Freddie P's Blog

Neighbour John took his family on their annual summer trip again this year, but they ran into Irene.

Oh yea, Neighbour John rented a beautiful house in Duck, North Carolina which just happened to line up with the eye of Irene.

Even though Johnny boy was supposed to have the house till Friday, he and his wonderful family were forced out on Thursday afternoon. They got robbed of a day.

But John made the most of it. He had the barbeque going, the beers a flowin' and the surf a shakin' until the bitter end.

Category: Neighbour John

Hey Fred,
What would Psychic Nikki say about this, the picture was taken last night (March 13, 2011) at about 10.00 pm, we lost the game and were the only ones on the ice.
My son Jake took two pictures (second picture just in case!) and there was nobody else taking a picture at the same time, crowd had left.
Orbs are believed (by many) to be ghosts in the form of balls of light. They are life forms that travel in groups and are believed to be the human soul or life force of those that once inhabited a physical body here on earth
Do you Believe?
Ghoststudy.com
Neighbour John

Category: Neighbour John

If you think I don't like the Montreal Canadiens, how about Neighbour John. Get a load of this.

John has three fine boys and they all play in the Brampton Youth Hockey Association. The BYHA does what a lot of house leagues do, they name their teams after NHL squads.

The Leafs, the Kings, the Sabres and so on. They also have the Canadiens.

John's boys are all well into their teens and up until this year, all three have avoided being assigned to a Canadiens team, and that's a good thing. John always got the creeps whenever he thought of one of his boys having to pull on a Canadiens jersey for an entire season.

Things changed last week, and they changed dramatically. John's middle son Jake found out that he's on the Canadiens this year, and he literally plunged the family into a hockey depression. John tried to take it all in stride and not over think it, but he failed on both counts.

Jake was also upset. Like any decent young man who grew up in a Toronto Maple Leaf house, he didn't want to play for the Canadiens. As a matter of fact, when he showed up for his first game, he tried to wear the sweater inside out.

That was unacceptable of course, so John decided to go into the ultimate anti-Hab mode. He went to the league and asked for Jake to be assigned to another team. No such luck, Jake has a big time rating as a player, so there was no way the Canadiens were going to let him go.

John was told there are only two ways a kid can switch teams. Either through balancing the teams after three games, or if a parent coaches another team and the convenience factor is considered. It makes sense to have your kid on your team, that way you don't have to come to the rink twice.

There was no way Jake was leaving the Canadiens through balancing, he would be one of their keepers, no doubt about it, so John moved on the second option.

He beat the bushes and found out that the Kings needed an assistant coach. He approached the head coach and the deal was quickly done. John, despite his busy schedule and having to truck two other boys to hockey rinks decided to sign on as assistant coach.

Jake is no longer a Canadien. He has escaped the Habs. He is now a King.

Don't you just love it!

Category: Neighbour John

You may have noticed over the years that Neighbour John likes to eat and drink and he likes contests too.

You might remember a couple of years back he won a jacket at a bar in the States for trying every beer on their 100 beer menu.

Now he's involved in some kind of an eating costest with Crabby Joe's in Bolton, which is close to his machine shop. He ate a big burger and now he needs a bunch of votes to win a lunch for four and a barbeque.

It's called the Outlaw Challenge.

It's the least the reader of Canadian Thinker can do for Johnny Boy, think of all the entertainment he's given us over the past few years.

Here's what you do. Go to this e-mail address, challenge@crabbyjoes.com and on the subject line write "vote". In the body use this code - BL013.

That's all there is too it.

If you want to see more go here.

Category: Neighbour John

I had a very interesting talk with Neighbour John last night. If you follow this blog you know that I often write about the exploits of Neighbour and his fine family.

Every year during March break, John takes his sons on what I have labeled incredible journeys. You can read about them by searching, Incredible Journey at the top right hand corner.

John and the boys visit NHL arenas and at every stop along the way they pick up souvenirs.

In 2007 they went to Montreal, New Jersey and Philadelphia. Three games in four nights.

But here's the delicious part of the story. At every rink they visit John buys the boys a souvenir hat, and believe me, they have quite the collection.

But what they don't have is a Canadiens hat. When John took the boys to the Bell Centre and offered to buy them caps, they declined.

This is a wonderful story because it goes back to something I wrote about last week.

I was brought up to despise the Habs and I've instilled the same emotion in my son Daniel, and it seems John has done the same for his boys.

As tempting as it was the boys to pick up another hat for the collection, they could not bring themselves to put a Habs cap atop their brainwashed heads. They told their dad to save his money.

We can only hope they hold on to this impressive attribute throughout their lives.

It's quite emotional!

Category: Neighbour John | Sports

Hey Freddie

Thanks, Bill Dewar

Category: Neighbour John

For the past few years I've been writing about Neighbour John's March break exploits with his three boys. They like to tour NHL cities.

In 2007 they went to Montreal, New Jersey and Philadelphia. In 2008 they went to Detroit and Chicago, and then last year they went to Atlanta and Tampa.

This year it's an abbreviated tour. This afternoon they were in Long Island to see the Leafs and Islanders, and tomorrow night they'll catch the Bruins and Devils at the new rink in downtown Newark.

They wanted to catch a game in Johnstown, Pennsylvania to catch the legendary Chiefs, but the ECHL schedule wouldn't co-operate.

Instead, John and the boys will spend the day at Coney Island tomorrow so Neighbour John can have something he's always coveted... a legendary Coney Island hot dog.

Meanwhile, here's something that will steam Neighbour John. He absolutely despises Wayne Gretzky, and absolutely adores Bobby Orr.

Category: Neighbour John

Over the past couple of years I've written about how I've lost my appetite for New Year's Eve and all the bullshit involved.

I like to lay low on the last night of the year. Have a nice dinner at home, a couple of beers, watch a World Junior hockey game then jump into the sack with my sweet and watch the New Year come in if we stay awake that long.

Last night we didn't.

Thanks to Neighbour John another dimension has been added to our New Years Eve.

John has strong ties to his birthplace Scotland and every year at 19 hundred hours, Eastern Standard Time, he and his family gather around John's bar to ring in the Scottish New Year.

Other than John walking around in a kilt, it's warm, it's pleasant and it's convenient because it allows you to experience some festivities without having to stay up till midnight.

This year was bitter-sweet for Neighbour John's family. They got word early yesterday that their Uncle Martin had passed away in Edinburgh. He was 81 years old, and apparently a very nice man.

Here's to you Uncle Martin!

Category: Neighbour John

John with his nifty new tailgate barbeque at the Bills game on Sunday.

Category: Neighbour John

Actually, this is Neighbour John's son, Ben. Call him mini-me. He's standing in front of Neighbour John's new tailgatin' contraption. John is a Buffalo Bills season ticket holder.

Category: Neighbour John