A bit of a rant from Marky

Hello,

I have been meaning to blog for awhile... lots has been going on that I have been wanting to write about.

The first bit is about the Green party being excluded from televised national debates. Now here is a subject we can get into. To me, this is dead wrong (hence the link on the right of the blog). There are a lot of folks who watch the debates closely, and television is probably the biggest source of information on political party platforms for a lot of Canadians. Excluding the Greens doesn't make any sense, since they took well over 600,000 votes last election and now have an MP. I encourage you to sign the on-line petition at the link on the right of the blog. I do have this subtle worry that this situation might be a bit more complex. Here is the worry story... On the surface, it looks like Steve Harper is thwarting democracy through his lack of support of the attendance of the Greens at the televised debate. The result is a large number of folks voting Green just because they are feeling bullied. However, if a large number of folks vote Green, they won't be voting Liberal. Result... majority Conservative governement. I hope that folks aren't this devious, but with politics, who knows. A final note on this is that I would encourage you all to at least have a look at the Green party website to see how closely their values are aligned with your own.

Second bit (this blog won't be short...). I am doing my best to get out surfing at least once a week. I honestly had no idea how much I would enjoy it. I have been out enough now that the locals are embarrased for me, and have been giving me a lot of useful advice to minimize my pain. The last time I was out, I had a fantastic time... didn't even eat any sand. Gwithian is a nice place to surf because there is usually some good swell, there isn't (usually) much of a rip, and most importantly for me, it is lifeguarded all year.
I still have a long way to go... when you look out over the water and see all the surfers strattling their boards and sitting calmly, I will be right beside them flailing around like an epileptic frog directly attached to a 12V car battery. The final bonus is that this is making for a great mid-mid-life crisis solution. PS.. the two photos are of Gwithian (my beach), although I can't take credit for them.


Ok, last bit. It turns out you can take shellfish right out of the ocean, eat them and not die. We went out to St.Ives with some friends over the weekend, and had a great (although somewhat chilly) beach day. We picked a bunch of mussels, and they were honestly some of the best I have ever tasted. I was very nervous, but luckily I am married to a maritime woman who showed me how to pick the right ones. While picking mussels is fun, I am still not convinced on the merits of "crabbing". Here is how that game works... you wait for low tide, then head out to the rock pools (kind of a sand/boulder type thing). You blindly stick your hand under these big rocks, and if something bites your finger... you win! If it really hurts, you know you have an eater... I did catch one, but it was rather embarassing. Our friend's oldest daughter is 5 years old. She was happily sticking her hands under the rocks and pulling out crabs (if you do it right, you can actually avoid being pinched). So she is right in front of me, and I stick my hand under the rock... I feel something move, so I try to pull it out. Bad decision. This tiny crab (about as big as a hockey puck, legs included), squirms and starts to really freak me out. Then it tries to pinch me with one of it's tiny quarter-inch long pinchers, and I believed I screamed in a distinctive high pitch tone, no decibels held back. Needless to say I wasn't impressing any 5 year old girls that day. Ask Laura some time for a similar story about me and a hermit crab :) Moral of the story: Crabbing is not fun unless you have saltwater in your veins (hard to come by in Saskatchewan).

There you have it. I am guessing most won't have made it this far through the blog, but that's OK. Looking forward to seeing Jimmyman in a few weeks. Going surfing tomorrow!

Take care all,

M