Friday, September 30, 2011

Lack of London Ontario MEC News Creates WTF Moment

I swung by the retail units that will be occupied by Mountain Equipment Co-op last week to see how things were coming along. There wasn't much to see, really. No signage, no fixtures, just some empty cement-floored retail space.



Being a very nosy individual, I stuck my nose up to the glass and saw that the wall between the two units had been removed, so I guess that's good. Disappointed that there wasn't much to see, I turned my attention to the building permit posted on the glass. Upon doing so, a word I had never seen before caught my attention. Apparently the wall that had been removed was a "demising" wall:



I don't know about you, but a demising wall sounded like bad news to me. Of course, "demising wall" has a nice innocuous, almost boring meaning:

A wall used jointly by two parties under easement agreement, erected upon a line dividing two parcels of land, each of which is a separate real estate entity; a common wall.

The tenants of 4A and 4B put up a demising wall to divide their previously contiguous apartment.

source: urban dictionary


Unfortunately, the seeds of a WTF attack had been sown the instant I read that page. I mean, what would a demise-ing wall look like? Could people really live with one?


Rantwick visits Mom and Dad in their new condo.




No wonder detached dwellings cost more.
R A N T W I C K

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

SARATS Disease

I will never enter any tree other than The King in my Autumn Tree Smackdown, for good or ill. Still, now that SARATS season has rolled around, I notice individual trees more than I normally would, so much so that I'm beginning to see things.

For example, this tree looked like it was doing a "Don King":




You know, Don King, the Boxing Promoter?




Can you see it?



How about now?

Hmmm. Judging by that little episode perhaps it would be OK if SARATS season went by quickly.

As I finished this post I thought, "Oh no, what if Don King recently died or something? That would be in pretty bad taste." It has happened before on this blog. Just so youse all know, Don King is alive and presumed well (no mention of anything on wikipedia, anyway) at the age of 80. No freaky foliage faux pas today, my friends! 


Yer Pal, R A N T W I C K

Monday, September 26, 2011

Biker Gang

I met a biker gang last week, the Silver Spokes. I tried to look them up to provide some contact info, but only found non-London clubs / groups of that name. We chatted a bit before I did a ride-by video of the group:



Although I talked a little about this blog, saying they could find the video on it, nobody has contacted me with any more info about their group. If some turns up I'll add it to this post.

As often happens when I see a friendly group of casual riders having a good time, I thought about whether I might enjoy being part of one. I cherish my alone time on the bike, but that shouldn't preclude riding with others once in a while. Just the same, thus far I have always opted to cycle on my own. I guess I'm just not a social animal that way.

I'm not a shy person... I find work and other relationships easy enough, but I'm not exactly a collector of friends either. Gang membership and mentality just isn't my style. I suspect that this quality in myself will eventually prove to be my loss. Who knows, maybe some day I'll just join in. Maybe.

Upon re-reading this post I realize that it contains more than a dash of pretty boring self-involved rumination. Ah well, I guess I won't be the first or last blogger to do a little introspective rambling; I will, however try to keep it at acceptably low levels. Unless of course you want to be my shrink. If that is the case, I warn you that I refuse to pay for our sessions and reserve the right to self-medicate at will. Like right now, for instance.



Yer Pal,
R A N T W I C K