Two

I've had two 'I Remember' columns published in 'The Globe and Mail' in just a couple of months.  I am quite pleased about that because it's not easy to get into that publication.  Here I proudly offer my contributions:

I don't know anyone else who's had even one.  I also wonder about the people I've worked with over the years -- especially at the Canada Revenue Agency, where I was not the most popular with other women, for some reason -- think?  A couple of female bosses spent their entire careers in CRA, the big moments coming when they finally made it out of a TC counter or TSO clerking to HQs.  On the other hand, I was lucky and my talent allowed me a varied career in both the private and public sectors; it was my writing skill that always gave me the edge.

 

(Note:  I remember one appraisal I got from M J-K, which I am sure she regretted having written, after digesting my "comments".  They ran for two articulate pages and were essentially a truthful, but damning, appraisal of her incompetence.  All but one of my managers couldn't have been bothered to read my CV.  The one who did, SW, nosily only quizzed me on my personal life and why I had been "Nancy Russell" for early jobs and "Nancy Marley-Clarke" for later positions.  She didn't give a toss about my experience.  I've listed my career path in "They used to all be hippies", Oct. 26/22) 

I especially loved working with Blanche van Ginkel because, as I write above, she was a pioneer feminist.  B sent the articles to his daughter (my stepdaughter, who I raised, by the way) and she couldn't bring herself to congratulate me -- couldn't even thank him for sending them along.  That's real dedication to envy!  I have no clue what happened to her, but we are completely estranged.  Her choice.  She's gone to the dark side. 

    

Charles the second?

That's what a full captain in the Canadian Navy called our new King, Charles III.  Didn't know The Second was still around, but obviously he must be?  Charles II reigned from 1649 to 1651, but this female armed forces member called him Charles II.  How could she have made such a gaffe?  Did no one review her material?  

Too bad she had to be a woman, tarring us all with her ignorance.  That pisses me off.  But, at any rate, we watched the Remembrance Day Service in Ottawa today, as we always do, and it reminded me of the many times we bundled up all four children and trekked off by bus with strollers to the Cenotaph to attend the service.  Both our families had members who served and died in WW II, so this is always a special day.  Here they are:

My Dad, Thomas Raymond Griffith, head of the NRC Rubber Lab and inventor of synthetic rubber.

B's Uncle Clive Marley-Clarke, killed on the march to Florence, aged 23

B's Grandfather, right, Cecil Walsh, his Great-grandfather, George, and Great-uncle Jack.

My Uncle Rollie Brousseau, served in WW II in Italy

B's father, Ivan Marley-Clarke, served in the British Merchant Navy, and his mother, Diamond Walsh.

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Frankly, it was a snub and a disgrace that Trudeau was winging his way to Cambodia, instead of honouring our war dead.  But then, why would we be surprised?  His father shirked his duty in WW II, hiding out in China -- a country sonny boy actually admires!  (A reader of this blog actually added Trudeau, senior, to the list of Canada's greatest prime ministers!  How ignorant can you be?)

He had Sophie and his son fill in for him.  Whaaaaat??!!  Reminded me of when Payette had her teenage son with her shaking the hands of honourable vets.  And don't get me started on Mary Simon in uniform with her purple hair!  Gawd!

To add insult to injury, the defence minister Anand, the deputy PM Freeland and the Indigenous affairs minister Marc Miller all skipped town.  What a dishonourable thing to do.  Absolutely scandalous.  I enjoy watching such ceremonies with B because he knows everyone's rank and affiliation by looking at uniforms, ties and hats.  Always amazes me!  

Here are a few images of today's ceremonies:

What has our country become?  It's outrageous and anyone who voted Liberal should hang his/her head in shame.  

  

   

 

Pool porn

"See that guy on the deck to your right?" I said to M the lifeguard this morning, as we were chatting.  "He needs to be jailed."

I slowly turned and beheld the grotesque affront.  Here is something similar from stock photos:

This guy actually walked in wearing a bright blue thong thing!  I mean, it barely covered his "junk", as it is called, in the front and featured only a thong wedged into his revolting crack in the back!

I kid you not!  Hey, buddy, this isn't a beach on the Mediterranean, it's a family swimming facility.  There are kids here!  Parents don't want their toddlers asking what "that" is below the belly button.  

It was absolutely sickening, but this guy obviously thought he looked hot, or else why would he wear it?!  M, only 19, but a good buddy who has now become used to my up-fronted-ness, burst out laughing.  "You should see him on weekends when he comes in with his kids," he exclaimed.  "What??!!"  "Yep, he has an orange one and his kids -- both girls and boys -- wear the same thing."

I was appalled in the extreme!

"And that's not the worst," said M.  "What!??"  "No, people wear their underwear in the pool."  "Whaaaat!!??"  "Just men?"  "No, women too!"  

OMG!  How hideous!  

What is wrong with people?!  Where have sense and decorum fled?!     

  

How would this work?

Sent to me by a friend.........................
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Just wondering - Hurricane season with Electric Vehicles

Imagine Florida with a hurricane coming toward Miami.

The governor orders an evacuation. All cars head north.

They all need to be charged in Jacksonville.

How does that work.? Has anyone thought about this.

If all cars were electric and were caught up in a three-hour traffic jam with dead batteries, then what?

Not to mention there's virtually no heating or air conditioning in an electric vehicle because of high battery consumption.

If you get stuck on the road all night, no battery, no heating, no windshield wipers, no radio, no GPS (all these drain the batteries), all you can do is try calling 911 to take women and children to safety. But they cannot come to help you because all roads are blocked, and they will probably require all police cars be electric also. When the roads become unblocked no one can move! Their batteries are dead.

How do you charge the thousands of cars in the traffic jam? Same problem during summer vacation departures with miles of traffic jams. Yes, AAA is starting to prepare tow trucks to charge electric vehicles. How many can they charge before returning to home base and recharge the trucks?

There would be virtually no air conditioning in an electric vehicle.

It would drain the batteries quickly. Where is this electricity going to come from?

Today's grid barely handles users' needs.

Can't use nuclear, natural gas is quickly running out.

Oil fired is out of the question, then where?

What will be done with billions of dead batteries, can’t bury them in the soil, can’t go to landfills.

The cart is way ahead of the horse.

No thought whatsoever how to handle any of the problems that batteries can cause.

The press doesn't want to talk or report on any of this.

Meeting Mike Babcock

Last night, we went to a lovely dining establishment just outside Cochrane.  'Flores and Pine' is very elegant and I usually insist we sit at the bar anywhere we go because that's where all the fun is; I can talk to B anytime.  Unfortunately, the bar was full, so we sat at a nearby table.  

"Isn't that Mike Babcock sitting at the bar?" I said to B.  I'm going to say hello.  So, I did.  Yes, it was Mike Babcock and he immediately stood up and gave us a huge smile and handshake.  "Let's take a selfie," he suggested.  So we did -- he holding my camera and taking it himself, as he must have done hundreds of times.  

What a charmer.  Googling him, I learn he coached the Mighty Ducks and Red Wings to Stanley Cups, becoming the winningest coach in the latter's history.  He also led Team Canada to two Olympic Gold Medals.  In his early years, he played for a number of farm teams, as well as the McGill Redmen.  Despite his 2015 $50 million, eight-year contract for coaching the Leafs, Mike could do nothing with them and was fired in 2019.  But then, nor has anyone else been able to in the 55 years since they last won the cup.  The Leafs are a team of a few overpaid superstars, but they do not play as a team.    

When we left Mr. Babcock to enjoy his dinner with his wife and sister, numerous other fans approached and he was a gracious with them as with us.

All in all, a fun evening!  

Why does RCMP Commissioner Lucki still have her job?

Finally, someone other than I, is publicly asking that question.  That was the headline of Robyn Urback's column in 'The Globe and Mail' today, as she finally outed the incompetent Lucki.  Urback points to all the f-ck-ups that have occurred on Lucki's watch:

• The 2020 massacre of 22 people in Nova Scotia, during which Lucki was nowhere to be found;
• The political interference she put on senior brass to identify the weapons used in the above;
• The fact that she has effected no change in the culture of the RCMP since her appointment four years ago -- despite vowing it was one of her most important objectives;
• The fact that she secretly suggested members of the armed forces dress up in RCMP uniforms to infiltrate and deal with the truckers convoy;
• The fact that she lied about contacting OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique to suggest they communicate via an app that does not store deleted messages; and
• The gravitas that is now wholly lacking in our national police force and its once sterling reputation, thanks to her incompetence and lack of integrity;

In fact, Maclean's Magazine called for her to resign back in 2020.  Nothing happened.  Lucki has much blood on her hands, as I have repeatedly said, but she is not sacked because the Liberal triumvirate of Trudeau, Blair and Freeland finds it useful to keep her there as justification for the invocation of the Emergencies Act -- i.e., because of Lucki's incompetence and failure to deal with the convoy mess.

The cynicism is breathtaking.  I feel for all the RCMP officers who are now tainted because of this disastrous affirmative action appointment.

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On the Indigenous file -- again -- three stories today highlight what is wrong with this mess.  Within the space of a few pages, I read that the Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) is going to hire a deputy commissioner to address the soaring rates of Indigenous incarceration -- including taking into consideration family background in sentence determination. 

But low and behold, a couple of pages later I read that the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Indigenous people do not have a constitutional right to special treatment in the criminal justice system.  What?!  I wholeheartedly agree, but then why is the CSC going to hire a special deputy to do just that?!  Did someone miss this ruling?  Obviously.

On the next page appears another article about "Indigenous identity fraud" whereby non-Indigenous people can simply claim they are native or métis because of....of....um....living with Indigenous people, or marrying them, or being part of their community, or whatever.  

Finally, someone has said that's not enough.  The report's author, métis lawyer Jean Teillet, wrote that applicants to any job must provide evidence supporting their claims to citizenship in an Indigenous group.  Unfortunately, the kicker is that the evidence is determined by the Indigenous communities themselves.  So, that still means that if the community agrees, anyone can claim he or she is Indigenous.

What a never-ending mess.   

    

Busted again

 "And G-d knows what else," said granddaughter about something when we were driving to waterpolo last night.  When it's just the two of us, we have such amazingly adult conversations, discussing everything from sports to how her classes are run to her friends to real estate (i.e., where Grandpa and I should live because we're "old") and to current driving conditions.  She makes connections that even I miss.  

"Grandma, did you know that when you were in kindergarten, Grandpa was in grade six?  He's six years older than you, that's why."  How did she even know that?  How did she figure that out?  No clue!

 A precocious, lateral thinker is how I'd describe her.

Last night we had a huge dump of snow and the highway from Cochrane to Calgary is treacherous when it's snowing that hard.  With no trees to block the drifts, the snow flies across the highway in sheets, icing the road into a virtual skating rink.  As I drove along in my trusty, 2002 Honda Civic hatchback -- thankfully with new tires -- I had the flashers going to warn other drivers that this grannie was not going to drive the speed limit just because that's what the sign said.  

"Better safe than stupid," pipes up granddaughter, as we passed a number of cars in the ditch -- the same vehicles that had just sped past us.  At least three fire trucks also passed us and she wondered if Daddy was in one.  "I think I just saw him in the passenger seat," she excitedly exclaimed.

But back to, "And G-d knows what else."  Finally, I asked, "Where did you get that expression?"  "You see that person sitting beside me at the moment?"  "You mean me?!"  "Yes, grandma, you say that all the time -- that and 'idiot', which Mummy tells me not to say."

So, as I say, busted again.  Here she is in full, waterpolo flight: