Support our ski hill

We must support our ski hill.

A year after the end of the Second World War, a group of mainly Londoners gathered at the top of Reservoir Hill to enjoy a new sport they had learned while serving overseas: downhill skiing.

By 1949 the group was large enough to incorporate as the London Ski Club, a not for profit organization. They found a good-sized hill near Byron, purchased it, and carved a variety of trails into the hill to accommodate skiiers from beginner to advanced.

Governed by a volunteer board of directors and operated by a combination of volunteers and paid employees, the annual surplus income was plowed back into the operation to maintain and expand the ski hill.

At first skiers used rope tows to get to the summit. These were replaced by T-bars in 1968 and 1970. Then in 2003 the T-bars were replaced by a Quad chair lift. Today there are three quad lifts, a moving carpet on the beginners' hill and another moving carpet serves the tubing area.

In the '60s Thames Valley Childrens’ Centre worked with volunteers from the London Ski Club to provide skiing opportunities for the blind and disabled. Today there 250 volunteer instructors serving over 120 disabled skiers each season.

The little hill just keeps expanding. It spends its limited money very wisely. Boler Mountain is a big plus for the city. Now, after some seventy some years of operation, covid-19 threatens the survival of the hill. I'm trying to start a movement to allow the ski operation to keep all the money paid for lessons that were not supplied because of the virus. The hill needs the  money more than I do. It's loss was in my budget.

We must support our ski hill. (Originally I wrote "save" but that may overstate the situation.)

Covid-19 closed hill but snowmaking continues.

Boler Mountain is closed and not slated to open until, at the earliest, February 12th. Despite being closed, the snow-making team at the small hill is busy readying the slopes.

I'm retired and in my 70s. I am not rich. Yet, I put the cost of ski lessons for two of my granddaughters into my budget. It is money well spent. At least, it was until this year. This year, so far, neither girls has had even one lesson. The ski hill has been kept closed by the provincial government fighting covid-19.

How the little ski hill will survive this financial disaster has me concerned. I'm trying to convince those who are out money for prepaid services and activities to not request a refund. Everyone budgets for skiing. The money is not missed. The skiing is missed but not the money. No one will suffer if the money is not refunded but the ski hill will suffer if everyone demands a refund.

I say support our local ski hill. "Do not ask for a refund!"

Bernie meme popular in London, Ontario

 

The globe-trotting Bernie meme has made its appearance in London, Ontario. I pulled this from my Facebook feed.

We can learn from Disney

 

 

Years ago the newspaper I worked for sent me to Disney World in Florida. I wondered how Disney kept the grounds so clean. I learned Disney World is designed in such a way that each area has a public and a non-public side. Think of a circle with the public inside the circle and the nitty gritty of the support systems for the grounds all around the outside of the circle.

Cities, London for sure, could learn from Disney. Too much of the ugly workings of the city are on display for all to see. It is not a pretty sight.

Nope. Canada doesn't have socialized medicine

 

Today my wife and I drove a life-long friend of hers to a small town to the southwest of London. She was having eye surgery and had decided to have an eye surgeon at the Anjema Eye Institute perform the operation.

Many Americans believe incorrectly that Canada has some left-wing-inspired medical health care system. Socialized medicine is the battle cry. One can forgive these Yanks as many Canadians also believe their system is socialism. Many would argue that both are wrong. The fee my wife's friend paid for the laser surgery was clear proof her operation was not part of a socialist plot. If anything, it was capitalism at its finest.

I'd say more but to tell the truth this story is too complicated for me to address here. But here is a link to an article written by a Canadian doctor: 
A Canadian Doctor Explains How Her Country's Single-Payer Health Care System Works

Like my wife's friend, I will soon need eye surgery and lens replacement because of a growing problem with cataracts. Unlike my wife's friend, I cannot afford to go outside the government plan seeking a superior solution.  (And my eye problems are not complicated by other serious eye problems.) Think of the government plan as similar to insurance and I will gladly accept the treatment my "insurance" covers and I'll see just fine.

Do we have any problems with our health care. Yes! That said, have you ever had a problem with an insurance company when it came to health care? I had a heart incident while visiting the States. The insurance company did its best to disqualify me by claiming my problem was a "pre-existing condition." I wasn't. It took about eight months to straighten the mess out. During that time, I was constantly harassed by collection agencies looking for the $35,000 that my treatment cost.

Trade between cities makes our world possible

 

In high school I learned about Greek city states. City states, except for possibly Singapore, are a feature from the past. Yet, trade between the world's thousands of cities is incredibly important today. Trade between cities may even be more important today than it was back then to those ancient Greeks.

I had these thoughts as I sat down to lunch with my wife and her childhood friend. Our meal was only possible thanks to trade between distant cities.Cauliflower from California, cheese from France and from Italy. So much of my lunch was not produced in London, nor in Ontario, nor in any part of Canada.

As a teen I worked in plastic factories making car parts. I  recall that one plastic injection machine I used was designed in and built in Italy. When my day making plastic steering wheels was done, I'd get in my Swedish car, the parts made in Europe but assembled in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and I'd drive home.

Winter driving can be a challenge

In two days I'll tell the whole story but today my wife and I had to drive to Stratford to pick-up a friend. The friend has to have eye surgery in two days in a town two full hours southwest of Stratford. Winter weather being so unpredictable, we made the pick-up today and now we only have an hour left to travel to get our friend to the somewhat distant hospital.

The weather was so unpredictable that it would have been dangerous to stop. Many drivers go too fast in bad winter conditions. The image today was shot some time ago but it is a good example of what we were up against.