Vote early and vote often

The cold spell is allegedly coming to an end, which means that we can either look forward to more snow or a return to the scandi-gloom weather we were having before. I stole that “scandi-gloom” off someone here on blipfoto (sorry, can’t remember who), but it is so appropriate that I am using it). It was still -16 this morning, so that usually is warm enough for the plum of my loins to walk into school, but he looked so crestfallen at being made to have a shower that I drove him in anyway.
 
Couple of pieces of information to share. First, the dome at Louis-Riel, where Ottawacker Jr. trains at the weekend, collapsed during the week. There was a strong build-up of snow which caused something to give way, and as it is pretty much obsolete anyway, it offered little resistance. When I say “collapsed”, I am not sure whether it all sort of imploded à la Hindenburg or went a little limp à la Trump’s willy. Sorry, did I just write that? Appalling behaviour. What will people think? Anyway, no injuries, but also no training. It will probably mean, and quite rightly so, new inspection codes, as the idea of there being a collapse in the middle of a busy weekend schedule is quite scary.
 
Second, there is a provincial election on February 27. That chancer Doug Ford has called it to get a mandate to take on Trump’s tariffs. He has absolutely minimal power when taking on Trump, but was slipping in the polls and saw an opportunity. He is like a bloated sugar puff in trousers, a Tellytubby (definitely “Po”) with a collar and tie. Anyway, today is the 21st and we have had no information about where we vote; no polling cards; no candidates list. Ford can place the blame on postal inefficiencies (we are still not back to normal), but the real issue is his calling an election with no time to prepare. Honestly, at the provincial level, it is like living in Belarus.
 
Third, there was the much-awaited USA-Canada hockey game last night, as part of the Four Nations Tournament. This was the final, and it was in Boston, part of Maine, which is part of Canada’s 11th province. Trump went full wanker and put out a tweet goading the Canadians, mentioning the 51st state bullshit and “Governor Trudeau”. I am glad to say that (a) the Americans got their arses handed to them on a plate via an overtime goal and, (b) Chantal Kreviazuk, the superb Canadian singer who had been selected to sing the Canadian anthem, changed some of the lyrics to “O Canada” as a direct comment on the Orange Turd’s barbs. This is typical for Trump though. He gets most things wrong. The problem is that he is taking a lot of people down with him. His firing of the entire nuclear energy watchdog crisis team had to be reversed because nobody else knew how to run the power stations. The reversal is not the issue, rather the fact that he acts without thinking and, in any case, hasn’t got the brains to think in the first place.
 
Anyway, enough of that. The day was quite productive. I did some more writing – I am making a slow start on purpose – and knocked off a few of the items on my own personal “to do” list. Managed even to have a long-put-off WhatsApp chat with my friend Mark Larrad in England. I do miss the proximity of friends like him. Mrs. Ottawacker was out at work – actually in the office – so I had the house to myself. I was able to conduct a few social experiments, and can report that squirrels really, really like pistachios. They were just dried, not salted, but they definitely prefer them to peanuts. This is the sort of cutting-edge insight you come here for, isn’t it? And, in addition, I also found out where we can go to vote in advance of the election, even though that chancer Doug Ford hasn’t sent out the registration cards yet… So, once Mrs. Ottawacker is back from work, we are heading down to South Keys to wave pieces of identity in the air and demand our right to vote either NDP or Liberal. Or Green.
 
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Back from work she came, so down we went and managed to vote without any problem. In fact, we were two of only a handful of people there. It’s quite maddening. I sat next to an older guy as we waited, and he reminded me of what Maurice Duplessis had said about voting: “vote early, and vote often”. I told him this was the fifth electoral station we’d been to that afternoon – and he looked at me with what was either respect or fear: it was hard to tell which.
 
Off via the LCBO, where an order for Ricard had come in. As I’m on the wagon at the moment (day 9, but who is counting?) it was stored in the laughably named wine cellar until I am in need of some sort of medication.
 
In the evening, we had our weekly movie night, watching The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I saw it when it came out and wasn’t impressed. This time, however, I loved it. Cate Blanchette is definitely one of the world’s greatest actors. Brad Pitt was good too – but, Blanchette… and Tilda Swinton too… amazing.