Another Life Cut Short

Last December I posted about a hardy tree in Toronto's Moore Park Ravine that was bravely hanging on for dear life.

You can see him precariously perched just above the stream below.

For more detail on that post, click Not Going down Without A Fight

So I'm sorry to report that last winter was just too much for our brave warrior....

....as he has now just about toppled into the ravine. [Our hero is the almost horizontal tree in the middle of the picture.]

And the city has stepped in to give him some privacy, taping off the area where he will likely wind up.

Maybe they will eventually erect a sheared off tree monument to him.....

Now the only questions is - who's next?

A Life Well Lived?

 

Unfortunately, not in this case.

If you see a cemetery monument that looks like it is sheared off at the top, this means someone has died too young. Usually erected by grieving parents.

A life well lived is often memorialized by soaring spires.

So unfortunately, this sheared off monument here in Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery represents a life cut short.

This monument was erected to the memory of John and Jesse Horsey's only son Clifton.

The inscription reads: "In proud and loving memory of Clifton Malbank Horsey, Lieutenant 5th Royal Highlanders Montreal on active service in the Fifth 13th Battalion, First Canadian Division, only son of John Hayden and Jesse Arnold Horsey, who was killed in action near Ypres on April 22nd, 1916 in his 26th year."

Often these types monuments are erected to honour the war dead.  The young war dead.....

"Another Day Older.....

....and deeper in debt."

With apologies to Merle Travis, who actually loaded sixteen tons to get deeper in debt, looks like Canadians just like to good old spend, spend, spend. 

It's all fine living the high life when things are good.

But delinquencies on credit cards and car loans are starting to add up as inflation & interest rates surge and the economy stalls.

So a lot of us Canadians are living the high life,,,but not paying for it..  A little wobble in the economy could send mortgage defaults soaring.

And this love affair with debt is nothing new for us.

Canada has the highest personal debt level per capita all of G7 nations. 75% of which is made up of those mortgages.

And whereas the two other highest countries in 2010 - the US and the UK - have actually reduced personal debt levels, Canada's has increased substantially.  

Here is another view that shows it in a more meaningful way.  Personal debt as a percentage of disposable income.

Again, Canadian's lead the pack in that we have debt at almost double the level of our disposal incomes! 

I think that's called mortgaging your future. 

Why are we so in debt compared to every other major country?  

Labour productivity is one reason.  With the exception of Japan (who is a very insular, cradle to grave employment type of country) Canada trails the G7.

Not a good combination.  High spending and debt without the productivity gains to pay for it. 

I foresee camels on the Canadian horizon.

If you are going, what the heck is he talking about, click Camels On The Horizon

I Guess Not That Popular....

 

Bittersweet?

 

I'm guessing a few Toronto Maple Leafs will be...emjoying?,,,,a few of these Triple Bogeys over the next few weeks. 

What An Embarassment

Toronto's Eglinton LRT (Light Rail Transit) project started in 2011 and was originally planned to be finished in 2016.

Fast forward 12 years and there is no deadline for the project to be finished. This week the consortium building the LRT just pushed the deadline back - again - to sometime in 2024. 

Let's not even talk about budget overruns.....

So following on from the title in today's newspaper article, what are some projects that were built in less time than the Eglinton LRT?

• CN Tower 3 years 
• Landing a man on the moon 8 years 
• The atom bomb 6 years
• The Rideau Canal 5 years!
• Canadian Pacific railway 4 years! 
• Adrian's Wall 6 years 
• The Roman Colosseum 8 years 
• Panama Canal 10 years
• The London subway 3 years 
• Hoover Dam 5 years 
• The Chunnel 6 years 
• Boston's Big Dig 14 years 
• Eglinton LRT 12 years - and counting!

Of course safety standards and environmental assessments didn't exist when a lot of these were built, but come on now.....

Besties Are The Best

 

Balls This Big

 

That is one ballsy Meter Maid to give a parking ticket to a firetruck.

I can just see her now, with her foot up on the truck's bumper, with the lights flashing and the sirens blaring.  "Ma'am, get out of the way!"

"Not on my watch, mister."

[As seen outside the Yorkville Firehall.]

I Have No Idea Who She is......

 

...but she has some good points.

Initially I thought, oh boy, here is some half baked celebrity going on about "toxic masculinity".

But when I read the article, she had a very balanced point of view.

She was speaking out against what she believes is society’s current push to feminize men and masculinize woman.

Evangeline - as I now call her since I know who she is - (seen here with Michele Pfeiffer) mentioned her frustration over people vilifying traditional depictions of tough guys wearing S-kicking boots, driving trucks, and fighting people, while loving it if a woman does those things. 

And "Why is a man who loves make-up, cries easily and stays at home to tend to the domestic responsibilities valiant, but a woman who does the same is pathetic?"

But I think she nails it - and this is why social media can be so toxic, when she said, "I think the truly revolutionary act is as old as time: ‘Do not judge.’ - Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, etc.  Let each be who they are and let us teach grace and charity above all things."

Wow, what a concept.

She finally concluded with a post from the great Christian saint, Augustine of Hippo: "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity."

Or as some other philosophers put it......

May Day Protests

 

....were happening all over the world yesterday....

Lots of unrest in France....

Labour unrest in Indonesia....

And in South Korea, rice farmers staged a protest...

It only took a minute and came out perfect!

Oops.....