Rotzy’s normally, cheery diatribes are hitting greater challenges and bigger obstacles these days…..
Better Late Than Never….
….so they say. And that was the case recently with my visit to the Service Ont Branch over in Paris. You see, my licence plate sticker and driver’s licence came due on my b’day in April and Miz Jo’s in May. Also, seeing as Jo Ann turned 80, she was required to take a ‘classroom’ course in early June, as is the case of all octogenarians. But COVID-19 threw a wrench into the works. Word was that ALL Service Ont outlets were closed until ??? Hence, back in April I asked a Brantford City Cop if we’d be in trouble if we got stopped with 2019 stickers and no new Licence and he indicated police would be ‘looking the other way’ until things got worked out. So….SO….a couple weeks ago we got word from somewhere/somebody Service Ont had re-opened, so last week I gathered up all my/our applications and drove Norm The Truck over to Paris. The lady behind the plexiglass was very helpful and we were done in no tyme, except for Miz. Jo’s Licence because she has to attend the ‘course’ first….whenever she gets the call. As to Rotzy’s Licence, I was asked to take my (KN-95) masque off for the mug shot, so I complied, then she motioned for me to fix/smooth down my messed up beard. Anyway, the ‘finished product’ arrives in the mail this week and I fully expect the foto will resemble some olde guy doing Life in Leavenworth. By the bye, as I was gathering my paperwork to leave I casually asked ”so how long was Service Ont closed with the COVID”? and she said ”we weren’t”. ”Pardon?” ”Nope….didn’t miss a single day!” I wondered aloud….”So….was/am I in trouble”? And as I recall, she didn’t really say anything much….just gave me one of those ”don’t push your luck, olde guy” looks. Bingo….outta there.
I Was Going Through….
some olde CD ‘s in Norm one day last week and came upon one entitled ”Rotzy Rollers”….imagine….that I haven’t seen/heard in ages. A made-at-home disc, put together for me by our friend Greg (not his real name) up in Nakina, likely ten or fifteen years ago. It’s a GREAT ecclectic mix of Rythmn And Blues!….featuring some well-known guitarists, as well as some who are not-so-well-known. Over the next few days I played it in its’ entirety several tymes and it’s one of the best Blues albums I own. So, here’s a “F/N” shout out to Gregger (not his real name) and to let y’all know our hearts are still in the north!! Hope you and the family are all well!!
SPLASH Grand Opening
I got word here at “F/N” HQ a couple weeks back that the COVID-Delayed Grand Opening of the E/PCA Kid’s Splash Centre at Tutela Park was on for last Fri at 11:00AM, so Rotzy set up my ‘List’ to coincide with that tyme. But I digress. I became aware of the EP/CA (Eagle Place Community Association) a few years ago….E/P being one of 5 wards that make up The Telephone City. The hard working volunteer group had a (quarterly?) news Gazette and I was asked to write something up on my Brantford days, which I gladly did….methinks at the tyme SPLASH was just an idea in its’ infancy, now it is finally reality, with ALL of the money raised by the EP/CA! As to Tutela Park, it was home to the Eagle Place Eskimos football team as their practice field for a decade or more…and it was famous for The Hill…a ‘conditioner’ and a large part of the team’s ‘calisthenics program’. Some have referred to it as a ‘character builder’ tho I’m not sure about that. I DO know that yours truly ran up and down it for three years, then yelled/screamed at players to do the same thing for seven years (easier than running it) as a coach. Anyway, yesterday had nothing to do with The Hill….it was ribbon-cutting tyme for SPLASH with dozens of parents and children on hand (champing at the bit) as well as a bunch of dignitaries….the Mayor, former Mayor, two E/P Councillors, two MPP’s (incl. Mr Speaker), Brantford’s CAO, Works Dept folks, and the designers and builders. Two little girls were chosen to hit the Start Button and for the 30 + kids running to all of several different ‘stations’ the funn was on!! Hey….here’s a big “F/N” Thumbs Up to the EP/CA, a group who want to do something for their community….mostly for the kids….then see it through. They were rewarded last Fri with laughing, shouting and squeals of glee from the children!!
Readers Write
This week’s come from a couple different sources, so check ’em out. *The Doctor’s Law….If you don’t feel well, make an appointment to go to the Doctor, by the tyme you get there you’ll feel better. But don’t make an appointment and you’ll stay sick. **It took ”Click it or Ticket” to get people to wear a seat belt. I wonder if ”Mask it or Casket” might work? ***Calm down! Walmart is just asking you to wear a mask. You can still wear your (too small) shorts, t-shirts, tank tops, and your pajamas….and leave your bras and teeth at home. ****I’m SO tired of saying “Oh s–t……my mask”!…..like I’m Batman or something. (*Thanks readers!!)
T-Storms And Such
It turns out….with this extended HOT weather in Southern Ont….Rotzy has come to realize the daily weather reports down here are just about the same as we had in Nakina, via Fiona The Weather Witch on T. Bay TV….ending off with ”possible thunder storms”. Well, they do/say the SAME thing down here on 92.9 The Grand and Zoomer Radio 740. Hey, it’s fully expected up in The Lakehead, that’s why they renamed The Port and The Fort to Thunder Bay (some 40 or 50 years ago?)….tho oldsters adamantly refuse to give in to ‘T/Bay’!! And “From Nakina”s efforts to go with The Big Turnip have fallen mostly on deaf ears, except perhaps in Hobbsy’s (not his real name) case. In Brant’s Ford last week it said ‘possible t-storms late afternoon’ 6 or 7 days running, but the only one that materialized was around midnight, which of course yours truly slept through. And the 30-40 m/m!! of rain we were ‘warned’ of Sat was merely a shower. Oh well, weather predicting IS the world’s most inaccurate science.
Ethtically Speaking
The landscape has really changed up in Ottawa these days. Billy ‘Big Bucks’ Morneau took one for the team and said ‘au revoir’! Or did he? I mean ‘take one for the team’. Well, the Prime Minister didn’t exactly toss the Former Min of $ a lifebouy! Seemed more like a concrete block. It says here that Junior Trudeau is NOT somebody one would want to ‘ride the river with’, eh?….especially the one that flows by the bottom of Parliament Hill. Anyway, while Morneau was J/T’s right hand man, the two of them re-defined ”ethics in Canadian politics”….and/or in the top two Liberals’ case, a total lack of them!! And out of our P/M’s mouth comes yet ANOTHER sincere/from-the-heart apology. Tell ya what….if Junior coulda tymed a couple or three crocodile tears while delivering the “I’m sorry, Canada” moment, I KNOW I coulda/woulda hurled my lunch. Tell ya another thing, he should scrap his ‘John A MacDonald lookalike’ idea. Does Justin not see/hear the CBC News at 6:00??!! John A (in statue form) is getting tipped ass-over-teakettle all over the land!! Like clockwork for gosh sakes. The latest was last night (Sat 29th) in Montreal, and Sir John totally lost his head this tyme!….apparently it rolled some distance from the rest of his torso!! And the maire de Montreal has ‘condemned this act of wanton vandalism’. ‘Wanton’ certainly works for yours truly in this case as I rather doubt it was ‘random’, n’est-ce pas? Just wait until Justin gets word of it. La marte will hit the fan, you think?
*Thought Of The Day….I did NOT trip and fall. I attacked the floor. And I believe I am winning.
