Sunday, February 6, 2022

Saturday was a true race day at Byron

 

One always sees skiers blasting down a small, but on the steep-side, hill at Boler Mountain, scooting through gates, flashing down the slope. But Saturday was different, at least for me. Saturday the skiers were not practising but competing. And the skiers were looking good. 

This old geezer wishes he could have joined them. I'd have done my best Jean Claude Killy imitation, with the accent (French accent?) on imitation. I was Jean Claude Killy only in my mind, only in my imagination.

Saturday, February 5, 2022

Living with the COVID-19 virus

 

We are now in the living-with-COVID part of the pandemic. Skiers on Boler Mountain Saturday were wearing COVID masks rather than balaclavas. Although, I wore both, with my balaclava over my mask. The dining area in the ski lodge at Boler Mountain was open but the seating number, thanks to social distancing, was halved. Maybe, just maybe, we are seeing the easing of this all-too-long pandemic.

Friday, February 4, 2022

Boring but functional fencing

 

A few days ago, I post some common fencing I found in the Ukraine. It was unique. Some folk found it a little busy, others tacky but others quite liked it. Whatever, it was completely different from anything I have ever seen in North America.

I decided to post an image of two types of fencing commonly found in London. The old wooden fence was popular about thirty years ago. The newer, plastic fencing on the left, is going up all over the city on both private and public land.

We replaces the aging, wooden fencing with the newer plastic stuff. As it is made to resemble stone, I think I am safe in saying it is, at its core, it is somewhat tacky. Imitations always are.

Thursday, February 3, 2022

Not a lot of snow in London

With snow storms hitting the U.S. east coast and traffic in some locations along the seaboard coming almost to a standstill, snow, at least a heavy snowfall, seems to have eluded the southwest Ontario Great Lakes region. London has not had a prolonged storm, with heavy snowfall and high winds, move in from Lake Huron this year. One has hardly had to even get out the snowblower. A snow shovel had done just fine.

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Another young skier at the neighbourhood hill

The number of kids who are able to complete a decent jump seems almost limitless. Take a picture of one and the next kid may take it up a notch. Even my youngest granddaughter has given  one of the smaller jumps her best shot. She got airborne but her landing let her down -- pun intended.

Monday, January 31, 2022

Kharkiv has 3.5 times London's population

I don't understand war. Attacking and invading a neighbouring county makes absolutely no sense to me. None. Here, in North America, I don't think most folk have a good handle on just what a fine country the Ukraine is. And Russia is can be a damn fine place to live as well. And yet, an invasion may not be on the table, as they say, but it is a possibility. Why?

I decided to check out the Ukraine and I chose the city of Kharkiv in which to do some sightseeing thanks to Google Street Views. Why Kharkiv? I caught a journalist, who was working in Kharkiv, being interviewed on CNN. I thought it must be a rather important city if a foreign journalist was stationed there.

Kharkiv has a large, popular, city park. London has a city-block sized park, too. I checked out the Ukrainian park. Wow! The Kharkiv park is absolutely amazing. 

There was a time London's park had a fountain but no more.  It was removed and discarded some years ago.

The heritage section of Kharkiv is not as intact as one might like but it does boast the presence of a large number of fine, old structures. London does not have a heritage district. The vast majority are gone and the one's remaining are sprinkled about here and there. The last intact block of heritage structures was torn down in order to build a massive downtown mall and then the mall was never built. Today a hockey arena occupies the land.


Kharkiv is a larger city than London. It has about 3.5 times the population of London. In 1975, the Ukrainian city started to build a subway. Today there are some 30 metro stations. In 1975, London politicians were discussing how to build an improved transit system. Today the London politicians are still discussing how best to build a rapid transit system. Nothing has been done but at least London is now considering a rapid transit system. For the moment, London will continue to use simple buses. Come back in 40 years and see what has changed.

Saturday, January 29, 2022

Covid is not stopping the fun

It is not just COVID that introduces risk and danger to kid's lives. Spent a few minutes watching young people taking flight as they hit the jumps at Boler Mountain, in London, and if you have a child out there on the slopes, you cannot help but have some concern.

That said, I watched a lot of skiers crank up the speed and fly off the edge of a jump and although some fell, I didn't see one jumper show any signs of injury. It may be safer than it looks. It has to be. I don't think Boler could afford the insurance if it weren't.