Verbal Fluidity

Here we are true believers!  It’s just rolling around to September, and there are only 3 more Fridays left of racing.  The Sign Crew (as we have become affectionally known) has had quite a year.  We started out with 2 signs, and at the end of this season we are pushing 16.   We’ve cheered, we’ve even booed, and we’ve had a fantastic time.  We feel a level of sadness as we approach September 15 th , and the final race of the year.  We had so much fun.  We were lucky to be included in several pictures by McCarthy Photographic for Fanfest, we were lucky to make friends with incredible individuals like Tim Terry, Pat Healey, Richard and Paige Drake, Megan Parrott, Rob Bowness and Rick Sellars, to name a few.  We took in our first Pro Stock race this year, and were part of the first ever Scotia Speedworld antique car show and food truck rally.  Adora was featured on the Kiddy ride night promo in this year’s program, and she was also featu...

So even after a peaceful protest, where the city aided in covering up the Edward Cornwallis statue, people still felt the need to graffiti the statue. I'm not surprised. This is typically how bullies get what they want.  Yes I called the Mi'kmaq bullies. What else would you call it ? They are attempting to force the city, by way of scare tactics and childish behaviour, to remove the statue. Sounds like a bully to me.  They say he participated in genocide. This is stretching it. He was at war with the French, whom the Mi'kmaq were aligned with. The Mi'kmaq also were killing a lot of British soldiers, does that mean they were also participating in genocide? They were offered money for British scalps... did they not bring in any? I suspect a few were gathered. As an English descendant, should this offend me? Should I be protesting the Glooscap statue in Millbrook?  Our province has always been more than gracious to the Mi'kmaq people. The province has ackn...

Hello True believers!  It time to get controversial, so let’s get to it.    I have heard a lot of talk recently about Edward Cornwallis, and how they want to topple his statue in downtown Halifax. It has been referred to as a "colonial Genocidal Statue".  It all relates to Cornwallis, the founder of Halifax who issued a bounty on the scalps of Mi’kmaq men, women and children in retaliation for an attack on settlers.  What I want to say here is, that was well over 260 years ago, and it was a time of war.    When Cornwallis arrived in Halifax, there was a long history of war in Acadia and Nova Scotia between the British and the Wabanaki Confederacy (which included the Mi'kmaq). The Wabanaki Confederacy were aligned with the French, who the British were at war with. What is interesting to note here, is that while Cornwallis offered a bounty for Mi'kmaq scalps, the French also offered a bounty to the Wabanaki for British scalps.    Di...

The year was 1989.  My uncle decided he wanted to race at Scotia Speedworld. At the time, there were only 2 real classes, Street Stock and Duke cars.  Eventually he ended up racing both, but the street stock was the first. I helped him with everything i could. Eventually that 1979 Pontiac Lemans became a racing machine. Race night was always a big deal. the stands were full, but we sat right down in front, to the left of the starter's stand, about half way up towards turn 4.  Jerry Lawrence provided the color commentary. My uncle was mildly successful, and took home a few trophies and checkered flags.  It was this place in time, these memories, that made me love racing.  But like anything in life, over time it got forgotten, and the burden of work and life balance got in the way.  It would be 24 years before I returned to that race track... This time with my own kids in tow. I should back up a bit and say, that my wife and I had given thought to taki...

Hello my masses of adoring fans! OK, would you believe a small group of grudging admirers ? Ok. Fine, 2 followers that barely read and like the pictures.     I’ve decided to bring you something a bit different.     I’m going to try to do this every week (TRY being the operative word) and give you a list of sorts, of things that irked me over the past week.   Some of it may be controversial, but most will be me being a crusty curmudgeon.   (I am getting old you know) So without further ado… and without hairdo… (it sounded funny in my head), let’s get this started.   So I recently visited one of the big box stores, we will call it Mal-Wart (I can’t afford a law suit), and I was appalled by the level of customer service I DIDN’T receive.   The cashier barely spoke above a whisper, and was very monotone.   It seems as if her dog may have died in her arms earlier that day.   She seemed so uninterested, and seems so ...

Good day True Believers! So I want to bring a topic to the world that I usually reserve for ranting in the car to the windshield. (Yes, I talk to myself in the car, and yes I'm ok with it). It's the topic of the Homeless. More accurately, the homeless in Halifax, and the observations I've made. This is in no way a rant/attack/hate on the homeless in general. That being said, please enter the hazy spectacle that is my brain......... So our fine city of Halifax. As of 2011 the population of Halifax was 390,096 and the urban area had a population of 297,943. In the city of Halifax, the 2 most popular places for homeless to hang out and ask for money is Spring Garden Rd and the Windsor Street Exchange. Let's look at SGR first shall we? A veritable Hub of activity, SGR seems to never sleep. At any given moment the street is full of people, and also has its share of panhandlers. So with that, let's conduct a little math equation. Let's say for argumen...

So do many of you have issues with your Dodge vehicles?  I bet it doesn't top my friend's issue. Recently he took his Dodge Calibre into a local Dodge dealer for a routine Safety Inspection and oil change.  The car is 7 years old, and has less than 70,000 KM.  Within a few hours they contacted him, and advised that his front and rear cross members were rusted out completely.  This is an amazing thing, since they are metal, and should not rust out in 7 years.  The car is a 2007.  There are cars 20+ years old on the road that do not have rusted crossmembers .  This is an obvious defect.  Well it seems the Crossmember is not the only defect.  The level of customer service for Dodge/Chrysler is also defective. Here is a pic of the crossmember So the crossmember is defective.  The Dodge dealer quoted a price to fix it, and also cited that any collateral damage as part of replacing the crosssmember would be his to pay, not...