Two shows

Tags

car, Halifax, PEI, Spring, tourism, Travel, tune-up

Being members of the Haviland Club and doing the newsletter and involved with memberships means that every week I have a lot to do, all on a volunteer basis. Will being the musical one, his involved with the theatre play reading group and with entertainment.

On Friday 1 and 2 April, we had 2 shows dinner/theatre style. It was a great success and lots of fun. All the shows are done by volunteers, many are Club Members, so it is a lot of work and fun.

The Friday show was located in a real small Italian village of Poggi Bonzi, in central Tuscany.

The second show was about Gypsies or Travellers as they are called now.

It really is Spring now, the weather is mild and rainy. On April 22 in about 3 weeks the first Cruise ship in two years is scheduled to arrive, restaurants are frantically looking for staff and the use of frantically is not an exaggeration. The owners still don’t get it, low pay means no staff after these 2 years of shut down. This also applies to kitchen staff and cooks. It is a really serious issue, but greed has made a lot of owners blind and obtuse in facing this problem. Our politicians do not help either, too many back door deals with business groups at the expense of employees, this is the Island way as they say here.

We also have now a serious problem with Covid infections in PEI, the highest rate in Canada per Capita. The Government gave in to business groups who were crying poverty while riding around in the Mercedes Benz S class. So the policy now is do nothing and let it ride. Not too happy about that but you know money talks.

I really need to go to Halifax at some point, probably next week for 2 days to get some oriental carpet cleaned. It’s an easy drive and it will be nice to leave the Island for the first time in almost 3 years.

Halifax, 500,000 population, originally the city as a military garrison city and sea port was heavily fortified, the citadel is a sight to see. When Halifax was founded in 1749, the majority of residents were from England, Ireland and Scotland. Soon after they were joined by immigrants from Germany and New England. Black people, some from Africa, others escaping enslavement in the United States, settled in or near Halifax beginning in the 18th century.

Today Monday off to the garage for a Spring Tune up and change of tires. I also need my annual inspection for my car licence, it is a bit silly to do this each year but this is the way in PEI. Of course this morning it is snowing lightly, it is called a Spring Snow, how poetic.

Licence and permit

Tags

car, licence, tax, the Queen, Trudeau, Ukraine, Windsor, YouTube

In PEI each year if you own a car you have to renew your Licence plate sticker and have your car inspected for safety another sticker. It happens on your birthday so it is up to you to remember to renew, no one is going to call you about it.

The Licence plate sticker is $100. it is done online and takes about 1 minute to do. The safety inspection is done by appointment to your dealership or any accredited garage and cost $45. However often the inspection has a surprise to it. The garage or dealership may say suddenly, you need new brakes or you need 4 new tires or you need this and that fixed. There is no way out of this one, if you say no, you do not get your sticker showing you pass the safety inspection and your car insurance is cancelled. No appeal. So you do what you are told. I do not like the system in PEI because it is really useless, every year? Could it not be every 3 years. True you do not see old cars or jalopy cars on the road, but we do get the no muffler models cars, trucks and motorcycles which baffles me because it is illegal.

Have you seen on YouTube the numerous videos about abandoned mansions or palaces in Europe or abandoned cemeteries in the USA. I wonder if those places are truly abandoned or just closed up by owners over a period of years and people just break in and tell you it’s abandoned. The same for cemeteries which have big mausoleums where dozens of people are encased in wall niches, the stench alone would be enough to make me run away. One video was of a famous American family of the 19th century, very wealthy and they are all entombed in this mountain side mausoleum outside New York City. The family had to have the doors bolted shut and added steel bars to prevent anyone from entering. It is ghoulish and you have to wonder why anyone would want to film around such a place. Can’t people just rest in peace.

As for the mansions and chateaux here and there, some are in a state of advance ruin, others simply appear shut down for a few months. I did see in one video the keeper of the place come after the intruders with big guard dogs. If it says Keep Out, that is what it means. The people filming always say: would you not want to restore this place and live here? Really, do they have any idea what it would cost to renovate such places nowadays. Just the cost of maintaining large homes or chateaux is beyond most people’s budget. To do what with it, impress your friends?

It seems that on YouTube there are people making a career of developing a hobby of filming just about anything they believe could be of interest to a larger group. I would not call them influencers.

This week Prime Minister Trudeau is in Europe as is the Minister of Defense Anita Anand and the Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly. All 3 are on different missions but all of it is about Ukraine and NATO.

Here is the photo of the audience Prime Minister Trudeau at Windsor Castle meeting with Her Majesty this week. She has known him since he was 5 years old when his father Pierre Trudeau took him on his Official trips around the world. The Queen quite likes Justin and gave him a 45 minute audience. Most people get only 20 minutes.

Cooking

Tags

car, cooking, cuisine, Food, Kcar, mechanics, Mexico CIty

There are always dishes I don’t really like to cook, simply because I am not comfortable doing them. One is turkey, I always found that a difficult thing, I think it has more to do with the mythology around turkeys and cooking them. The other is Prime Rib Roast Beef, this is a piece of meat I would not want to make a mistake by over cooking it. I like my roast beef rare or at most medium rare. I also am not comfortable making dough for pies or for any other dish. Basically though I can cook and prepare meals and time them properly so everything is ready at the same time. I am comfortable pairing meals and wines correctly. I know how to prepare pre-dinner drinks and learned that the only 3 drinks acceptable prior to a meal, if you follow the old classic approach, a glass of sherry, Bacardi and soda or Cinzano (red vermouth) on the rocks.

I remember in 1986 Christmas in Mexico City, I had arrived on posting in July of that year. I made enquiries from colleagues about where to go to buy a turkey. Thing was in those days, few people in Mexico ate the birds, though they are indigenous to the country I was told. So one of the embassy garage mechanics said that the local butcher probably could get one for me. So I placed an order and the bird, was a wild turkey, dark plumes and all that. It was brought to the Chancery by someone, I got a call to come downstairs for a delivery, on the sidewalk in a plain cardboard box was the bird, plucked and ready to cook. Since I lived just one bloc away behind the Embassy I took it home right away to put in the fridge. Will came from Ottawa for Christmas and he cooked it. Remember Mexico City is at an Altitude of 5000 feet above sea level and nothing cooks the same as if you would be at sea level, but that is a story for another time.

As for roast beef well though we have it now at home, in a previous life it was something I usually had in dining rooms of hotels, a great show of carving etc, with lots of silver trays.

But if I may digress for one moment, when I was serving in Mexico, we could not bring our cars from Canada. There was some kind of strange rule the Mexican government had instituted on importing cars, it only applied to diplomats. This was the period of the K cars by Chrysler. So we all had K cars, awful and simplistic cars. I did not want to buy one and so when I needed a car I would borrow from a colleague. One such night I went out with my colleague’s car and stopped for a few minutes at another colleague’s house for a drink and then we all went out for dinner in Los Insurgentes area of the D.F. I had to park the car and at the entrance of the parking lot the attendant pointed out to me with alarm that the whole front portion of the car was missing, the grill, the mountings around the lights and the bumper. I had been a victim of one of the many auto part rackets in the city. I was mortified given that this was not my car. The next day at the Embassy I went straight to speak with our car dispatcher and the fellows in the garage what could they do to help me. Not to worry Senor leave it with us, a few hours later the car was returned all was in order and it cost me $50 USD. I had no idea how the guys did it. I later learned that they knew who had done this and went to see them and got the parts back. I was relieved and could return the car to my colleague, I told him what had happened and we laughed about it. In any Embassy the local staff can be very helpful.

To return to my cooking story, I saw my mother cook a lot and in those days it was from scratch, no process food and no frozen whatever. Later in life we always had someone prepare meals when I lived abroad or went out to dinners etc. So I became very dependent on help at home who would do pretty much everything around the house and garden.

We have a friend who makes wonderful cakes and great pastry, he has the eye for it and every year for the last 44 years has given us one of his wonderful fruit cakes. Now Will makes bread and all manner of pastries and cakes. I am still not comfortable with pastry dough making.

Today my dear friend Dr Burrito was asking about turkey cooking, I suggested the method of Sous vide which means that the bird is cooking in the oven in a bag, it makes the most excellent turkey and so juicy, fool proof.

A busy week

Tags

car, Dashchund, dealership, life, Stollen, winter, XMAS

Again I am suppose to be retired and have nothing to do. Well not so.

This week was Nora’s appointment for her teeth cleaning at the Vet. We have a very good Vet Dr Condon who is also with the Veterinary school of University of PEI. He is considered the best when it comes to dentistry. Nora who is 12 years old and weighs 13.5 lbs needed her teeth cleaned, in the process 5 small teeth had to be extracted. Poor dear, it had to be done and she will feel much better says the Vet.

Today was Winter tire change, so off I went to the garage for the switch and while there had a general check, I was told that the brake system had to be cleaned and was shown how dirty they were, some kind of gunk had built up and I had noticed they were not responding as well. This is the time to get this done before Winter storms strike. I was one of two clients at the dealership. It all went pretty quickly and was out of there in 2 hours. I also discovered that the dealership now belongs to a big corporation which owns all car dealerships in Atlantic Canada, that is used cars and new cars. Not crazy about that idea, we had a similar system in Ottawa where one family owned most dealerships and the service was terrible including a constant rotation of staff.

We are approaching mid-November and the weather is still mild and well above the seasonal normal temperature by about 9 degrees. This is climate change in action, though I do not mind not having the frigid weather.

We are trying out a new cleaning lady and hoping it works out. She came last week and she is coming again tomorrow. I hope to be pleasantly surprised.

Well we are now as of this writing some 50 days from Xmas and 55 days from the end of 2020. We are already planning small parties and thinking of what to ask for presents. Time to think of cards to be sent and what to serve for Christmas day lunch, perhaps Roast Beef this year. The Plum pudding is soaking in brandy and we have also our home made fruit cake which is always so good. I am also getting a German Stollen, a Dresden recipe made by a friend from Dresden using his mother’s recipe.

New car

Tags

car, Charlottetown, Hyundai, PEI

I decided last week, after receiving the umpteenth letter from the dealership that I would go in to look at a possible new car. The current one an Elantra GL 2012 is still very clean with no mileage or Km on it, under 30,000Km which makes the car dealers salivate.

So I went in to see what they had, first it is the end of the month and for any car salesperson this is the time when they have to report how many units they sold in the month and counts on their appraisal as a good or bad sales person. I also wanted a good price for my car as a trade in, no nonsense.

Elantra GL 2012

Buying a car, any car is a con game and I have yet to meet one person who enjoys the exercise. Despite the advertised prices and the promises made, once in the show room you will know that what ever you were told is just flash and no substance. You will have the sales person who takes you on a spin in the model you might want to buy, then the finance guy who will explain how much it will cost. If you have a trade in  well the used car manager is involved and he will offer a price for your car, always much lower than what you expect. Then the Manager comes in to say hello with all the sincerity of a serial killer. Everyone pretends that they are looking out for your best interest but it is so insincere and false it is laughable. I have to say I do not envy these poor fellows, pawns in a game tailored to make the dealership owner rich and the car manufacturer a hefty profit.

It’s a cutthroat business literally, so I came prepared, pencil, calculator and paper to note everything said. I was careful to keep a poker face expression and saying as little as possible. No I am not excited about buying a car, as I told the Manager for me it is the same as buying a dishwasher, a totally utilitarian transaction. I laid down the things I wanted and pointed out I don’t get them, then no deal, I walk. They were careful also not to give too much of their game. So I pushed them to make me an offer I could consider. First offer they made I rejected out of hand, telling the car sales guy that his colleague was losing him the sale with his poor attitude. Second offer was a little better but still not what I wanted completely. So I told them that I was busy and had to go, maybe they could better it some more. Once at home I wrote them an email with my final position. Within 10 minutes I got a reply telling me that all was ok. So I told them that I would return after the weekend. On Monday, all was resolved, I got what I wanted, signed the paper work and I will get the new car tomorrow.

What I bought, Elantra GL 2017. The colour is Blue Star gazing, I call it Plum colour.  I see a similarity with the BMW 5 series in the body design.

Bach Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor (Arr. for Piano by E.D’Albert)

Tags

Bach, Bronzino, car, Kandinsky, Louise Bourgeois, MBAC, NGC, Ottawa, piano, Salviati, Spider

I had a good day today, the three classes I thought on paintings from the National Gallery of Canada went very well. The Kids and teachers were interested and asked good questions. I spoke on the Italian Renaissance painters Salviati and Bronzino, two of my favourite Renaissance painter. Then jumped to the Impressionists with Monet and Gauguin and then to Kandinsky where I introduce the concept of how science and astronomy, geometry etc can play a role in the composition of paintings. I tried Magritte but it is very difficult for an audience of 8 to 12 year old, too many challenges to established social class concept which dictates that Art must be safe. I only have 55 minutes and I need to keep it moving. I also told them the story of Maman by Canadian Artist Louise Bourgeois, the giant spider is just outside the National Gallery and the kids always like to hear about it, they all know it.

Maman is a tribute to the mother of Louise Bourgeois who was a weaver by trade and the eight eggs she carries are the brothers and sisters of Bourgeois. The idea that this spider can be associated to her mother and her work is a challenge for those kids who come from middle-class background, it also challenges and may contradict what their parents told them about Art. Never a bad thing to contradict Mom and Dad, after all they are just 10-11 years old and in just a few years they will enter those rebellious years.

I had Angela Hewitt playing this piano piece by J.S.Bach on my way back to the reception for Volunteers Week at the National Gallery of Canada. This piece is usually done on organ but I find it so much more relaxing on piano and it does not take away any of the beauty of the composition. I do listen almost exclusively to classical music and I am often out of the loop on popular music. Have a listen it is quite nice.

I also found this recording with Maestro Leopold Stokowski one of the great conductors of the XXth Century. His arrangements are always dramatic and fulsome.