of multicultural Britain as I just was. Check out the back of this packet of Tunnock's Tea Cakes that I was surprised and delighted to receive today.


Part of a glorious care package from Pete 'n Elsie - thank you! thank you! thank you!

I've just finished reading Billy Bragg's new book "The Progressive Patriot". I really enjoyed it so I felt I had to rebut the dreadful review on Amazon. It's the ideal read for earnest lefties like me who want to wave the flag of St George when England win a football match (in the unlikely event of that ever occurring again).

The book wasn't what I expected at all, which I probably should have expected. It's part autobiography and part family history but I suppose it's not surprising that for Billy Bragg of all people, the personal is the political. And it seems that the man who patriated Route 66 with his paean to Essex motoring "A13 - Trunk road to the sea" (check out Phil Jupitus on acoustic guitar!) has done the literary equivalent by taking Mark Kurlansky's "Basque History of the World" and coming up with the Barking History of England.

Next up in the series John ponders multicultural Britain from abroad* is Daljit Nagra's fabulously titled book of poems "Look we have coming to Dover!" which arrived today.

* never 'with a broad' - sigh...

The Stanley Cup finals begin today, the Ottawa Senators vs the Anaheim Ducks, but I'm in a quandary over who to support.

A few years ago it would have been easy. When they were still the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, owned by the Walt Disney Corporation, named after a rubbish film with Emilio Estevez and sporting a ridiculous cartoon-character logo on their teal-green jerseys, I thought they were everything that was wrong with professional sport. How could people take hockey seriously when teams are called the Mighty Ducks? Their very existence distressed me. Everything about them was wrong, like the MK Dons, and the thought that my beloved Montreal Canadiens should have to sully their skates on their ice appalled me (I later found I shared that exact sentiment with a character in a Mordechai Richler novel!) But as of January 26, 2006 the team was officially renamed the Anaheim Ducks. Gone were the leisure-suit jerseys, gone was the daft logo. They looked like a proper team, with proper players and my antipathy started to abate.

But it should still be easy. I spent 4 of the happiest years of my life living in Ottawa. Those were years before the Senators returned to the city, which is why I'm a Montreal fan, but still - surely some hometown pride should count for something? And at least winning the Stanley Cup means something to the people in Ottawa: Anaheim's in California for God's sake - they don't care! Then there's the Canadian team thing. No Canadian team has won since 1993 (the Montreal Canadiens of course!) and the country is getting slightly obsessed with this. Mind you that's daft - Anaheim has more Canadian players than Ottawa. They even have a Canadian captain unlike Ottawa, but apparently that's not the point.

The main problem seems to be that Ottawa aren't a loveable team. They are like Chelsea, effective but you can't warm to them. Or at least you can't if you listen to my friend Turner. He really doesn't have a good word to say for the team or its fans. However I was about to tell him that the hometown ties were too strong for me and I was going to cheer for the Senators but then yet another obstacle appeared. I heard that Ottawa goalie Ray Emery had had a minor traffic accident. In his Hummer.

Oh dear.

You see I have a strict zero-tolerance policy towards Hummers.* If I see one on the street I make an uncharitable gesture in it's direction, every time. If it's in any way tied to an organisation, a bar, taxi, whatever, I boycott that firm. So that's a biggie, Ray.

As it is when the first game began this evening I still wasn't sure. But then looking at the players I thought about one of the special things that makes the Stanley Cup so great. They engrave the names of the winning team's players on the base of the cup. No matter how great your career has been, if your name doesn't appear on the cup somewhere then you know that something's missing. Just ask Ray Bourque. After 20 outstanding, but fruitless, years with the Boston Bruins he was traded to the Colorado Avalanche. In the very next year the Avs made it to the final and they won. In one of the most generous moments by a sportsman I can ever recall Avalanche captain Joe Sakic received the trophy but passed it straight to Ray Bourque to lift for the first time. There wasn't a dry eye in the house: watch this and tell me your not feeling it too.

So there's one name I'd really like to see engraved on the cup this year. He's spent 18 years in the league and in his very first season he set a record for goals by a rookie that stands to this very day. They used to call him the Finnish Flash but at 36 Teemu Selanne doesn't have the jets he once had back in Winnipeg and he's never won the Stanley Cup. But he's still a great player and one of the official-nicest-guys-in-hockey (in the Niall Quinn, Chris Powell mode back home), I cheered for him in Turin at the Olympics and he's got my vote this time. I really never thought I'd say it but - Go Ducks Go!



* Don't give me that Hummers are better than Priuses tosh. They aren't.

.. do shake the darling buds of May


and then dump 10cms of snow on 'em. On May 24th! I fear summer's lease hath not been witnessed by an independent third party.

Some good science: Tea 'healthier' drink than water.

The Rocky mountains are full of legend and myth. There are tales of explorers, pioneers and hunters. There's the Crowsnest pass rum-runners or the tourist-friendly legends like the Griz in Fernie*. When I was living in Fernie another mountain legend reached my ears. It was the tale of 5 guys from Nelson, British Columbia. I was told that they travel around the mountain towns spreading the gospel. The gospel according to AC/DC. Their name - BC/DC of course!

This weekend is the end of the ski season at Sunshine Village and the closing weekend party featured BC/DC. I had to go, just for a last ski and to see what the fuss was all about. The skiing wasn't great, slushy spring conditions but without the blue skies that would compensate. In fact the overcast gave way to driving snow about 10 minutes before the band were due on. But if you're in a hard-piping AC/DC tribute band do you let a mere snowstorm stop you rocking?

No sir you do not...


You bring on a guy in a cow suit and you rock.


Saying that BC/DC rock is like saying the Pope does the odd prayer in Latin or bears seldom take advantage of the toilets at a camp ground. It was fantastic: full of "the majesty of Rock, the pageantry of Roll." Like the darning of a sock, or the scoring of a goal....

* I know the Griz is real.

I got this email today.

Greetings my new friend! Your structure has very much liked me and

consequently I have decided to write to you. My name Natalya! I search for

the man for long attitudes. To me of 28 years. I have no children. To me it

would be more convenient if have written to me on my electronic box:

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Please write to me at once on the specified electronic box because I use

services of Internet - cafe and it will be difficult for me to get

acquainted with you on a site. I very much hope, that you that the man which

I searched for all life. Photos I guarantee.
I wait for your answer to the electronic box.
P.S If you not serious the man do not write to me because I do not have time

for games better.


She's a keeper!

I love football but I think the greatest trick that Pele ever pulled off was when he said football was "the beautiful game" and we all believed him.

However this description of Carlos Tevez saving the day for West Ham makes Argentinian football sound rather beautiful...

I'm backing Talk like a Pilot day.

Tally ho!

Day 2 of the kayaking course took us back to the pool at the University in the morning. We were due to learn the "don't-whatever-you-do-call-it-an-Eskimo" roll (it's a kayak roll these days) as a way of righting ourselves when things went the way of the Tong midstream. JC and Jeff our instructors patiently took us through the learning steps and by the end of the session some people had it nailed. I was not among them. My friend Wayne got it sorted though (most of the time!).

Undaunted we headed out to the Kananaskis river in the mountains for some whitewater fun. The river looked fierce but it was still only Class 1+ rapids (that's the easiest). It was the same river that I rafted last summer and it's definitely a lot more rowdy in a kayak, Class 1 or not. It was also a lot colder than last summer; in fact it was a lot colder than yesterday! Saturday on the Bow it was a sunny 20+ degrees. Today's top temperature: 6 degrees. And rain. So the last thing you wanted to do was capsize early on.

I capsized on the first eddy we hit. I thought I'd take one for the team as from then on everyone had the confidence of not being the worst paddler! It actually wasn't as cold as I feared: thermals, wet suit, fleece, paddling jacket all came up trumps. It was tiring swimming to shore though and then emptying out the boat, getting the spraydeck on and paddling out again. I made it down most of the rest of the way without too much more difficulty but did go for another, rather longer, swim near the bottom. After that I was absolutely cream-crackered and happy to paddle enough to keep me pointing the right direction and let the current take me home.

Despite all of that it was still great! I might go for another kayak roll session in the pool because being able to right yourself would save a lot of energy and watching our coaches in action it was clear what fun it can be when you can really tackle the rapids with confidence.

The course was run by the University of Calgary Outdoor Centre and they have an amazing array of other activities to do. So far I'm booked on a map and compass skills workshop plus a two day session on preparing for backcountry camping, which even features a lesson on dehydrating your own food! The mind boggles.

YES!*

* legal restrictions may apply

I'm on a River Kayaking course this weekend. Friday night we were in a swimming pool getting acquainted with the kayaks and the basics of paddling. Today we were on the Bow River in NW Calgary. It's brilliant fun but as I sit here before the computer I still feel like I'm in my kayak! Everything is gently bobbing and rolling slightly.

I've been listening to today's PM programme on Radio 4 over t'internet. I found the coverage of the devolution developments in Northern Ireland incredibly moving. I honestly never thought I'd see this. Amazing. Wonderful. Inspiring.

So many people have moved so far to make this happen. But I give much of the credit to Tony Blair. Well done fella.

I hope that somewhere there's a list of 37 things you must do before you are 37. I hope that in it, nestled between say 25. Sail up the Mekong (missed that) and 27. Watch the sunrise at Glastonbury (and that) is 26. Ski Delirium Dive at Sunshine Village. I hope all this because that's what I spent my last day of being 36 doing and I'd hate to think I'd wasted the opportunity of ticking something off the list.

Actually it wouldn't have been a waste, list or not. It was fantastic. The interweb describes it thus

Delirium Dive offers some of the craziest, sickest in bounds terrain of any resort on North America: 2000 vertical feet, 700 skiable acres and slopes averaging 40 to 60º.

In fact it wasn't as scary as it sounds but then that's maybe because I was there with an instructor who showed me the lines to take. The thing with the Dive is that you can't go on your own. You must ski with at least 1 partner and you must have the full avalanche gear: transceiver, shovel and probe. That's why I chose to "go with a pro" as a birthday treat. I signed up for Delirium Sunday which means you can go in a group with an instructor who will kit you out with this season's must have accessories. In fact our group was me and one other and after a quick trial run where our instructor could see if she thought we would make it we headed up the chairlift.

From the top of the chair it's a short hike up:

Then it's a long way down:

but there are helpful signs if you aren't sure of the way:

In the end we did it three times:


I survived and there are more photos here. And now I'm 37. 37!!! Sweet Jebus.

From my balcony last week

.. about the hottest April since 1659 or whenever. Right now it's snowing in Calgary! Ashley says she's seen snow in every month in Calgary and so far, so have I!

I speak as someone who loves the snow. Turns out even I have limits.