The Queen and The Monarchy

First, I was greatly saddened eleven days ago when I heard her majesty Queen Elizabeth II had died.  I had a fondness for her and saw her as a symbol of my great homeland.  

I saw her in person just once when I was a boy in England.  I recall the public event at Coventry’s railway station but don’t remember what she looked like on that day.  My mother recalls she wore a green outfit and her complexion and smile were beautiful.

Clearly, Britain has an ancient history filled with horrid times - but it is also my home and I am proud to call myself an Englishman. A lot of that history was tied to past kings and queens, but I believe our Queen was different, modern and kind.  I truly believe that she embraced her role and did serve our nation with exceptional fortitude.  I thank her for all she has done for Britain in her 70 years reign as Queen.  

There is no doubt that the pomp and ceremony is rare in today’s common world.  But I like it.  It connects me to history.   

And for now, as it has been for my entire life, I am a royalist. I respect the monarchy, King Charles III and will gladly sing God Save the King when the England football take the field in Qatar and when other less important national moments occur.  I have been impressed by what I’ve heard from the King in recent days - a stately grace with which he immediately steps into his new role, but with a modern, perhaps more relaxed nature - I guess he’s had a lot of time to prepare himself for this time.  I feel he’ll be a good King and appears that he is already being warmly accepted, and maybe over time, even loved by Britons and the royalist public of the Commonwealth.

Only one of my work colleagues initially mentioned the Queen’s death and offered his condolences.  He admits he wasn’t certain of my standing, but he took a chance and I thanked him for his words and recognizing the magnitude of the Queen’s death.  For similar reasons I have not brought up the Queen’s death in my work meetings.   I did not want to hear any negative comments or possibly, cruel jokes at this sad time.  A few days after her death a second colleague offered his kind condolences and another person in the meeting with a little less ceremony suggested that her long life should be celebrated - I have to agree.

Although I have very faint memories of my grandmother, the feeling I have for the late Queen is almost like losing a dear grandmother.  Her monarchy could be seen as the imagined matriarchy of our family.  England represents family to me and I will miss The Queen.  

Today, on the day of her funeral, I signed the book of condolence at Toronto’s City Hall.  I wrote - You will be missed dearly by the people of Britain, Canada and The Commonwealth. On behalf of my English family, thank you, you are what makes England beautiful.  

Memories of the Queen Mother Cafe

I don’t recall the first time I ever walked through the doors of this unique Queen Street West Cafe and I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve returned, but the Queen Mother Cafe (208 Queen Street West) is one of my favourite local Toronto landmarks.  So many memories of enjoying a cozy lunch, raving about their Pad Thai, asking if they had that special pie, rendezvousing with friends and remarking on the interesting selection of wall art.  It’s the kind of place where we Torontonians like to talk about how great our city is.  It’s often times a stop when shopping on Queen Street and it used to be a regular lunch spot for my wife and I when I was working downtown.  

My wife just read a great article in the Toronto Star about their history and surviving through this year’s pandemic times.  A wonderful coincidence we found out through the article is that the restaurant opened 42 years ago today, which was the day after I arrived in Canada from England. 

I’ve always loved the way the cafe is situated on the street with the large welcoming windows.  I actually used it as my cover photo for my photography book Urban Colour and Contrast: Toronto.

The last time I was there was with my Australian cousin and her husband on a bitterly cold January lunchtime in 2019.  I think I’ve taken a few visitors and family members there over the years and as it turned out, my cousin said I’d taken her there during one of her previous visits years before.  No worries, we all enjoyed our lunch - again.

I recall that the cafe was always busy and we often worried we wouldn’t find a table.  I’m not certain of the magic, but we always did get a table and was always served by its friendly staff.

Hoping to visit again when we get past these pandemic times.

What is Toronto to Me

I am a Torontonian.

I just picked up the September issue of Toronto Life (thx SRS) and flipped through the first few pages - does this mag and this city fit for me?

I am older now, but I’ve enjoyed a lot of what the city has offered up over the years from days clubbing at Nuts & Bolts and the after hours at the Big Slice, wakin’ up after noon and being a regular at The East Side Cafe, meeting life-long wait staff at the original Amsterdams on John Street, taking over Silver Crown from the pizza lovin’ business folk, watching many obscure foreign movies at the Carlton cinemas, embracing the roar of IndyCar, fighter jets over the CNE and staying up for the wee hours of Nuit Blanche.  And yes I call it the SkyDome and I was there opening season for the Raptors.  I was one of 450,000 people rocking it for the massive SARSfest concert and went WTF when Noel Gallagher got tackled on the V festival stage.  

When did the High Park cherry blossoms become a thing?  Did the Distillery and Liberty Village become destinations the same year?  When did Sam’s close and the sign get taken down (it’s up again right)?  When did Sherbourne get bike lanes and is that King Street thing still a thing?

And my neighbourhoods, those corners and intersections I called home for a few years - downtown when the high rise condos stood out, the Beach when the track was kind of still there, Bloor West but in between the dodgy part and the good part, midtown when restaurants changed every few months and the parking problems around Casa Loma.

Intermission: my wife and I got busy raising a little boy and girl as young Torontonians.  

And social circles expanded when we found out about a new sport called ultimate.  We were members of TUC when it was 24 teams and played at the same 3 fields all the time - now it has games 5 nights a week (in non-pandemic times) with a healthy membership of 3,500 players.

But in recent years I’ve been south of Bloor far less often.  I’m lucky to live uptown and my view of Toronto today is quite different.  I love walking my dog in our beautiful treed neighbourhood and window shopping on Yonge Street.  It’s a comfort to know a good pub and a great restaurant are a short walk away and when we’re closer to normal, I’ll be back on the subway to head to a concert on The Danforth, reminisce at an old favourite restaurant or explore new flavours in the urban landscape.  

Have Torontonians changed or have we just got older?  There’s no doubt the diversity has increased - I don’t ever recall hearing Spanish on the streets in the 80’s.  I love it, this town, this big smoke, hogtown, TO.  I’m not ready to unsubscribe to Toronto Life just yet.

The Aeronauts

My daughter and I started watching this historical drama a while ago and found its beginning quite odd.  For whatever reason we didn’t continue to watch it on that day.  

Forward wind a few months perhaps and I resume the film.  

The movie approximates real life events of early hot air balloon expeditions but the film had a lot of fun with many dangerous adventure action scenes.  The film took many artistic liberties, but it didn’t take away from an interesting time of exploration and science discovery.  

I found the action scenes rather stressful and wasn’t certain of the future of the protagonists.  The chemistry between Jones and Redmayne worked nicely and the stunt work demonstrated the perils of high altitude balloon flight very effectively.  

I really enjoyed the mix of history, science, aeronautics, adventure and heroic pursuits.  Throughly entertaining for an inquisitive, adventurous type.  

Watched a few YouTube bits afterwards - Redmayne’s interview on Colbert was delectable and provided some juicy insight into the making of the movie.  

7/10

I was planning on using a beautiful still from the movie in this post, but I couldn't find a image that appears clear from copyright.  Instead I chose an image from The Smithsonian.

Ford v Ferrari

First off, yes, I'm a fan of motor racing (but not auto racing - that sounds too American).

My father is a big fan and many friends and members of my family share the love of the sport, albeit for perhaps different reasons.  For me, I love witnessing the pinnacle of engineering, seeing highly talented drivers pushing the limits of a machine to the breaking point, buying into the drama and controversy year after year and all of that wrapped up into a beautiful adrenaline rush.  I do enjoy go-kart racing on occasion, but that's as far as I've gone past the point of driving a family car over the speed limit.  So when a big movie like Ford v Ferrari comes out with top-draw acting talent wrapped around motor racing and real life sporting events, that's hard to resist.

You can read all the history and background yourselves and there's lot of it and there's some great YouTube bits about what they got right and wrong in the movie and there's a full length documentary about the event's 50 year reunion and the associated new technical challenges of repeating Le Mans 1966.  Superb stuff.

I really enjoyed this historical drama, it followed a true-to-life plot, but made some creative turns along the way.  The race sequences were perhaps a little overdone, so there was no lack of noise, power and track drama to get the heart racing.  I thought Bale and Damon were spot on and seemed to really love their characters.  I know a little history of Ford and Le Mans, but the movie filled in lots of interesting historic notes.  Probably not for everyone, but someone who is drawn to stories about the competitive drive for victory, historical innovation and technology and getting to know a little about some very interesting real people, you'll will be very entertained.  

8/10 

The photo above is the revamped version of the GT-40 that I saw at last year's Detroit Auto Show.  The one below is an older model in the neighbourhood back in 2008.

Idea: A Living Memoir

Part 1. We have a living photo frame at home - a old picture frame re-purposed with some wires and clips to hold standard size (4x6, 5x7) printed photos.  It changes every few months and suits the time of year or mood.

Part 2. 

mem·oir

/ˈmemˌwär/

Learn to pronounce

noun

1. 1.

   a historical account or biography written from personal knowledge or special sources.

   "in 1924 she published a short memoir of her husband"
2. 2.

   an essay on a learned subject.

   "an important memoir on Carboniferous crustacea"
3. 
   

I think the second definition is a fair representation of what I'm thinking of, with the "learned subject" being me.



Who has time to write a book?  Maybe when I retire, I would contemplate writing my memoir.  Maybe if I was to give up my good-paying job and write a book about getting the most out of life, or some bullshit title like that.  But seriously, who has time to write a book.  Maybe I can cheat.

I think I have some insights about life, about sports, about technology and how movies, TV and music colour my life (reviews?).

A few times a year I consider the possibility of writing a book (or starting to), but struggled with the potential structure. What if the structure could incorporate blog posts, tweets and shared social media opinions into the narrative. A quick compartmentalization would group content into my thoughts on:

• What makes us happy
• Sports
• Why pay attention to the news and politics
• Beauty and art
• Memories
• Family
• friends
• Drama and story
• Technology
• Work
• Travel

Don’t these headings begin to create a chapter structure to take me forward?
Creating these boxes to organize my thoughts, ideas and impressions is a simple but important step. Whatever is on the list defines us, reveals what’s most important to us and frames our personal life story.

Some of these ideas came shortly after the death of my work friend's wife and sadly, how fast her life ended - which triggered something many have thought about before - what do I want to leave behind?
It’s not what happened when, or a log of personal activities. It’s more a reflection, a personal retrospective and dare I say, the meaning of (my) life.

So what about putting a living memoir onto this blog platform?

There is a problem however with a living, ever-changing book - how does the reader know when they are done?  How do they keep track of what they've already read and then piece it all together to make sense of it all?  Coloured hypertext links may help, but some "bread crumb" mapping is needed to compliment this new form of storytelling.

I think I'm going to try and group common theme content from this blog and other channels as links, excerpts or maybe summaries, but add reflection of what all this means, now.  Let's give it a try...

Old board games from the late 70's and early 80's

My parents have stored old games and toys for my brother and I since we left home decades ago.  We poke around in the old boxes now and again, but there comes a time when we/I need to purge a little (especially for my parents' benefit).

I'd hate to just throw these out without at least making a token effort to see if there is any interest in the www for game collectors or hoarders of nostalgia.  So last chance, get in touch with me if you're interested.

Wembley

Up Periscope

Air Traffic Control

Paydirt!

Dungeons & Dragons

The Imitation Game

Great story well played out in Hollywood fashion.  Beautifully made and well acted - worth a few awards I'm sure, but didn't quite live up to the billing I'm afraid.  I think maybe the Hollywood treatment didn't jive with the meek, uncomfortable, genius of Turing (expertly portrayed by Cumberbatch).

I'd seen an earlier, much lower budget movie about Turing called Codebreaker over a year ago.  Plus I had heard a little about Turing, the Enigma code and had been carrying a story of my own relating to the consequences of the code breaking for many years.

How important was Turing ?  Some have claimed his part in the real story is overstated.  But to me, I feel he could be very important.  My education, my career and now my centre of expertise directly relate to his work.  But, also perhaps my life, my family and my homeland.

I don't feel people still quite understand what Turing and others managed to do, how creative he/they were and what we take for granted today in many facets of life, we potentially owe to him and his contemporaries.

But I'm still bothered by the fact the he never enjoyed the attention, praise and love he deserved.  It is shocking how recent this inhumane law existed.  What joy would he have today to see the power of what is at our fingertips.

My reaction wasn't one of inspiration, but one more of sadness.  I felt rather lonely walking home.

I did read a number of reviews on IMDB and adjusted this review slightly to take into consideration that the code breaking was in reality not just the creation of Alan Turing, but a number of brilliant men and women who worked behind the scenes.

8/10

Postal Station K - an historic victim

Postal Station K - an historic victim, a photo by PJMixer on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
This post office is in my neighbourhhood. It's built on the site of Montgomery's Tavern, which played a prominent role in the Upper Canada rebellion of 1837. Postal Station K is the only building in Canada built with Edward VIII's royal cypher prior to his abdication. Over the last few months it has been in the news as Canada Post has decided to sell the building to a private developer. There were petitions signed to try and save the building, but it appears to have failed. The only hope is the devleoper save the facade in some form.

Frost/Nixon and the sin of television

I finally got around to watching the 2008 movie Frost/Nixon, an adaption of the post-Watergate television interviews between David Frost and former president Richard Nixon.  I'd had it stored on the PVR for months and after watching it over the last couple of days, I'm happy I kept it.  Like I said in my recent review of The King's Speech, Who needs boring history books when we have fabulous historical films like this. 

In fact, the closing of the movie contains a wonderful quote about television from historian and journalist, James Reston Jr. (unsure he actually said it, but I like it still the same).

The first and greatest sin or deception of television is that it simplifies, it diminishes great complex ideas, trenches of time, whole careers become reduced to a single snap shot.

And so goes my thoughts about the film.  An immensely complex story that comes down to a few minutes of heart felt reflection and a close up.  I've watched a few of the original interview segments, and I think the movie has done a decent job in representing the original. I didn't know a lot about Nixon, but the movie shows that Nixon was a very intelligent man and even charming at times.  Frost was perhaps out of his depth, but recognized a massive TV exclusive, a monumental opportunity for his career and he pulled it off.  Wonderful acting and storytelling, Rebecca Hall was a lovely distraction and the production was wonderful.  4/5.

The King's Speech

The King's Speech lived up to the hype, it was a wonderful story excellently portrayed by all.  Firth's handling of the King's stammer was amazing and I could feel his pain in every shot.  The rather gray London motif worked for the serious tone, but Rush added lots of humour.  Who needs boring history books when we have fabulous historical films like this.  Even though this retelling (like other historical films) may not be 100% accurate, it paints a very clear picture of an important part of our history and with The King's Speech, I've learned a new deep respect for King George VI. 4/5.

Quick finds and "changing facts"

While enjoying another delicious bowl of soup from the Soup Man, I was doing a little paddling around the "interweb" and thought I'd read up a little about my home town Coventry. Most of what was covered was familiar but an interestingly historical note seemed to be missing. Brave as I am, I quickly tested the theory of wikipedia, I created a wiki user and I EDITED the Coventry entry ! I also found out that one of my favourite Brit actors was born in Cov - Clive Owen, well what do you know !

From Coventry I moved over to Bedworth, where I grew up in England. (in)Famous people include: Pete Doherty, well what do you know and he went to the same school as my Mum - well, different years; and Selwyn Froggitt - well, the actor !