On things to do in the winter

Lesley and I went skiing. Well I went skiing, Lesley went snowboarding. She very much wants to be a skater type person I think, not inline speed, but skateboard, snowboard, sort of like Avril Lavigne's 'Sk8ter Boi'. I've got to admit I admire the persistence, especially since Lesley has had no formal instruction in boarding. (This may come as the greatest non-shocker to those who know me, but I have never been, nor am I interested in, snow boarding. I used to do a lot of downhill skiing, heck I was pretty good at one time, but other things, lifeguarding in particular, started to take up much of my time.)

Actually thinking back to my downhill days, it was the mid 90's when I stopped, I remember the winter of 1994/'95, that was a warm winter, heck there was no snow that year. I remember riding to the pool at... lets see if I can still spell this one correctly, the Joseph J. Piccininni Community Centre... and YES, I got all the I's and N's right! You want more irony, I rode the same white Coppi to J.J.P. - don't use that name on the phone, sometimes Joseph's son would call and would he give the casual staff hell if they dared answer "JJP how can I help you?" - back in '94 that I rode to work last week. Only Christmas of 1994 there was NO snow, none, nadda, bubbkis. By the March break of 1995 I remember sitting out on the front porch in shorts and a T-shirt doing my required reading for English. No wonder I gave up skiing, how the hell do you ski in weather like that?

Hard to believe but that was 14 years ago!

On the way to the hills today on the radio they told us it was 45 years ago that JFK was shot. And this July marks 40 years since Apollo 11.

A lot of major events of the 60's seem to mark significant anniversaries this year, well alright two... no three, if we use 2008 as a starting point, sadly they are are assassinations of decent people, April was 40 years for MLK, RFK was 40 years ago this past June, then in November it was 45 years from JFK. I guess every year ending with three and eight is going to be that way.

Ooooh, Christmas marks the 40'th of Apollo VIII the first maned flight to the moon. Course it was the same year as MLK and RFK so yeah of course! (It is also the anniversary of the Tet offensive.)

Maybe I should be living in the 1960s? Actually what I ought to do is go do a PhD in American History, I would have a lot of fun doing that. Except, really, who needs an expert on the Johnson Administration?

There was something remarkable about the '60s, a period when the World went ahead and just turned itself inside out and upside down, then decided, nah that sucks, and the same people who said make love not war turned out to be the greedy bastards who would run up the debt, undo reasonable banking laws, and create our current economic disaster. (No I am not going to cite all my sources and write an entire essay on why the Baby Boomers are responsible for the sub-prime implosion, I am just going to point my finger at my parents generation and say, all your fault and walk away!) Besides blaming Baby Boomers is so easy, I mean its not like finding one is difficult, and really besides The Beatles, what have the Boomers given us that has been net good? Bill Clinton? Forget it, any good he did was offset by the Boomer George W. Bush. Stephen Harper? (Uhm, the only Boomer PM we've had for more than six months and anyone tells me he was any good... oh yeah, Brian Mulroney, an outstanding PM! For American business.) What about the arts? Well name a Baby Boomer artist? And I am excluding Margaret Atwood because while I appreciate she has a lot of talent, I just don't like her writing style, sorry Margaret. (Yes I am being arbitrary, but it's my blog I'll do as I damned well please!)

You know who else is a baby boomer? Virtually every single driver who thinks cyclists should get off the road because cars are GOD!

I win, baby boomers lets get this count up already, go smoke another dobbie!

I am mean aren't I? Oh well, when it comes to me and my ride, it seems, either they kill me, or I wish horrible things on them, but I cannot wait for a generation to emerge that has a better attitude towards cyclists. Sadly I have yet to see that generation come out of the oven.

How on Earth did I get from things to do in the winter to wishing ill on something like 70 million souls? Oh that's right, I was riding home from work in the cold yesterday and a car driver nearly killed me, then when he wanted to yell obscenities at me, rather than roll down his window and properly yell them, he mouthed the words to me, it was too cold to roll his window. (Well I'm sorry it's too cold, maybe think about how cold I am, and maybe think... hmmm, I'll bet nearly running this guy over is going to make him even more uncomfortable.)

[Insert standard angry rants against cars and car drivers right here!] Oh and Lesley was telling me she thinks all Taxi drivers should have their licence suspended, I think that's a great idea, lets start a petition, call the city licensing board, lets put a stop to Taxi insanity in Toronto!

Once Taxi drivers start acting sane I will offer free lessons on how to nail jelly to the ceiling. (Read: "don't hold your breath".)