Ten Years After
When I returned to London, my first radio gig was midday host at Greatest Hits 1039fm. You think greatest hits, you think Beatles, of course. …
General
Here Comes the Judge
Every year it happens and I brace for it. The predictable outrage about when Christmas decorations go up. No one can do anything about when they appear in stores, so they crab about peoples’ personal preferences. Can’t someone wear a poppy and install Christmas lights at the same time without being judged for it? …
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Throwback Thursday – Timber!
Plenty of discussion is underway about what London’s Bus Rapid Transit plans will do to properties along the proposed routes. It seems that several homeowners, especially along Richmond St. North, were unaware that the city owns a part of their frontage. City Hall can claim several metres if it needs it without offering compensation. …
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Smarter Every Day
You can learn something every day if you’re doing life right. My brother introduced me to the YouTube channel, Smarter Every Day. Host Destin Sandlin delves into all sorts of fascinating scientific experiments that are understandable by non-science types like me. The videos are high quality and most are nice and short. Â …
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Throwback Thursday – War is Over
On Remembrance Day, Derek found some personal connections to the second world war. He found a photo album dedicated to his Dad’s experience in WWII, put together by his Aunt Barb, his Dad’s sister. What a treasure trove. …
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Language Barriers Broken
I arrived late to this party and in case you did too, let me tell you about The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. You don’t have to buy the 1995 book to learn the lessons. …
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Time: My Enemy, My Friend
The clocks fell back this weekend and we ostensibly acquired another hour of time. The cliche is that we gain “another hour of sleep” but a Michigan State University study reveals that we only gain twelve minutes of sleep. And when we spring forward we lose about forty minutes. The math just doesn’t work once there’s human intervention. …
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Sweet Ethics
If you hand out candy for Halloween, this information is probably too late for you. (And you ought not feel guilty about that!) But if you eat candy, it’s worth knowing that like so many things before it, candy can be made from ethically and unethically sourced ingredients. …
The Power of No
We all want to be good people. We want to help when we’re asked and for people to think well of us. So we often say yes to a request when we’d really rather say no. …
Zip it Up
Traffic experts in many cities and now mine, claim that the so-called zipper method of merging traffic from two lanes into one is the best way to keep traffic flowing in construction zones. …
Throwback Thursday – Multiple Media Mishaps
I have the reputation of being a Grammar Nazi. However, I’m not a grammar expert. I double-check myself before I post anything publicly and I still make mistakes. I learned a lot by having my first book edited by a bulldog of an editor (that’s a compliment) who was relentless in her pursuit of perfection. When I got my first draft back it looked like someone had coloured on the pages with markers. Those were the changes she insisted on making. It was at first depressing and then illuminating. …
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Reflecting on the Week That Was
Something didn’t sit right in my news-junkie tummy last week when a Canadian-American family was freed from Taliban custody after five years. …
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Thanks-Birth-Long-Weekend
My face feels like butter. On Friday morning, it felt more like 10 miles of gravel road. My heart feels like it swelled up to pumpkin size and then shrivelled back down to the face of an apple doll before settling at about half-full. My tummy – well, let’s not even go there. …
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Enough Thoughts and Prayers. Time for Action
It’s understandable that people want to send their good wishes to the people of Las Vegas. And we also know that the people of Las Vegas include people from everywhere. Between us, Ken and I know more than a half-dozen Londoners who are there right now, safe, thank goodness, after the mass shooting there Sunday night that killed nearly 60 and wounded several hundred more.  …
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Mission Accomplished
Our friend Al has just completed his first Invictus Games. He only started his sport, archery, in April and he gave some highly accomplished opponents a run for their money in Toronto last week. He also got to shake the hand of Prince Harry, co-founder of the competition for wounded and ailing veterans from around the world. …
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Leaping Before You Look
A friend of ours has just purchased a yoga studio. It’s a beautiful space but the previous owner was erratic. She didn’t keep regular hours and that, along with some other aspects of her lack of business savvy, turned off many of her loyal customers. The place has a lot of potential if it’s run properly. …
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Voco = Loco
At the suggestion of a former colleague, I listened to a podcast last week about a frightening new piece of technology. It scares me more than Kim Jong Un or Donald Trump with their tiny fingers hovering over their country’s big red buttons. …