The winter-beater

Lot's of good stuff in my Globe today. Liz Renzetti kicks things off with a beauty take-down of Facebook on A2.  Also in the first section we see a nice tribute to "The Rock" and how being cut from the Stamps practice squad twenty years ago helped make him the A-list commodity he is today, and a moved-me-to-tears profile of a young actor who inexplicably checked out when everyone around him believed he had it all going on.

Further in we've got Doug Saunders, aka "Mr. Renzetti," with a lengthy polemic on why we need another sixty-million immigrants to properly colonize this great land the Indians so generously gifted us, so lengthy in fact that I've had to put it aside for later while I mollify the Farm Manager with a display of "doing something" around the place. For once I do not begrudge The Korean his $6.30.

Now that summer's over we're finally getting some decent summer weather. Me and the FM spent some quality time on the patio at Dockside Willie's yesterday afternoon, watching the melancholy spectacle of a few die-hard pleasure boaters try to wring the last drops of pleasure from the summer that wasn't.

Picked up an older Subaru last week. I'd set out to find a set of snows for the current ride. For not a lot more money, I got a practically new set of snows with a Subaru attached. Overall I've had good luck with them. Of the three I've owned, two took me well past four hundred thousand clicks. The other one was a lemon. This one has about eighty thousand fewer kilometres on it than the GM product that's been my daily driver for the past few years, so with a little luck I've found a winter-beater that should last for pretty much however many winters I've got left.

Must do something with the summer vehicle situation. The Mustang 50 is a nice enough car, but I'd never have bought it had I known the FM was done her driving days. For a thirty year old car it's impeccable and has lots of jam, but if I'd known, I'd never have bought one with an automatic. For me, a sporty car is just a whole lot sportier with a manual. Also, I've only had one ragtop in my life, a '64 Bonneville with a 348 4bbl and four speed, and I figure it's high time I did that again. There's a very pretty '69 Dart GTS (big block, four speed) convertible at Cars-on-line that's been calling my name, but the Farm Manager swears it's really shouting "denouement."

It's Concours weekend at Cobble Beach, so there's been some inspirational traffic going by Falling Downs today. Maybe we'll check out the show tomorrow.

In the meanwhile, I better get on with "doing something," - re-arranging the parts vehicles behind the barn... and maybe see what I can do about the mirror on the Ninja. If the FM gets into her Netflix, maybe I'll have a shot at a 10k blast around the block.

The relentless pursuit of happiness

What the fuck is "happiness" anyway?

I've got two divorces and a bankruptcy under my belt. Not a Trump or Reichmann bankruptcy, where you diddle the creditors while paying teams of $1,000/hour lawyers to ensure that you're going to keep your mansions and your yachts etc.

I'm talking about the kind of bankruptcy where you do in fact lose everything.

Regular folks have a different bankruptcy experience than the Trump and Reichmann crowd.

They get to keep everything while their buddies in the big banks take a loss on the balance sheet, and "business as usual" sails merrily along on its pre-ordained course.

That wasn't my bankruptcy.

And I've got the credit rating to prove it.

The Farm Manager is bitter that a bunch of her colleagues at her day job are taking time off to go on those all-inclusive holidays to Cuba or the Dominican Republic.

I figure why not just drink yourself silly in the comfort of your home?

If nothing else you'll save yourself all those hassles at the airport.

I can fire up the Ninja 500 or the Mustang 50 and be at the Wiarton liquor store in ten minutes.

Mind you, that only happens when you probably shouldn't be driving anyway.

Otherwise it's closer to fifteen minutes.

Shit happens.

Wiarton is changing. There's some decent restaurant action going on.

The Green Door would do a brisk business even if it was in downtown Toronto. Tim's a superb chef and he and Sarah make a great team. They're big city restauranteurs in a small town, and I've never had a bad experience at their place.

The guy who transformed Coalshed Willie's into Dockside Willie's deserves some accolades too. Don't let that Ford pick-up with the six inch lift fool you; this guy knows his culinary shit.

When you drive past the marina you notice there's a couple of fifty-foot-plus Sea-Rays berthed there. A nice used Sea-Ray 52 Sundancer is going to set you back half a million bucks.

You can still buy a decent abode in Wiarton for under 150.

When you go past the marina there's a few houses on the shore of Colpoy Bay before you get to the water treatment plant. One of those was on offer this year for half a million. It must have sold, because last weekend we drove up that road and there was a brand new Aston Martin parked outside that place that had been for sale.

In the rain.

When there's a perfectly good garage attached to the house...

Makes me wonder, what's in the garage?

Seems to me that the Aston Martin and fifty foot Sea Ray crowd are finding happiness right here in Wiarton.