It's Cold Out

I just don't think that I'm used to temperatures. Yes, I have been around for a very long time but I have to admit that I have not really been outside all that much over all those years. Except for the last three years when I had to recover from my serious illness. Because of that, I walked outside quite a number of times in all kinds of weather.

It was a very hot summer this year which meant that I did not walk as much as I expected. If I wanted to go for a stroll, I usually got up earlier so I could walk outside before the sun rose too high and the temperature started getting hotter. Also, I would wait until after dinner to go for a short walk just to get some exercise.

Over the past few years, what seemed interesting to me was how short the spring was and how long the summer was. It almost seemed as if Mother Nature wanted to "spring" directly from winter to summer.

It will be interesting to see what happens this autumn. Last year as you know, winter was relatively shorter than expected as far as I was concerned. Given the length of the summer, I expected to have a very long winter as well. However, that just did not happen. I wonder if we will see something similar this year.

I have some nice equipment that I use to exercise especially when I cannot go outside. I must admit that, even though I use it a lot, I still get tired pretty quickly on some of it. I hope that means that I'm on it as much as I physically can take and that it is good for me. I am pretty happy with what I did last winter to keep in shape and hope that I can do it again this year.

One of the things that I must do is keep my brain exercising as much as possible. As you know, dear reader, I do that by writing stories on here for you to read. Here are some new ones.

AN INTERESTING NEWS STORY

I saw a very interesting story the other day in the Detroit Free Press.

No, it was not all that fascinating to me when I read it in the American newspaper but tell me if it is just as out of the ordinary to you too as well. Here is what I mean:

Do you see who the author of the story is and where the story was originally written?

I don't know if an article from the Windsor Star ever appeared in the Detroit Free Press before as happened this time around but it was a big surprise for me.

I wonder if the two newspapers will start exchanging more stories between them.

OUR NEW BUSINESS

What a terrific story to read:

"A beloved but crumbling downtown watering hole undergoing a multimillion-dollar makeover will soon be occupied by some of the brightest minds within the extensive financial empire of Detroit billionaire Dan Gilbert.

Employees under Quicken Loans — the mortgage-based business that boosted the Michigan businessman into one of the world’s richest entrepreneurs — will set up inside the former Fish Market and Loop building.” (Dave Battagello, Windsor Star, October 15, 2018) 

The expectation is to hire around 50 people at this time and then potentially to grow that number to around 100 people. No, they are not going to be employees for a new mortgage business here:

"...there are no plans to open a mortgage business on this side of the border. The office space and employees located in Windsor are solely to support the company’s existing operations and avoid crossing the border each day.”

To me this is quite exciting and potentially a fantastic opportunity for this area. There's no reason why we cannot offer something similar to other American companies.

We ought to consider seriously doing so right now!

FACEBOOK MEMORIES FROM THE PAST

One of the features of Facebook that I really like is that they remind us about events that happened a number of years ago on a specific date by sending out the stories that we posted in the past. That just happened to me recently.

I hope this is something that you too, dear reader, would like as help as a reminder of a past event, especially something that was very cheerful for you.

I've received some information the other day about a fabulous cruise that my wife and I went on seven years ago! Seven years, can you believe that. The cruise that we went on was in Europe. The ship itself was a relatively new one and extremely large at that time. It held thousands of passengers yet, when on board, one did not see very many of them at any time. Perhaps we ate fairly early but when we were in the dining room there were not too many people there. The service that we received from the dining staff was fantastic.

I did a video on the trip that we were on and actually reviewed it after the Facebook note. It still reminded me of the glorious time that we had.

Hmmm, perhaps I had better look at doing another one.

I JUST WON A CONTEST

I just received notice that an entry that I had made for a contest that closed recently turned out to be the winner! Am I ever happy about that.

It turns out that the contest was run by one of the real estate agents in town. Fortunately, I was the winner. 

Oh, the prize itself is not all that huge but it is still something that my wife and I can use very well. More importantly, given some of things that are going on these days, it is so pleasant to learn that positive factors are still available for us.

Here is the photograph where my wife and I received our prize from Mike Coffin and Amy Bondy

Some Thoughts Of Mine

Just some quick entries with respect to some matters that happened over the last while.

Congratulations to Deputy Mayor Joe Bachetti who was re-elected in the Tecumseh municipal election. Based on what I had seen since I have moved to Tecumseh, it seemed to me that he would be re-elected. I'm glad to see that I was right.

Our Mayor, Gary McNamara, had a very easy time of it. He was acclaimed. My Councillor, Bill Altenhof, also did not have the need for an election campaign. He too was acclaimed.

It will be interesting to see if the Mayor stays around for the his next full term. Oh no, I'm not suggesting that he will retire early but I'm wondering if he would become the head of Metropolitan Windsor if Windsor and all of the towns around it become the equivalent to Metropolitan Toronto by being united.

If that took place, I wonder what would happen on Council. There's no doubt in my mind that the Deputy Mayor would now become Mayor of Tecumseh. What would my Councillor do? Would he remain in his position or would he, perhaps with some others on Council or in the public, run if required for the Deputy Mayor position?

Now that would be something exciting to consider!

I wondered what happened to the Windsor Star. I saw something strange when I was reading what I thought was a Gord Henderson column on October 27, 2018. Take a look at this and see if you also can find something strange that was posted in his column:

Do you see what I mean? Who actually wrote this column? Henderson himself or was it Craig Pearson? If Pearson merely "updated" it, I wondered what parts were changed and what discussions were made to get an agreement to those changes.

I'm sure that there are a lot of other questions that should be dealt with with respect to the writing and approval for publication of Star columns. To be realistic though, I'm not going to be bothered thinking about what they should be because I don't expect them to be answered.

UPDATE:  Check out the change in what was posted.  Interesting:

I am positive that I am correct and that a new Ambassador Bridge will be built in the next couple of years and an arrangement will be entered into between the Bridge Company and the Government of Canada that deals with border crossing in this area.

I am sure now that the proposed Government bridge which now has a much longer term in which to be built will not be constructed at all. Seriously, if a new Ambassador Bridge is built, why would the Government spend $5 billion plus more to build another one when the traffic is down significantly from earlier projections. Remember, only another $500 million is necessary to build a new Ambassador Bridge IE a 10th of the cost of its competitive bridge.

Take a look at the hiring which is going to take place. It should give you some interesting information for you to consider about what is going to happen and when:

“It is anticipated by the end of the year there will be at least 100 jobs filled by Bridging North America, the consortia of global construction giants selected to build the new Detroit River international border crossing...

The bulk of labourers, skilled trades workers and heavy construction operators needed on the project will begin to be hired early in the new year…

There are shortages of available skilled trades workers all across North America, so finding sufficient qualified employees for the bridge project is anticipated be an issue at times, Breme said...

“That doesn’t mean we are not cognizant there could be shortages, so we are looking at further workforce development and training (opportunities).” (Dave Battagello, Windsor Star, October 26, 2018)  

Just consider that everything seems to be done relatively slowly at this time. I think that there is a reason for it if the Liberal Government wants to win new Parliamentary seats in this area.  That seems to be the case these days.

The Liberals need to have the election over and done with and with people believing that they want another non-Bridge Company bridge being built in order to get the necessary votes. Only at that time can it start negotiating with the Ambassador Bridge Company to enter into some arrangement with respect to their new bridge. It won't have to worry about losing votes in the upcoming election if it does not support another Government bridge being built now.

Let me show you several photos I took recently of some of the plants in my backyard area. I'm doing it because the usual "green" leafs have changed their colours dramatically in the autumn season just before they fall to the ground:

Oh I know that I have posted similar pictures previously in the past but I am so impressed with the colour change that I just wanted to do it again.

It's Time For New Stories

Lots of interesting things going on in this area over the last little while.

Yes, I know this won't surprise you but the weather temperatures that influence me so much are still something that I follow. Seriously, the weather conditions are so bizarre, to me anyway, that I cannot figure what is going on. Here it is in October and who knows how high the temperatures may go. And how low as well. If you want an example of what I mean, here it is. For the time period starting on October 8 and ending on October 14, the temperature highs start at 27°C and the lowest temperature goes to 10°C a few days later. I just don't know how that is possible. It gets even colder during the next week when the temperature drops to only 4°C. UGH!!

In politics, we went through a visit by the PM. I have to admit that I did not understand at first why he came down here because of the Government plan to build a bridge, which bridge probably will never get built. However, I finally figured out why he did so and will talk about it a little bit later in this article.

Again, a negative story about our employment rate that should have an impact on our municipal election considering bad the story was. Elected candidates will not have benefited very much from the story. Again, I am going to comment on it below.

Why am I telling you all of this? The explanation is pretty simple. Now you will understand that I find out about different matters that interest me in different media outlets. Then, because I find them important, I keep a copy of the story and then write about it in the story for my website. I might even have a different interpretation of what is going on than even the media may have as you can read in what I write.

So let me give you some examples of what I'm talking about that you can read in the stories below.

THE PURPOSE OF TRUDEAU'S VISIT

I have to admit I thought at first, when I read about it, that the PM was coming down here to support the building of the Gordie Howe Bridge. I was surprised about it because it made so little sense to me. I thought the Federal Government was now supporting the building of the Moroun bridge. The Government Bridge costs are supposedly going to be in the $5+ billion range, billions more compared with the cost of building the second Ambassador Bridge. While the Morouns' bridge is supposed to be built within about two years from now, the Government Bridge will take an extra number of years to be built! It was just so bizarre.

However, as the trip started being carried on, I finally figured out the real reason for what was happening. It had nothing to do with the building of a second Moroun bridge, or even about the third Government bridge too. Oh sure, there will be a lot of talking about it in our region until the election is over. Then, in my opinion, we will start hearing even more reasons why the building of a Government Bridge has to be extended for even more years.

As far as I'm concerned, the supposed building of a new bridge here is nothing more than a way to help get the number of House of Commons seats in this area for Trudeau increased dramatically. Our population is going to be taught to admire the Liberal Government for all the wonderful things that they are going to do for us in this area. There will be lots of sessions when he and his political partners come here and have public sessions where there will be of talk about the new bridge and how wonderful our economy will grow because of it. 

Come on, who can't vote Liberal because of this great publicity about the future economic growth for this region. I can just imagine as well who the well-known people who might be running for the Liberals down here as well.

Of course, we will have our new Ambassador bridge built very quickly in about two years or so. Accordingly there should be no real concern about our economic future because of that. What will happen then is how the Canadian Government and the Morouns will work together on the new border crossing or whether it will be sold to the Government of Canada. Just remember what happened recently in Detroit with the sale of Moroun property to the Ford Motor Company. This cooperation between the two parties will destroy for a very long time the need to build a Government bridge in this area.

If you really need an easy explanation for all of this, would you as the Canadian Government spend $5 billion plus to build a Government bridge or only about an additional tenth of that amount now, $500 million, to finish building a new Ambassador Bridge.

WHY ARE MORE PEOPLE GOING UNEMPLOYED

I have no real explanation why this is happening. By "this," I mean the increase in the unemployment rate in this area once again.

Here are the numbers:

"The unemployment rate for September was 7.3 per cent, well above the provincial average of 5.7 per cent.

Windsor’s unemployment rate in August was 6.6 per, up from six per cent in July.” (Mary Caton, Windsor  Star, October 5, 2018) 

Interestingly, I don't remember any news stories in the recent past where people were so excited, negatively of course, about the increase in unemployment. Now that it is going up for the third straight time to very large high close to about more than 2% higher than the provincial average, I am not surprised that there finally is some concern finally about why our Region is doing so poorly. Right before our municipal election this month as well.

Where is the Mayor of Windsor speaking about this, especially this fact:

"Windsor had the second-highest unemployment rate in the province.”

My Next Posting

I have no idea what our weather statistics will show finally for this summer. It just seems that our temperature has been quite hot for a good part of the summer. Seriously, when looking at the online weather channels, I could see the "feels-like" temperature of 40°C plus quite often showing up.

I wonder if we are going to have the same kind of winter that we had last year. It seemed to take much longer to start out yet lasted over a shorter period of time than I expected. Then, we hardly had a spring with a very hot summer starting so quickly. I just wonder if this the kind of weather we should expect to see over the next few years.

Enough about the weather talk. It is just so difficult to know what to say about it because it changes so quickly. Instead, let me be a bit more traditional in the way that I do things. I often start off my postings on more personal matters that I experience. I do this to let you know about events that happened to me and which I think you might experience as well one day. No, I'm not trying to be your "teacher" to let you know how to handle something. Rather I'm just telling you about an event that has taken place and what I'm doing about it. Hopefully, this will give you an idea about an alternative that you might consider if something similar happens to you.

My life has changed significantly over the last few years. I certainly am not experiencing carrying out "legal matters." In other words, at my retirement age, I stopped practicing law as my career. Moreover, I no longer perform the "journalist" approach that I did for so many years. Rather, I just seem to have a different way of living now.

Obviously, I had to change because of the illness that I experienced. However, I probably would have done so anyway because I just wanted to do things differently. I wanted to to "retire" because I think I just felt so worn out after working so hard for so many years.

I just cannot believe how I sometimes act these days. I will often stop during one of my walks and just stare at the beautiful, blue sky over my head. I don't think that I knew that such a sky existed before. I really never looked at it because I was so busy carrying out my profession starting early morning and ending quite often after the dark began. When there are these big puffy white clouds floating in the blue sky, it is just so magnificent. Of course, I often watch now the dark, gray clouds, especially if I can see lightning, expecting the rain to start pouring out momentarily. I have to get under my roof in time.

So much has changed in the way I live these days also. I exercise now a number of times per day to control my weight and to keep my strength up. I dropped quite a number of pounds when I was so ill and, surprisingly, have not added on all of those pounds back. Oh sure, I have put on some pounds but it is all because of muscle not fat. Exercising has helped but my diet has changed so significantly. I still eat very well but I'm careful about the kind of foods that I now eat.

I better stop writing about this now. Rather, let me write some stories that I trust will interest you as well.

SEARS SOLD

I have to admit that I cannot believe at all what has happened to Sears Canada. Yes I know that it went bankrupt!  The US Sears just filed for bankruptcy recently too.

It just makes little sense to me that this could happen to such a well-known company that I thought was doing so well in sales.

I am sure that you remember when the Sears store in Devonshire Mall actually closed down and had a massive sale to eliminate its products just before it went completely out of business there.

I'm not going to get into a discussion at all about what happened to Sears. Rather, I just wanted you to know this:

“The former Sears store at Devonshire Mall has been sold.

HOOPP Realty Inc., owners of Devonshire Mall, finalized the purchase of the building and adjacent land with the receiver of Sears Canada earlier this month.” (Kevin McQuaid Jr, Windsorite.ca, August 30, 2018) 

It will be interesting to see what replaces it and, importantly, when that happens.

BETTER RESULTS IN TECUMSEH

I have to admit that I did not see this news story before. If I had, I would have posted it.

Of course, what is being said is quite positive. As a resident of Tecumseh who experienced flooding for the first time in his life a couple of years ago, this news makes me happy:

“Tecumseh expects to spend millions more on flood-prevention efforts

the town is taking action to mitigate the impact from too much rain…

McNamara says the measures seem to be working, as the number of property owners who reported flooded basements after last year's major rain event was 144 - compared to 2,500 following a storm in 2016.” (CTV, Windsor, June 27, 2018) 

While my family was not one of those 144 families, our house did experience some minor flooding last year. We've taken steps to try to prevent even that happening again. We will just have to wait and see what happens in the future. Hopefully the new efforts will minimize any future risks even more.

TRANSIT IN WINDSOR

Before I moved to Windsor, I lived in the City of Toronto. While technically I did not live in "downtown" Toronto, where I always lived in the City was always close to public transit services ie the TTC or Toronto Transit Commission. I hardly ever drove to work on any day but took the streetcar, bus or subway train instead.

When I moved to Windsor, everything changed. Sure I worked for a car company and was provided with a vehicle so that I could drive it when I wanted to do so. However the reality was that the transit service in Windsor was so poor that I drove to work every day. I had no idea which bus services to use, the cost, when to catch the buses nor how long it would take to get to work and back.

That is why I found this news article of interest:

"This political stunt worked” (Anne Jarvis, Windsor Star, August 29, 2018) 

It described the action taken by a candidate running for Council:

"Call it a political stunt, but Ward 5 candidate Joey Wright’s “field trip” on a city bus Monday, documented in live videos, photos and posts on social media, was a smart, fresh way to make his point: that Transit Windsor is “wildly inadequate...”

Wright, 27, who doesn’t have a driver’s licence, set out from his campaign office at Milloy Street and Malta Road to the site of the proposed new hospital on County Road 42 across from the airport. It took two buses, the Transway 1C and Walkerville 8, each way and a total of more than three hours to get there and back.”

It was a smart move by him. He wanted to make sure that everyone knew what the status of transit service in Windsor was like:

“And as it is today,” he said, “it doesn’t work.”

However, it seems that we really don't have any need to worry. Here is what was said in the column by Transit Windsor Executive director Pat Delmore:

A lot more senior government money, which has already helped pay for current improvements, will be available for public transit in the next decade, Delmore said.

“That’s going to make way for everything we want to do in the future,” he said.”

I can just imagine how much money that would cost and what effort would have to be done to "educate" Windsorites so they will become familiar with the transit system.

I am sorry but I find that extremely difficult to believe. But who knows what will really happen.

Something For You To Read

I have to admit that I find municipal elections this time around a bit strange to be direct about it.

There just seem to be so many pre-election days where voting can take place now. It seems that on election day very few people will come to their voting booths to cast a ballot because they will have voted already. I have to admit that I don't like this process. I much prefer that voting only takes place on one day.

For those who don't trust the system now, I wonder what they are thinking. Just consider what they think the "bad guys" can do with the votes already cast on the election machines. How about "changing" them through their illegal techniques to make sure that their candidate gets most of the votes in order to be elected.

Oh I know that this cannot possibly happen... However...

I will let others think about all of this as I tell you about some stories that I have seen recently.

ARE WE ABOUT TO HAVE AN ECONOMIC MESS

Obviously, we may have a mess based on what I read recently. We just needed another scare to make us feel horrible. Our economy is going to be in big trouble according to these people:

“The world economy is at risk of another financial meltdown, following the failure of governments and regulators to push through all the reforms needed to protect the system from reckless behaviour, the International Monetary Fund has warned.

With global debt levels well above those at the time of the last crash in 2008, the risk remains that unregulated parts of the financial system could trigger a global panic, the Washington-based lender of last resort said.” (Phillip Inman, The Guardian, October 7, 2018) 

Everything must be very horrible now:

“The former UK prime minister Gordon Brown said last month that the world economy was “sleepwalking into a future crisis,” 

Here are some numbers that are very scary:

“IMF’s boss, Christine Lagarde, said she was concerned that the total value of global debt – in both the public and private sectors – has rocketed by 60% in the decade since the financial crisis to reach an all-time high of $182tn (£139tn).”

I have no idea whether this article is correct in what it is telling us whether something tragic can happen. All I know is that one must be very careful in dealing with one's money in order to be protected in case of a financial emergency.

Just remember the stock market crash we just experienced recently!

GORDIE HOWE BRIDGE ALREADY BUILT

Oh no, didn't any the Canadian Government people know this already? If they did, then why is the bridge in our area going to have the same name? If they did not, then what other things are they missing in the border file in Windsor/Detroit:

“The total cost to build the Gordie Howe Bridge and connecting roadways was higher — close to $300 million...

The Gordie Howe Bridge opened in 2013 as part of a $300-million project. Gordie Howe is Saskatoon’s longest bridge at 440 metres” (Phil Tank, Saskatoon Star Phoenix, October 1, 2018) 

Oh, just so you know, and perhaps it is going to tell us what happens with the bridge that is supposed to be built here, the bridge built in Saskatchewan was supposed to be opened on September 30, 2012. It wasn't. That took longer to be completed and did not happen until July 31, 2013.

GORD’S ELECTION PREDICTIONS

You should go and read his column in the October 13 edition of the Windsor Star to see which people he has said will be elected or re-elected in the next election in Windsor and why. That’s right, he believes the people who are Dilkens supporters will get in.

I have to admit I don’t remember him doing a story on who will be elected as Mayor but this should be helpful to see whom he expects to win. He wrote this at the beginning of the column:

“An alliance of convenience among area Liberals, New Democrats, labour and assorted lefties is making a concerted bid to neuter Mayor Drew Dilkens by snatching control of council a week from Monday.” (Gord Henderson, Windsor Star, October 13, 2018)

I guess he does not need to tell us who will be his choice to be the Mayor. 

Oh, just so you understand this, here is the person, according to Gord, who is going to be Windsor’s next Mayor and who his relative is:

“Fred Francis is proof the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Smart, erudite and a quick study like his older brother Eddie, Francis performed in his rookie term like a seasoned veteran. He’s a pugnacious defender of holding the line on taxes and is clearly a potential future mayor.”

BORDER CROSSINGS

You may not have the faintest idea why the issue involving the border crossing between Windsor and Detroit plays such a big role. Let me help to clarify that for you.

The crossing between Canada and the United States located in our area is something that is quite spectacular. If you want to read more about it, then take a look at this article in the Washington Examiner (Anna Giaritelli, Washington Examiner, October 9, 2018) 

If one wants to know about the extent of the duties involved, then take a look at this:

“Fourteen inspection lanes are all that stand between 6,200 tractor-trailer trucks moving goods from Canada into the United States at the northern border’s busiest crossing point. If just one inspection lane at Detroit’s Ambassador Bridge closes, it can cost the private sector millions of dollars for every hour it’s shut down.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers stationed at the port enforce 500 trade laws and regulations on behalf of 49 agencies.”

The import/export business is a huge one for this part of the US Government. Here are some statistics covering Governmental crossings that you may find amazing:

“Last year, CBP inspected 33.2 million vehicles and 28.5 million cargo containers coming into the U.S. for a total of nearly $2.4 trillion in imports. The agency raked in more than $40 billion in duties, taxes, and other fees, making it the second-highest revenue creator in the federal government after the Internal Revenue Service.”

You may understand now why the Governments on both sides of the river play such a big role in the Customs business.