teething problems, however, explaining that she was recovering from illness and implying that all would be well once she had warmed up.

That indeed turned out to be the case and apart from the occasional memory lapse on the lyrical front (the lady is seventy nine for goodness sake!) the remainder of the evening was the stuff of memories itself.

Much as I have always loved many of Judy’s multitude of classic recordings I have always found her a little cool and a touch distant. Two things rapidly became apparent last night – her voice is now warmer and richer than it was of yore (whilst just as affecting) and she has a keen and wicked sense of humour. The form of the evening was a trip through her sixty year music career, spinning hilarious anecdotes about a pantheon of greats – Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, Steven Stills, Leonard Cohen and Stephen Sondheim (amongst others) interspersed with memory-inducing renditions of their (and her) songs.

The ninety minute show passed in a flash and included such classics as ‘Both Sides Now‘, ‘Chelsea Morning‘, ‘Mr Tambourine Man‘, ‘Send in the Clowns‘, ‘My Father‘, ‘Suzanne‘, ‘The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress‘ and ‘Amazing Grace‘. I was particularly moved by her rendition of Dylan’s ‘Masters of War‘. This is the stuff on which we (and, quite clearly, the remainder of the packed audience of those also in their second childhoods) had grown up – and it meant something. It was impossible not to be touched.

We learned things that we had not previously known, such as the fact that – had it not been for her cajoling – Leonard Cohen would have remained an obscure poet rather than morphing into the singer/songwriter that he became.

Also most impressive is that even at her age (did I mention that she is seventy nine!) Judy still averages a hundred and twenty live concerts a year!

Inspiring stuff and a fabulous evening!

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Nobody told me

March 26, 2019 in Life as we know it | Permalink

Nobody told me there’d be days like these
Strange days indeed
Strange days indeed

John Lennon

How odd!

I sat down to compose a brief post in bewildered acknowledgement of the bizarre period through which we find ourselves living and quite naturally the hook line of John Lennon’s song came at once to mind. These are indeed ‘strange days’.

In the back of my mind, however, was the notion that I had already used this phrase as a title to a previous post. The WordPress search tool makes short work of such trivial tasks and sure enough there was a post entitled “Strange Days Indeed” – almost exactly seven years ago to the day!

Spooky!

There must be something about the dying days of March…

On the subject of the UK and Brexit there is little more that can currently be said – and indeed there would be little point in so doing, since as soon as something is set down in type it is outdated and redundant. All that need be said is that the UK is now apparently not leaving the EU on the 29th March – though that may yet happen on April 12th or May 22nd… and indeed just about anything else could still happen. All we can hope is that when whatever it is that does finally happen – actually happens – we do get to know that it has done so.

In the US there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth (on the Democratic side of the fence) that the Mueller report failed to find a smoking gun with regard to collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and the Russians. This is not so much because of the outcome – frankly no-one really expected that the Orange one would actually get caught – but more that there are now endless opportunities for him to rub everybody else’s noses in it – which he will! What a loathsome prospect.

Here in Canada the picturesque PM, Justin Trudeau, seems determined to do that thing that ‘too good to be true’ leaders always end up doing (unless they are assassinated first) – which is to let down everyone who hoped for a different and better brand of politics. The affair of SNC-Lava-Lamp (as satirical TV show ’22 Minutes’ has it) rumbles on and though the Liberals are currently playing a Harper-like straight bat we are all well aware that it is federal election year, so this ain’t gonna go away anytime soon.

Sadly these vexations are but a mere scratch on the surface when one starts to look further around this poor afflicted planet.

Deepest sigh! What is the world coming to?

Strange days indeed!

 

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Democracy

March 21, 2019 in Life as we know it | Permalink

Alpha Stock Images - http://alphastockimages.com/ I am going to do something that I should probably not do – something that I have largely avoided doing over the past couple of years. However – times are critical and needs must!

It is part of our wonderful human nature that we – from time to time – make bad decisions or bad choices. Sometimes these decisions affect other people to their – and to our – detriment.

Making a bad decision does not make one a bad – nor a stupid – person. Sometimes we are big enough to acknowledge when we have made a mistake. Other times we rigidly refuse to do so regardless of the outcome. It matters not, however, whether we are in denial or not – a bad decision remains a bad decision regardless of whether we accept the fact or not.

Further – the fact that a bad decision may have been taken by a very large number of people – maybe even by a majority of those who had a say in it – still does not alter that fact that it is a bad decision!

There is a reason why in the United Kingdom and in Canada we have representative democracies rather than direct democracies. It is characteristic of representative democracy is that while the representatives are elected by the people to act in the people’s interest, they retain the freedom to exercise their own judgement as how best so to do – with the express purpose of protecting the nation and its people against choices that may be self-harming.

The use of referenda in such democracies is a very dangerous practice and enormous care should be exercised whenever such a prospect is raised. There is a good reason, for example, why there has never been a referendum in the UK or Canada in favour of capital punishment.

The resolution to leave the European Union was a bad decision; the suggestion that we should leave without a deal is a far, far worse one. Virtually nobody who will have to operate under such an outcome thinks that to do so would be a good idea. Neither business nor workers do – pace today’s joint call by the CBI and the TUC. Scientists, academics, economists, healthcare providers and on and on… no-one does. The Europeans don’t. Our parliament as a body does not. Polls (as unreliable as they are) show that a considerable majority of the population does not.

The only group that positively pushes the idea of a ‘no-deal Brexit’ is that hard core of right-wing free marketeers who see opportunities for themselves and their like to profit from the carnage, much in the way that spivs and profiteers do in times of conflict or war. Should one have any doubts at all as to the likelihood that these people truly have the good of the nation at heart one only need look at who they are and at how they have acted over the past three years and more.

They are not on the side of ordinary people!

In spite of everything, however, the country is slowly sliding towards a hard exit and time is running out. Protestations that all we have to do is to believe in ourselves and that all will turn out alright in the long run are hopelessly naive (or downright mendacious!). There has been some revisionist thought in recent years that the appalling decisions taken in 1914 which led Europe to sleep-walk into the Great War have been somehow vindicated by later outcomes. No-one with any awareness or compassion believes this for a moment – and there is a very real chance that in years to come a decision to crash out of the European Union without a deal would come to be regarded in the same light.

I urge those who are able to consider doing the following two things:

Sign the petition to revoke Article 50.

Take part in the march on Saturday 23rd in support a final say.

Before it is too late!

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Astonishing…!

March 19, 2019 in Life as we know it | Permalink

It seems odd to be able to argue that the European ‘Six Nations’ rugby tournament is one of the biggest sporting events in the world.

How can that possibly be true given that rugby is, in worldwide terms, still a minority sport – that its leading exponents (arguably) play in the southern hemisphere and thus do not compete in the competition – and that unlike many other sporting events the component parts of the UK play (passionately!) as separate teams.

Now – it is true that, according to EUFA figures published last year, the average match attendance table for world events was topped by the following:

Best-attended sports events
Event Average attendance per match
Six Nations 72,000
NFL (American football) 64,800
Fifa World Cup (football) 53,592
Rugby World Cup (rugby union) 51,621
Source: Uefa’s European Club Footballing Landscape report

 

…but bear in mind that some of the keenest (not to mention most keenly followed) and most intense fixtures take place between small Celtic nations on the fringe of the continent and that doubts must thus be sewn in any minds rash enough to try to argue the case.

But then – every once in a while a match takes place which leaves one in total awe that any such endeavours are possible on the sporting field – and all bets are off!

I refer, in this instance, to last Saturday’s Calcutta Cup fixture between the ‘auld enemies’ – England and Scotland.

Now – Scotland have had a dreadful run in this year’s championship (due in no small part to a debilitating injury list) and – though they enjoyed a mixed season – the English had looked unstoppable in parts. It was no surprise therefore that they ran in their first try within about a minute and showed no sign of stopping thereafter. Aided by some truly dreadful Scottish defence the English approached half time some 31 points to the good.

When the Scot’s hooker (and captain) Stuart McInally charged down an English kick ten metres inside the Scottish half and miraculously held off the attentions of England speedster Johnny May long enough to get over the line – it looked like a consolation try. England duly jogged out after half-time confidently expecting to complete the job and to rack up a ‘cricket score’ in the process.

What transpired was rather different…

The Scots – with nothing to lose – suddenly re-discovered their mojo. The English – on the other hand – fell apart. Scotland ran in four further unanswered tries and by the sixty minute mark the scores were level. Then – with about ten minutes to go – the mercurial Scottish fly half, Finn Russell (man of the match) released centre Sam Johnson with a sweet delayed pass a little beyond the halfway line. Johnson beat two defenders with one extraordinary step off his left foot and reached the line with two further Englishmen hanging off him. Nothing was going to stop him diving over to score what looked for all the world like the winning try.

This being Scotland, however, you will hardly need me to tell you that after an extended period of pressure and deep into added-time George Ford crossed the line for England to tie the game… 38 – 38. The scoring had been symmetrical: the first half went to the English 31 – 7… the second to the Scots by an identical total.

I have been following Scotland for a long time – as I have the Five/Six Nations – but I don’t think I have ever seen such an extraordinary turnaround, or a more bizarre – but fascinating – match…

…and since the Scots triumphed last year in Edinburgh they now get to hang on to the Calcutta Cup for another year.

Pure dead brilliant!!

PS – congratulations to the Welsh for their Grand Slam. Can’t argue with that!

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O Canada (post!) – 2

March 13, 2019 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

(The second in what I fear may become a less than occasional series…)

Whereas The Girl and I do have a TV component to our cable contract (the big fat broadband connection being our prime concern!) I think it is fair to say that the majority of the content that comprises our televisual viewing is in fact streamed across the InterWebNet. The exact ‘what’ and ‘where’ of that which we stream is immaterial and will thus – for the purposes of this anecdote – remain an enigma!

The TV that we acquired with our property is plenty big enough (in my book) and whilst it may not be equipped with all of the latest bells and whistles (and indeed may not run at the sort of resolution that seems de rigueur nowadays) does plenty well enough for an old Luddite like me. The Girl may well disagree (she does!) and I feel sure that – at some stage – a fancy new device will be purchased.

For now, though, streaming video to the TV screen requires the intervention of a separate box of tricks and we have – since our arrival in Canada – utilised for this purpose an old computer that one of the terribly smart techie chaps in my team at my last school kindly refurbished for me. This device was pretty long in the tooth even then and is a lot older now. As is the way of such things it eventually developed a fault – the which manifested itself in the display of random lines across the screen at vital moments. This grew steadily worse until the challenge became to spot what was actually going on on the TV behind a blizzard of random visual effects.

This was – naturally – causing some friction within this happy home so I contacted said tech wizard (the one who had put the system together) and – as is the way these days – he connected to my humble computer from the other side of the world and investigated it remotely. He gave me his diagnosis:

“It’s f*cked!“, he told me.

Time to buy a new machine. Naturally it is now possible to replace the hulking tower that we had cobbled together with a tiny wee box about the size of a paperback novel, which will do everything and more at three times the speed. I ordered a prime example of same and sat back to await delivery.

Over to Canada Post…

Now – being keen to be able to follow the rugby again (and indeed to indulge in food ‘porn’) I carefully followed the online tracking most helpfully provided as part of the service. I was delighted to see my package on target to be delivered ahead of the advertised schedule. I watched it make its way across from the mainland in the middle of the night and saw it leave Victoria to head for Sidney before finally being delivered into our community mailbox.

I happily trotted up the road and unlocked our box.

Nothing!

Now – the way the community letter boxes work is as follows: each house has a letter sized locker and at the bottom of each stack there are a couple of larger lockers for parcels too big to fit in the normal one. If one receives a package it is placed in one of these larger lockers and the key thereto is posted into one’s normal locker. One retrieves the package and pops the key back into the posting box.

In this instance there were three possibilities: the package had not after all been delivered – or it was in the locker but no key had been posted – or it was in the locker and the key had been posted into the wrong mailbox! Naturally I called Canada Post and opened an enquiry. I also visited my local Canada Post office and pleaded with them and I repeatedly scanned the online tracking to see if anything further had been logged. All told me the same story. They would look into it but it might take three days or so to figure out what had happened.

Sure enough, three days later I had a phone call – from Canada Post. They assured me that the package was indeed in one of the bottom lockers (where it had been all along) and that a key had now been posted for me. All very well – I thought – but that means that a postman had visited the community box three days running and stood within inches of my sad, cold package and not done the decent thing and provided me with a key.

Now – how difficult would it have been to check this on the day that I reported it?

Hmmm!

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Going… going…

March 10, 2019 in Life in BC | Permalink

We had – the gentle reader may recall – our first smattering of snow here in Victoria this year on around February 6th. This was just a taster for what was to come over the following period and by February 12th we had experienced what was confidently declared a ‘once every half decade’ level of snowfall.

Should the aforesaid benign bibliomaniac wish to refresh his or her memory as to what that all looked like – then you need go no further than this snow covered post.

And that was pretty much that – at least with regards to the descent of frozen precipitation.

The temperature – however – remained rooted on the lower part of the scale and, as far as the snow that had already fallen was concerned, it stayed pretty much where it had landed.

Now as of today – March 10th – we hear that this week (finally!) – the temperature is likely to rise for the first time since the start of February into double digits!… which means that the remains of the snowdrifts should finally disappear. The small patch of snow in the accompanying image is the very last that remains on our little estate here in North Saanich and I confidently predict that it will be gone within a day or so.

Unfortunately this will mean that I must needs get out and start clearing up the debris that the winter storms have left behind. I spent a couple of hours in our back garden yesterday and it was a far from painless experience.

Ouch!

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I wish

March 4, 2019 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Image from PixabayThough I habitually listen to a great deal of music, the gentle reader – as least those who know me at all – will be unsurprised to hear that I long ago stopped following the ins and outs of the popular music scene. As a result I have only the most tenuous of ideas as to who Lady Gaga is.

Yes – I am well aware that she has clearly sold a lot of ‘records’ (if such one still does in this digital age) and made a lot of money, but I fear that I could barely name one of the tracks on which that reputation has been built. I am also aware that her career has involved acting, though the fruits thereof have likewise passed me by. I get the impression that she was all over the Oscars this year – though that too failed to register on my radar (save for the award won by UK National Treasure – Olivia Coleman).

I was moved the other day, however, to go online to track down a version of Stevie Wonder’s ‘I Wish‘, so that I might remind myself how the bass line goes. It is a relatively simple walking bass part –  the fundamental spine around which the song is built – but it is a wonderful exercise because it is simply relentless. Once you drop a beat you have an absolute beast of a time recovering the rhythm.

I found Stevie’s own version on the YouTube thing, but also another by the aforementioned Lady Gaga. This latter was one of a number of artist’s tributes to Stevie Wonder at the 2015 Kennedy Center Honors Gala Event.

If I knew nothing about the Lady beforehand I certainly do now. Holy cow! She can sing and she – and the band – totally smoked it!

If you want to give your ears a bit of a treat – or if you are in need of little exercise – fire this up, whack up the volume, and make some room for dancing (or find something on which to drum!).

Bass players may care to play along!

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Rugby roundup

March 2, 2019 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Having threatened a few posts back to bore everyone rigid with rugby related updates the gentle reader will be no doubt wondering what could possibly have happened to that eagerly awaited content. (No – no, he or she is almost certainly wondering no such thing!).

Previous experience might suggest that should I not be forthcoming on such (important) topics it is most likely because the subject is just too painful to mention. Well – I don’t know about that, but it must be said that the fortunes of the sides that I follow have of late been rather – er – mixed!

The Scots have really not got going at all in this Six Nations. They warmed up against the Italians well enough but then let current champions, Ireland, get the better of them at home. The trip to Paris – even given the current woes of the French side – was never going to be easy. That the Scots were suffering from a surfeit of injuries didn’t help and the bravehearts are thus no further forward. They now face the cocky Welsh – who last week outsmarted an English side that had won its first two games convincingly. The final game is against the English themselves in their fortress at Twickenham. Hmmm!

Bath Rugby are busy doing that thing that all evidence suggests they are currently the kings of – namely all but winning games only to throw them away at the death. For the last two weeks now they have lost the match on the final play deep into overtime. Given that they have done this three times this season already it is no surprise that they are beginning to get themselves a reputation.

The Girl and I have ventured twice in as many weeks to Westhills to catch Canada playing their home fixtures in the Americas Championship. As I reported in the aforementioned post Canada started their championship run also by losing at the death to Uruguay and they repeated the feat the following week away to Brazil (of all people!). What is it with the teams I follow not being able to go the whole eighty minutes?!

Anyway – last week they entertained Chile at home on a night which was distinctly – er- chilly! It certainly was for the visitors who didn’t get a look-in, as Canada wreaked revenge (of a sort) by trampling them 56 – 0. This week they faced the Argentinians – albeit only the Pumas second string (the first team being far too busy losing to the All Blacks to worry about small fry like Canada!).

Even the Argentine second strand is a very dangerous prospect and the Canadians were expected to lose handsomely. It was, as it turned out, a most exciting game. Having given the Pumas a head-start by gifting them a charge-down try in the first minute the Canadians did well to stay in touch until near the interval. Unfortunately they then gave up a couple of soft-ish tries. Whatever was said during half time certainly had an effect because after the break the Canadians threw themselves at the Argentinians with a ferocity that I don’t recall seeing from them before. With fifteen minutes to go it was a two point game. Sadly the superior fitness of the Pumas – assisted by some dubious decisions by the officials (including a frankly ridiculous penalty try to wrap up proceedings) – told in the end and the Argentinians won the game 39 – 23 and the championship with a match to spare.

Oh well – there is still time for all concerned to furnish us with outrageous feats of derring-do – to win those David/Goliath battles against all odds and to bring unlooked for joy to us long-suffering supporters…

…and because we are optimists we believe that it will indeed be so!

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