Blast From the Past

While I was away in Thunder Bay in July I saw this vintage cycle locked up outside the Hoito:

The Hoito is a Finnish breakfast place / diner that must be experienced if you go to Thunder Bay.

It is located underneath the Finlandia Club. Try the Finnish pancakes. Newsflash: There are lots of people of Finnish ancestry in Thunder Bay.

Also be sure to purchase and eat a "Persian", a local delicacy that is only found in Thunder Bay, believe it or not. They aren't much more interesting than a doughnut to local people, who know not the extraordinary way in which they have been blessed, but when the Rantwick clan visits Thunder Bay we celebrate them with great vigour.

wikipedia link

They are freakin' delicious. The best Persians can be purchased, not surprisingly, from "The Persian Man", which has at least two locations in town, maybe more.

The wikipedia article claims that there are "persians" available in Wisconsin as well, but they feature white icing sometimes with nuts or coconut. That is utter nonsense. Everybody knows persians have a strangely hard to describe pink strawberry-raspberry flavoured icing. White icing. Pffft. Whatever, Wisconsin...

Where was I? Oh yes, the bike. Check out the licence plate!

I remember those from when I was a kid; everyone was supposed to license their bicycle in the City of Thunder Bay. I checked their web site and found no reference to any such practice these days.

It was kind of nice to see how seriously bikes were treated at one time. Almost like, um, vehicles!

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K

How Cyclists See Toronto

If you had to guess which city would be nicer to ride your bike in, would you choose Toronto, Ontario, Canada or Dallas, Texas, USA?

I'm thinking that most people who don't know either city would guess Toronto. Canadians are usually so well mannered, right? Right?

Here's a post from one Texas cyclist who didn't really enjoy Toronto's downtown cycling scene. I think it should be seen as a wake-up call to anyone who thinks Toronto is doing OK when it comes to cycling...

Second Class in Toronto

I would encourage Torontonians to respond to that post as they see fit... I'm looking forward to seeing their comments on it.

Yer Pal,

R A N T W I C K