Wear your poppy with pride. Remember the veterans of the wars and attend a service if you can. I used to go down to Ward park every nearest Sunday to 11th November to watch the wreaths being laid. Back in my BB days I even laid a wreath myself. Unfortunately this year being in Canada they do now do a celebration on the nearest Sunday and with the 11th itself being on a Tuesday and me being in work I couldn’t attend a service. We did have a minutes silence in the office at 11 a.m.

Here is a great story about great footballs that brings back good memories of Number 2 in the list:

2. The Mitre Delta 1000
On the long list of Doodles Done In Class In The Late 80s, the Mitre Delta comes behind only assorted genitalia and that formless thing with the tail and a sort of face. The pre-Premiership ball of choice might now be associated with a dark period of Elton Welsby and Saint & Greavsie, but at the time it was seriously cool: who wouldn’t want the ball that was caressed by the likes of Brian Kilcline, Ian Ormondroyd and Mal Donaghy? Short of swaggering into school with Bronwyn from Neighbours on your arm, there was no surer way to win friends and influence people than by whipping out a Delta at lunchtime. But woe betide the kid who had to go home and tell his parents it had been punted out of the school, never to be found.

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What other way to spend an Indian Summer evening than by heading downtown to watch some top end, high calibre hockey with a bit of high calibre historic politics on the side. Outside it was 20 degrees which surprised a lot of people considering how close to freezing it had been just a week before, but it was heating up in the American Presidential race so the weather I guess followed suit. Had I not been catching the bus and then subway into the heart of the city after work this would have been perfect weather for a cycle home. It was certainly perfect for all them thousands gathered anxiously in Chicago hoping for the good news.

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I woke up on Wednesday morning looked in the mirror and was shocked by what I seen. Yes, you might be saying what is unusual about that but this time there was good reason. My cheek had a huge swelling on the side of it and it didn’t look right. I have to say though the Canadian dental system is swift. Within four hours I was in the chair and getting it looked at. The bad news was that the swelling was from an infection that had gotten into the route of my tooth without my knowledge basically because the nerve had died. The upshot was I required a Route Canal surger ASAP. Happy Halloween. MORE »

It is only Tuesday but so far the bike has been resigned to the garage. The temperature has been dropping to mid-single figures and the rain has been falling meaning I am not for cycling home. I have the gear and I suppose yes I could do it and maybe I should but instead I am holding out for the rise in temperature that is expected by around Thursday. I am still hoping to get another week or two out of it before the bike goes into lockdown for the winter. I said when I started this cycling home from work malarky that I would be pleased if I got to the end of October out of it and so long as Thursday and Friday are a-go then I will have succeeded.

So I mentioned on Friday about going to my first game of the season and I did just that on Friday night. The OHL game between the home town Mississauga St. Michaels Majors and the Niagara Ice Dogs, the team that used to be based in Mississauga. I have an Ice Dogs jersey from when they played in Mississauga but I was in two minds over who to support. In the end I just looked for a good game and got just that. Sitting in the front row directly behind the penalty boxes allowed us to get up close to the action and in the end it was the Majors who came out with the win. The game finished 3-3 and the Majors won the shootout to take the 4-3 victory. Next up is an upgrade to the N.H.L. — the big time — when I go see the Leafs play Carolina early next month.

The hockey seasons in all leagues are well underway by now. The Giants are flying in the UK, the Flyers are sinking in the NHL and there has been enough to go around for everyone on the televisions. Still for me there is always something missing during hockey season until I actually get to a game. For me the season isn’t properly underway yet. It doesn’t matter what the game is, be in the Elite Ice Hockey League or the National Hockey League, live hockey at the arena/rink is better than live T.V. hockey. Tonight therefore my hockey season gets underway Ontario Hockey League style.

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I’ve been cycling home from work nearly every day now for about four weeks. Unfortunately that wasn’t able to happen yesterday when a Northerly wind belew in at freezing temperatures that forced me into getting the bus home. Today I packed warmer cycling gear but thankfully the weather has picked up some and so I ended up carrying most of the extra gear home on my back. The route home is just shy of 12 miles and I had to believe that although it isn’t a lot in doing it often I must be racking the miles up . . . MORE »

It’s been a busy week/weekend here. This past weekend was Thanksgiving weekend so we had the Monday off work and so makes it a four day week. Shouldn’t it always be a four day week? We spent the weekend up near Peterborough with Kim’s family having some excellent food. Thanksgiving requires a Turkey dinner much in the mold of Christmas day so you certainly didn’t find me complaining about that. We went up on the Saturday morning and returned late Sunday evening with filled stomachs. MORE »

So I have finally got around to giving up the bus and taking up the bike home from work. I throw it into the back of Kim’s uncles car on the way to work and then ride it home. It’s a 12 mile cycle but because of the waiting and the changes on the bus I managed to get home almost 30 minutes quicker than the bus so it is all win win — I don’t feel so guilty about a cold beer in the evening now!

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Ah, the first week at the new job down and I can finally relax a little bit. It is already early/mid afternoon here in sunny Mississauga and I have only been awake a matter of hours. After riding buses all week and getting up shortly after 6 a.m. it was time for a big lie-in. Boy did I need it. This has been a busy week and made fun thanks to two trips downtown to catch two Blue Jay baseball games. They won one, lost one and were officially eliminated with any chance of making the post-season. MORE »

So the first day of work is down but what a nightmare the travelling part is. It is always too early on the first day to really say what something is going to be like but I can without any hesitation tell you that the travel on them buses will be tough. They are cheap, on time and frequent but anything that takes an hour and fifteen minutes compared to a twenty minute drive is never fun, especially at the end of the day when you just want to get home. MORE »

My Day’s of lying in each morning, applying for job and generally passing time by enjoying the time off of work are OVER. Yes, yesterday I had an interview and yesterday I was hired for a new job. The job is quite similar in work that I did back home which I am pleased about and I start next week.  That gives me enough time to build my bike, which I still haven’t got round to doing, and taking it for a few spins. I’m surprised I got work so quickly after my arrival but I am sure not going to complain about it. So indeed, from next week I will be back in the rat race, fighting traffic to get to the office in time again. Actually I won’t quite be fighting traffic I will be fighting to make it to the three different busses I have to take to get to work each morning.

~ Richard Blayney

It’s not White yet, but give it a few months. The sun is shining it is blue skies and the temperature is hot. Thankfully my flight’s company ‘Globe Span’ didn’t go out of business in the days leading into the flight and I was able to make it in one piece with a bunch of people who were meant to be on zoom flights in the last few days. Since I was flying one-way I decided for the first time in my life to upgrade myself to the Business class and leave in a bit of style. It also doubled my baggage allowance from 20kg to 40kg which I made the most of and then a heck of a lot more!  By the time packing was finished on Friday afternoon I had 3 cases and 1 bike bag. Still I didn’t mind paying the excess and when I got on the flight was also glad I upgraded to Business.

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So last night was my going away party and what an outstanding party it was. I must honestly say it was the best party I have ever been to and not just because it was mine!! I know a lot of invites went out but I really did not expect so many people to show up and when they did it was just great to see them all. If anyone does read this, thanks a lot for coming along, I hope you did enjoy it. As you probably realised a ton of photographs were taken by my Dad and by Clare. I have gotten Clare’s photos on a memory card and will try upload some of the many as soon as I get the chance. Dad said he will mail his photos onto me when he gets them sorted.

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