An Imperial Stormtrooper stuts his stuff

 One never knows who or what one will see walking in the Hyde Park Christmas Parade. One surprise this year was an Imperial Stormtrooper.

One could be forgiven for thinking the white armoured galactic soldier, wearing a jaunty white top hat and carrying an extra large candy cane, might break into dance at any moment. 

This stormtrooper carried a definite Fred Astaire air. Clearly this soldier was trying his best to get onto Santa's good side.

Hmmm. I wonder what the stormtrooper asked Santa to bring him. And did the soldier claim to have been a good little "white hat"?

All welcome in Hyde Park Christmas Parade

 

London, Ontario, has two annual Christmas parades. The main one, the big one, the held in the core and it is held at night. The other is held in the suburbs and ends in what was once the village of Hyde Park. The Hyde Park Christmas Parade, as it is called, still has the feel of a small, community event. There are not just floats and marching bands, and of course Santa himself, but there are a lot of parents with small children walking in the parade. The kids seem to love it and I'm sure it gives them wonderful memories to treasure for a lifetime.

Hyde Park Santa Parade Returns

There was no Hyde Park Santa Claus Parade last year but this year it is back and the crowds were bigger than usual and the participants more numerous. A group that was at the head of the parade and helped to get everyone into the parade-watching mode was this marching bank from Western, the local university.

A snowy PD day

 

Friday was a PD day, a personal development day, for my granddaughter's teacher. With no school and little to do, even a light snowfall beckoned with a promise of winter fun: making a snowman with grandpa.

But the snow was not only light but dry and powdery. It wouldn't roll. It refused to even pile. But stuff like that may stop some but not a dedicated kid. She decided to make a melted snowman. A snowman past his prime. And so she put her Frosty hat on her creation and sure enough, just like the song says, the hat was magic. The almost formless large lump of snow became a snowman.

Cities should not be built on flood plain

 If you have been following the news out of British Columbia, Canada's western most province, and also the news out of Nova Scotia, the province on Canada's Atlantic coast, you would know both these areas are receiving extreme amounts of precipitation. In B.C. one area got an average month's worth of rain in 24 hours. The Trans Canada highway has suffered washouts as have the railways linking B.C. to the rest of the country.

Although rain has not posed a serious threat in London in decades, a record breaking rainfall could wreck real havoc on certain areas of this city. Most of the city, like Springbank Park, would be safe but there are areas built on flood plain. These areas are protected by a system of dikes and a large dam in the north end of the city. But in the event of a truly extreme amount of precipitation, the Thames River could easily break free of its restraints and flood the homes built on the flood plain.

Black apartment pops viewed against blue sky

Scanning London from a spot in the south end of town, near Wharncliffe Rd. and Base Line, a black-painted apartment building immediately catches one's eye. It is big, black and dramatic today but one must wonder what it will look like in a few years hence. Black paint has a reputation for fading.

Automobile Dealers Short on New Cars

 

It was time for the annual fall tire change. Summer tires off and snow tires on. While the service department makes the switch, folk usually stroll about the showroom looking at the new cars, sitting in them and dreaming not of a seasonal tire change but of a complete change of cars.

But there was no dreaming today as the dealership showroom was completely devoid of new cars. There's a chip shortage, you know. And new cars need numerous electronic chips to function. 

The floor was not totally bare, the dealer had a 1960s era VW Beetle on display. Today it was memories wandering the showroom conjured up and then only in the oldest, most senior of clients. I had a robin-egg blue memory haunt me while I was there.