The Ice Storm, The Great Escape, Cheap scooters and missing Christmas cards.
Well I'll start this off with having survived the ice storm of 2013. Power off for a couple of days, showering at work and watching the Arsehole and Chealski game at work. God what a game, and stuck with nowhere to go, help. At least the Liverpool vs Man City lived up to the hype. Though overall, I think I got off lightly. Chef Boyardee out of the can, memories of eating in my childhood and on scooter runs in the 80s, it's still pretty good cold. I had power for the tablet, phone though, with all my scooter/motorcycle batteries on smart chargers for the winter I had lots of power for a few days anyway. Sorry to Garry from Ottawa, I'm glad you made your connection in Toronto, so you didn't have to find somewhere to kip overnight. Working till 2 am and no power or heat at the apt would have made for a really bad night. I think I would have dropped you off at a warming center (ya Gerry, I be back in a couple of minutes while I park the car ;-) The power actually came back on at 11 pm that night so it would have all worked out.
' Sony tablets are fingerprint magnets.
This weeks scooter score, or the cheapest full size scooter I've bought in a long time, has to be the Snoopy I picked up at half price at Loew's. Could have waited till after Christmas for a further reduction (like hippy below) but as this was the last one I jumped on it then. This seems to be the year of Christmas blow up scooters as Samantha and Larry have at least 3 different ones on their lawn.
Also ended up buying up this one as well:
The Hippy was cheap and will look good, hopefully he doesn't smell too bad. What can be bad with a old man driving around with kids in the back of the van, who thought this up? I think I just realized why this was only $24.50. Anyone what some candy? The balcony will be rather full next year.
Hopefully everyone had a very merry Christmas as did I visiting with the family. Though with the Ice storm some of the work that I hoped to get on with the scooters and bike didn't happen. So what do I do instead of working on my own crap, I visit Dave and see how his scoots are coming along. Dave's got the proverbial man cave going with a beer fridge, and a nice warm place to work on the scooters. Also a good place to hang out. Thanks Tam for the popcorn :-)
So I spent the night catching up on things and planning for the future. Looks like New Year's eve is sorted out with Ian and Michelle doing their annual new years eve party again, Thx. Also getting some ideas/planning together for Lammyjammy in Boston and seeing on how the tear down of the TV200 is coming. Poor Dave, 50 years of sitting is making it rather difficult to disassemble the scooter. I tend to forget that these scooters are now 50 years old and some parts are more or less welded together. Me I'm at the point now where I'd drop it off at Gene's and tell him what I want to have done. That's what getting older does for you. Anyway I'll keep tabs on how the rebuild is going. Here's a few more pics:
Curdfest pt 2:
As I always have lots of time to return from Curdfest (I don't work until Monday night) I try and make the most of the drive home. The weather at Curdfest can be rather wet (usually thunderstorms) but usually dry for the drive up and back home. The GPS is there to let me know where I am but as long as I'm heading south and west I'll end up on the St Lawrence and on to Toronto. The gas tank on the MP3 is good for 200'km before reserve, so even though it's a Sunday I'll never run out of gas. So I get to see lots of small towns in eastern Ontario that I wouldn't ever see and probably not ever see again. Having said that I seem to always end up filling up at some of the same gas stations. So having met the St Lawrence and Hyw 2 in the town of Maitland, it's off to go down one of my favorite Ontario scootering/motorcycling Hyw's. It's relaxing, just enough curves to make it interesting and enough scenery and things to see to make the ride as long as you want (stop at everything) or faster (stop at a few things) which is what I do. Plus this way I'll have something new to stop for next time. Last time I stopped in Brockville at the Army Surplus store that I'd last visited when I did the Mallorytown scooter runs about 20 years before. Really surprised that it was still there so I paid them a visit. Still a great store and even bought a army pouch for my scoots air compressor. Tend to do the 1000 island parkway instead of Hyw 2 through Mallorytown as it's more scenic and Mallorytown is the same as I remember it, so no loss.I usually end up stopping in Gananoque as it has everything I need and I usually like to get through Kingston as fast as I can, as it has that big city feel which I hate riding through. If you have time, the Adidas outlet store in Kingston (401 and Division rd) has some great deals and I've come across some Vespa/Adidas trainers at great discount prices (nothing this time though). So while driving past CFB Trenton and doing some airplane spotting, seeing the now usual Canadian C5 Globemaster, which is really impressive when your driving down Hyw 2 and this plane does a low pass over you. It was cool. Anyway I drive past the base and got stopped by the last set of lights at the end closest to Trenton. So while I was looking around I notice a big red what looks like a DC-8 or 707 just down the road. Since I've got plenty of time and the weather was great I decide to go down and investigate.
As I go down the road I drive by a outside display of some of the great past airplanes of the Canadian Airforce. I turn in and I'm at the new to me "National Air Force Museum of Canada"
Here's the link: http://airforcemuseum.ca/
What a surprise it was to me and one of the reasons I love riding. Just to be able to stop and explore something up until a few minutes ago I didn't know existed. It's not a huge museum like the US Air force's museum in Dayton, Ohio which takes at least a half a day to explore if your in a hurry, and I do recommend going if your in the area. Anyway back to the Canadian Airforce museum, for me the two outstanding parts are the restoration of the Handley Page Halifax which was salvaged out of a lake in Norway (or somewhere around there, hey I took the tour in the summer and it's hard to remember all the details) . They've done a great job on it and you'd never know it spent 50 odd years in a lake.
Now to my most favorite display, and that is the "Great Escape"display.
My first thought on this was how amateurism this display was, then you start to get closer and start exploring the display. First it's not behind glass or plastic, it's just open for you to touch, which is a first for me. You can feel, see and touch the rather thin wood bed boards that they built it with. Then it dawns on you that this display was made by some of the soldiers who where actually at the camp and helped build the tunnels. It's not a Hollywood movie, all spit and polished, this really is about as close to the real thing that you'll see. That's what makes this little bit of the museum great. Just in case you were wondering, Alby would have a really hard time getting through the tunnel. It also reminds you of the soldiers who lost their lives from the escape and may they never be forgotten. Here are some more pics of the museum.
Remember Ëscape from prison camps is no longer a sport"
So if your ever in the Trenton, Ont area and have a hour or two, stop by the museum and look around and maybe you will even learn something. The "Great Escape"is worth it alone. Here are some more pics:
A couple of things before I finish, sorry for the delay but I lost most of the above photo's. I thought it would be no problem getting them back because they are in the cloud. I was kind of wrong on that. It took a few good hours to finally figure it out and get copies, but I should be grateful as at least I could get them back. Also I've got to organize them better.
Cheers to next blog.
Alby
