Squall line: more huff and puff than real danger

The sky looked very impressive. Threatening. Downright frightening to some. The hot day had turned cool and the quiet, humid air was beginning to move. Soon trees were bending in the fast increasing wind. London was about to be hit by a quickly moving squall line.

Squall lines are impressive. Lots of wind and rain and sometimes, like today, hail. But squall lines pass quickly and rarely result in a tornado. Residents of southwestern Ontario learn these facts as they must contend with more tornadoes than any other region in Canada. Southwestern Ontario is Canada's tornado alley.

St. Jacobs streetscape

The outlet mall at the far end of the downtown in St. Jacobs has closed and reborn with a completely new use and no retail is involved. None.

Today St. Jacobs, once possibly the biggest, best known outlet mall destination for southern Ontario shop-a-holics, is settling back into its old groove: an artsy, colourful, Mennonite community: a place to buy unique products and enjoy Mennonite sausage on a bun.

Thanks to COVID-19 the main street in St. Jacobs was exceptionally quiet last Sunday. The loss of the town's two outlet malls has not helped. But the province wide shutdowns are nearing their end and with luck St. Jacobs will again be a popular, quaint destination for weekend excursions and short vacation visits.

Don't count St. Jacobs out

 

Once passenger-packed buses would bring literally hundreds of visitors to St. Jacobs in search of the perfect shopping experience. The little village smack dab in the middle of Mennonite country seems an odd place to become a veritable temple to capitalism but that is what it was in the not too distant past.

Dansk, Paderno, Corning, Nike and many other big name brands had outlet stores in St. Jacobs. Local artists, and even artists from outside the little town, opened shops in St. Jacobs to take advantage of the intense shopper traffic there to immerse themselves in a shop-till-you-drop experience.

Today, St. Jacobs is but a shadow of its former self. Dansk is no longer a stand alone company. It has closed most, if not all, its stores. Paderno still exists but it too has closed stores and now sells mainly at the stores run by the big retailers like Canadian Tire and Walmart. Corningware too has slashed its number of stores. The one in St. Jacobs is gone. The old outlet malls are either closed or mere shadows of their former selves. 

Then came COVID-19 and the lock-downs. St. Jacobs was given a one-two punch from which it may never totally recover but it may be too early to count the town out. A visit to St. Jacobs early Sunday morning confirmed that many of the art stores, antique shops and fine craft outlets are still there and open for business.

The parking spots for the buses are empty now and may soon be painted over. Facing the reality that the buses filled with shoppers may never return may mark the official end to an era. But no matter, when COVID-19 is licked, it is quite possible that St. Jacobs will get its second wind and come back reincarnated in a form that may actually, in the end, benefit the residents of St. Jacobs more than all the big names did by bringing product in and moving cash out.

When does it end?

When does it end? The mazes go up and the mazes come down and then up they go again. Stores are open in London but getting into those open stores is time consuming and patience destroying. The line-ups are long, wrapping around quickly improvised barriers such as these shopping carts flipped upside down.

It is hard to believe that at well run society wouldn't have delegated a lot of this stuff to the past by this point. Canada is reportedly one of the world leaders when it comes the vaccinating its people. But, sadly, shockingly, Canada's world leading numbers are not all that impressive. Only 24.5% of Canadians are fully vaccinated. The U.S. is doing almost twice as well as Canada with 45.3% fully vaccinated. The U.S. hasn't passed even the halfway point. Globally, only 22.6% of the population has received the first vaccination and in the poorest regions of the world that number drops to 0.9%.

With numbers like that, Covid-19 may be with us for a long time yet. And, with so many folk resisting getting vaccinated, there may be more severe strains of the virus in our future.

Carol Johnston was a force in London

Carol Johnston was a force in London

Posted by The London Free Press celebrating the late Carol Johnston and the wonderful changes she made on the city thanks to the creation of the local children's museum.

Some are still proud of the flag

It has been a hard year for the Canadian flag, the red maple leaf. Indigenous communities across Canada have hundreds of reasons to flying the flag at half staff and many are. But many have simply taken their Canadian flags down. If you don't know why, please google "Canada, indigenous and residential schools." You will be shocked.

With more and more stories related to the residential school system coming to light, I was a little surprised to see that this home had dozens of small flags waving in the wind in anticipation of Canada Day this coming July 1.

We still have sunsets.

Things are opening up in Ontario and as restaurants open and movie theatres and other activities are again available, I expect the evening crowds that gather on Lookout Court to view the sunset will dissipate. The usually quiet little court is often lined with cars and sometimes the court even has vehicles parked in the middle of the circle. Before  COVID-19 it was never this way. Never. Viewing a sunset is the new family outing.

Bubbles were smaller at one time

When I was a boy the fluid for making bubbles came in small, glass jars with small, plastic bubble-making wands attached, usually with a strong elastic. The entire package usually originated in Toronto. The bubbles we made were possibly as large as four inches, but that would be pushing it.

Today bubble making fluid is big business and the bottles are huge, the wands large and sometimes even gigantic and the bubble these kits make are at least a foot in diameter and often much, much larger. The kits come from China.

Trade, we are told, is good. It is the life blood of our economies. Still, I cannot help but wonder why bubble-making kits cannot be made anywhere. Why it is necessary to ship the stuff literally halfway around the world so little kids can make bubbles? Why?

Thames in Southwest Ontario is the little brother

When the name Thames was originally considered for the river flowing through London, Ontario, the river was known mostly by reputation. The river was reputed to be big and long. It was said that it might well be the biggest river system in southwestern Ontario. It's reputation brought to mind its English namesake. It is long but big? I don't think so. The biggest river in the area is the well named Grand River. 

The picture shows the Thames River flowing out of London heading toward Chatham before it empties into Lake St. Clair. Head up river from here and after very few kilometres one reaches the Forks of the Thames in the core of the city. 

The North Branch of the Thames meets the Thames River proper at the forks but one would not know it from the local stories, mostly wrong. The North Branch is bigger than the Thames River itself. The North Branch tributary carries more water than the Thames River. This leads folk to call the Thames River the South Branch. Many believe the Thames River is the result of the merging of the two branches. Nope.

The Thames River flows east of the city to Woodstock and then turns north to its headwaters in some marsh land near Tavistock. In truth, the Thames River in southwestern Ontario is a slow, meandering, shallow river that picks up a little extra water at The Forks of Thames and then continues its lazy way west.

Cities often offer wildlife a perk or two

According to the New York Times, birds in North America are in decline. Numbers are down by almost 30% since 1970. This is not something one would think based on the number and variety of birds sighted in London, Ontario.

And North American is not alone. In Europe, as well, common bird species are in decline. And what is driving this decline? Habitat destruction takes a big toll. Pesticides and chemicals in general are big culprits. And, of course, there is urban sprawl. Dr. Young, of the University of California, says humans are overusing the world. 

And yet humans do offer wildlife, such as birds, some appreciated perks. Bird feeders, bird houses and bird baths are all very popular with the feathered wildlife found in cities.

Proposed tower is closer to being built

The tall tower on the left is not there -- yet. At this time it is only a proposed tower but it has cleared every hurdle tossed in its path. At 40 storeys, the tower will be the tallest building in London and a side benefit of its size may be that it will also possibly be the most hated building in London. 

Some of the oldest heritage buildings in the city are owned by the same developer and stand immediately beside the proposed tower. The developer claims the new structure will respect the much smaller, 1800s structures. Heritage activists find this claim hard to believe.

Many also say that the new tower will be built partially on floodplain. This is a strict no-no but it appears the tower is being given a waiver.

Although it is hard to see in this illustration, the tower overlooks the Forks of the Thames in London's core. A number of nearby high rises will have their lines of sight to the forks blocked or partially blocked by the new, proposed tower.

And then there are those who find the new tower design just plain boring and that in itself is enough not to build the monster in such a historic and valued site. The Forks of the Thames deserves something much better architecturally.

Once millionaires supported their hometowns

 

When I moved to London it was said that London had more backyard, in-ground pools per capita than any other community in Canada. This is another way of saying that London was known for wealth.

For a small city, London had more than its fair share of millionaires and these millionaires made the community a better place to live for everyone. One very wealthy family with deep roots in the town was the Ivey family, the family behind EMCO.

If the millionaire families had only given London jobs that would have been wonderful, but many of the families contributed generously to the city, their city, as well. 

That is why today when I had cataract surgery, I had the operation at the Ivey Eye Institute. The Iveys were a very generous London family. They left their mark in many ways on the city.

One often reads that Canada has socialized medicine. Technically, it doesn't. It has a single payer system. But I like to think that our system has benefited from the participation of capitalism and capitalists as well as government.

As a former photojournalist at the local paper, I met many of the Iveys. I especially liked Richard and Beryl Ivey. They were a classy, interesting couple and amazingly down-to-earth. I believe it was Richard's sister Lorraine Shuttleworth who was an original contributors to the clinic that carries the family name today.

Groundhogs love strawberries; groundhogs are not alone.

Most homeowners believe that if they have a problem with a wild animal making a nuisance of itself, they can simply live trap the nuisance, drive it out of town, the farther the better, and release it. Problem solved. In truth, it is not this easy.

For one thing, in London a live trapped animal cannot be moved more than a kilometre away from where it was taken. That is only about .6 of a mile and that's not all that far. Stay within the law and the animal essentially stays within its home range. The problem animal may easily find its way home and be back being a nuisance within a day or two. If it doesn't return it may be because it is now busy being a nuisance to a nearby neighbour. This hardly seems fair.

Put the idea of using a pellet gun or BB rifle right our of your head. Using a firearm within the city limits of many municipalities is strictly a no-no and a BB gun or pellet gun is classified by many municipalities as a firearm.

Leg holds are out and with good reason, as is poison as well. With pets and children all about in the city, the danger to other nuisances, like children, is just too great.

So buy a live trap, bait it with one of the suspect animal's favourite foods and, if you are lucky, capture the bothersome critter. Property owners are allowed to protect their property withing legal limits.

I have baited my large live trap with strawberries and some flowers. So far the only animal to show an interest has been a chipmunk. It nibbled on the strawberries from outside the trap. As of this time, no sign of a groundhog. Maybe tomorrow I will up the ante by baiting the trap with chopped up cantaloupe. If it doesn't find the strawberries enticing enough maybe a large helping a cantaloupe will do the trick.

Think of this not as a flower but groundhog food

It's a little late in the year to be shopping for garden flowers. My wife spent her gardening budget a month or more ago. Now, that investment is under attack.

Last night my wife notice the flowers in one of her patio planters were vibrating. Weird. She watched. A groundhog poked its head up. It was taking a brief break from having its dinner. And what was dinner? Of course, my wife's flowers were the main course. And it ate them all. Every last one!

And so today it was off to the garden centre to look for more groundhog food—uh, flowers, potted flowers.

The groundhog will return. Of this, I have absolutely no doubt. Will it again dine on potted flowers? If it does, I have broadened the menu. There is a new flower being offered. To sample this flower, the groundhog only has to venture into to live trap I have set in the backyard.

First sign of new subdivison: mountains of topsoil

 

The first sign that a new subdivision is about to be built are the mountains of topsoil tucked into a far corner of the development. The former farmland contains far too much organic material. It is good quality soil for growing crops but poor quality soil for "growing" homes.

Topsoil will not support a structure. It must be removed and in southwestern Ontario there may be a lot to remove. Sometimes the topsoil extends up to four feet down. Hence the veritable mountains of topsoil removed from construction sites.

And what happens to the topsoil that was bulldozed? A lot of it is put back when building ends. It can cost a lot to truck the earth away. It is easier and cheaper to simply use it to give the new homes the soil necessary to for grass and landscaping.

Soil not returned to neighbourhood land can be bagged and sold if the builder finds there is too much soil. After the homes go in and the roads are paved, it is not surprising that often there is some soil remaining when all the subdivision work has been completed.

Vaccinated folk may need boosters

The most recent info on vaccination vs. recovery from a bout with COVID-19 may indicate that those who get vaccinated after overcoming an infection with COVID-19 may not require booster shots. Those who get the recommended two shots some weeks apart, but who were never infected, may require boosters at some point in the future. The take away here is that those who have recovered from COVID-19 may still benefit from getting one vaccination.

But today we are not all that concerned with boosters. The drive is still to get everyone vaccinated. It is beginning to seem like every drugstore in London has become a vaccination clinic carrying the COVID-19 vaccine. Appointments are recommended but many folk have been successful with the walk-in approach.

Patio umbrellas do duty on balconies

I cannot recall patio umbrellas being used on the balconies of high rise apartments when I was a boy. Today one is seeing these shade-givers appearing more and more on building balconies around the city.

Partnering with capitalism

I have relatives who like to divide the world into right and left, into conservatives and liberals. They get all agitated at the idea of progressives. Me? I like to go with what works.

When the vaccines for COVID-19 were announced, the drugstore chains in Canada stepped up and said that they could do a first-rate job of delivering the vaccine to the public. Many of the drugstores in Canada already offer the annual flu shot.

My wife and I got our first shot of the Pfizer covid-19 vaccine at an Ontario government run clinic held in a large building at the fairgrounds back in mid April. We had no complaints but we needed an appointment and there was a substantial wait time for many people. The wait time for the second dose seemed downright unreasonable. We were not slated for our second dose until early August. A wait of almost four months!

Enter capitalism and our Canadian, privately run drugstores. Granted the amount of vaccine has increased greatly and that is a big part of why wait times are down but it does not explain away all the delays. No matter which government run operation we called, whether in London or a nearby town, my wife and I could not get a shot before July.

Then we heard from a friend who simply walked into a drugstore, inquired about getting vaccinated and was vaccinated before she left the drugstore. Wow!

My wife called a neighbourhood drugstore. The first place, a Shoppers Drug Mart, was giving out the Moderna vaccine. My wife and I were given the Pfizer for our first shot. No problem, we were told. The other Shoppers Drug Mart in our area had the Pfizer. We were given the telephone number, we called and less than 48 hours later both my wife and I had our second shot. It is not even the middle of June. Not bad.

The immediate cost of the vaccinations, nothing. Our provincial health care system is covering all costs. Whether one gets the shot at a government run clinic or a privately run drugstore, the cost is covered. The successful partnering between governments and businesses to quickly deliver vaccine in Canada is an example of doing what is best, doing what is most efficient and not worrying about the political optics. 

The last figures that I saw showed Canada almost tied with Israel for the highest number of vaccinations per 100 residents. Canada was just ahead of the United Kingdom but was well ahead of the United States.

Thousands walk to protest Islamophobia

A speeding vehicle used as a lethal weapon left four members of a London Muslim family dead and the nine-year-old son in the hospital with serious injuries.

A memorial at the family's mosque attracted more than ten thousand Londoners rallying to show support for the local Muslim community. A walk Friday night attracted thousands stretching more than a kilometre down the route of the walk. Many of the walkers wore covid-19 masks as they walked. 

One goal of the night was to raise money to fight Islamophobia in London and to give financial aid to the boy left injured. At this time, the donations are already nearing the million dollar mark.

Is Jennifer Johnston right? Think Consequences

Jennifer Johnston, an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Western New Mexico University, raises some important issues with her paper titled Mass Shooting and the Media Contagion Effect. Johnson recommends that the media refrain from publishing photos, writings, personal likes and dislikes, family, work, and school history of the suspect in mass killings. Doing this would save lives according to Johnston.

One reader responded to one of the paper's tweets promoting their coverage by showing a picture of the accused and asking: Does LFP have the courage . . . to stop posting happy, smiling images of a known terrorist alongside garbage sympathy pieces? No, because they’re hacks.

Another reader thanked the above Twitter poster and tweeted: I've been trying to say the same on Facebook but they've been closing comment threads on related articles instead of accepting any responsibility for their sympathy pieces.

I worked in the media for more than three decades. Since retiring I have been amazed and saddened at the lack of responsibility shown by reporters who make obvious errors in judgment or get important facts wrong.

In a Canadian Journal of Communication (CJC) article discussing media coverage and of acts of terrorism, the author writes that journalists wish to introduce a fresh new dimension to their stories, as if these stories were not dramatic enough. What is required is accountability: thinking about the consequences of reporting.

The young girl left a her mark on the city

A London Muslim family was struck Sunday by a speeding truck. The father, mother, grandmother and 15-year-old daughter were all killed. The nine year old son is in the hospital with serious but reportedly non life threatening injuries. The police have the driver in custody and are treating the incident as a hate crime.

While the teenage daughter was attending elementary school, she painted a mural in the basement of the London Islamic School. the young girl designed, sketched the preliminary art and painted the mural. It will now be a part of her legacy, said a school official.

Principal Asad Choudhary said after the girl finished the artwork, he thanked her. She responded saying, "I need to thank you, because you're giving me an opportunity to leave a legacy for a place I love so much."

The names of the victims are not in this sad post as the remaining family members have requested that the victim names not be published. And no photo is being run of the memorials that have sprung up at the corner where the family was run down as I do not want to give too much attention to the deed. For the same reason the coward who drove the truck will remain unnamed in this post.

Is this from the Nut House?

 

At one time in London there was a shop that sold nuts, salted nuts, chocolate coated nuts, candied nuts. The nuts came in bags and boxes. There were peanuts, almonds, Brazil, pistachio, cashew . . . 

And there were customers. Lots and lots of customers. Why a place like the Nut House disappears is a puzzle. Did the owners move away? Did they die and the estate closed the shop? But the big question today is this: Is the Nut House sign, enamel on steel, possibly the last remnant, the last solid memory, of that wonderful, delightful, place that was for so many Londoners more of a destination than a shop

Chipmunks: not wild wild animals

The chipmunks in the cities are quite naturally tame. The little rodents know people pose little danger to them. but the question I have is do chipmunks pose a danger to humans, to us, to my granddaughters?

The chipmunks scurrying about our yard seem very healthy. Hey, they eat well. They find lots of seeds under the backyard bird feeder. But looks can be deceiving. They might not be as healthy as they look.

The Ontario government warns that feeding chipmunks right out of one's hand may expose one to lyme disease ticks or salmonella bacteria or even some once-unheard-of-in-this-area kinds of parasites.

If the kids want to try this again, it may be best if they wear a pair of gardening gloves. My wife insists that we wear gardening gloves when working in our gardens in the soil. Now that I know about the parasites that chipmunks and other wild animals can spread in their feces, I'm not arguing with her. She's right. Gardening gloves are important.

Siting is important

 

How a building is sited in a city is important. This apartment building in the western part of London absolutely dominates the view when heading east on one of the city's main traffic arteries. It appears to be foreboding, massive hulk of a building towering over the green forest canopy.

It is a pity this building isn't prettier. Sadly, it is just plain, big and plain. It doesn't even have the dramatic look of yesterday's in look -- brutalism.

Brutalist buildings are characterized by a massive, monolithic and 'blocky' appearance with a rigid geometric style and large-scale use of poured concrete. This apartment building answers many of the demands but come up short when it comes to style. This building is not stylish.

Both the French and the Brits experimented with brutalist apartment buildings decades ago back in the last century. Some have been demolished using the implosion technique. Some are still in use. But some are being updated and upgraded and flipped to the upscale side of life. Brutalist apartment building were originally designed to house the proletariat.

Many brutalist apartment buildings have been used to represent the future gone sadly awry. Think of the Hunger Games. A major set in that film is a brutalist apartment complex on the outskirts of Paris. No films crews are to be found outside the brutally plain London, Ontario, apartment building.

The Huffington Post did a feature on the apartment complex featured in the Hunger Games.

Having a dog means exercise no matter the weather

 

My doctors tell me having a dog is good for one's health. I think it may be the exercise that caring for a dog  entails. Despite the weather, dogs have to be walked. In the middle of winter snow storm, my neighbours are out walking their pets. And today, in the middle of the heaviest rainfall in months, the sidewalks were filled with folk out walk their dogs.

Crazy Horse Memorial, South Dakota

Celebrating travel is the featured topic for the start of June. With the pandemic hopefully wrapping up as more and more people get vaccinated, places like the Crazy Horse Memorial in the Black Hills of southwestern South Dakota will again be open to visitors.

Before the arrival of covid-19, two 10K walks from the base of the mountain to the top were held annually. If it goes off as planned, the spring walk will be held this weekend. The fall walk is slated for Sunday, September 26. In 2010, I made the hike and documented the day in pictures.

But there is more to do at the Crazy Horse site than just view the sculpture under construction and you can discover all by clicking the link.

According to the info posted by the Crazy Horse Memorial, Crazy Horse or Tasunke Witco was a member of the Oglala Lakota. Born around 1840, his world was one of clashing cultures with land a big point of contention. Native ways were threatened and oppressed and Crazy Horse responded to his people's plight. Not yet 40, a soldier shot Crazy Horse on September 5, 1877, at Fort Robinson, Nebraska.

About 175 acres of farmland taken out of service daily in Ontario

 

It looks like it was a simply farm operation located between London and the once nearby town of Lambeth. Today the boarded up farm home and the abandoned farm are inside the city limits as it the town of Lambeth.

In Ontario it is claimed that something in the order of 175 acres of farmland are taken out of service every day. Homes, apartments, strip malls, parking lots and streets replace the crops.

As another poster to this group pointed out recently, the population explosion seems to be fading, birth rates are falling and the need for a lot of new homes and apartments may be coming to an end. The loss of farmland to growing cities may become a feature of the past.