The scale railway club at Centennial Park in North Burnaby had an annual meet up today andmodel railroad enthusiasts from all over the West Coast brought their locomotives to the facility of a little public fun. A $2.50 ride lasted for a good while and pulled the visitors through a very beautiful scenic country side with bridges, mountains, creeks and tunnels.

My Little Boy absolutely loved it! While I am talking about my son and not just the small squeak that still lives inside my head, I have to say that this event was just great. There were enough trains to take all comers on rides and no one had to wait very long. The trains were awesome. The club members were very “in character” and the sun shonefor the whole day. I did kinda wish my dad was here too but we will have some great stories for him.

I was able to strike up a conversation with John, the owner of one of the locomotives. We have some allied interests as I work for a company that makes diesel stoves (that he knew well) and he uses diesel to heat the boiler in his engine to make the steam that powers his train. Many of the other trains have propane powered boilers or are gas engine driven (like lawnmowers). He finished some maintenance and offered to take The Boy for a ride on the back of the locomotive. All of The Other Dads were super jealous.

I took pictures… I rode the trains… I talked to other men about diesel… I spent the day with my son experiencing a truely shared enthusiasm…Perfect.

Thank you Burnaby Train Guys. You are tops in my books.

I happened upon a question; “What ever happened to Shirley Temple, after she was no longer a child star?” All I had ever known from her was her iconic appearances as a dolled up child. Surely (Shirley) she had an adult life?

She did. In the photo she assisting Canadian Prime Minister Lyon Mackenzie King promote for volunteers for the Second World War. As Wikipedia quotes:

(Shirley Temple Black) subsequently became involved in Republican Party politics,
unsuccessfully entering a Congressional race in 1967 on a pro-war
platform. She went on to hold several diplomatic posts, serving as America’s
delegate to many international conferences and summits. She was appointed
American ambassador to Ghana (1974–76). In 1976, she became
the first female Chief of Protocol of the United
States which put in her charge of all State
Department ceremonies, visits, gifts to foreign leaders and co-ordination
of protocol issues with all US
embassies and consulates. She was ambassador to Czechoslovakia
(1989–92) and witnessed the Velvet
Revolution, about which she commented, “That was the
best job I ever had.” In 1987 she was designated the first Honorary Foreign Service
Officer in US
history by then US
Secretary of State, George Schultz.

I am glad to have learned that. Aren’t you?

Plus, she looks so hot (and a little like Breebop) with the Prime Minister.

For at least ten years, a community of people have been using False Creek, a former industrial sewer and more recently a focal point for a rapidly expanding civic rehabilitation zone, as a permanent anchoring site for their boats. The interesting twist is that the boats are inhabited, each a one or two bedroom apartment floating on the inlet.

As the surrounding neighborhood beautified and the average income of its residents skyrocketed, more and more complaints about the boat dwellers made it to city hall. Some of the boats are perfectly tidy boats but some are, ahem, creatively maintained. Many of the boats are commercial fishing craft converted to be ‘liveaboards’. There owners row back and fourth to their jobs and city activities, confident that the heavily integrated community that has been forged among the boaters of False Creek will keep their possessions safe and also comforted by the fact that the ebb and tide of parochial NIMBY-ism sometimes prevalent in city politics will not impact their way of life as False Creek is under the jurisdiction of a Federal government that, for the most part, has forgotten we exist and only speaks French anyway.

Until recently. Boaters, out! Find a new home or sell your boats! The boaters of False Creek must leave immediately now that the city has successfully lobbied Ottawa to change the navigation act to make False Creek a regulated anchorage area. The salty nonconformists must weigh anchor and move on.

I don’t know how I feel about this actually. I often liked the thought of having them there. It was quirky and community making and a good story to tell. I sometimes feel that governments can push for a civic state of being that is too sanitized and not folksy enough to represent an “organically cohesive” society and the result is social alienation. (eat that Emile Durkheim). It s true that new sewage regulation would have made the squatters (ha-ha) illegal anyway as it is now prohibited to discharge waste closer than 2 miles from land. (This regulation does not apply to the city of Victoria apparently, who dumps the contents of its citizen’s bowels into the Straight of Georgia. It also would require the building of a few hundred more pump-out stations), but considering that the Creek has not fully recovered from being a 70 year old industrial waste pool, 100 boaters seems less important.

Still, some of the boats looked kind of ratty. The Olympics are coming up (but should we remove a charming quirk?) and given the rudimentary nature of marine showers, these people probably smell.

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