- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
- Hits: 299
Sunday, I forgot to mention, was the closing day of Pride and the daughter and I on the way to the Co-op found ourselves in the midst of it. This town punches above it's weight in rainbows, although the abundance of Southern Plates suggest a large number came up from more conservative climes to a place where they wouldn't be so harshly judged.
And that evening, my neighbour to the right, a rather plain picture of country domesticity, has outdone herself and dressed up as a Pony Girl, the full regalia, galloping with her girlfriend off to the club, giddy up! I would never have guessed, but it becomes her.
Yesterday, reading my book, 38 degrees, record breaking temperatures, the sky slowly filling with smoke, a sullen bronze, errands to be done in the morning, before 10 or 11 when it becomes unbearable to go out, and maybe again a stroll after 8 when the sun is down and a cool wind. The day off is largely thwarted by a bored upstairs neighbour, the power outage pooched her TV, her boyfriend is off in Sicamous and she’s lost her phone, drunk at 9:00 AM and left it on the power box outside where the CPD club gathers, picked up and later returned by a couple of itinerant meth-heads, now she's popping in and threatening my day off, making rather suggestive overtures that perhaps if I'm as bored as she is...
I'm not. I have a book. She doesn't take no very well, but I congratulate her on her boyfriend and remind her of how well they get along and she gets it.
Now, a hot and hazy day, the rain of hazelnuts and acorns at the intersections and parking lots, the crows waiting for traffic to crack them, and going for coffee to find no line-up, the town now belongs once again to the locals, time to get on with a few other projects and start cleaning up the paper machete shredding, bust out the paints, the mixed media, this was a long year without wheels and I don't want next year to be the same...
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
- Hits: 274
The daughter had asked during her visit why the time on the stove didn't match the real time, and I was explaining that I was tracking the time since the last power outage.
I didn't have to wait long, Labour Day, an hour after she's left there's a power outage, just long enough to close all the restaurants and cafes, any excuse would do really, drive the tourists out of Nelson, but our restaurant isn’t closing, we’re the only show in town and sure-enough summer goes out with a bang. I might miss the cash but I'll love the peace of mind. I really got to get out of this industry, there's gotta be another way to make money...
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
- Hits: 232
The daughter, the last month off on a road trip with tree-planter buddies to Quebec, Montreal, the Gaspé Peninsula, she had a wonderful time. She's passing through Nelson on her way back to Nanaimo. And she's wondering why she didn't make the impression that she makes here, and I'm explaining to her the benefits of a classical education, why it's important to be able to recognize a 100 different artists, Renoir, Chagall, etc, why she needs to read more, why - in a fine French restaurant her anglicized pronunciation of "Fois Gras" and "Cote Du Rhone" might raise some eyebrows, what the label of a bottle of wine tells you, the properties of grapes, varietals, regions, why they like to see wine in a wine glass and not a beer mug (and why "Yum Yum" is not an approved adjective to describe a wine), how to taste, etc, etc.
Finally she’s realizing that all the time spent amongst the infidels with her mom did not prepare her for the world she wants to be a part of and maybe more Pa would have been good in her diet..
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
- Hits: 204
Had to get out of Nelson, this town gets claustrophobic. So I grab the bus out to Balfour, an hour on the beach scouring, nothing found, not even a flake, water’s still too high, I need rain, the lake level to drop, no further trips until November. Waiting for the bus back I revisit the old restaurant, new restaurant, they’ve about a dozen tables, still sticking to mostly reduced hours, 5 servers, a bartender to pull beer and serve wine, I ask what’s up, there’s no good explanation, they’re closed holiday Monday….all these staff and for a moment I feel a twinge of envy, one server assures me that despite the number of staff they’re all making great money, she quotes an improbable sum, I look around, do the mathemagic, it’s seems damned unlikely they’re coming close to those numbers, how are they even paying them all? But the vibe is good, everyone relaxed, I've never seen it like that, and given the stress my job’s been the last few weeks (every night, slammed, run off your feet,) it's seems like a chill change of pace. Too late in the season to consider the change in scenery, another few weeks and this place will be empty, they’ll be overstaffed with one server, it’s a little bit bougie for Balfour, the prices, atmosphere, so I'll be curious to pop in again in November and where they're at...
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Blog
- Hits: 209
This, the latest in "get your deal on", first it was the Cigarette guy, discounted native cigarettes, inferior in every way but it's a filthy habit no matter what and so I'm just going to use them as an excuse to smoke less and save up some money.
Then there's the meat dealer, apparently choice cuts for a fraction of the cost you'd pay at the grocery...He's been paid, but has yet to deliver.
It’s like I’m living in Mother Russia where all of your needs are met on the Black Market and everyone lives in a completely different economy...