Yes, folks, the North American ice hockey playoff cup final, the Stanley Cup, is scheduled to start the final series of 7 games here in Vancouver tonight at 5p.m. Pacific Standard Time. That's 1 a.m. in Inverness, tomorrow.

Vancouver has had a fabulous season and won everything in sight. The North American Hockey League overall title, the Western Conference Final, and individual player's National trophies and so on..

They have been to the Final twice in their 47 year history but never won it. This year's team has been honed to perfection and has just about everything, skill, physical power,the best two players in N.A. hockey, the best power play teams and a very intelligent coach who seems to have done the trick in making trades to strengthen and balance the team to make it the the best ever.

30,000 people showed up in the streets of the city to view the Western Final on big screens set up in streets which had been blocked off for vehicles. All games are on National T.V.

And the city and fans have been going crazy. The pubs, bars and hotels have been buzzing with activity. With hockey being the National Game of Canada, this is the BIG game.

It's impossible to not be part of it, to not have a wee tremble in the knees and a gripping of the stomach as the start of the first game draws closer.

We all know what's coming--frenetic pace, spills, thrills, brutal body checks, guys playing with broken noses , maybe a broken toe, dislocated shoulder and one player got a puck in the eye the other night and may be playing even having had eye surgeries recently. The fastest speed of a puck from a stationary position has been clocked at 109 miles per hour!. Imagine getting hit anywhere with that hard rubber , yet the guys will be trhowing themselves in front of goal to stop these missiles any way they can in order to win at all costs. Each line change will be made about every tweny to 30 seconds so that the players don't burn out too quickly.

There are three twenty-minute periods with small stoppages for TV advertising and a break of about 15 minutes between each period. Total Time about 3 hours. And that is assuming the game is not tied at the end of three periods, in which case another one or two overtime periods will have to be added on to get a result.

Then there are the goals; when you know that every one counts triple in importance than anything that has gone before in the entire season just finished it is a thrill when it happens and no mistake.For some players --most really--a shot at the Stanley Cup Final medal is something that is the apex of their career and a lifetime dream, rarely achieved.

And, of course we must not forget the noise..more like pandemonium with 24,000 people inside the stadium all waving something and cheering every play to the rafters.

Their opponents, the Boston Bruins, are not touted as favourites nor are they as skilled and fast as the Canucks but certainly know how to play blue-collar hockey; rough and tough and flat out, desperate , like.

The home team, however, are blistering fast with great inherent skills and great player depth where every player on all the four lines (of five players each line) can be called upon to insert himself into the game at any time and do a job.

Now I am off to get a cuppa before the two National Anthems are blared out by the singers standing on the ice. Wish us luck.....

C,mon Scotty, tune in I know you will enjoy it --an American team versus a Canajin one. Man, it will be like the fInal at last year's Olympics and you know what a great game thta was.

Cheers, you all

S.P.

WEll, everything went swimmingly with Vancouver winning the first two games at home in the 7-game Final.

However, the 3rd game was played last night in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. , and it turned out to be a mind-blowing experience for everyone who witnessed it.

After containing the Bruins handily in the first period and playing a good road game, things started to go haywire in the second period and by the time it was over the Canucks were down an astonishing 4-0.

But wait, as they say in all the best T.V. ads, we are not finished yet. In the third period, Boston went ape after a huge late hit on one of their best players which necessitated his removal to the hospital with severe concussion. Vancouver completely lost it and the final score was 8-1 in favour of the desperate flying Bruins.

Which means that Vancouver has to get it together for the fourth game tomorrow night in Boston before the return trip to Vancouver bcause, after this game, it is a one game in each city with the 7th and final game back home.

Every game has to be a win for someone--the second game went to two periods of overtime before Vancouver scored with 11 seconds left in the period to win it and get on the plane for the 4,000 mile journey to the east of the USA.

The feeling is that Vancouver still has the skill, poise and so forth to win the cup but after the blow-out last night, frankly it could be either team.

The only thing that the fans are certain about is that they are in for a rocky, but thrilling, ride with every indication being that this one is going to the last gasp in Vancouver and the Canucks will win it there - for the first time in their history.

The one silver lining is that this year has been a bonanza in terms of cash receipts for the Vancouver Canucks Franchise. I heard that a final ticket was going for about $845 Cdn but I also heard that $1500 was the top price.

Alistair in Victoria, what do you think of the series so far? And Scotty--did you see any of the games to date?

Cheers

S.P.

Scotty--did you see any of the games to date?

Nahh, not a hockey fan SP .... hardly surprising since I live in the city of the Maple Laffs.

Och! Life gets tejious don' it?

Oh dear, looks likle a very tense Wednesday night indeed. I genuinely thought Canuks were going to do a Mavericks last night, but never mind, they'll surely win it tomorrow night, won't they?

Knowledge

You are referring to tomorrow night I presume, 15 June 2011?

Here is a brief update on this last, but by no means least, staggering series against the Boston Bruins.

The shocks to end all shocks just keep on coming.

100,000 fans turned up downtown in Vancouver last week to watch game 5 played in Vancouver on the outdoor screens; to be rewarded by a 1-0 victory for the home lot which sent them off on the plane Boston for game 6,trying to forget the last two games in that USA town when they lost by 8-1 and 4-0 respectively.

At that point in time Boston had evened the series at 2-2. So the 1-0 victory in the second period of overtime at home sent them ahead 3-2 in the series.

However they had also made a point of retaliating against the Bruins for the rough stuff perpetrated against them in the first game held in Boston which rocked the Canucks back on their heels and left them completely outplayed and wincing from emotional pain at the unbelievable loss of goals that they endured.

It had then become clear to them that silky play was never going to work against a very hard-working, very rough team like the Bruins. Of course when they arrived in that town to play game 6 last night the crowd was by then very hostile and this time they eased off on the rough stuff.

So,in the first few minutes of the game one of the Canucks players was carted off to the hospital with a suspcteded serious injury to his spine with two more having to retire from the game also. The refs were not calling bad stuff rained down on the Canucks and that did not help.

Then a quick goal against them led to the Bruins scoring 4 goals in the space of four minutes and the game was over as a contest before the first period was half-way done..The final score was Bruins 5 Canucks 2 and the team returned to Vancouver for the very last game in the Stanley Cup series for this year --game 7 on home ice here in Vancouver tomorrow night.

In this game the winner takes all, the cup, the plaudits, the glory etc., and all after a tremndously punishing play offs series against 4 teams lasting two months, with a game almost every 2 days. The tension in the city is palpable and since there is no guarantee whatsoever that the local team will win at all , let alone easily, everyone is fearful and tense and the fans are wondering if their goalie (On $10 million per year) will have another terrible stinker or have a great game like the last game 5 in Vancouver when he was brilliant and had a shut-out.

The tension in the arena tomorrow night will have to be felt to be understood. Both teams will have to play flat out and their energy quotient will have to be ramped up to levels not even known to themselves, not to mention their physicality.

In this series the Canucks have been very good on home ice and awful away--nerves etc. So, it's definitely 50-50 and the best team will assuredly be the winner. If they leave everything on the table at the end of the game and win then the city can enjoy the biggest party that it has ever seen --47 years in business is a long, long time to wait for such a victory.

After last night's loss, when they expected to be returning to the city with the cup in their luggage,the coaches and management looked sick; especially when the number of goals scored agaisnt them was so high.

The Bruins, however, have probably the best goalie in the league and so far Thomas has stopped some 0.98% of all shots made against him and just seems to be unbeatable (last night he stopped 66 out of 68 shots!)...and that is what the Canucks have to do to win--find a way to get him out of his crease and get at the goal from the sides --or something--anything!!! Wane smile.

Wish us all well here in La La Land folks. Looks like we may need it. But, Pssst! I think we are going to win........

Well tonight is the final Final game. Tension is running high most people have no finger nails left. When mine ran out I started on my finger skin.

Ticket prices yesterday were at a low of $1,700 if available for a lowly seat to $2,000 for a good seat. Now they are all gone.

The National Hockey League are considering releasing more tickets today:-

_

The quoted price for a ticket almost in the toilets is $2,000 (1234 pounds) and a centre mid level

seat with a great view of the ice is ...wait-for-it, folks...

$10,000 --------ten thousand dollars, Canadian.

(6,155 Pounds).

Now that was a real shock I must say. I expected maybe $3,000.

So the puck drops at 5 p.m. Western Pacific Time -- OOPs!That's in about two hours.

Better go and do some miles on the bike to calm me dowm,nice cup of tea and then a bee-line to the cupborad for the Sm sm sm sm smelling Salts.

Plus a CoEnzyme Q10 to steady the old heartbeat perhaps.

Cheers

Scarlet the Scared

Well, that was a let down! Was in a house full of Vancouver fans, and didn't everyone head to bed pissed off. What were they playing at? So many miss hits and fresh air swipes. I missed the first ten minutes but, from what I did see, Vancouver had one clear cut chance in the whole game. Boston got lucky for third, but were much more clinical in thought and execution through out the whole game. Really disappointed for the Canucks.

The supporters dinnae seem to take it too well.....

Ice Hockeys old firm??

better pictures here:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/photos-of-vancouver-rioting/article2062983/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/embarrassment-shame-in-aftermath-of-vancouver-riot/article2062706/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/facing-down-vancouvers-rioters-this-is-my-neighbourhood/article2063031/

They also riot in Montreal after certain sporting losses but they are used to it there !!!! Toronto sports fans dont riot .... We havent got to the final of anything major in years so have probably forgotten how ..... well unless you count the G20 riots last year but a lot of that was attributed to the oxymoron that is "organised anarchy groups". !

There's gonna be a lot of arrests in the days and weeks to come .... all those "brave" folks in various pictures and/or videos who are looting, rioting, burning or turning over cars etc will be identified and there will be a knock (or a battering ram) at their door when the police come to invite them for a quick chat !!!!!!

And before SP asks ..... didnt watch the game, was too busy watching TSN where TFC were playing New England in a 0-0 draw.

OOPS! I was hoping that you would not see any of this overseas but I suppose someone had to out it and it has been the main talking point on the news ever since.

Shocking is not the word for it.

It was not the main bulk of the well-over 100,000 fans that started drinking in the early afternoon downtown when the pubs gleefully opened up to rake in the hordes of doubloons.

Nor, indeed, was it the fault of the majority of those fans who had come downtown to either see the game in the stadium or watch it on the big screens peacefully and joyfully. They were as sad as anyone else that all the effort and work was for nought as the Boston Bruins clearly demonstrated on the night that they were the better team.However they were not to blame -directly.

Bostons's goals were not as brilliant as their goalie, Mr Thomas, aged 37 (!!)--anything but. The Canucks goalie should have stopped the first speculative shot but failed, the second was a scrappy effort that just trickled over the line in a goalmouth scrum, the third was due to a very hard-working Bruin never giving up and doing the wrap around the net on his skates and then jamming it in at the lower corner of the net stanchion while Luongo got tangled up with another Canuck and just could not reach out in time on his belly to catch it. The fourth was a score on an empty net from distance by another high flying Bruin past a despairing last ditch attempt be a defender to stop it whilst the goalie was sitting on the bench having been pulled in order to send on another attacker to try to salvage something from the game. All of this could easily have happened at the other end of the rink had Thomas not been superb--needless to say he was handed the :Conn Smythe" trophy as the star of the playoffs. The standing ovation he got from all the fans in the building was Richly deserved.

Knowledge put very well. Passes that were not made to a teammate, passes to opposing players, shots that never completed because a Canuck took his eye off the puck and fanned on it.Etc. They simply did not match the Bruins ultimately in all these skills plus they were taking too long to decide when and how to deliver a pass whilst the opposition were doing the simple thins very well--get the puck up the ice into the other team's end and skate after it. The intensity was not there and the Bruins had learned that they must up their game or lose. And they did this at every level--passion, intensity,hard battles along the boards, great hard accurate passing. They really did well and it was so disappointing as we watched the frustration of our team mounting as they failed time and again to even get a chance of scoring.

Yet they started well, pinning the Bruins back in their end for the major part of the opening period. Did they have bad luck? Sure! Several times.- -a bad bounce at a crucial moment, a desperate, tiny touch on the puck by a Bruin whilst the stick was about to crash it netwards with an excellent chance of scoring, a goalie who stymied them every time when it looked easier to score. It got so that in the third period I thought that truly they never would score against Thomas and that was a sombre, sad moment of realisation that the game was really over before half-way through the period.

The riot started with a relatively small group of drunken hooligans turning over a car with no police around. Thousands of people had thronged downtown during the Olympics amidst a great joyous feeling for all, resulted in no trouble whatsoever, and the cops thought that this was again going to be the scene. However, there were hooligans who had come downtown with mayhem in mind not just to have a good time.No police showed up so they burnt a car, then two cop cars parked nearby and so on. Fences were torn down and used as missiles against other fans and still the cops did not arrive in force.In other parts of the city looting and fires were also happening a nd the mayhem raged on whilst far too many decent fans just stood and gawped making the job of the police even more difficult. They then brought in a dog or two, started throwing pepper spray canisters (not tear gas by the way), four horses with Mounties on them, and finally managed to get th\e crowd to move on. The problem then was that the Skytrain stations were so packed with people trying to get out that the trains could not cope and the busses had refused to come into the city centre. Patrons of the local Queen Elizabeth Theatre who had many children with them were too terrified to come out and therefore were stuck there until much later in the evening, and so on. The riot squad then appeared but generally just stood off because the crowd still was so large that it was completely impossible to do anything constructive.

Fault?-the police had badly miscalculated. Then there were the hooligans who donned black masks who clearly were not there for a good time but were hell-bent on causing serious carnage, disruption, trouble,looting and huge damage.The Mayor of Vancouver threatend "These people will be held accountable" How, Grigor? How many bystanders ? Most of them had either a sickly, incredulous and nervous smile on their faces or were smiling--especially the young girls and boys who clearly had had far too much to drink.

How to control this?-Find the culprits and make an example of them.These are not just drunken kids doing stupid things but self-indulgent, evil criminals so a rather lengthy jail term and a $10,000 dollar fine each plus serious controls on their movements within the City boundaries for at least five years, etc., may help.

If the police beat the sh--t out of their fat, slobbery buttocks too I would favour turning a blind eye--let them never forget,I say.

And implementing serious measures so that any huge crowd downtown will in future be in strict blocks and patrolled by countless heavily-armed riot police or crowds banned altogether there for the foreseeable future would also help. Oh, and closing all pubs and taverns before midday on the day in question too. Draconian? Well, this is pre-planned anarchy from wasters which is extremely damaging to property, lives and the Tourism Industry, etc. So send any suggestions to Christy Clark, Premier, The Legislature, Victoria, B.C. Canada please. ....soon!

Good story scarlet.

Well Mannie there is kind of a silver lining.

The next day thousands of angry or rueful fans came downtown to help in cleaning the place up. The hoardings which covered the broken windows were covered in sympathetic messages also so support for the victims is strong.

Maybe, after they woke up sober, many people realised what a horrific and stupid night's work had been perpetrated on the city and decided to see what they could do to at least try to make amends.

Not sure what Jim Chiu, the Police Chief, has in mind to find the culprits but we all hope that the population in general will try to help him to identify those who started it all as soon as possible.What is definite is that this "riot" was much worse than that of the one in 1994 when the Canucks last got to the Final. So the "Authorities" had better get on to it and do a much better job this time because the local Mayor, Gregor Robertson, rather shamefacedly admitted on the National CBC T.V. this this morning that some of the recommendations that had come out of the last public enquiry after the 1994 fiasco were never actually implemented subsequently. Go Figure!

As for the hockey team I haven't the faintest idea what has happened to them , what the players have said or anything else at all, because the mayhem has pushed them, the NHL and the Stanley Cup right into the background.Must go out tomorrow morning , pick up a paper and read it in the local favourite restaurant to catch up on what is happening though.

Very disappointing end to the whole shebang I must say. I don't think that the CUP will be coming this way again any time soon. Oh well, it was a blast while it lasted.

liking

Cutie

not that im condoning her in any way lol

Tug

That photo was a real scoop for the fellow who saw the couple and snapped it. The boy says that his girlfriend was upset over the shocking conduct of the loons in this affair affair,had collapsed on the ground crying and he had simply bent down to comfort her.

On the news today is the fact that this iconic photo is now all over the world and he has been offered a good job in an advertising agency or something in his home in Australia and this girl, who is Canadian, is going back there with him.

As for the aftermath of this incredible affair, the word on the street here in my town, which is about 60 Kilometres from the centre of the City of Vancouver, is that the idiot who set the police cars(s) on fire is the son of a local Surgeon who just happens to live in this town also. From what I can gather, it looks like the spoilt brat son has now turned himself into the police. Already he has been notified that a Scholarship to University that he had been awarded by the Government, or some other private source, has been cancelled--so Daddy will have to pay all his future education bills-- that is if any University in North America will accept him!

The media showed up at his father's home on Thursday but the Dad was not interviewed, preferring to remain under the table in his cellar until nighfall. No doubt he is being treated by another local Doctor for shock and awe.Clearly he did not do a good job of bringing up his offspring. Rich kids in areas like West Vancouver , where all the wealthy live, are known to be serious drug users and are also known to police for a variety of ....er....misdemeanours.

Stories have surfaced also of people who already have been terminated permanently from their jobs when the employer saw them on the T.V.

As for the police, the outpouring of admiration for their self-control and general handling of the riot, together with the sympathy of the citizens of this region, has been awesome. A policeman parked his car downtown two days ago and when he returned the car was totally covered in all kinds of different coloured little office stickers expressing love, admiration and all other good feelings. Folks had come out of their offices hearing the commotion going on outside and had joined in. So there you go. Apparently the police officer was close to tears after he returned to the car and saw what the good citizens had done to it.The reputation of the Vancouver police(they are NOT the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which is a federal body)has been enhanced and this is a very positive change because they have not in past years been known for being shrinking violets or a body of persons who always have done the right thing (e.g. remember the killing of Djekanski with electronic Taser guns at Vancouver Airport a couple of years ago) so viewing this incident as a catalyst for improvement in relations with the populace is a very good thing.A cynic might say "long may it last".

The plywood hoardings, which had been used to cover the smashed glass of the large downtown stores,such as the Bay (The Hudson's Bay Company), have been also completely covered in goodwill messages. Someone brought out a ladder in one place so that people could climb up to the top to continue writing notes on it because the lower half was completely full.

The police have set up their own website (Facebook) to encourage folks to contact them as witnesses and tips are literally pouring in. I think the figure is three hundred thousand (300,000)to date, which is at least 3 times the number of fans who packed the downtown streets that evening.

They state that they also have one million (1,000,000) photos to scrutinise and also one thousand (1,000)hoursof video to go over.

Further, 100 rioters have been arrested and a further 300 arrests are in the works and people have been phoned and told "don't leave town, we are coming for you."

Medals of recognition for bravery are to be issued to those few who stepped forward to intervene as well-meaning fans simply trying to stop the damage and been turned on by the morons and had their lives put at risk.

To be truthful, the whole city is angry and ashamed at the conduct of their participating youth and especially when we see videos on the TV from China lampooning all Canadianns as buffoons.

I would not be surprised if a number of cameras will now be placed on street posts , as I understand you have in Britain. So far we have been spared that ignominy. My view is that we don't need them with all the cameras on cell phones that exist nowadays. And, thank goodness, we have no incidents of terrorism yet in this area of Western Canada.

Cheers from a very cold La La Land--I put the heating on yesterday and again today because we were frozen.Coldest spring on record so say the pundits.

Tug

That photo was a real scoop for the fellow who saw the couple and snapped it. The boy says that his girlfriend was upset over the shocking conduct of the loons in this affair affair,had collapsed on the ground crying and he had simply bent down to comfort her.

On the news today is the fact that this iconic photo is now all over the world and he has been offered a good job in an advertising agency or something in his home in Australia and this girl, who is Canadian, is going back there with him.

As for the aftermath of this incredible affair, the word on the street here in my town, which is about 60 Kilometres from the centre of the City of Vancouver, is that the idiot who set the police cars(s) on fire is the son of a local Surgeon who just happens to live in this town also. From what I can gather, it looks like the spoilt brat son has now turned himself into the police. Already he has been notified that a Scholarship to University that he had been awarded by the Government, or some other private source, has been cancelled--so Daddy will have to pay all his future education bills-- that is if any University in North America will accept him!

The media showed up at his father's home on Thursday but the Dad was not interviewed, preferring to remain under the table in his cellar until nighfall. No doubt he is being treated by another local Doctor for shock and awe.Clearly he did not do a good job of bringing up his offspring. Rich kids in areas like West Vancouver , where all the wealthy live, are known to be serious drug users and are also known to police for a variety of ....er....misdemeanours.

Stories have surfaced also of people who already have been terminated permanently from their jobs when the employer saw them on the T.V.

As for the police, the outpouring of admiration for their self-control and general handling of the riot, together with the sympathy of the citizens of this region, has been awesome. A policeman parked his car downtown two days ago and when he returned the car was totally covered in all kinds of different coloured little office stickers expressing love, admiration and all other good feelings. Folks had come out of their offices hearing the commotion going on outside and had joined in. So there you go. Apparently the police officer was close to tears after he returned to the car and saw what the good citizens had done to it.The reputation of the Vancouver police(they are NOT the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which is a federal body)has been enhanced and this is a very positive change because they have not in past years been known for being shrinking violets or a body of persons who always have done the right thing (e.g. remember the killing of Djekanski with electronic Taser guns at Vancouver Airport a couple of years ago) so viewing this incident as a catalyst for improvement in relations with the populace is a very good thing.A cynic might say "long may it last".

The plywood hoardings, which had been used to cover the smashed glass of the large downtown stores,such as the Bay (The Hudson's Bay Company), have been also completely covered in goodwill messages. Someone brought out a ladder in one place so that people could climb up to the top to continue writing notes on it because the lower half was completely full.

The police have set up their own website (Facebook) to encourage folks to contact them as witnesses and tips are literally pouring in. I think the figure is three hundred thousand (300,000)to date, which is at least 3 times the number of fans who packed the downtown streets that evening.

They state that they also have one million (1,000,000) photos to scrutinise and also one thousand (1,000)hoursof video to go over.

Further, 100 rioters have been arrested and a further 300 arrests are in the works and people have been phoned and told "don't leave town, we are coming for you."

Medals of recognition for bravery are to be issued to those few who stepped forward to intervene as well-meaning fans simply trying to stop the damage and been turned on by the morons and had their lives put at risk.

To be truthful, the whole city is angry and ashamed at the conduct of their participating youth and especially when we see videos on the TV from China lampooning all Canadianns as buffoons.

I would not be surprised if a number of cameras will now be placed on street posts , as I understand you have in Britain. So far we have been spared that ignominy. My view is that we don't need them with all the cameras on cell phones that exist nowadays. And, thank goodness, we have no incidents of terrorism yet in this area of Western Canada.

Cheers from a very cold La La Land--I put the heating on yesterday and again today because we were frozen.Coldest spring on record so say the pundits.

was referring to the girl on page 23 or 25 i think it was.... very cute lol

Tug----------- Eh?

The city's cultural staff and engineers , the Vancouver Museum and the Hudson's Bay Company are now working together to preserve the plywood hoardings with the scrawled messages upon their faces as some kind of memorial and testament to how the citizens dealt with the results of these riots. Hmmm!? Nice thought but putting them in the Archives after displaying them may have the effect of inflaming passions again amongst the outraged public so..? Knee-jerk reactions possibly.

The citizens themselves, however , are simmering with repressed anger as headlines in the local papers read "Public anger rages on." and.."Public out to shame people identified in riot photos" and."Youth's family forced from home because of hostile backlash." Sells papers,like.

The last headline refers to the 17-year old youth who tried to torch the police car with a flaming rag but failed. He went public and made a tearful apology which seems to only have fanned the flames of rage against him and the other criminals. So the family fled their home expecting retribution. Meanwhile, his lawyer dutifully advised us that his apology was "heartfelt" and that "he had missed his high school convocation and had been expelled from the Canadian junior national water polo league, on top of whatever criminal charges await, etc." and then went on to blame the public anger against him as "

There is an old saying that he could have heeded before sayiong anything ..."Fools rush in where Angels fear to tread." Oh my!!

Meanwhile, the 2.6 million people who have generously expressed their opinion on the matter to certain senior authorities in no uncertain terms are now expected to listen to a figure (or should it be a figurine) prominent in the Government Law Offices stating.. "Well, er,. this is going to take a lot of time to sort out and if we are not able to get our hands on the actual merchandise stolen from the shops, we may not be able to press charges" whilst suggesting that no one take vigilante action whilst the police are sorting it all out.

"O.K. guys we will just roll over,eh, and let you do your thing?"

This earth-shaking comment forced Robert Gordon, the Head of Simon Fraser University Criminology Department, to stir from his academic torpor up on the hill overlooking the beautiful Burrard Inlet to intone .."The outrage is so strong that people don't really care too much about hurting livelihoods. It's a question of just desserts. It's not over--the shaming process can be more effective than the criminal system for some people".

To other important matters ...Another headline in the local paper advises us that Conservation officers have been obliged to shoot 2 out of 30 bears in a place some 500 Kilometers East of Vancouver which had been encouraged to patrol the grounds of an illegal B.C. Marijuana grow op.

Apparently the enterprising owner of the said scheme had been leaving dog food out in garbage cans to encourage them to visit frequently. Unfortunately the bears' Council had decided to expand their territory and start showing up on the decks of other properties nearby thus initiating general freak-outs .

Ha Ha Ha.

If anyone of you ladies and gentlemen think that you are leading a boring life in Inverness you could always try British Columbia for a wee while. And I could do with a cheery chat or two with some new people. Retiring is not for everybody I can assure you; being cooped up at home with rainy weather always around you..It's the cooping that gets you,folks, the cooping LOL

Believe me, I don't need to leave the house these days because there is enough action on the daily TV to go around and leave most citizens either excited or having a heart attack.Boredom is not an option. LOL.

Mind you, it really is a lovely place to be.