The Best of Times, Worst of Times

Sun again today. This is the second day in a row. It is quite windy though.

So the Utility Board had their open forum about the size of city council, and who gets up to speak, but the Mayor. Well yes, he says. City council is too large. It should be 15 not 23. He must figure he is on the way out anyway.

Yesterday, they had a council meeting. There is a big scandle going on, about the rock bands that come to the city during the summer. It seems that everyone got paid up front. They all got paid before the tickets were sold. The promoters, bands and everyone else who has their finger in it. They didn't need to worry about selling tickets, there was no more money to be made by doing so. This broke all the rules, and the Mayor had agreed to the whole thing.

Last evening, someone put up to vote to fire the Mayor. That didn't go anywhere. 17 - 3 to keep him. Maybe that 17 were in on the entertainment deal. And hey, there are lots of bands coming this summer. Did I fail to mention, the city pays when there are not enough tickets sold? I get to pay, even though I don't go to these shows. Entertainment for the masses. After all, you are not allowed to feed the christains to the lions. Then again, maybe we are being fed slowly.

Down behind my house, there is a shopping mall, and beyond that, the Forest Hills Parkway. At one end of the mall is Canadian Tire, with their own parking lot. After the store closes, the lot fills up with trailers, race cars, camp chairs and lots of beer. Soon, they are racing up and down the Parkway. The mounties get a lot of complaints, and what is their answer, "We're not interested in that."

The evening before yesterday, one of those guys must have run out of beer. Brandishing an axe, he robbed the Subway store in the same mall. I remember hearing a car just screaming out of the parking lot. I just happened to look at my watch at that time. Found out yesterday the robbery had occured just four minutes earlier. Guess we know who was in that car.

The mounties could have prevented that robbery, or even caught them in the act, if they had answered the complaint calls. They always seem to be conveniently ten miles away, doing rounds. Yesterday, all was back to normal, cars racing on the Parkway, everyone drinking beer and the cops doing rounds ten miles away.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.