Freddie P's Blog

The Canadian National Exhibition opened this morning and as anyone who lives in the GTA knows, it's the first indication the summer is drawing to a close.

They call the Ex the grand old lady, but I'm not sure that moniker applies any more.

I haven't been to the Ex in years, and neither have my kids. Somewhere along the line the Ex lost her magic and lost a great deal of her cliental to Wonderland.

I really think Wonderland exposed the Ex for what it is, and second rate carnival providing a home for every two bit snake oil salesman in North America.

When I was a kid, the Exhibition was magical and something you looked forward to and when the day arrived to go you were bursting with anticipation.

For my kids, it means nothing. The Ex comes and goes each year without them even mentioning it.

It's sad, but it's like so many other things in Toronto. What was once cutting edge and impressive, has been allowed to fall behind and deteriorate, and attendance has plummeted.

Big changes have to be made and I think a good start would be to offer free admission.

Why you should have to pay to simply step onto the grounds is beyond me. Offering a one price midway pass is good, and charging admission for quality shows and exhibits is another thing.

But why should anyone have to pay just to walk around a once grand old lady that has fallen and can't get up.

Category: Stuff

So get a load of this.

Back on July 9th, my wonderful family and I attended the wedding of Ryan Kimber, the wonderful son of our wonderful friends Mike and Pam Kimber.

It took place at the supposedly wonderful Nottawasaga Inn in the charming wonderland of Alliston, Ontario.

Everything is fine and dandy through the late afternoon when arrived and right through the evening until after the wedding.

The ceremony was nice, the reception was a blast and we were all pretty tired, if not well oiled by the time it was over.

A group of us left the reception which was on the ground floor and we made our way up to the fifth floor where at least thirty invited guests had rented rooms for the night.

You can't be drinkin' and drivin' ya buggers.

Anyway, we get off the painfully slow elevator to be greeted by a couple of wannabee cop security guards who are in full Barney Fife mode. (for those of you too young, Barney Fife was a 1960's TV character on the Andy Griffith Show. He played a deputy sheriff who took himself way too seriously.)

Immediately, Barney and his buddy Barney Jr. are all over us. Accusing of making too much noise, which was crazy because we had just come up from the reception.

Needless to say, I had a little fun with these fuckers asking them a bunch of questions they couldn't answer and then finally they went away with stunned looks on their faces and their water guns in their holsters.

The night proceeded with some quiet conversation in a couple of rooms and after we ordered a couple of large pizzas (I ate six pieces) we all hit the hay.

The next morning upon check-out there was no mention of noise, no mention of any complaints and no indication that some of us were eventually going to have the book thrown at us.

Here's the deal.

A couple of weeks ago Pam gave us the heads up. Some of the guests had checked their Visa statements and the Nottawasaga had arbitrarily tagged a "noise fee" onto their bills.

A noise fee. A fuckin' noise fee. What the hell is a noise fee?

Well it turns out, in the fine print of something you sign when you check in there's something about a charge if you're responsible for disrupting the stay of another guest.

When Pam told me I laughed and thought she was kidding, but she wasn't. Needless to say, as host of the wedding and having chosen The Nottawasaga Inn as the location, she was embarrassed for the guests that had been charged a stupid goddamn "noise fee."

Again, not one guest was told or warned about being charged while they were checking out. The "noise fee" it turns out was added to their bill two weeks later.

Two weeks later! Are you kidding me?

No they weren't kidding and yesterday I got the Visa statement to prove it. There's a 36 dollar and 16 cent feel on my statement.

Well let me tell ya, Freddie P. blew his stack when he opened his Visa statement at approximately nine o'clock last night. I didn't waste any time calling The Nottawasaga Inn to notify them of my immense displeasure.

As you might expect I got the run around and was told someone would contact me today.

By 11 o'clock this morning when I hadn't heard from anyone I called back and got more of a run around. The accounting department told me the fee is spelled out in the fine print and as far they're concerned they have no obligation to tell the customer about it upon check-out.

I disagreed. Quite vehemently. With volume.

But again, I got the run-around. I was told only the manager could reverse the charge and he would call me back as soon as possible. Well that call still hasn't come.

But think about it people. You go to a hotel for a wedding, they put all the people from the same wedding on the same floor, but right in the middle they plop a couple who have no ties to the festivities. Brilliant.

Then, you're accused of making too much noise when you're not even there and then you're charged for it.... Two weeks after the freakin' wedding.

The wedding was July 9th and my "noise fee" went through on the 27th. So between the 9th and 27th I can only assume that the Nottawasaga Inn determined who the accused were, had some kind of a trial, arrived at a guilty verdict and then levied a fine which they arbitrarily put on unsuspecting patrons Visa's.

How's that for good business practice. Makes me really want to go back there. Makes me really want to recommend The Nottawasaga Inn to someone getting married. Really makes me think nice thoughts about the joint.

Holy shit, me and my wife still have some life in us but believe me we aren't really capable of committing such a crime. The biggest noise coming out of me that night was the squeekin' in my knees after rippin' up the dance floor in slow motion.

Thirty six bucks is no big deal, it's the principle. How is this any way to do business?

It's amazing, they got their 36 bucks from half a dozen people, but they've given no forethought to how this can play out in today's world.

Blogs like this and things like Tripadvisor where I'm going to post something really juicy.

What a joint. What a scam. And nice try tacking it on two weeks later, I'm sure hoping that I wouldn't notice. Well I did.

Pathetic

Category: Stuff

Mallick's bad journalism catches up.

Category: Stuff

Once again Fred you hit it dead on but people want to turn this into a political situation. This has nothing to do with political affiliation as the knob from Lowville indicates. Young people took advantage of a tragic incident to turn it into payback. There are a lot of jobs out there but it seems everyone is above them.

Il Duce

Category: Stuff

The Dark Heart Of England

Category: Stuff

What's the hold-up? I for the life of me can't figure out why the British Army isn't on the city streets of London with their guns drawn.

Already I'm tired of all the usual lefty bullshit that sights discrimination and socio-economics as reasons for what's going on in Britain.

And I've heard the comparisons to what happened in Toronto during the G-20 summit and on one level I agree. The vicious little malcontent turds who were responsible for Toronto are the same type of turd that is running through the streets of London and now various other cities in England.

These punks could care less about the guy who was shot my police last week; all that did was provide an excuse for what they're doing now.

How does a protest against a police shooting turn into a new I-pod plucked from a store window? I don't get the connection?

How does a protest against a police harrassment turn into the mugging of another citizen?

How does a protest against a supposedly unfair British society turn into the burning of a business that might be able to give you a job?

Oh yea, jobs. That's part of the excuse. Apparently there are no jobs for a certain community in England. They've been shut-out for some reason.

Meanwhile, Britain has a population every bit as diverse as Canada and it seems other communities don't have a problem. Hell, just like Canada if the job market is tight they create their own jobs by opening business's that often cater directly to their own community.

It's called the free-market system, or better still, survival.

It's amazing, here we are in the year 2011 and still one community in particular still hasn't figured out that first and foremost they need community leaders who look inward, and secondly, the best way to get ahead is by doing it yourself.

The excuses are really becoming tiring. Twenty or thirty years ago, yea, there was some basis for pointing fingers, but too much time has passed since then with very little or no action by those who consider themselves victims.

How do other communities develop and thrive? How do other communities scrimp and save and take responsibility for who they bring into the world and then contribute to society?

I'm sure some of you will read this and claim I'm a simpleton that the problem runs much deeper than I will ever appreciate, and that's OK. I would simply reply with this.

What's your solution? What can be done that already hasn't been tried over the past quarter century? Why is the blame always one way?

What's a better solution than taking responsibility for your own actions, direction and offspring?

Call in the army.

Category: Stuff

Needless to say, the following story is terrible and should be taken quite seriously. But in our changing world, if you don't laugh, you cry, and that's why I thought to lessen the blow of this disgusting story we look at the lighter side.

SANTA ANA, CALIF - "A U.S. man convicted of ejaculating into a co-worker's water bottle has been ordered to pay the woman more than $27,000.
The Los Angeles Times says a judge on Monday ordered Michael Kevin Lallana to pay the woman for loss of wages, therapy and medical expenses. Lallana was convicted earlier this year of two misdemeanour counts of battery.
Prosecutors say Lallana deposited his semen twice last year in the water bottle of a co-worker at Northwestern Mutual Mortgage Co. in Newport Beach.
The woman drank from the bottle both times, throwing the first one away after detecting a foul taste. The second time she sent the bottle to a lab for testing.
Lallana was arrested in July 2010 and his DNA was later matched to the water bottle."

Got any one liners? I'll get us started - and I'll put yours on the front page - remember this was a terrible, terrible thing.

- "He brewed her a bottle of Semen's Cream Ale."

Category: Stuff

I saw it again today. Somebody standing in front of the drug store. He finished his cigarette and threw the butt on the ground before stepping on it.

I'm stupefied by this because I'm convinced a lot of the people who throw their dirty cigarette butts on the ground are the same people who probably wouldn't throw a McDonald's bag on the ground.

It's a funny thing about smokers, there seems to be a disconnect with their filthy butts.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule - but I've seen people I know and love dearly commit this double standard. They would no sooner think of opening their car window and throwing an empty water bottle on the grassy part of an off-ramp, but they don't think twice about dropping a cigarette butt on the ground.

Like its connected to the size or something. A little tiny cigarette butt isn't going to make a difference.

Well in reality, a cigarette butt causes way more environment damage than a paper bag or a water bottle. A lot of today's paper decomposes rapidly and water bottles can actually be picked up.

Cigarette butts lie there. Often unnoticeable unless your in one of those areas where there are hundreds of them. And you know what? They can take up to four years to decompose.

Smoking is disgusting enough without smokers throwing the results all over the place - and it's an epidemic. From my experience, I'd say the vast majority of smokers are sloppy with their cigarette butts. They just drop them or throw them where ever the hell they feel like it.

Yet they wouldn't do the same thing with other forms of litter. Crazy.

A few months ago while I was in Peterborough I was exposed to the ultimate example of hypocrisy.

They had a soap box in Peterborough Square during the federal election campaign. It was put together by the NDP and Green Party so you know it didn't go over to well when I took the soap box and defended the government's purchase of new fighter jets.

To tell you the truth I was both eloquent and convincing and it didn't sit well the socialists. Politicians are not supposed to take part in this soap box, so they immediately accused me of being a politician. It was hilarious.

They wanted everyone's opinion, but only if they liked it.

Anyway after I stepped down from the box I was immediately attacked by a young woman who was beside herself with frustration. She wore a Green Party badge on her chest and she held a cigarette in hand.

She didn't like what I had to say, and she was convinced to say such things I must have been sent there by the Conservatives.

And at the end of the diatribe she took the smoke from her mouth, dropped it on the ground and stepped on it.

I probably don't have to tell you that the topic of the conversation changed on a dime.

A Green Party member had just dropped a cigarette on the ground and I thoroughly enjoyed the hypocrisy. When I pointed it out to her she stuttered and stammered and claimed she always holds on to her butts and this was an exception.

"You hold on to your butts?" I asked.
"Yes" she said.
"And when you hold on to them, what do you do with them, where do you put them?"

She couldn't answer. It was unbelievable, she couldn't even come up with another lie, but she did have a side-kick with greasy hair and bad teeth who stepped up and backed up her claim that she always holds on to her butts.

It was pathetic - much like anyone else who throws their stinkin' butts on the ground.

Category: Stuff

Why is there a debate where there is no debate?

I'm referring to the aggravating back and forth between those rational people who know its time to shut-down several Toronto libraries and those who are opposed.

The numbers say it all. Toronto has 93 public libraries and 700 schools with each containing their own separate library.

You may have noticed that technology has changed our researching habits quite a bit over the past few years, so the need for going to the local library has diminished somewhat.

It's a given. A no brainer. A slam dunk. Libraries are going the way of the typewriter so its time to update.

In this case update means taking a whole whack of them and shutting them down. It makes complete sense.

But ah, there-in lies the reason for this non-debate. The anti-Ford regime in Toronto has decided to latch onto this issue as a way of getting at the Mayor in their favourite way.

They like to paint him as a fat, stupid, ignorant boor who has no class and very little appreciation for the arts and personal expression. Painting the Mayor anti-library helps the cause.

The amazing thing is, shutting down a bunch of libraries may actually help those who still choose a library for their research and development. They may have to travel a little farther, but if say one/third of Toronto's public libraries are shut-down, it will make the remaining two/thirds that much better.

Having school libraries remain open beyond school hours is another option that is being ignored. To eliminate a lot of the duplication is some areas seems sensible, but it's not a good play for the anti-Ford forces who choose to over-look the sensible if it means attacking the man.

Make no mistake about it, that's what this is about.

And I don't even want to talk about Margaret Atwood. Here blabberings do nothing more than show how out of touch she is.

She claims the Mayor is attacking the arts and literature, when it reality she and the lefty brigade in Toronto are whoring this issue to attack the Mayor.

This issue has nothing to do with kids being able to read books. That will not change with fewer libraries in Toronto. If you really want a book, they'll still be there, you might have to drag your ass a little further, or instead of going to a public library you might find yourself in a school, but rest assured, books will not disappear.

But here's the bottom line, whether we like it or not, books with covers and pages don't play the part in our lives that they used to. Kids get their info and pleasure from different places now and that's made many libraries empty if not obsolete.

Why keep payin' for it?

Category: Politics | Stuff

Right off the top I'll explain why I removed the comments from the posting "Update" which was posted on July 24th.

I did it to protect the innocent, including a couple of dead guys.

Anyone who frequents this blog knows I can take a shot, because I've left lots of them on the site. But when other people are mentioned in a derogatory fashion and slime balls start to post while pretending to be other people I know, then it's time to stop the fun.

I left the stuff up there for over a week, but when it started to degenerate into nonsense I thought I'd give it a wipe.

I'm convinced it's just the work of one guy and I'm sure if I had the technology to travel back through cyber-space I wouldn't be surprised to learn the identity of the culprit.

It's definitely someone I've worked with somewhere, sometime. One of those guys who always thought he got a raw deal and it was him who should have had the successful career and all that comes with it.

It really is amazing that someone could sit behind their computer and deliver such distasteful stuff and not have enough guts to put their name to it.

I've said it before, it's the same kind of person who puts a mask over their face and then throws rocks through windows on Yonge St. They want to make a statement, but they don't have the backbone to stand behind it.

And I know what you're thinkin'. You're thinkin' Frederick, what are you doing? By writing this stuff you're just giving the weasel what he wants, attention. It will empower the slithering prick and he'll keep doing it.

So be it. The vast majority of the people who visit CanadianThinker.com are great people who have the best of intentions and aren't caught up in their own failures.

On that note, I must acknowledge the wonderful notes and comments I received, and they were in the vast majority.

The encouragement I got from people both inside and outside the business was nothing short of amazing and it was much appreciated.

As for the future, as I promised a couple of weeks ago, it isn't over - as a matter of fact the next chapter is just beginning. As of Monday I'll be going to a west Toronto location on a daily basis to plan the strategy for my next adventure which includes another guy you might know.

The world it's a changin' and it's changin' at breakneck speed. Technology now allows us to by-pass and leap-frog a lot of bullshit and now is the time to take advantage.

I would ask you to stay tuned, be patient and most of all, support what is to come.

I'm loving yooz. Each and every one of yuz.

Even the creepy little weasel jellyfish fuck hiding behind his keyboard - probaby with his pants around his ankles.

Category: Stuff