Post-Election

 "They say signs that the end is near, I wonder can I walk a righteous path holding a beer" - Resurrection by Common

(written on Saturday) It's been a difficult week.

I can't help but to look back to 8 years ago this week when president Obama was first elected. All the hopefulness, all the anticipation of change, all the wishful thinking. And while somehow in the back of my mind that euphoria was tempered with an 'oh crap I know they going to shoot him before he gets into office!' anxiety which thankfully didn't come through I still felt like it was a momentous occasion. Something truly wonderful had happened.

A black president!

Didn't think I'd see that in my lifetime.

Flash forward to this week and if the Obama election took us to euphoric heights, this election has had the opposite effect and plunged us into the depths of worry and despair.

Seriously not the place dude

So I'm not exactly anti new technology but I do think that some people take it too far.

And I'm pretty sure I've spoken about this before and tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, not to come off as an old fogey but I really think some folks go a tad far with their need to use their phones for recording and other purposes at the most inopportune time. Its like we've reached this stage where if you don't have a recording or photo of it to show others it didn't happen or the event is somehow invalidated.

Look at the photos showing groups of other persons with cameras and tablets held aloft at some concert or sporting event these days. It appears we have reached a stage where society would rather view an event through a digital lens than through their God given eyeballs.

And then there is the other case where we must be connected 24-7 regardless of where we go. Its like WI-fi is the new umbilical cord in this connected womb we now exist in. To not be connected and fed information, to be unconnected for even a few seconds and be out of the loop is somehow worst than death.

My weekend activities seemed to all validate this notion.

She lives!

Time sure does fly.

The same year that I started this blog, a long time ago in what feels like a galaxy far far away I also moved from a downtown apartment to the suburbs of Toronto. And man I must say it took me a lot of years and three kids to really kind of outgrow the pining for downtown living but that's another story.

As I may have mentioned before, I've been taking the same bus to work since then. Its been an interesting ride and since I basically catch the bus every morning in the same half hour range I feel like I'm come to know a whole bunch of folks by seeing them regularly over the years. But its the bus and its Toronto so you just recognize people but you don't really speak to them.

Whats also interesting is watching the school kids. There are two high schools on my route and its interesting to see the kids come on the bus as Grade 9ers and then grow over the four years of high school.

What can I say I'm a people watcher.

My cou-cou story

"Endorse the cou-cou give me a bigger share" - Dacosta Allamby

I grew up on cou-cou.

Its of course the national dish of Barbados and as a small child I fully embraced it. At one point cou-cou was the only thing my mother could get me to eat without me putting up a fuss. I just loved me some cornmeal cou-cou!

So much so that I would probably have cou-cou no less than 3-4 times per week. This was pre-primary school mind you but you can say that I'm pretty much built on cornmeal. Cou-cou with red herring, cou cou with saltfish, cou-cou with flying fish the national dish, the occasional salmon when someone over in away sent you a few tins, cou-cou with pork gravy or my favorite cou-cou with mackerel in tomato sauce. Loved me some cou-cou!