The biggest stairs I've ever seen.

I live in the area of London with the most hills, Byron. It is so hilly that Boler Mountain, the local ski hill is located in my subdivision.

My granddaughter, Fiona, loves to go outside and she loves a good walk. Yesterday, we took off down the slope across the street from where I live. There's a small playground down there and the neighbourhood public school.

To make it easier, and safer, for the kids coming to and going from the school, there is long staircase behind the building. When Fiona spotted the stairs she exclaimed, "Look! The biggest stairs I've ever seen." Seeing how she is just 29 months, she's probably right.

She had to climb those stairs, and she did.

Warm winter for southern Ontario in Canada

It has been one warm winter with very little snow. I've actually had my English roadster out twice this winter. No snow. No salt. No slush.

But Fiona found some snow to enjoy. She called it a snow doughnut. It was the snow piled in the court by the snow plow. It has been so warm that the entire middle of the pile was melted away.

London at Night

This short video of London at night was shot by StoryBox Productions, a local communications company specializing in telling stories with a strong visual bent. They love producing stories with stylish, artistic visuals that people will remember.

A little snow angel

Fiona has watched Max and Ruby make snow angels. If you don't know who Max and Ruby are, well, you clearly don't have little ones. Max and Ruby are rabbits, rabbits in a cute cartoon for kids.

For the past few weeks Fiona has been making floor angels. We haven't had much snow. She did get out once to make some real, snow angels but just once. It got warm and it rained. The first snow was washed almost completely away.

Well, this past Saturday was different. We had snow and Fiona had her snow suit, mittens, a warm hat and new, cozy boots. That's her word for warm boots: cozy. She was ready to hit the snow.

And she does hit the snow. She let's herself fall backwards, hitting the fluffy, light white powder with a bit of a thud. I try to stop her from pulling the stunt where the snow is a light dusting over paving stones. She doesn't protest.

We walked together all the way to the park, with Fiona dragging her sled behind her. Sleds are great fun to pull. It's even more fun if the sled is filled with snow. And if one is pulled in one's sled, it is just the best if a bed of soft, cold snow cushions the ride. If you don't know that, well, you clearly don't have little ones.

We searched the neighbourhood for fresh, unblemished snow. Nothing. Everywhere we went other kids had been there first. Everywhere that is, except for the slide in the park. No other kids had the will, or stick-to-it-ive-ness to struggle through the snow to the top of the slide. But that snow, as untouched as it was, was not suitable for snow angel making.

Fiona slogged through the snow, climbing to the top of the slide. Carefully positioning herself at the top of the snow-clogged slide, she then eased herself down. She moved forward --- slowly, pushing snow ahead of her as she gradually descended. "Again! Again!" she said with excitement and satisfaction. She made five climbs up, each one easier than the last, and five slides down, each one faster than the last, until fully cleared of snow, the slide was open for use.

The challenge met, we headed home.

And at home we found it: unblemished snow. It was in Gugga's backyard. (Fiona has christened me Guggga. Her other grandfather is grandpa Bill. But I'm Gugga; Her buddy.) Finally, Fiona made her snow angels. She made lots of snow angels. And then, she spent a little time admiring them.

I took these moments to do something similar. I admired my little snow angel: Fiona.

Lockout of workers entering fourth week

A local locomotive plant (but always American owned) was purchased two short years ago by Progress Rail, a subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc., and is now facing the threat of possible closure. The approximately 425 unionized workers were given a "take it or leave it" offer; they decided to pass. But, and this is important, they did not decide to strike. When they made it clear that they would show up for work after the strike vote, the company locked them out.

Saturday a rally in support of the locked out workers was held in Victoria Park in London's downtown. The mayor spoke and both provincial and federal representatives were on stage showing support. Although, all the federal Conservative MPs were absent. It appears Prime Minister Harper has put out the word to his minions: Stay clear of this dispute.

I posted more images and a story on the Digital Journal news pages.

Neighbourhood devolution

The Spot restaurant on the right burned the other day.

I don't mind seeing homes converted to businesses. It is possible to do this in a way that respects the former homes. Done properly, these conversions can make for a very pleasant street, lined with heritage properties.

All too often, this is not done in London, Ontario. If an addition is necessary, it is often simply a boxy mass slapped onto the front or the side of the structure. Ugly.

Down the street from The Spot, the residential feel is intact.

A restaurant/apartment complex in the core burned the other day. It is always sad when a building suffers a fire, especially a residence. People can be injured, or killed, and treasured, irreplaceable stuff is lost. When a business is involved, the expense to the owner can put the business out of play permanently.

All that said, maybe the fire that gutted a restaurant and several attached apartments in London's core, causing an estimated $450,000 in damage, can be turned into a positive.

Maybe the restaurant can be rebuilt in keeping with the architecture of the older building. Let's blend the commercial smoothly into the residential.

Let's make this old, heritage structure evolve rather than devolve. Let's honour the past, the present and the future.

Many of the residences in this downtown neighbourhood date are circa 1880.

 All images screen grabs from Google Maps.

Locked out EMD workers facing Hobson's choice

The short story is that the Electro-Motive Diesel plant that has made locomotives in London, Ontario since 1950 has locked out its workers. The CAW, Local 27, members were asked to accept a 50 percent cut in wages, have their benefits chopped and sit by while their pension plan got gutted.

The workers are now out on the street 24 hours a day in shifts. So far the company has not tried to get replacement workers, at least ones who would be there to build locomotives, across the line.

I blogged the whole story with my guess as to its outcome here. [But, I so hope that I am wrong and that the workers win this one. A cut of 50 percent in salary is impossibly large, especially when you consider that Caterpillar, the ultimate owner, is making a bundle even in today's economy.]