Freddie P's Blog

Hey, if you're ever in the Peterborough are, or you frequent the area like I do, you should know about it's wealth of restaurants.

I don't have the data to back it up, but I'll step out and say it, Peterborough has the best restaurants per capita in the country. For a city of less than 70 thousand people, they sure have a lot of great places to eat.

I'm sure it has something to do with being a tourist destination and the face that it's also a University town, but whatever the reason, Peterborough has a ton of good restaurants and neat coffee shops and the list is growing monthly.

If you're up their you can check out "Hot Belly Mama's" on George Street. Try their Roti.

For cool salads and fantastic mussels try St Verona's Café and Tap Bar at the corner of Hunter and Water Streets. It's a Belgium theme with close to a hundred beers on tap.

Also on Hunter St. you'll find Nicolini's. An Italian restaurant that usually requires a reservation it's so popular. I once had their blue steak over pasta with gorgonzola sauce and it made my eyes roll back in my head.

For Thai food there's Cosmic Charlie's on Charlotte Street. As good as any in Toronto and a cool atmosphere.

Speaking of Thai, if you want some great chicken wings with a beer, check out Girdy's on Hunter Street. Their thai wings are fabulous.

And if you want to venture outside of Peterborough for a great dining experience, try "The Old Bridge Inn" in Youngs Point, about 20 minutes north on Hwy 28.
They have a short menu, but it's fabulous.

Category: Stuff

My sweet darlin' had to work this week so I was up at the tin palace all alone, until yesterday. In the late afternoon, my buddy Doug arrived.

Doug is my longest and dearest friend. We've been friends since we were five years old, and we've been through a lot together, including many great times on the lake where my trailer sits.

As kids our parents rented lots at a nearby park and we spent every summer in the Kawarthas gathering memories which have led to great stories.

A good portion of yesterday was spent looking up the lake and prefacing most of what we said with "do you remember that time?"

It's actually bitter sweet because as much as fun as it is to remember, it's a bummer to realize how the years have flown by.

Doug and I talked about things that happened 40 years ago, as if they happened last week.

Spin the clock ahead by the much and we'll probably be like Scruff Connors isn't.

Category: Friends | Stuff

OK, let's get this out of the way right away. You can't judge a person by their looks, and it's downright unfair to connect anyone to anything just because in your own mind "they look the part."

But let's be honest, when you saw the picture of this guy this morning, were you at all surprised that he's been charged with abduction and sexually assaulting a 12 year old girl.

I'd like to have a nickel for every time it was said by a water cooler this morning. That this guy looks the part.

That doesn't mean he did it. Even though he's got a history of weird behaviour, and his own mother said this afternoon that they should lock him up and throw away the key, it doesn't mean just because he looks like he does, that he's guilty of anything but being an odd looking fellow.

I struggled before writing this piece because it just isn't fair, but I couldn't ignore the nagging reality of what is probably being said throughout the country today when people first lay eyes on the photo and then read the charges.

On every level imaginable, it's wrong to make the connection.

But on every level imaginable it's hard not to.

Look at the guy!

By the way, he's been denied bail, which is encouraging considering our pathetic justice system that often doesn't protect our children.

Category: Stuff

As a parent, you want your kids to experience all they can. Why wouldn't you?

Life experience develops character and we all want our kids to be solid citizens don't we?

OK, not all of us. I'm forgetting about the skunks in our society who blast their seed all over the place and then take off with no accountability, but if you read this blog often, you know how I feel about that, so I'll move on.

This past weekend both my kids went to Chicago for Lollapalooza and it made me feel good.

I remember when I was in my early 20's and how enjoyable road trips could be, especially to far away places, and considering that Chicago is a nine hour drive, it qualifies as a far-away place.

Not only that, I think them to experience not only the things that I have, but also things I haven't, and other than a brief weekend jaunt to Chicago back in 1991 for a Blue Jays series, I really haven't experienced Chicago.

Since then I've often said to my wife that we should go there for a long weekend and check-out all the neat stuff they have in Chicago, including Wrigley Field, the Sears Tower and some great food.

It's often been said that Toronto could be the twin city of Chicago. The cities have similar profiles and sit on the waterfront of a Great Lake.

It was one of the first thing my daughter Melanie noticed, but on closer examination she quickly realized how Toronto is failing while Chicago in thriving.

It's hard to believe this because Toronto used to take pride in its cleanliness, but according to Melanie, there's no comparison.

The litter is a minimum, graffiti doesn't seem to be a problem, there are no bums on the streets and she found the general attitude of the people to be a lot nicer.

She also noticed that the Chicago waterfront isn't cluttered with condominiums. The city isn't "cut off" the way it is in Toronto.

My son Danny made the same observations. He fell in love with the city and wants to go because he felt a much different vibe in Chicago, as compared to Toronto. Chicago is on its way "up" while Toronto is heading in the other direction.

I find it sad, because when I was their age, Toronto was a model city and when I compared to most of the cities I visited, my hometown came out on top.

The streets were tidy, the roads were in good shape, there was no graffiti and the subway wasn't a filthy mess.

Toronto was a functional city run the way Chicago is now. As a business. A serious business run by business minded people with rational thought and fiscally responsible decision-making.

While Chicago has improved, Toronto has been pulled into the mud by a socialist city council, led by a delusional maniac.

Toronto is suffering. All you have to do is look around, and then listen to people who travel to other cities and report back.

Toronto is no longer the model that most other North American cities are compared to. It's become trashy, mismanaged experiment for a pack of losers who are ripping it apart.

When I was in my early 20's wherever I traveled I found comfort in the feeling that Toronto was a better place than pretty much everywhere else.

It's not like that any more.

Category: Family | Stuff

I’m going to direct you over to Toronto Mike’s site now, because I don’t want something he posted yesterday to be on my site.

It’s the Obama Song, by an arsohole named Ludacris.

I can’t call him a singer because he doesn’t sing, and I can’t credit him with making music, because he’s a rapper and from this old bastard’s perspective, most rap doesn’t quality as music.

And don’t get me wrong, I like Barrack Obama and I hope he becomes the next president of the United States.

He has distanced himself from this piece of racist garbage, and so he should have.

It’s fascinating how in our society racism is considered a one-way street by so many.

Can you image if anyone endorsed John McCain simply because of his colour?

Category: Stuff

I’ve got to admit, I’m amazed at the lack of juicy issues that have been in the news lately.

It’s been a quiet summer when you think about it. There’s been some gun play in the GTA, but nothing like past years, and the gang activity seems to have thinned out.

Mayor Miller has been rather quiet. He must be taking some time off this summer because; there have been very few puzzling or mind boggling decisions or statements by the man who’s slowly destroying Toronto.

Federally, it’s the same old story. A Liberal leader is attempting to destroy himself, but Ontario won’t stand for it. Canada’s most twisted province prefers to over-look the obvious shortcomings of the Liberals, and instead, dig deep for anything that might make the Conservatives look bad, even if it’s fantasy.

It’s left me scratching my head many days this summer wondering what to write about.

You need issues to sink your teeth into, but there’s been no meat outside of my little world in the Kawartha’s.

Inside my world however, there are have been two issues lately.

A bear and poop.

There’s been a black bear spotted at the garbage dumpster just down the road from us, and we’ve had some trouble in the trailer park this year with having our black water tanks emptied.

The bear, which very few people have actually seen, has most of the women, including my wife freaked out. They feel we’re under the constant threat of being torn apart by a bear, who in reality, would rather eat our garbage than eat our limbs.

Even during the day when we walk near the vicinity of the dumpster, Delyse walks a little closer to me and her head spins like “what’s her name” in the Exorcist.

I keep telling her there’s nothing to worry about. I’ve been coming up to these parts since I was “crappin’ yellow” and never once has anyone been threatened, let alone attacked by a bear.

We used to make special trips up to a dump just to watch them play and eat. Black bears don’t care about us unless we threaten their young, and I don’t think anyone is going to go out of their way to threaten a cub.

“But what about at night” said my sweet.

“Same thing” I said. First of all, chances are the bear will be way more interested in the garbage than he is in us, and if you leave him alone, he isn’t going to do anything.

It’s really a needless worry, especially when you consider that only a select few people have actually seen the thing.

To be honest, I’d love to see the bear. I’d take a few pictures and put them on my website. In fact I’d like to lure him to the Tiki Bar with a shot glass of honey.

Baby come on! That would be a picture!

What I find a lot more threatening in the park right now is full black water tanks.

Black water thanks hold your poop and pee and through a management change this summer, there’s been a problem with emptying these things on a consistent basis.

They’ve been done every week, but it’s been a bit of a “crap” shoot when it comes to the actual timing. This week it was done on Friday night, right at the dinner hour. Several people were just sitting down to a nice meal when the “Poop Wagon” guy was sucking stuff out of their trailer. And believe me, no matter what you do, while the process is taking place, there’s an odour.

My buddy Darren was a nervous wreck on Friday. He was expecting company, yet his holding tank was brim full of chocolately goodness. He was at his wits end wondering what he was going to tell his guests. Luckily, all embarrassment was avoided at the eleventh hour.

Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for my other friend Chris. Her black water tank wasn’t emptied properly and what she thought was an empty tank turned out to be a “still full” tank. How unfortunate that my other friend Danny Bonchek was the first upon the scene and responded to Chris’s distress.

He put a bucket under the valve and cranked it. He created enough room until the next pump out - and let it be known Chris disposed of it in a very environmentally conscious way.

My buddy Bruce had an entirely different problem. His valve was broken, so there was no way of getting the nectar from inside his tank into that of the “excremental engineer.”

He’s in the process of replacing the valve while not having any of his own body waste splash him in the face. He’s a handy guy, but this situation poses a major problem that I hope I never experience.

Amazing eh. I start out saying I have nothing to write about but I end up with his long drawn out story about something you’d probably rather not think about.

Hey, but that’s exactly why I’m so concerned about black water pump outs.

I’m full of shit.

Category: Stuff

I haven’t been writing a lot of things of any depth on my website lately, and the explanation is simple.

I’ve been up north enjoying some time with my wife, and for the most part I’ve considered it a bit of a holiday.

I’ve scoured the newspapers and posted stuff on CanadianThinker.com, but I haven’t really sunk my teeth into anything because to be honest, nothing has really inspired me.

I got mildly pissed off at the Commissioner of the MLS (Major Soccer League) who said he wanted the Argonauts to stay OUT of BMO field.
Of all the nerve, some upstart Mickey Mouse soccer league that probably won’t be around in five years, and this guy is dictating to one of the oldest franchises in North American sport.
That stadium was built with taxpayer money, and if the Argonauts want to eventually play there, they should be able to “bump” TFR or TYF or TDG or whatever they call the soccer team on a days notice.

I was mildly amused by the Loreen Small story. The mother of murdered teenager Jordan Manners, who along with her daughters were shot at last week.
Why is it that more and more I feel a connection somewhere along the line? That there’s way more to Jordans’s murder than meets the eye and the incident last week was just an extension of that.
Again, it’s just a feeling.

I’m fascinated by Stephane Dion.
Incompetent, confused and downright silly, but he still rivals Stephen Harper in national polls thanks to the people of Ontario.
Until Ontario grows up, wakes up and smartens up, this country is in trouble. Ontario has to get over its anti-Conservatism before it’s too late.
We could easily end up with another Liberal government within the year, and that’s scary.

And I’m totally blown away with extended weather forecasts.
I laugh when I go on-line on a Monday and one of the weather sites has posted the forecast for Friday and Saturday.
Ha Ha Ha.
Give it up.

Category: Stuff

Last week when I was listening to the John Oakley Show, as I often do, I didn't jump for the dial as I often do when movie reviewer Chris Alexander came one.

Alexander may be a great movie reviewer, but as a radio guy I'm not a fan. His attempts to sound super-cool rub me the wrong way, often to the point where I simply can't listen. Sorry, but that's the way I feel.

Hey, what the shit, if he can review movies, why can't I review him.

Anyway, last Friday I endured his act because he was talking about the latest Batman movie, "The Dark Knight". Alexander loved it, and ranked it right up there with the best movies he's ever seen. He was so blown away with the movie, for a few minutes he actually forgot about how blown away he is with himself.

Yesterday, I saw the "Dark Knight" in Peterborough and I loved it.

I'm not going to do a movie review, because I'd probably lose you a couple of lines into it, but let me say this, it was everything that Chris Alexander said it was.

Dark and frightening with a twisty plot. Alexander calls it the best American film of 2008.

I don't know about it being the best film of '08 because I haven't seen enough to make that determination, all I do know is that I enjoyed the two and a half hours thoroughly, and I'm the type of guy who usually starts to squirm after 120 minutes.

You've probably already heard this, but know that Heath Ledger was absolutely amazing in this film.

Check it out, ya bastards.

Category: Stuff

I won't be posting anything until later today because I spent the night at my buddy Doug's.

I'm building him a Tiki Bar on the new deck in his back yard, and after sweating by bag off all day yesterday, we sat down to a good feed of corned beef and cabbage over rice that his mother in law made. It was complimented with some Patak's Mango Pickle.

Then we got into the Bud Lite.

Then we got into some old stories.

Then it was midnight.

Then I got into bed.

Then I started snoring.

Category: Stuff

My wife Delyse and our neighbour Ally spent about half an hour this morning sitting in my car in the driveway.

They were being nosey.

Our neighbours on the other side were off to the wedding of their daughter Gopey, and Delsye and Ally wanted to see her in her wedding dress.

Our neighbours are East Indian, and it was quite the week on our street. Relatives from all over the globe converged on Brampton and several of them stayed next door, and they got great use out of their garage.

I don’t know if its part of the East Indian culture or whether its just a passion for garages, but most of the festivities took place in the garage this week. There were tables set up, and bar along one wall and a barbeque that was chugging out the most delicious smelling food.

There was laughter, loud chatter and at one point, even some dancing on the driveway.

Today everybody next door woke up early and prepared for the wedding that would take place at nine o’clock this morning in Scarborough.

And that’s why my wife and Ally were in my car this morning. It didn’t matter that it was wife’s day off and she likes to sleep in on Friday’s, she set the alarm for 6:45 and made sure she was up in time.

There was a light rain falling, but they didn’t want to miss Gopey emerging from the house in her cultural wedding dress.

They wanted to see a kid who grew up on the street take her last few Brampton steps as a single girl.

They weren’t disappointed, Gopey looked tired and nervous, but she looked beautiful and happy has she slid into the waiting limousine.

Delyse and Ally were impressed, but uncharacteristically they did not shed a tear.

I guess part of them was pissed off we didn’t get invited to the wedding.

Category: Stuff