Opening Statement



Tuesday 24 June 2014

On the Road: London! Paris!

Or "Joys Of Retirement Part 2"


It's 5:15 pm Monday local time and Janet and I are flying in from Paris. The jet swoops over the city of Toronto, blanketed in smog, the CN tower jutting out of the haze. A picture perfect landing a Pearson International, a quick exit through customs and baggage. We are in rush hour traffic back in our world.

This was our second trip "over there" since I retired last June. Hence the subtitle "Joys of Retirement Part 2". What can I say? It was great! But after all is said and done there's no place like home, warts, blemishes and all. Perhaps its the familiarity of one's own life and milieu?

So. Our whirlwind trip went something like this: 3 days in the English countryside between London and Portsmouth. 4 days in London. 6 in Paris: Reading, Windsor Castle, the Royal Navy Yards, Harrods, Westminster, Brick Lane, Abbey Road, Arc de Triumph, Tocarado, Eiffel Tower, LaFayette's, Versailles etc. etc. etc....

I will post some travel blogs in the days ahead. Ostensibly we went to visit my niece Katie. She went to teach in downtown London after graduating from teachers college a year or so ago. She was excited with the plethora of job offers, and got to pick and choose a secondary religion and philosophy placement  starting this fall. Is wrapping up an long tern occasional at an inner city elementary school. Good news: lots of job! Bad news? A high teacher burnout rate under a neanderthal neo con government which makes the Ontario PC's seem enlightened when it comes to education.... or maybe like Ontario ten years from now had Timbo won his majority? .... I ramble.

We caught the election news the next day on the internet. Waking up in our hotel room. It was a massive relief that the Hudak neo cons crashed and burned. I could not hide my glee. The OLP majority does give pause. We recall how our last contract negotiations went with the MOU, contract stripping et. al. But more on all of this later. 

I plan to resume my regular blog features. Will post my ongoing news and views links for those of you who follow these starting with a Summer Edition, which should be up shortly.

I'm surprised my readership has remained constant. A lot of you seem to have discovered my Archives below this blog column perhaps? Or like the funny pictures? Maybe? Anyway, I picked up a whack of European reader visits while posting my regular tweets over there. Funny how the internet works ....

Speaking of which, I will be following up shortly with a twitter blitz of blog links on all matters related to our upcoming teacher contract negotiations with the newly elected Liberal majority government. It's a part of my ongoing "Thucydides: Those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it series". Enough said.

Stay tuned .....

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