A Time Capsule at Maple Leaf Gardens

The Toronto press has made a big deal of a “time capsule” found during the reconstruction of Maple Leaf Gardens. This time capsule was placed in the structure secretly in 1931 and it was opened recently to discover an old newspaper, hockey rule book and a small ivory elephant. Wow, that stuff is eighty one years old.

               Toronto is much older than that and even existed before 1812 although with a different name when it was invaded and burned by the American army. Since then Americans have come in peace along with people from many other countries. The city was a quiet more or less unexciting place when Maple Leaf Gardens was built but livened up significantly when immigrants arrived from Europe and later from Hong Kong and other places after 1950. The baby boomer cohort was growing up about the same time creating many new citizens for whom history began about 1958 when Elvis Presley joined the US Army.

               Why, you may ask, is he ragging on about this “time capsule”? Here’s why. My life began about the time the Gardens was built. I was born in July 1932 so figure it out. If there is a “time capsule” it is me and not a copper box buried in the footings of a hurriedly constructed hockey rink. A true “time capsule” should be found after more than one hundred years, better still two hundred years.

               Okay, for most people now living in Toronto and environs 80 years is a long time and so anything that old is truly an historical artifact. I sometimes feel like an artifact, possibly even a dinosaur. I guess my turn to be in a box buried somewhere may not be long coming but in the meantime I’ll continue as a living artifact.

Don't forget to link to Hotel Paradisus for an exciting story about two people who meet on vacation at an exotic resort and discover the meaning of love.in later life.

We recommend you link on An American Adventure, a story about two women bikers who encounter a religious sect in a western American state that practices ritual rape and multiple wives. Not for the squeamish.

Hotel Paradisus

I linked this story a few days ago but the is an error in the text.

Please got to this location by clicking on the title;

Hotel Paradisus
I hope you can find it and enjoy the story

New Short Stories

You, dear reader, are invited to share the adventures of Kay and Melanie in the two stories linked below.

An American Adventure

Following an invitation from an American man she met on the Internet Kay rides her motorcycle from her home in Toronto to Casper Wyoming where she finds herself trapped in a religious cult with no prospect of escape.  

Hotel Paradisus

Colin finally gets a week away from looking after his very sick wife to recover his own health. Melanie is vacationing in the same hotel and they meet on the bus from the airport. She teaches Colin an important life lesson for a senior facing inevitable change.

I hope you will take  some time to read these stories and comment one way or the other.

Strong mandate

A Conservative Party fund raiser called recently. She said the party needs money to support the government stave off attacks of the Opposition and media as it undertakes to implement its strong mandate to complete Canada’s economic recovery and balance the federal budget by 2014-2015.

               The Conservative Party maintains a very effective fund raising component that greatly outperforms that of other parties. Since there has not been any report that it is in debt due to election expenses I suspect it is raising money to keep the money machine oiled.

               It is interesting to examine the ‘strong mandate’ the Government received from the electors in May last year. It did receive a mandate and a majority of the seats in Parliament thanks to 36.62% of the ballots cast. It is interesting to note that only 61.1% of the electorate actually cast a ballot and hence only 22% of the potential voters actually supported the Conservative Party or were interested enough to vote. Is 22% support a ‘strong’ mandate?

               The concept of a strong mandate, I suggest, is  to imply exceptional authority since the government already has sufficient authority by virtue of its majority in the House of Commons.

               The Conservative Party seems to feel government leadership is under attack from the Opposition and media. It must be said that it is the duty of the Opposition to oppose the government and, of course, the media are responsible to inform the public about the government activities. Is performing their duties an ‘attack’? Well maybe from the viewpoint of a secretive and undemocratic government. Certainly oppressive governments do not want opposition and public examination of their performance.

               It seems to me the Conservative Party may be raising money to obfuscate the activities of the government by weakening the Opposition and the media. This cannot be a valid reason to raise money between elections. When they call you, please think about it.