May 30, 2018
I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to keep up this posting every few days and a
week seems to be more what I was expecting I'd be writing. Anyway, I went to Yellowknife on May 24 and I leave May 31 (Tornado Day).
Why do I call May 31 tornado day. In Barrie (where I'm from), one of the largest tornado's that Canada has ever seen ripped through
Barrie on May 31, 1985. So every year I need to point out this is the anniversary of that tornado so tomorrow is Tornado Day.
I have been in Yellowknife since May 24 and have had an awesome (and busy) time.
My nieces keep me very active for sure and I enjoy it (except for being jumped on at 6 am each morning when they really want to wake
me up. Tonight I'm writing this because I'm waking up at 4 am to catch a flight into Edmonton for the day. I will then leave Edmonton
tomorrow afternoon and head to Calgary for the next few days. I have to say that I have been able to see so much of Western Canada on
this trip and really need to keep seeing more and more of it as much as I can.
I will likely have time on my bus ride into Calgary to post again but for now,
I'm signing off. The next post will likely be more political in nature, especially because of how fed up I am with so many things that
have been happening back home in Ontario while I've been away with the provincial election.
May 24, 2018
It has been a few days since I have been able to write and I suddenly could be
having an issue with my flight that I mentioned a few days ago. Remember my lovely story about Air Canada booking me on two flights for
May 24. One had a layover of six hours and the other had a layover of one hour. Well I was able to switch it to the one with an hour
layover so that I wouldn't be waiting all afternoon in Calgary. Well guess what I discovered when I showed up at the airport in
Vancouver suddenly, my flight is delayed by 35 minutes. That means I will only have 25 minutes to get off the plane and have my luggage
get on the next plane 25 minutes later. I will keep you informed once I get to Edmonton or once I am landed in Yellowknife.
I have not had time to write over the last few days because I have been out and
about in several parts of Vancouver Island. Yesterday I was in Victoria and I got to go right to the start of the Transcanada Highway,
Mile Zero. The last time I was there was almost three decades ago. I was definitely happy to get there. I also saw a bunch of other stuff
but for me it was all about going back to Mile Zero. The day before I was in Coombs, BC buying some cool stuff for my nieces. They are
going to be very excited about it. I also got to see some goats on a roof in Coombs. That is definitely a cool thing to see as well.
I just found out that Newfoundland had 30 cm of snow in late May. That is pretty
crazy. I am definitely happy I'm here on the west coast rather than the east coast. Well that's it for now. I just hope I make it to my
final destination tonight. Regardless, I'll keep you informed by whatever happens.
May 20, 2018
Greetings from my first full day in British Columbia. It has been quite a great day
to relax and take care of things that I've left unfinished up until now and am finally getting a chance to take care of. I have Internet
access and time to do things. So today I booked a rental car for my cousin's wedding in July, RSVPed for the wedding as well online. I
have made arrangements for a place to stay in Cambridge on the Saturday night after the wedding and I've confirmed for an event in Ottawa
on June 18 and booked a place for me to stay that evening. To update you on the situation that I mentioned yesterday, I have resolved my
flight issues with Air Canada and they have me once again on the flight I want on May 24 in the evening. I also booked a bus trip from
Edmonton to Calgary on May 24 that I had not booked as of earlier today but is now confirmed.
It looks like I will be heading over to Victoria either tomorrow or Wednesday for
the day. I have been thinking about heading to Victoria since about 25 years ago I went out here to BC with my parents and sister and
we went all over BC. One thing I want to accomplish on this trip is to visit the start of the Transcanada Highway where the "0 mile" is
stationed so I can get a picture at the start of the longest routes in the world. The last time I got to go there was 25 years ago.
The other thing I wanted to arrange was for my trip back into Vancouver and a
place to store my luggage on May 24 when I got into Downtown Vancouver. I hope to hear back from my friend who works very close to where
I'm traveling in so we can get together for lunch or so on Thursday. I have messaged him and await his reply. I have decided to do a
nice touristy kind of day in Vancouver before flying out to Yellowknife around dinner time. Stay tuned for more soon. Ward out!
May 19, 2018
Today is the first day of my Western Roadswing. I got up really early this morning
to catch a flight to Vancouver and I've taken a ferry to Nanaimo. I have to say though that this morning, the time I had at Pearson
International was really stressful for sure. Yesterday, I checked in and selected my seat but when I tried to pay for my luggage, I
received a message saying that it could not be completed at all. So off I went to the airport and thought I'd pay for my checked in
luggage at the airport. When I got to a kiosk I got the same message though and it said I needed to go to the assistance area. Unfortunately
there was a very long line and I was only an hour away from my flight boarding. I'm glad I went to the "preferred" line instead (reserved
for frequent flyers and the counter agent told me that the issue was due to a flight on May 24 from Vancouver to Yellowknife with a stopover
in Edmonton. She told me that I had two flights currently booked from Vancouver to Edmonton that arrives at 7:51 pm and leaves for
Yellowknife at 8:55 pm. The second flight had me arrive in Calgary at 1 pm and then I had to flight to Yellowknife through Edmonton that
leaves Calgary at about 8 pm.
She told me that as there is only an hour between the flight landing in Edmonton and
flying out to Yellowknife there could be an issue and an hour is the minimum period that they will allow between flights. I told her that
was the flight I wanted and I didn't want to wait around for 7 hours at an airport in Calgary to fly into Edmonton to fly into Yellowknife.
To sum up my issue, had I stayed in the lineup that I was put in by Air Canada staff I
would not have made my flight at all to Vancouver over an issue that I didn't need to resolve until May 24 when I actually fly out to
Yellowknife and I had just enough time to go through the security check and showed up in my flight area as they were starting boarding. I
was so not impressed. To update you on the issue with my flight, as of yet it has not yet been resolved but I will call in the next day or
two in order to deal with it and have them keep me on the flight I originally wanted to be on so I would not be waiting around for six
hours in Calgary.
May 17, 2018
Re: Christie Blatchford: Smarter, more capable Kathleen Wynne makes it difficult to
see her lose
I am posting this on my web site as a comment to this awesome opinion post that
was posted from the National Post's Christie Blatchford.
I would just like to thank Christie Blatchford for making light of someone I
deeply admire (not as a politician) but as a phenomenal person, Hon. Kathleen Wynne. Premier Wynne is probably one of the most
incredible, people I have ever seen in Ontario politics and I am so pleased that Ms. Blatchford was able to highlight how Ms. Wynne is
such a fighter, even at the most difficult odds right now in this provincial election.
I have no idea how this election will turn out but I am pleased to see that people
are not only giving a second look at each of the leaders running in this election but especially to the leader who has governed Ontario
for five years now. The choices that have been made by this Liberal government may not have been popular but Premier Wynne has made
decisions that have been very necessary for Ontario. That is what a true politician has to do.
It would be a shame for this election to turn out being simply a vote against a
governing party, especially when there is so much more that voters should be examining across all of the parties platforms, but if
there is a shred of common sense in this election, voters should seriously look at who is truly going to make Ontario great again. I
hope voters will realize this can be accomplished by Premier Kathleen Wynne. It is time to make your choice. I certainly made mine and
that's why I voted earlier this week. I didn't need to wait until Election Day!
May 13, 2018
As you can probably tell with me picking a random Sunday in May to
start my post, this has been a while since I last worked on this blog. It is however Mother's Day so as a good son, I went
to Orillia to see my mom and get going on a list of seven things that she needed me to take care of.
Coincidentally enough I didn't pick this weekend to come visit because
it was Mother's Day. I picked this weekend because my mom was working last weekend in her new job that she is about to quit
and I am leaving for the next few weeks to go on my "Western Roadswing."
What do you ask is my Western Roadswing? Let's just say that every few
years I take a trip out west to see as many people as I know who live in the western (and northwestern) parts of Canada and
sometimes the US. It is also because I love when one of the Eastern-based NHL hockey teams heads out west to play Vancouver,
Edmonton and Calgary. This is one of the most fun times for the Canadian teams heading west because there are so many fans of
those Eastern-based teams out west and they are very passionate. Fun times for sure!
Between May 19 and June 2, I will be traveling from Toronto to Vancouver,
Vancouver to Nanaimo, Nanaimo back to Vancouver, Vancouver through Edmonton to Yellowknife, Yellowknife to Edmonton, Edmonton
to Calgary and Calgary to Toronto. I am so looking forward to it. Stay tuned, I certainly plan to make some posts for you all to
find out how crazy awesome my trip is going and I'll be sure to share some pictures for you to check out as well. For now, I
am going to conclude this blog for today and will be sure to post something very soon... Ward out!