Athot for the Day: A Perfect Symbiosis

What does it matter?

It matters not.

Picturing: The Toronto Sky Would Soon Open

Today we had a tornado warning here in southern Ontario. While I was relaxing reading, I realized the sky had suddenly turned dark. I grabbed my trusty Canon and fired away. By the way, that is not a bird in the sky, but a plastic bag. There was an updraft pulling aloft pieces of plastic. Then the rain hammered down; the wind carried it almost horizontally. It was that kind of fifteen minutes!

Picturing: State Street Financial Centre (Toronto)

This afternoon I met a colleague for lunch in downtown Toronto. While waiting I decided to take a snap of a building that towered before me. In many ways, this city is so 'chill'. The atmosphere, even with the usual city vehicle traffic, was pretty relaxing today.

But.

But, that humidity! It's off the scale!

Picturing: RCAF Canadair Sabre at CWHM

That's one beautiful former Royal Canadian Air Force machine at the inviting and impressive Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton, Ontario. During his earliest days serving with the RCAF, my dad worked as an armourer on these great fighting machines.

Liberal Party of Canada Mailing of Note

The Liberals are BUILDING ON THIS MOMENTUM ....

After yesterday's three byelections, three convincing wins, there is incontrovertible proof that indeed we are building on that momentum.

Awesome!

Athot for the Day: It's Just the Way They Are

Today's Conservatives are the ultimate ultracrepidarians.

A Place to Swim, a Place to Row" (Lake Ontario)

Give us a place to swim, and a place to row, 

And call this Lake Ontario!

A place to see for you and me,

With fun as wide as the largest sea!

A place to swim, a place to row,

Lake Ontari-ari-ari-o!

Quote: One of My Dad's Best Bits of Advice

"Jesus Christ! If that bothers you, you had better pack it in, right now!"

From a war vet, one who flew as a gunner on Lancaster bombers, and who almost got "the chop" a couple of times while flying on Ops (missions). One looks at life and its problems in a new way after such harrowing and sobering experiences.

Humour: A Hand Phaser is Not a Cat Toy

"Honey, do you know where the kids are?"

Athot for the Day: Fool's Gold in Orange

Give Donald Trump an ingot, and he'll take a mine.

Poem: Cool Relief (Reprise)

Cool air is back!
It surrounds us

Gone for months
I missed it so much

Stifling, life-sucking
super-heat came
back in the spring

Sapping one's energy
replacing it with lethargy

Shirt-soaking humidity
Much worse in the city

cursed words out loud
looking for a rain cloud

Was it so hard to ask
for relief from
extreme heat and its blast?

we asked
How long can it last?!

Cool air came back

and it kisses me.

Hope it lasts....

___

2019

Simon St. Laurent

Quote: Me on Primed Numbers

"A statistic by itself, removed from context, is but a naked number."

Statistics, statistics, statistics, and much more....

Athot for the Day: Attack of the Puppet People

Today's Conservative: Nervous rex

Sunday Fun: Matinee Movie Fun — Daleks!

Browsing the Internet in the morning does have its positive moments. A British bloke noted that it was on this date in 1965 that Doctor Who's feature film spinoff  Dr. Who and The Daleks premiered in the UK. While I was just old enough to have seen the inaugural big-screen Who when it hit this side of the pond, I did not see it. Perhaps my dad felt that the Dell tie-in comic book would suffice... a nice treat after being treated to a nice crew cut. After all, mere months before that trim, I watched the original television chapter play on which the Techniscope treatment was based and it scared a three-year-old half-pint half way to the planet Skaro. I told that story here.

Enjoy!

Time travel to 1973/74....

As we sat on our bicycle seats, my friends and I were transfixed by the showbill posted outside CFB Borden's "Astral" theatre. Must see movie.

"Mom!" She was sitting at her Singer sewing machine. "Doctor Who's playing. Can I have a quarter?" Mom stopped and handed me admission for a matinee special. No doubt what prompted her agreeable reply to my request was her proud British background. She was well aware of Doctor Who and would have rated a British picture as special entertainment for any one of her children. ("When Doctor Who's on, the streets are bare.")

"Si", whispered friend Glen after he spotted me slowly and carefully making my way down the aisle, my eyes having not yet fully adjusted to the subdued light. He had the aisle seat to my immediate right. I tucked past him and took my seat. As events unfolded, a popcorn flick didn't need popcorn.

(I joined the film in progress, as I'm sure the reader has surmised.)

Last October I rewatched Dr. Who and The Daleks and enjoyed it, even if it was clearly inferior to the original, and creepy, tele-story. Note that "Doctor Who" became "Dr. Who". For obvious reasons, the filmmakers from Amicus Productions had an eye on the US marketplace. In the name of narrative efficiency, the Doctor's backstory had been completely eliminated. The original interdimensional time-traveller was now an eccentric Earth scientist and inventor. William Hartnell's telly Doctor was mysterious and sometimes creepy; widescreen Dr. was played by Peter Cushing as a kindly old grandfather, more in keeping with kiddy matinee-movie friendly fare.

RePost: Interview with RCAF 'Yukon' Pilot Larry Byrne

On Thursday of last week (August 13) I reposted a piece on the RCAF Yukon, a piece which was an extension of one I reposted the day before on the RCAF Hercules.

Transport aircraft of the Royal Canadian Air Force!

To continue with the Yukon theme....

Canadair CC-106 "Yukon" transport aircraft of the RCAF.

As I've mentioned on this website before, my father was a career serviceman in the RCAF (Royal Canadian Air Force) and, from 1968, after "Unification" had taken place, the Canadian Armed Forces. As a "dependent", or "brat", I was whisked about when I was growing up: RCAF Station St. Hubert, Quebec; RCAF Station Greenwood, Nova Scotia; RCAF Station (called "Canadian Forces Base" after 1968) Baden-Soellingen, West Germany; and finally, CFB Borden, Ontario.

In the summer of 1966, which I remember very well, too well, my next door neighbour, and best friend, told me with great enthusiasm, "We're going to Winnipeg!". He was bloody excited! I remember feeling a little down, partially because I'd be losing a good friend. I needn't have worried; days or weeks later my dad came home from work with the news that we were going to West Germany. That was exciting news for me. Bloody exciting! Not long after that, in October, I boarded a "Yukon" (or "Yuke") at RCAF Station Trenton for what would be a thirteen hour flight to RCAF Station Lahr, West Germany — which is where 437 Transport Squadron flew to in order to deliver service people and their families.

(I should note that not all former brats have fond memories of being the offspring of a military father — and/or mother — who was frequently "posted" to another location. In my time this would happen every four years or so. It has been said that it's stressful to move around constantly in your childhood, but I never had a problem with that; it was an exciting time. After all, being a brat was the only life I knew. Also, you tended to follow each other around. One guy I remember, Mike White, I knew in West Germany and was eventually re-teamed with him back in Ontario.)

Let's time travel forward to the summer of 2005: While enjoying a beer on a patio here in Toronto I was sideswiped by a flood of memories, helped no doubt by the alcohol, of the Canadair CC-106 Yukon. To make a long story short here I ended up researching and writing a piece on the Yuke and her crews: a piece I titled, "Yukon Crews".

One person I interviewed, in this case via telephone, was former Yukon pilot Larry Byrne. He was very pleasant and generous in recounting his memories of his time flying with the RCAF, and with American Airlines.


Simon St. Laurent: When did you join the [RCAF] and when did you start flying Yukons?

Larry Byrne: I joined the service in the summer of '52 and I commenced flying Yukons on January the 4^th, of ’62. It was ten years later.

SS: Were you a captain?

LB: Well, everyone starts out as a first officer, so when I started flying the Yukon, of course, I went to the OTU [Operational Training Unit]. As I remember, I think we were Course-1 on the Yukon. There were other people who had gone to the company and got, had their training and those were the guys who instructed us. You used to go through the OTU and then you’d fly as a first officer until your turn comes up for captain. And then you’d go back to the school again and go through with the tests, etc., and a check ride, and you’re flying as captain.

SS: Did you like flying the aircraft? Was it a pleasure to fly or was it a handful?

LB: Oh no, I enjoyed the airplane very much. It was a unique airplane at the time and I certainly enjoyed it. I can’t speak for other people but I liked the airplane a lot.

SS: Based on the Bristol Britannia, of course. New engines.

LB: We used to start out… it was interesting because, when we fly across the Atlantic at that time, about the only aircraft flying across the Atlantic were mostly pistons, and they were at lower altitude. We’d start out of Trenton at about seventeen to eighteen thousand feet, something like that, and then we could get a cruise climb that, there was so little traffic, we could actually get. You couldn’t do it today. But we used to get a cruise climb and we’d wind up over Europe at, you know, thirty-one/thirty-two thousand feet.

SS: The Britannia was a revolutionary aircraft in that way having turbines but it was just a little late as they say because the jets were right around the corner.

LB: That’s right, the same thing, of course, applied to the Yukon. The jets were coming and then, but at the time it was a very unique airplane.

SS: How did you feel about Canada adopting the Yukon and not going with the [Boeing] 707, which was actually the transport version, was actually coming out on the market or had been. Did you feel that was a good decision or you don’t really care? You just....

LB: Ah, frankly, no, I don’t care. I mean I flew the 707 when I got with American Airlines. Fine airplane… several different models of it. And, like I said, it was a fine airplane but at the time I never thought about Canada even considering buying the jet instead of the Yukon. After all, the Yukon was Canadian built too, you know.

SS: Yeah, it was built apparently, as I found out, because it was a bit of a work program because there was lack of work [at Canadair], and the government thought, 'okay, well we’ll just make an aircraft'. So that’s how the Yukon came to be and, of course, the commercial version; the CL-44. Of course, that’s not a concern of yours.

LB: Like I said, from my viewpoint that would have something to do with whether what airplane we should buy. If you got an airplane that'll do the job and it's built in Canada then I would say that’s the one were gonna buy.

SS: One concern that I know that David Adamson had. He was responsible because he was the squadron commander, wasn’t he? He was concerned about just the compatibility, because he said the problem with the Yukon, for instance, if it flew to some weird destination [and there was a need for a new or replacement part] there was not a commonality in parts.

LB: No, that is true. You were kinda stuck in a way because there just weren’t any around. I had an incident in Cyprus one time when we blew a couple of tires, and we wound up… they flew us in from an airbase on the south end, side of the island. They actually flew us in a couple of Britannia tires, which were too light for our airplane, but we put ’em on and they said that they would be good for a couple of landings. And all we had to do is get back to [RCAF Station] Marville [France], where we had tires of our own. As an instance, you know it was a problem if you got stuck some place in the boonies, you were stuck.

SS: Exactly, where obviously with the jets there was a little more commonality because more and more….

LB: You see there weren’t a lot of jets flying around at that time. I mean, the airplane was a little ahead of that, at least if my memory serves me right. The jets didn’t come along till after, or later. Let me put it another way... later on.

SS: We’ll talk in more positive terms, one thing I understand is pilots I’ve talked to are just amazed at the almost squeaky clean record the machine had for just serviceability and everything and, of course, no lives being lost and….

LB: No, and it was amazingly reliable. If I had anything that I didn’t like about the airplane was the fact that we had a heater in the tail and there was something that bothered me all the time about lighting a fire back in your tail (laughs).

SS: Was it an APU [Auxiliary Power Unit] or something?

LB: No it was a heater for deicing the empennage [tail] at the back, and like I said it always made me kinda nervous (laughs).

SS: But so you’re the same you never had any scares at twenty/thirty thousand feet or anything?

LB: No. No, I had nothing. I’ll tell you, Simon, I’ve been blessed in all my flying, [in] all my forty odd years I never had anything… really… serious.

SS: That’s great to hear.

LB: Some of my friends, my best friends and they’re very, very good pilots. Geez, every time they turn around it seemed to me they were losing an engine (laughs), or something was going wrong (laughs), but I was just very well, I was just absolutely blessed.

SS: So let me understand, Larry, when you left the RCAF, and as you said in an e-mail, they were polishing a desk for you.

LB: Yeah, that’s what was gonna happen.

SS: At what phase did you finish your tour with Yukons?

LB: Well I had already finished my tour on the squadron, I was then transferred to the OTU and I was instructing on the Yukon, and I guess I could look and get you the exact dates if that’s necessary but I… as I remember I spent around a year, maybe a year and a half, at the OTU and then my transfer was coming through. They told me that I was going to Ottawa to 'Personnel', and I just didn’t want to do it.

SS: You know if I flew myself, no way.

LB: Well, you know, if I thought that I was going to become a general or a staff officer or something… of some importance it would have been different, but I was a flight lieutenant and I was obviously, to my mind, was not going anywhere. And so some personal things entered into it and I decided I was going to kick over the traces as it were and I applied to several of the airlines and American called me and said 'come on down', and it was a good move for me.

SS: Now, of course, if you had have stayed with the [RCAF] at that point — the conversion over to 707s — that actually hadn’t happened with you. So when you went to American Airlines, they trained you on 707s?

LB: Oh, yeah. Well I started out on the Electra.

SS: The Lockheed Electra?

LB: Yeah, everybody starts at the bottom, and so you go in and I went to school and I became an engineer on the Electra. And I flew that for six or eight months and then I went to first officer school on the BAC111, and flew the BAC, and then I flew the 727, and then I flew the 707, and I flew the 747, and the DC-10.

SS: What did you think about the DC-10?

LB: Oh I loved the DC-10, it was a nice airplane.

SS: I’m old enough to remember the big accidents there.

LB: Oh yeah. Well, you know, in fact the aircraft... the first officer on that trip in Chicago when the engine came off, he was a classmate of mine. So, [I flew on the DC-10 for a] long time as a first officer. At the airlines you move with a very strict seniority system, and when I finished the DC-10 I went to captains' school on the 727. And then I flew out of the left seat in the 727, and then the 767, and then I wound up on the [Airbus] A300 – 600 model, the two man airplane. And that’s what I retired on.

SS: So when did you retire, Larry?

LB: Let’s see, in ah, July. I left a little bit early because the stock market was up, so July ’92. Thirteen years. With the airlines, of course, you might well know that when you’re sixty they throw you out and that’s it. But I didn’t have to go until October, till my birthday, but , you know, circumstances in the stock market, and my retirement was based on some of it was based on the stock market. So I decided to jump out ahead of time, and you’d take a small penalty but that’s all. And that’s when I left. And then I bought myself a Cessna 310 and I flew it for four or five years and I finally sold it a few years ago.

SS: So, do you fly recreationally at all?

LB: Yeah, my wife and I flew the 310 back and forth across the country [the USA] a couple of times, I guess. It was kinda fun flying around.

Past Post: Ten Years Ago Today — Open Streets

Near the intersection of Bloor and Spadina, on Bloor....

Ten years ago? My lordy.

Video Clip: The Linda Lindas ― Burning Out

During a visit to YouTube this afternoon a top-row video choice caught my eye:

The Linda Lindas ― Burning Out

Jimmy Kimmel Live

Okay, "my favourite new band" has produced yet another infectious song. Since I don't watch the late-night shows, there was no way I would have known they were scheduled to appear last night.

I'm definitely a fan, so much so that I've covered two of their albums on this website. But for some reason, one typically in keeping with my usual habits and trends, I don't follow their work as much as I should. Odd, especially considering how many of their songs I like. For instance, their albums Growing Up (2022) and No Obligation (2024) are "loaded" with punk/rock goodness. On that liner note, their latest album, Gotta Get Out, is slated for release on the 28th of this month.

By the way, back in the spring I learned that The Linda Lindas (Lucia, Eloise, Bela, and Mila) performed at The Opera House here in Toronto last year. Needless to say, this fan was disappointed to have missed that concert. Typical.

It was time I did some research:

The Linda Lindas

Location: Danforth Music Hall, 147 Danforth Avenue, Toronto

Date: Monday, October 12, 2026

Time: doors open at 7pm

No excuses!

I really like "Burning Out"!

Athot for the Day: The Return of the Youthy

My view from Toronto's beautiful "Annex" neighbourhood....

The students are arriving! They're looking younger and younger; I'm feeling older and older.

NOTE: I arrived as a student in 1984. No doubt, someone saw me and thought.... ("What a geek!")

Snip: This Past 30 Days Had Over 200k Website Hits

When I check my website's traffic and statistics most mornings my already fragile ego gets a good burnishing, which serves to tell me that I can do some things right. I possess an innate tendency to sell myself short, but the fact is, as revealed by my most fortunate dinner guests, yours truly can cook and prepare a mighty mean pot of Kraft Dinner (KD). Kidding! Yikes.

The Global Village includes....

* United States  30.1k

* Brazil  14.2k

* Seychelles  13k

* Germany  9.81k

* India  8.2k 

* Vietnam  7.18k

* Argentina  5.22k

* France  4.85k

* United Kingdom  4.75k

* Bangladesh  4.5k

* Pakistan  4.22k

* Saudi Arabia  3.91k

* Iraq  3.75k

* Mexico  3.47k

* Ukraine  3.45k

* Philippines  3.41k

* Canada  3.34k

* Russia  2.98k

* Columbia  2.94k

* Other (not a country)  66.5k

RePost: A Lunch Date with a New Canadian in Toronto

This afternoon I popped downtown to meet a friend of mine for one of our lunch catch-ups. The Thai food was great, as was the conversation. My buddy is from the US state of Wyoming, but after getting his PhD in New Mexico, he and his wife decided to move to this great city.

Will told me today that he's been living in Toronto for ten years. Time flies. I met him in 2016 when we worked on a contract together. His big news today for me, over and above that one-decade milestone: In June he and his wife became Canadian citizens. His parents flew up from the States to attend the ceremony, then decided to hang out here for a few days. Everyone had a lot of fun. Of course, we're talking about Toronto, Canada.

* * *

Originally posted on August 1, 2024. I figured that, given the 'political climate' these days, both in the USA and Canada, the piece needed a repeat.