Ideeahs

So France has decided to ban television programs aimed at children that are three years of age and under.  ( link to AP article).  Yet another example of that government being in people's pants at all times.  Somehow the French government always seems to get involved in deciding what its citizens should watch, listen to and eat.  Amazing....Liberté? My parents stayed in a hotel a few weeks back.  They told me that their room had five telephones and three televisions.  Of course, the bathroom was equipped with these devices.  It amazes me that a bathroom needs a television.  If someone is unable to spend their time taking a dump or showering without watching Oprah they have a serious addiction problem. Anyhow, people can do whatever the heck they want.  They can sit their two year olds in front of a TV and use it as a babysitter.  They can wipe their bums while watching CNN.  They can believe everything they see and hear.  This should be a free world....... ......but not in France.

My father's birthday was a few days ago.  My daughter called him to ask him what he wanted.  She was not understanding what he was saying so she asked that he spell it out.  On a piece of paper she wrote out the word "serrarsi" and hung the phone up a few minutes later.  What on earth was serrarsi? A few hours later I googled serrarsi to see if there were any hits.  Google asked me whether I had meant to type in ferrari. Ahhh...yes.  That was the desired gift, indeed. ess, eff.  Google amazes me again. BTW....a ferrari was not purchased.

I have been reading the book "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini.  He is the author of "The Kite Runner".  I am about 2/3 through his latest and I find it fantastic.  One of the better books I have read (then again I often say that of the last book I have read!). It is the story of Afghan women and their plight through wars, forced marriages.  Their suffering at the hands of uncaring, egotistical men who fight wars amongst themselves and take this attitude home with them, if they come home.  The value of men and boys over women and girls. Very well written, descriptive.  Angering, disgusting, sad.  Yet it shows the flame which the human spirit has if it is given a chance, the slightest breeze, to grow. While I was reading it this morning my thoughts wandered a little.  Away from Afghanistan but rather to places like Bangladesh, Vietnam, India, Pakistan.  Places where many of the clothes I wear here in Canada are made.  To China where many of the gadgets I

In contrast to my post on July 29th take a look at this fantastic picture.  Happily Clive Rose of Getty Images was not given the hand in the face when he tried to snap this one!

We just spent another few days eating mostly in restaurants.  Some pretty good ones too, in my opinion.   Rebar in Victoria, Earls (all over the place), Milestones, some waterside restaurant in Sidney, BC.  All of them had kids' menus.  In and of themselves I don't have an issue with kids' menus as they are less expensive and they sometimes include crayons etc.  The issue I have is the menu.   Every time we go to a restaurant we now have what I am calling the "mac and cheese problem".   "How about trying something off of the main menu?  You two can split something or share with me or mum."   "No thanks, I want mac and cheese!!!" All of these kids menus tend to have macaroni and cheese on them (and/or cheese pizza and/or chicken fingers and/or grilled cheeses).  Again...taken independently and on occasion these are not all that bad.  The issue is the lack of variety. Greek restaurant?  Mac and cheese? Italian restaurant?  Grilled cheese? Chine

I think that those claiming that the cost of taking a BC Ferry is killing island life are exaggerating...but it is definitely going to make me and my family think twice before going to Vancouver Island on vacation.  For a family of four the cost of driving to that island is now $83.50 for a one way ticket between Vancouver and Nanaimo .  If you want to make sure that you don't have to wait for sailings and decide to reserve a spot (we did) add another $17.50.  So, $100 for the trip.  $200 round trip. Being someone who believes in free markets and generally does not like subsidised services and products I am not going to sit here and blame BC Ferries for wanting to recoup their costs.  Fuel costs have skyrocketed and one needs to pay salaries and other operating costs.  So if the costs are in fact going up, so be it .  Along with my free market beliefs I also believe that companies must provide their services and products in a way that if cost effective and with little to no waste.

Whenever we go camping it reminds me of when I spent six weeks back-packing through Europe with a great friend of mine back in '88, twenty years ago.  WOW.  The feeling is one if independence, of control, of responsibility, of living within your means.  Now, I know that today, camping, I have a credit card in my pocket, so the living within your means bit does have a security blanket that is a heck of a lot larger than when you don't.  Nevertheless. Backpacking in Europe that orange backpack was all I had.  My clothes, my camera, my diary, my passport and tickets, my travellers cheques and money, my toiletries .  The bag had numerous pockets and each one had its designated function, like the rooms in a house.  It was organized, I knew where everything was and when I fell asleep I protected it.  I was carrying my house on my back so to speak. These days when I camp some of those feelings come back.  Less of a reliance on our luxuries, more of a dependence on nature, on what we h

We have decided to no longer have Canadian Springs deliver water to our home.  We've been using their product for five years or so and have decided that shipping plastic jug bottled water around in trucks makes little sense. 1) The water from the city is likely just as good. 2) The pollution caused by all of this trucking, manufacturing of bottles and the bottling process is not something we want to partake in anymore. 3) We save money (each bottle 18.5L bottle of Canadian Springs costs us $7.25 or 39 cents a litre). 4) We have gained back the space in our kitchen that was taken by the bottles and the stand :-) So, instead we are drinking the water from the tap....but we are filtering it.  We've bought a $35 Brita Filter.  The filters cost $8.  They need to be changed every 150L or two months.  Per litre that is 5 cents, per year that is $48.  Even if you were to factor the cost of the Brita jug you still are saving a load of money and helping the environment.   Yes, I realize