I’m heading to Ottawa today, with my parents. It’s going to be a full weekend with a large family reunion (by our standards; the O’Connors still top us. Erin’s side of the family had 126 guests at our wedding; my side could only manage 26) in the Experimental Farm.
I probably won’t be snapping any pictures, particularly of buses, the O-Train, or any of the public monuments, all things considered.
The writing here has gone well. I’ve put some revisions to an article for Business Edge on Brampton’s development cap, and I’m working on a historical article that might see print somewhere. I’ll probably test it out as a blog, though. And I hope to work some more on The Young City and on a new project, entitled Mount Royal.
Unfortunately, a project I was working on hasn’t panned out. I submitted a transit alert column for the free Toronto daily, Metro. It was to appear every Monday, detailing TTC routes that were likely to see delays thanks to road construction and other disruptions. I’d been working on it along with Ed Drass for the better part of four months, and managed to get three columns published, but Metro’s decided to cut back on the “Take Five” section where the alert appears. Oh, well. Maybe we can persuade them to take it up again at a later date, but it is most disappointing.
Still awaiting news on Sealwife and Rosemary and Time…
Finland?
Yesterday, I was going to post on Jacques Chirac’s attempt to swallow his own foot with a side helping of British bangers and mash, a move which may well have helped London win the 2012 Olympics (a decision I cheered). The bomb blasts, of course, made that inappropriate. But I still think we could appreciate a somewhat lighter moment.
The clips have focused primarily on the fact that Chirac derided British cuisine, and Tony Blair’s wise response of staying above the fray. However, what I didn’t hear, until Points of Information supplied me with the clip was Chirac’s full gaffe. The Brits aren’t the only one whose cuisine gets bashed.
Chirac: The only thing (the English) have ever done for European agriculture is mad cow. You can’t trust people who cook as badly as that. After Finland, it’s the country with the worst food.
Putin: But what about [American] hamburgers?
Chriac: Oh no, hamburgers are nothing in comparison.
Schroeder & Putin: Haha!
Chirac: [George Robertson, the NATO secretary general back when he was Blair’s defence secretary, he once made me try this really] unappetizing [Scottish dish called haggis. It was horrible!] That’s where our problems with NATO come from.
Schroeder & Putin: Haha!
Well, no argument about haggis (it’s a breakfast cereal! it’s liver! it’s a breakfast cereal and liver together!), but it’s Chirac’s first comment that made me pause:
After Finland, it’s the country with the worst food.
So, Finland cuisine is worse than British cuisine?
Do I dare ask what goes into Finnish cuisine?
I was going to ask if Chirac’s comments and France’s subsequent loss may cost him politically, but I doubt that’s the case, now. The Olympics have been pushed off the news radar, for obvious reasons.
And if I do go to Britain, I’m sure I can find good food. I’m told they have good hearty soups, and I’m willing to take other recommendations as well.