Gifted Typist

почистванеOh, the irony is thick here. The Senate says the penny’s gotta go. An obsolete body of unelected political appointees pointing a finger a the lowly penny for being obsolete. A pasture of sinecured bagmen and yes men (and women) who are paid a princely sum have decreed that the lowly penny is worth less [...]

Ninety three years ago today, my city blew up. Literally. In 1917, two ships collided in the Halifax Harbour, one carrying munitions bound for the war (WWI) in Europe. The ensuing explosion killed 2000 people and hurt another 9000. On that day, my grandmother – now 106 years old – was in a one-room schoolhouse [...]

I disagree with his stance on fighting in hockey.  I’m against it. I disagree with his occasional racial slurs. They are stupid. He dresses in suits that look like they were made from the leftover material from his grandmother’s curtains. He’s loud, impolite and he points. But he is a character. He’s a proud Canadian [...]

I don’t agree with right-wing pundit Ann Coulter. I don’t like her politics or the way she shoves sticks of dynamite into cultural fractures that divide our world. I don’t care for her publicity-seeking ways either. But free speech is an important principle. Free speech is far more important than Ann Coulter. I say let [...]

In this part of the world, it’s not unusual to wait until May or even June for anything that closely resembles spring. Sometimes we go from winter directly to summer with hardly a moment of spring. And sometimes there’s no summer either. But this year spring seems to be in the air early and it [...]

I’m sure the Olympic closing ceremonies were meant with a wink and a nod to Canadian humour, but the thing was tacky beyond belief and came off as a big dose of, well, self-referential Canadian humour. When I saw the inflatable Mounties, the Fred-Flintstone canoe people (with their feet sticking out the bottom) and the [...]

Many years ago, this typist’s sister played hockey. Back in those days, they didn’t have organized hockey for girls, so my sister faked it. She pretended to be a guy by changing her name slightly. She was tomboy-ish anyway, and young enough go to and leave the game in her gear. No one knew the [...]

Click to my Herald column to see her picture. She was seven when the Titanic sank and nine when World War I broke out. She was 13 when women in Canada got the right to vote and 24 when women were recognized as “persons” in Canada. She was 58 when JFK was assassinated and 64 [...]

I suppose it’s the dumbing down of American (Canadian) culture. Politicians wish to be amongst us,  the mere lumpen proletariat. They flip burgers and nuzzle babies to make us think they are one of us. The idea is that this will win them votes. Sweet huh? Of course it’s just cliche and most of us [...]

In my neck of the woods, summer is defined as July/August. That’s when the kids are off and people take their holidays. But the weather patterns are a changing. These days August/September are the nice months and July is generally rainy and foggy, unpleasant at best. When we lived in an agricultural economy, July/August were the months [...]

Guess all is forgiven. Sir Paul MacCartney played to an audience of 50K here on Saturday night. And it was all adoration, “We love you Paul” and local bagpipes backing up on Mull of  Kintyre. All stirring stuff that won over the hearts and minds of New Scotland. How quickly we forget. Remember when Sir [...]

I’ve always been a tad uncomfortable with the forced patriotism of “Canada Day.” Flag-waving and nationalistic chest thumping runs contrary to the Canadian national character. Canadians pride themselves on their understated, low-key, practical nature. We aren’t a terribly flamboyant or excitable people. (Unless there’s a hockey game.) We don’t wear our pride on our sleeve [...]

See my column here. My neighbourhood is under siege. The European Fire Ants have arrived. They are little red ants that sting. Actually they arrived some twenty years ago off the ships but only recently have people been getting up in arms about it. These little devils set up colonies with multiple queens. So you [...]

Apparently our province has more centenarians than most other parts of the country. The average number of 100-year olds is 14 per 100,000. In Nova Scotia, it’s 21 per 100,000. I have personal experience of this. My own grandmother is 104 and in good health, except for her knees and her hearing. She’s getting forgetful. [...]

Today’s the day:  Summmah. It’s also the longest day of the year. Hooray. It’s raining, but that’s OK, we’ve had a beautiful spring which is remarkable given the string of hideous springs we’ve had in these parts for the past 7 years: usually it’s three months of rain, fog and dampness. So this typist isn’t [...]