Musings by Rod McQueen Blog

Reveries and revisits

In the last week, I’ve talked to half a dozen people who are headed to Florence this fall. Lucky them. This is absolutely the best time to be traveling there. The sweltering days of summer are gone and so are the throngs. The lineups at the Uffizi will be almost bearable; getting a table for dinner just about anywhere should be fairly easy. A few days ago, Sandy and I went for a walk there, too. We started at Via Roma 3, stopped at Gilli in Piazza della Repubblica for a latte, continued under arch, past Armani and Palazzo Strozzi...

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Stop! In the name of love

It may just have been coincidence, but the first vocals I heard this morning when I tuned into the “new” CBC Radio 2 were these opening lines from One sung by Johnny Cash: “Is it getting better/Or do you feel the same?” The answer: no, it’s not getting better and, yes, I do feel the same. Poor Tom Allen, host of Radio 2’s morning show for ten years, is doing his best under the new regime, but it’s sad to hear him talk about his mysterious playlist. Who exactly, I ask you, is the audience that CBC is aiming to...

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Glory days

In the last few months, Cito Gaston (Blue Jays), Cliff Fletcher (Leafs), Don Matthews (Argos) and Pat Quinn (world junior hockey), have all been hired to manage or otherwise lead teams. What do they have in common, other than talent? They’re all seniors. (OK, I cheated; Cito is a spring chicken at 64.) What does this say about sports? (a) It’s back to the 90s; (b) There’s no one else available; (c) Geezers are in style; (d) all of the above. If you answered (d), congratulations. You’re likely a geezer, too. I, for one, welcome this resurgence of retirees being...

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Women helping women

My wife Sandy has launched a new website, Women helping women. It’s about her art and her initiative concerning colorectal cancer. Take a look at http://www.sandramcqueen.com

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Ready, aye ready

That’s a silly looking photo of Rick Hillier in my morning paper. The former Chief of Defence Staff appears to be standing atop the stone plinth outside the TD branch at King and Bay promoting the bank he just joined. At this rate, TD CEO Ed Clark, another escapee from Ottawa who had previously retained former politician and ambassador Frank McKenna, will soon alter the entire culture at TD Bank. Clark’s performance is rightly praised but his predecessors did well, too, even those for whom Ottawa was a place you only visited every ten years when the Bank Act was...

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The first days of summer

The pink granite of the rock cut in the tiny town of Severn Bridge signals the beginning of Muskoka, Ontario’s finest playground since Timothy Eaton summered there in the nineteenth century. We spent this past weekend with family at Taboo, on Lake Muskoka, enjoying the best weather in weeks. The resort, that includes the home course of 2003 Masters winner Mike Weir, took on a particular resonance as Weir led the Deutsche Bank Championship after three rounds, only to be overtaken today by Vijay Singh and had to settle for second. Stories abound of McMansion cottages and noisy Sea-Doos ruining...

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The gang that couldn’t write straight

If The Globe and Mail hadn’t posted this story on their own website, I might not believe it. Canada’s national newspaper has signed a long-term printing contract with Transcontinental Inc. for $1.7 billion, yes billion, that runs from 2010 to 2028. Does the Globe know something that other newspapers don’t? Do they really think there will still be carriers throwing copies on doorsteps twenty years from now? What about the growing numbers of people who only read newspapers on the web or, long before 2028, via some other form of delivery? Or, just as likely, what if circulation continues to...

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The Americanization of me

In The Americanization of Emily, the 1964 classic film about D-Day, the storyline is not about how the English motor pool driver played by Julie Andrews becomes more like a Yank so much as it’s about how James Garner, American aide to an Admiral, becomes more British. The movie is a preachy tale about the virtues of war, or the lack thereof, focused on Garner’s altered state as he touts his lack of courage in battle. It’s also a witty look at the American propaganda machine, something that we Canadians like to think we’re immune to. I’m just back from...

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The mything man

Imagine my delight when I read about “a major Michelangelo exhibition” opening next week in Syracuse, New York, with works from Florence, an exhibit that will move to New York City later in the year. Imagine my disappointment when I went online and learned that the “major” exhibit, entitled “Michelangelo: The Man and the Myth,” has only fourteen items by the Man himself. Nor did my excitement grow when I read that eight of the works (five drawings and three manuscript pages) have never before been seen in the United States. According to the hype, “the exhibition will explore multiple...

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How do you solve a problem like money?

Most days, what’s in the Globe and Mail doesn’t matter very much. There might be a nice piece by Simon Houpt, the New York correspondent, or a witty column by Peggy Wente, but let’s face it: the Globe is a shadow of its former self. The paper breaks little news, has too few investigative features, and doesn’t always include the late ball scores. But today’s interview by Gord Pitts with RBC’s chief financial officer Janice Fukakusa was particularly revealing. “When we had the first signs of credit crunch a year ago, we were all thinking, ‘This is temporary.’ So we...

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Anchors away

Thank heaven for Erin Burnett at CNBC who may yet save television news from itself. For the time being, she’s stuck in the business ghetto, but will eventually graduate to The Show. Television anchors have been going downhill since David Brinkley retired to shill for Archer Daniels Midland and Dan Rather suffered a credibility crisis after using documents that lacked authenticity in a piece about George Bush’s National Guard service. What we’re left with is the chipper likes of Katie Couric, who can’t rescue the CBS Evening News, and Lou Dobbs, the Mr. Potato Head of prime time. I used...

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What, Me Worry?

I know, I know, everybody’s RSP is down 10 per cent in the last month, the value of your house has stopped rising for the first time since 1999 and there are lots of factories closing. So, why is everybody behaving as if nothing’s changed? Yesterday I drove from Toronto to Waterloo and back; today it was a round trip to Buffalo. Nobody’s slowing down to save on gas at $1.35/liter. I’m a conservative driver; 110 km/hr is just fine for me. Most of the traffic whizzed past doing at least 140 km/hr, a velocity at which fuel consumption has...

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Eternal travel

Had an email message from an old friend, Bruce Peer, who is traveling in Italy this month. His wife, Cath, is singing with her choir at venues across Italy and he’s tagging along. And what a group of venues they are, beginning with St. Mark’s in Venice and ending with St Peter’s in Rome. He happened to write from Florence where the choir appeared in Santo Stefano al Ponte, a beautiful church built in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The church, done in the Romanesque style with a polychrome marble fa?ade, has since been deconsecrated and is now used only...

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What bin do we use for politicians?

Our new recycling bin gets rolled out to the street tonight for the first time. It’s the size of our first apartment. What a ridiculous legacy for David Miller, mayor of all the people. Later in the year arrives another equally capacious contraption, this one for garbage. Finding a place to put that monstrosity should be fun. I’m a fan of recycling. I’ve been composting since I was a small boy. Look up my listing in the 1989 Who’s Who and you’ll see composting listed as a recreation along with country walks. For years I’ve been separating eggshells, coffee grounds,...

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Top ten things to do in Florence

A friend is taking his family to Florence this month. When he asked what they should see, Sandy and I told him about the many obvious sights: Ponte Vecchio, Michelangelo’s David at Accademia, Renaissance art at the Uffizi (be sure to book advance tickets to save yourself a two-hour wait on line), the Duomo and the Baptistery, and the Central Market. But we also made our top ten suggestions. Here they are for all to enjoy: Gilli, a restaurant in Piazza Della Repubblica. At mid-morning, order an espresso or caffe latte and choose a pastry. Our favorite was the bombolone....

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