Summer Fun Food Drink Volume 2 Chapter 1 Smile · Wednesday June 23, 2010 by colin newell
Oil spills. Earthquake. Famine. Pestilence. Plague of locusts. And asteroids.
Pity the Planet Earth for if it had a personality it would have developed a complex by now.
It’s all out there. But you cannot dwell on that stuff all of the time. Because it will bring you down. Like it is bringing me down.
Until June the 21st when everything changes.
And so with the dawn of a new summer, it is time to begin that beloved series that my devoted reader appreciated so much last summer…
I give you Summer Fun Food and Drink – Volume 2 for 2010.
Smile.
The view from my balcony high in Rockland, Victoria, B.C. Canada.
It’s priceless. It is unspoilt. That is Oak Bay, Victoria in the distance. And the vague outline of a rainbow over the San Juan Islands – indicating a pot of gold… or at least a piece of paradise.
Living in Victoria is a little like taking your two thumbs and index fingers and making spectacles that filter out everything but the goodness. This is it. Smile.
Bob Harris, of BobHarris.com, Los Angeles and the World, 5 time Jeopardy champion and writer for CSI Las Vegas and Bones stood on my balcony recently and proclaimed… “You people are billionaires…”
And he was not talking about dollars and cents. It is a metaphor for what can be.
Bob is currently circuiting the globe writing a couple of books – one of them on the subject of micro-finance and the other on the subject of why people fight.
The photo above represents why people don’t fight.
So don’t fight it. Smile.
And welcome back to our Summer programming.
If you enjoyed last summers series you may remember this highlight – The Summer Food Fun and Drink Starbucks in decline series – enjoy.
Comment [2]
Final Rite of Spring #39 - Let's attack the poor - it's fun · Monday June 21, 2010 by colin newell
In Canada we have ancient magazine pushers like Readers Digest – who prey on the elderly with their micro-font contract deceptions and postal station busting book dumping binges…
Neoconservative Liberal funded think tanks that trumpet their masters every word (for a price…) – like how good the HST is going to be for us regular folk.
(And) Seemingly reputable publicly funded media outlets, like the CBC, that re-bleat and tweet every utterance of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Photo above right – Minister of Housing and Social Development, Rich Coleman
And all of this sort of makes sense – I mean, Readers Digest is a company that profits from sort of legally manipulating our elderly and vulnerable into parting with their retirement savings – I mean, sure, the elderly can eat pet food, yea?. (And)If we paid more attention to our seniors, a lot of these abuses would not happen.
And the CBC – well, it has a symbiotic relationship with Big Banks, Conservative think tanks and professional realty pundits and so on. Everyone wins in this game.
And I am not being cynical… really. I’m not. Yet anyway.
What I do not get is the Liberals twitchy and obsessive fixation with going after the most vulnerable in British Columbia society (yes folks, even the poor are part of our society…)
In late May 2010, the minister responsible, Jabba Rich the Hut Coleman, said the ministry had filed 317 cases in small claims court seeking repayments. Some of the cases involved fraud, while others may have filed incorrect information that resulted in over payments, he said at the time.
A single employable person (on social assistance) in BC gets 235.00 a month for food…and 375.00 for shelter. In Victoria or Vancouver that will not rent you a greasy corner of a garage.) Ironic that Coleman’s first name happens to be “Rich”!
Can you imagine an over-payment for a welfare recipient? What would that be? An extra $25 a month over the period of a year? A real back breaker that, yea?
In a Province that hands out millions in visibly excessive over compensation to corporate, government and academic fat-cats – Well, it is genuinely cynical… sick… miserable. And doesn’t make me feel particularly good about the place I live, my community, my society, my leaders or my Province.
And that’s where I am coming from. And thus ends a 39 part series on Springtime in Victoria B.C. Canada. Time to move on.
Rites of Spring #38 - Blip or trend - shortchanging in the cafe and bakeries · Sunday June 20, 2010 by colin newell
I want to be very careful when I introduce this topic – I do not want to inflame any cafe or bakery owners.
Because this is a very inexact and unscientific observation.
Totally…
So here goes… Brace yourself.
More often, I seem to be catching staff at some of the local cafes and bakeries “short changing” me…
By a very consistent 1 dollar.
Not 2$ or 50 cents – but 1 dollar. Always.
This has happened to me 3 times in the last month.
Today, when it happened again, I called the staffer on it.
They happily gave me the dollar that was skipped and
even said… “I thought I did not give you the right change…”
I was courteous about it and although I was thinking to myself: “If you thought about it, why did you not mention it til you were handing my purchase and I would be heading out the door?”
Did not say it though.
My thinking is: It’s a buck. It’s trivial. I generally put a all of my small change in the tip jar when – a.) I am buying a coffee
b.) Buying whole bean coffee or
c.) Buying a food product in a bakery.
So. Help me out here folks.
Are you seeing the same thing?
If you want to name names, do not do it here – send me an e-mail.
Casual observations are welcomed here – but do not point fingers at individual businesses.
I have been observing cafe culture since the late 80’s and this is one of the odd trends – could all be in my head… or coincidence.
Would love to hear from my readers.
Thanks!
Comment [1]
Rites of Spring #37 - Most stupid story I have heard this month · Saturday June 19, 2010 by colin newell
Part of my morning ritual – listening to Gregor Craigie of CBC on the Island while he interviews folks, delivers the news and coaxes the weather and sports out of his cheery colleagues at 90.5 Mhz
My part of staying informed obviously.
Particularly on Monday’s when there is no paper because the Times Colonist is eliminating papers to serve us better.
Anyway.
The CBC story this morning ( in June I think…) was Gregor interviewing one of Thrifty Foods brightest executives explaining why Thrifty Foods was shipping Island produce to the mainland for storage and inevitable shipping back to Vancouver Island.
Right.
Smarty pants Thrifty Foods exec explains… We were bringing over fruit and vegetables and stock from around North America… and (get this) sending empty trucks back over to the mainland!
Gregor bit his lip and girded his loins and replied…
“Wouldn’t it be better to have a cold storage facility on Vancouver Island for produce destined for Vancouver Island?”
Good digging there Gregor!
Reply.
It did not make sense for Thrifty Foods to send empty trucks back to the mainland when we have perfectly good cold storage facilities over in the Vancouver area.
Jesus. Of course. Psyche. Why didn’t I get that? (bashing my head against wall like Dobbie of Harry Potter)
For the record, our Island proud company, Thrifty Foods, is now owned and operated by Sobey Foods of Ontario.
Which explains the wizard like thinking above.
Good journalism Gregor! You really held that exec dudes toes to the fire.
This reminds me of the local hospital society that sends their dirty laundry to Calgary, Alberta for scrubbing… as opposed to using a local laundry – which simply would not make sense… would it?
No. Of course not.
