Creative at Christmas

 

The decorations are simple but imaginative. My wife was the first to remark on the creative Christmas look of a neighbour's twin garage doors. When my granddaughters also mentioned how cool the neighbour's house looked, it was time to get out the camera. As I took the photo, passing motorists honked their approval.

RM Sotheby's Auto Show

 

In just days it will be Christmas and then New Year's. It will be 2021. Or will it be 2020 take two? It doesn't seem like this year ever got off the ground. It was a bit of a non event. Car shows, like the RM Sotheby's show held annually outside Chatham, about an hour southwest of London, were cancelled. One word explains why: covid.

One word explains why 2021 will not be a repeat of this year: vaccine. Science to the rescue.

Once a force in the London, Ontario, business community

 

Supertest service stations were a fixture across southwestern Ontario when I was a boy but the company's reach went right across the province. Headquartered in London, it operated from 1923 to 1973. In 1971 it was aquired by BP Canada and after two years the name was dropped.

There are a number of Londoners with extensive collections of historical photos documenting London over the years. Today's image is from one of those collections.

Six days till Christmas and no snow

 

Six days till Christmas and there is almost no snow to be seen. Will it be a white Christmas? Maybe not. Snow is in the forecasts but so is warmish, for winter, weather. And come Wednesday it is supposed to be not only above freezing but rain is forecast. 

But, if we have to have a green Christmas, this might be the right year. Thanks to Covid-19 we may not have children for Christmas either. The number of ill folk is climbing in the province. Business are going into lock down, my wife had her hair appointment canceled.

If we get together at all at Christmas it will be a Christmas dominated by masks and social distancing.

Why just here? Why just this section of power line?

Yes, I know. It's an old, well-told story: why birds sit on power lines. I've been told the lines are slightly warmer than other surfaces in the winter. This warmth, from the passing electricity, makes the lines a favourite perch. 

But I have another question: why did the birds pick these three power lines. No bird perched on the wires to the other side of the wooden poles. Not a one.

 And if one looks about, one immediately notices that there are no birds, not a one, perched on any of surrounding lines -- and there are a lot!

Hoping for a summer like those remembered

 

The summer of 2020 will go down for our family as the non-summer summer. Lockdowns, closures, masks and distancing. Not the words one usually associates with summer. Heck, even the playgrounds were closed, wrapped in cautioning yellow tape. 

With a second vaccine now being given to Canadians eager to put an end to the pandemic, a better summer, a more traditional summer, a summer saturated with family fun is now waiting in the wings, ready to make its appearance.

Until then, we have our memories.

Building under construction collapses; 2 killed.

 

Last September I took a picture of a small, apartment building under construction. The elevator shafts were in and they appeared as concrete towers looking almost like giant works of sculptural art.

Sadly, today the construction has been put on hold. Why? A partial building collapse left two people dead and injured five others. An investigation is underway. According to The London Free Press, our local paper, a partner in apartment building that collapsed had lost his licence to build new homes for sale in London.