This past week

Tags

Charlottetown, Halifax, Haviland Club, Nova Scotia, Oriental carpets, Tereza Berganza

This week one of the great Opera singer died, Teresa Berganza
March 16, 1933 – May 13, 2022. She truly was a star of the Opera stage and lucky those who heard her perform. Will did many times. He wrote a blog entry on her passing. willyorwonthe.wordpress.com/2022/05/13/another-great-has-left-the-stage

Tomorrow morning I am going away to Halifax, 3 hours down the road off Island. I am collecting my 6 Oriental carpets from the cleaners of such rugs in Bedford a suburb of Halifax. I will return to PEI on Tuesday.

Last night at the Club, we had a mix-in Military Dinner with members of the PEI Regiment and the regimental bands, Members of the Royal Canadian Navy and Air Force. Everyone was wearing their Mess Kit. The food was wonderful the main course was a filet of Beef Wellington, one of my favourite dishes. The best part was because I have lost 11 lbs I was able to wear comfortably my Italian silk and wool dark blue suit. I bought that suit in Rome in 2010. I could not wear it because I had gained so much weight.

Here I am in the Great room of Farringford House with my fellow members in their mess kit of the PEI Regiment, the fellow next to me is a Colonel and the other fellow a Captain, both now retired from the Armed Forces.

I still need to loose 20 lbs. I was asked to make the Loyal Toast to Her Majesty at the dinner this being the Platinum Jubilee Year. I followed the formula of Windsor Castle, not the one President Obama got caught it by speaking the name of the Queen to soon which is always the cue for the band leader to give the signal to start playing the Royal Anthem. Once they start they cannot stop. So I was careful to word it properly and we had the Royal Anthem on cue.

Because the Lieutenant Governor was also present, the band played the Royal Salute upon her arrival with her ADC a Canadian Royal Navy Commodore. There is a lot of protocol in such dinners, the food was fantastic, the wines and the port was also very good. Throughout the evening the Band played including Canadian Regimental marches.

H.H. Antoinette Perry, Lieutenant Governor of PEI with members of the PEI Regimental Band and her ADC, Cdr John Macdonald, Commanding Officer of Naval Base Charlottetown on the right.

Today is Friday?

Tags

Charlottetown, life, Politics, scandal, weight, YouTube

*** I started to write this post on Friday and now it’s Monday 2 May.

The weeks go by so quickly, May is just around the corner and the weather is getting nicer by the day though still cold given we are an island in the Gulf and it will only get warm around 1 June. Tourists are few and the first cruise ship arrived this week however it only had 320 passengers. It would appear that cruising is not back and people are still shy about getting on those boats.

Major scandal in Charlottetown at City Hall, you see the problem with PEI it is very small and the everyone on the Island is related in some fashion and outsiders (non-Islanders) are kept out of Government jobs, so yes there is a small mafia running the show in every government department.

This time it’s the CAO or Chief Administrative Officer who was hired by the former Mayor 5 years ago, there was a cloud with that person stepping into what is an important job. Many problems have surfaced since and now the current Mayor and City Council are embarrassed and looking at ways of ditching the guy. The press as a field day with this story and an election is coming in 6 months. This guy is an albatross around the neck of Council and it will be difficult to get rid of him.

Other scandal involving the Premier Dennis King and his wife who got a huge grant for her business without going through regular channels. It made quite a raucous and so she returned the money. The Premier said he had no idea, of course.

On another note I have re-discovered the music of composer Johann Friedrich Fasch (1688-1758) born near Weimar and died in Zerbst, the home town of Catherine the Great of Russia, who was born in a noble Prussian family and married into the Romanov family. He held a very important musical position in Zerbst as Kappelmeister and would have known the father of Sophie von Anhalt-Zerbst, later to become Empress Catherine of Russia, as he would also have known her.

Fasch musical style is baroque and suits what is known as the age of Princes, elegant and beautiful. George Frideric Handel also a contemporary of Fasch wrote in the same style. As I am sure many other composers of that era.

On you Tube I noticed the number of site visiting so called abandoned mansions or homes. What I wonder is how many such places actually exist and why is it that in most cases it looks all very staged. One scenario is of a home that is fully furnished and it looks as if the residents just left a few moments ago. In some places you can see that the property are probably not occupied and water damage, vandalism has taken place. But I wonder what is the thrill of going through buildings which are closed to have a look inside, it is morbid in a way. It also gets you clicks on your site. Similar channels on cemeteries and mausoleums, abandoned burial places, old funeral homes etc.

On the other hand we have discovered a lot of great recipe sites and wonderful new cooking experiences. I have also started a diet with a nutritionists and have in the last 17 days lost about 9 lbs. which is encouraging, I hope to loose another 20 lbs. and mostly I do hope to keep it off. This way I can wear comfortably all those Italian clothes I have in my closet. I was at 87 kg and I am now at 82 kg. I am happy with the results – 11 lbs.

Is this 2015 all over again?

Tags

Charlottetown, cuisine, Food, PEI, snow, winter

Charlottetown in 2015 on the street.

In 2015 the Winter in PEI did not start before mid-January, there was no snow, nothing, very quiet weather wise and then all of a sudden every 4 to 7 days a major snowstorm and it lasted for 2 who months. There was so much snow that no one knew what to do with it and life became difficult for many. The City had no where to put it, people could not get out of their homes, some people lost their homes to house fires simply because the Fire Dept could not get to them, blocked by giant snow banks. Here is an archival picture of what it was like. People were in shock, yes we are Canadians but there is a limit to everything, the cold also was intense. We missed it all by arriving in May 2016.

Found his car, now how to get it out.

This is a 4 lane highway reduced to one lane in 2015, see how high is the snow compared to the huge plow.

Hopefully this year 2022 will not be a repeat but we have had 2 major snow storms in 7 days. The City has had little time to clean up after the first storm. We also have now Omicron and 2 people died last night in hospital, the first of this pandemic. People are scared and concerned.

Haviland Street at Euston today.

Needless to say, tonight the storm is over but the streets remain unplowed and the sidewalks well they disappeared under 4 feet of snow. It is very heavy snow, very compact and it is about -28C right now. So walking the dogs is short and sweet, they do not want to be outside.

This morning at 10am, the wind was still blowing at 70Km per hour. Our parking lot was cleaned but I still had to clean the car and get it moving, it was stuck with snow under the carriage and in the wheel base pushed there by the strong winds and it solidified. Can’t remember when this last happened to me, maybe before 1982?

Around 2pm the one plow had passed on Water street but that was it. No cars many still had not had their drive opened up. Next few days should see more efforts to clean up but it will take at least 4 days.

While this was happening Will was making meat pies aka Tourtière, small ones for 2 so we can have them for dinner. Tomorrow he is making his lasagna with béchamel sauce. He already made his meat sauce. For the pie crust he uses a little vodka, it makes it more flakey.

Tourtière.

We are not the Key West of Canada

Tags

Charlottetown, life, PEI, snow, Weather, winter

I always jokingly say that we are the Key West of Canada, balmy weather, great beaches and good seafood. Until 7 January 2022 that we true, not a speck of snow and Spring like weather. Then Mother Nature struck, the photos below illustrate what happened, I park outside my car was buried in snow, luckily the snow cleaning service came with 2 tractors and cleared it all for me. Our house door was frozen shut and we could not open it, we had to use the emergency back staircase to get out. That too has been cleaned, though the streets are a mess and the sidewalks disappeared, so you have to walk in the street for now. It will probably take 3 days to dig out of this Winter Wonderland.

Luckily for us we have no were to go and no reason to leave the house. Nora loves the snow because she eats it, Nicky does not care for it much and the wind scares him. Walking them is a problem, when you legs are 3 inches and there is 2 feet of snow.

Finally a major snow storm

Tags

Charlottetown, PEI, snow, storm, Wind, winter

Until 11 am on Friday 7 Jan. we did not have a speck of snow, we had been warned that a major storm was coming our way, 50CM of snow or 19 inches in 10 hours, with winds of 100 km per hour, enough to close the sea bridge over the strait and close all businesses. Schools are closed until 18 January. By 2pm all stores were closing and people were told to go home and not go out, too dangerous. The water surge and high waves is another problem around the Island, powerful winds and waves erode the coast and many with property on the water have to take heed and not go for a walk on the beach. This type of snow is heart attack inducing, very wet and heavy, so just leave it there. We have a fellow who comes with his big tractor to plow it all in 5 minutes.

The wind is howling it feels like a 747 is over the house constantly, the doors and windows are rattling. I did go to the grocery store this morning around 10:30 am to get our Storm Chips, which is a tradition on the Island. The major part of the storm will be over night and in the morning it should only be high winds. I suppose Winter is here now.

We cannot see out the windows because this snow is heavy with water and it freezes and sticks to glass, so we cannot see out. Hopefully we will not lose power, living in the core of the Capital surrounded by Government buildings helps, though the Electrical Company is very good with fast repairs. We have not seen any snow plows, visibility is zero right now on the streets but I suspect they may appear around 4AM to start opening the streets. The sidewalks will likely be cleaned later in the day.

This time the snow is here to stay, for the rest of the week looks like the temperature will be around -10C to -20C. Oh well I have no where to go.

Live picture about 04:30PM this afternoon in Charlottetown.

Reading

Tags

Charlottetown, Military, Officers Club, PEI

Well I have been reading the website of the Club and prior to 1997 there was another Club in existence, a military one. One of the President of that defunct Club wrote the story of the Club when the military was in charge. It made for interesting reading and it covers the years 1932 to 1997. It shows how mentalities have changed and how we see the role of gender back then and today.

It also shows that there is a bit or a lot of whitewashing of what was going on at the Club. PEI had prohibition like all other Provinces in Canada. However in PEI prohibition last far longer than anywhere else for reasons typical of a small island and its deep protestant roots. Our liquor laws are still archaic but that is changing slowly.

The author explains that the Club being a Military outfit had a special permission from the PEI Government to buy alcohol at Government dispensary. Members could also buy liquor if their doctor signed a paper saying they needed a drink. Being the military they have their own doctors, so everyone had a medical dispensation saying, Johnny needs his bottle of gin or scotch or whatever. Then members were also smuggling liquor bought in various illegal distilleries on the Island, gin at 50% proof, Moonshine, liquors of all sorts. The police knew about this and looked the other way. The reason for this lack of enforcement was that these were soldiers, family members, related in some fashion to various segments of society. Population was only 100K so it is understandable that the local Police preferred to not get involved as long as no one got hurt. However the Federal Police, the RCMP is composed of officers from all over Canada with no link to PEI. They did raid the Club once and the solution of the Club Executive was to build secret hideaway and lockers in the basement, so if there was a raid the liquor could not be found.

Liquor in PEI plays a very big role like drugs in the life of the Island. We have a population of approx 155000 today, old ways die hard.

The Club was also male only, in 1953 women were allowed to come on special days and with a male escort who would have to be a member and the events were billed as Tea parties and the ladies were entertained by members. There was also illegal gambling going on and again the police looked the other way. Many of the doctors who were members of the Club worked at the hospital, then located across the street from the Club. They would come in the afternoon for a few drinks and then go back to work. The nurses residence was also then located across the street from the Club and the male members would bring them in for a drink and some “entertainment”, wink, wink!

The old Military Club disappeared in 1997, changes in society and attitudes, changes also in the military in Canada made it more difficult to recruit new members. They went bankrupt. The hospital is gone it moved to a brand new location at the other side of town, the nurses residence is also gone. The neighbourhood was gentrified and now it is a quiet section of town. The Club building today is a civilian social club and the members are a mix of 50-50 women and men. Though I have heard stories about how bad the reputation of the old military club was, all confirmed by this history written by this long dead old gentleman who was once a president of the Officers club.

Fall Weather upon us

Tags

Charlottetown, life, PEI, Port

Up until today the weather was quite pleasant but today Sunday it has turned grey and rainy and slowly becoming colder.

We had a great Premium Scotch tasting at the Club, we tasted Glenfarcas 15yrs, Dewars 21yrs, Glenlivet French Oak reserve 15 yrs, and my least favourite Bowmore 12 yrs old.

Today I had to go grocery shopping, the stores in PEI on Sunday open after 12 Noon by Law. I rarely go to the stores on Sunday, I was very surprised to see so many people and little to no staff to help out. It was like Xmas shopping, just weird. All stores are advertising jobs and are looking for staff for every position. It is a problem but given the very small salary offered and no benefits, no one wants those jobs. PEI is known for low salaries and poor working conditions, nothing to be proud of. Coupled with a difficult housing situation and very high rents in the $2000 dollar range +, no parking if you work downtown. No wonder we have this situation, employers are looking at Government to solve the problem, in other words mission impossible.

It has been announced that as of May 2022, some 75 cruise ships will be coming to Charlottetown. Given the lack of staff in restaurants and bars, I wonder how this is going to work out.

Some of our friends are booking travel to Europe for the coming months, we are still not ready. I am trying to schedule a trip to Halifax some 3 hours away hopefully before December, but still hesitant. I would probably go by the Ferry at Souris, the crossing takes about 30 minutes. Halifax is a city of half a million people, it has a lot of good restaurants and bars. Good shopping and good sights, a beautiful Art Gallery, with interesting artists.

Met with friends this morning for coffee and cake in a friends home, had a very nice time. The rest of the day was quiet. Tomorrow I am taking Nicky to the vet to have him look at his eyes and the cataracts, I know they cannot do much about it but I just want to know more about the progression of this disease in his eyes, it is in part old age. He does not seem bothered by it, but animals are good at hiding ailments.

This morning I went to the Port Authority building for a tour of what is left of what was once a big industrial port. There has been a port in Charlottetown since 1750. From a simply wharf to a ship building site to a train terminus for loading harvests of potatoes to today which serves both the cruise ships and the petroleum product ships and other lakers bringing aggregate to our sandbar island.

The area of the Port nowadays is completely surrounded by a residential neighbourhood, the only part left is a loading area for trucks to take on loads of aggregate. The petroleum ships from IRVING have their own pipeline on the dock and it is pump directly into the line. The Port receives 90% of all oil used on the island. We use to have multiple tank farms on the shoreline until 1980 when it all disappeared, only one is left.

The goal of the visit was to speak about the loading and unloading of trucks in the area after 11pm. The major problem has been that governments have been slow in investing or they have invested small amounts which does not help infrastructure in the long run. Some other ports like Georgetown and Summerside are now receiving more shipment of aggregate and Port Charlottetown as a not for profit corporation is seeing its revenue diminish.

My Member of the Legislature came along for the briefing. She is in the Opposition at the moment, but her focus is on the environment as a member of the Green Party.

We also walk on the new dock for cruise ships, an area not open to the public, it was cold this morning, given that the dock is about 100 feet from shore, the view however was very nice.

1960 Port with Thank Farms in the downtown core. Now all parkland

The Port around 2000 when it was still under the Federal Government control.

Around 2016, the area is completely transformed for tourism.

More Fall activities

Tags

Charlottetown, Fall, latte, PEI, pumpkin

It seems that life is slowly returning to normal, with the VAXPASS that you have to show to enter any public place, people feel more secure and the last dregs of those who had not are now getting vaccinated. The government in PEI and in other provinces have clamped down on all government workers and health workers not vaccinated yet. Those who refuse will loose their jobs and will not be able to claim benefits.

On other fronts, I have re-started working at Government House for the Lieutenant Governor, it has been 6 years now and Her Honour always has lots to talk to me about. She is getting more visitors and the restrictions have been lifted. Again PEI is very different from the rest of Canada when it comes to Covid 19. None of the mismanagement we have seen elsewhere. Alberta is still a basket case, just plain horrible and Northern British Columbia is not much better, high rates of mortality and infections.

This weekend is Marathon weekend in PEI. The weather is still nice, today was suppose to be rainy, we got sunshine instead. Love living on an Island the winds change the weather constantly. No I am not running, are you kidding? One does not run.

Also the medical society has published the following about Pumpkin Spice. So if you are a doctor please beg your patients to drop it.

Voting, Golf and BBQ

Tags

BBQ, Canada, Charlottetown, elections, Glen Afton Golf, Golf, PEI

On Saturday I went to vote in anticipation. In Canada you can do that a week before the actual date, which is 20 September 2021. Voting in Canada either at the Federal level, Provincial or Municipal is a fairly easy affair. I am registered to vote by completing on the Elections Canada site the info they need to send me a card. The info is simple, your home address, your full name. Elections Canada is an independent body and is not in any way controlled or subject to politicians or political parties. Anyone working at Elections Canada is and must be fully neutral of political views. Same for all the volunteers at polling stations, in some cases you cannot even wear colours which might suggest support for a party, like red or blue or orange.

The advance polling is open from 9am to 9pm and is in one central location. Whereas on election day polling stations are located in neighbourhoods, in our case one block away from home. So I went to vote and the atmosphere is a happy one, helpful staff and a very simple process. I also have to bring with my voter card a piece of ID with my photo and home address, issued by the Provincial Government or the Federal Government. It is checked by the fellow at the door who then quickly directs you to the next person who registers you, then you are sent to the actual voting area, the fellow there has a big paper list, checked my name and crossed it, gave me a paper bulletin to register my vote with a pencil. I voted then return the folded bulletin and put it into the Urn. It took all of about 3 minutes. I really like the paper and pencil way to vote, simple and efficient.

So I am done now for this Federal Election, you can only vote for the candidate who will be, if elected, your member of Parliament. NO we do not vote for the Prime Minister, no matter what people say, you can only vote for your MP where you live. So this means we have 338 candidates to elect to form the House of Commons. The Prime Minister will be one of them. Currently Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is an MP in the riding of Papineau in Montreal.

An interesting fact in our Canadian System, Justin Trudeau continues to be Prime Minister until he resigns. So on election night if the Liberal party is not re-elected with enough seats to form a government, Trudeau will still have to decide to resign or not. If he thinks that he could by doing the math, form a coalition with another party and have enough seats to govern, then he will advise the Governor General accordingly and a vote will be held in the House of Commons to see if he has the confidence of the House. As long as a Government has the confidence of the House, he can continue to rule. An example of this, in 2006 the then Prime Minister Paul Martin, lost the election to Stephen Harper. However for several hours until the next day, Martin did the math and looked around if any other party would help in supporting his party. He needed 51 seats. He quickly realized that no other party would support him and he resigned. Harper was called by the Governor General to form a government.

GOLF AND BBQ

Yesterday was our Club’s Annual Golf Tournament at Glen Afton on the cliff at Rocky Point, which has spectacular views of the Strait of Northumberland. Great sunny day with a bit of wind, nice and around 22C perfect for the game. I was at the Club and set up the BBQ on our deck its a 6 burner and from 2pm to 5pm grilled 65, 10 oz steaks. You really have to watch the meat and I had a thermometer with me to check so I was able to give people what they wanted from rare to medium to well done. Got an ovation from the crowd for my work and many compliments. It was great fun being on the deck and talking to everyone.

We had trophies for the best ball and best team, everyone got a small gift for participating, the President thought this was the most successful tournament in years.

Haviland Club in old Charlottetown.

Oscar Wilde & Charlottetown

Tags

Canada, Charlottetown, Oscar Wilde, PEI

On October 11, 1882, Oscar Wilde who was then 28 years old came to Charlottetown and spoke in the Old Market Hall, which is now occupied by the Confederation Centre for the Arts. He was on a speaking tour of North America. The local press was present and on the look out, after all Oscar Wilde had a reputation and the press where waiting for him. He also spoke in Halifax and in St-John where he had to return by popular demand to deliver another lecture on Decorative Arts. Both the Daily Examiner and the Patriot sent reporters, both papers disappeared some years ago.

In Charlottetown, the local press showed clearly a strong prejudice against him in the article about his talk. The reporter wrote only about how effeminate he was, he manner and speech were unmanly, he dressed poorly if compared to a British gentleman, the press faulted him for not wearing evening dress. His hair was long though in a sleight to French Canadians, the reporter noted that some men in Quebec wore their hair longer. According to the reporter Wilde could pass for a mannish woman. Not one word about his lecture or the topic. In other words Wilde was dismissed as of no importance and what was all the fuss about this fellow.

Wilde was described as the Apostle of the Beautiful, you can imagine that on a poor agricultural island in the midst of a grave economic crisis with the steep decline of the wood ship building industry, he did not impress the locals. The audience was described as splendid and maybe too enthusiastic given that a similar welcome is never given to local Islanders. This prejudice against anyone not from PEI is still very much in evidence today.

The Charlottetown Central Market Hall 1823-1958 destroyed by fire.