Welcome!
It’s March. It’s almost spring. The ominous, leering, traffic-impeding snow banks are finally gone. I’m off from work today, using my end of fiscal year lingering vacation to hang out with the kiddos on March break.
I want to write more, and sharing random thoughts, ideas, and things I have encountered might be something that more than just people in my group chats might find interesting.
Here’s a small dose of recommendations and London related content, something the internet needs more of when it’s not us going national for doing something that involves booze, racism, or both.
Podcasts:
When you’re a dad, you don’t have time for podcasts. Whether it’s being asked “What is this? What are they talking about?” in the car or a constant stream of people trying to talk to you at work, give up on podcasts. Pick your two, one for mowing the lawn and the other for cardio at the gym, which isn’t a dirty word anymore once you hit the age where things like blood pressure and heart health matter
Locally, I am all about The Craig Needles Podcast. It’s a great mix of local, provincial, and federal topics with various interesting guests representing diverse backgrounds. You may even catch a certain deep voiced giant dad on there once in a while too.
Food:
I have eaten two EXCEPTIONAL meals this week.
Firstly, I went to Billy’s Deli for breakfast with one of my networking groups. The skillet is untouchable. Between the variety of meats, the perfectly cooked eggs, and the top-notch homemade chilli sauce, it has a perfect blend of everything you crave for breakfast. Dip some hot buttered rye toast with homemade jam, and start your day with perfection.
On the weekend, my wife and I joined our friends Ryan and Nicole for their first trip to Craft Farmacy. Between being walking distance from our house, the craft cocktails, the farm-fresh food, and the excellent service, it was a perfect date night for us, and our friends ended up loving it, too.
Recently, Dine In 519 on Instagram named Craft Farmacy as London’s best burger. Ever since, they have had a plethora of walk-in burger aficionados posting up at the bar to hammer one down. This was so hectic out of the blue that they didn’t even have time to create a special on the Saturday night we were there. I ain’t complaining, though. I got the burger, and it was FIRE.
Like a foodie, I had to also try the bone marrow for the first time ever to feel like I had some Instagram cred. It was okay, but not nearly enough food. They did wrap the bone in foil and let me take it home to my dog afterwards though. Duncan was a HUGE fan.
I also had the Korean Pork Belly Bao Buns. This was my first and only time trying Bao, and YES. A light, fluffy steamed bun with tasty pork belly, some white sauce, and various pickled vegetables was so good that my wife ordered another round of them as her main.
Events:
We had tickets to the Old South Pub Bourbon tasting recently, that has been re-scheduled to TBD. My second least favourite date after February 29th.
I will keep you posted in a further update as to how that goes.
We have tickets to an Irish Whiskey tasting this Saturday at the St. Patrick’s Day event at the German club for myself, Bruce D from Twitter, and my buddy Boston Ken. Stay tuned for a recap.
Content I am enjoying:
Musically, I was directed towards these Dutch guys called “Sun City” by a blogger named Action Cookbook, whose premium newsletter I have been reading for a few years.
If you grew up as an elder millennial like me, watching kids’ movie protagonists win martial arts tournaments, land unthinkable rollerblade tricks, or beat a pack of bullies in a game of dodgeball, these guys are for you. They have all the synthesizer, saxophone, and uplifting lyrics that your eight-year-old heart could desire, but with 2020’s recording and mixing chops.
SO. MUCH. FUN.
I picked up a play from my kids’ playbook and have found that YouTube is way more distracting than Spotify when it comes to distracting myself on the treadmill for as long as possible.
I randomly found an account through the algorithm called “Hunter Williams” that has 40 xed from 5k subscribers to over 220k in the few months I’ve been watching. If you like dry, random, understated “Nathan For You” type humour, this is right up your alley.
“I became mayor of the world’s smallest town” is incredible comedy.
Three quick thoughts on local issues:
According to CBC London, COVID was declared a global pandemic five years ago yesterday.
Reading that article brought back some unpleasant memories, and Andrea Wojtak hit the nail on the head that many seniors who survived the pandemic in long term care still sustained massive declines in quality of life and long term health due to ancillary effects. My wife and I lived it, having to visit with her dad through a window at Parkwood. The cognitive decline of his dementia rocketed. It’s a time that I prefer not to reminisce over, but hope that we all learned lessons in case we solve aging and are around for the next pandemic in 2120. To this day, I am supporting youth who are still experiencing lingering social and personality effects of those unprecedented times through my job.
The London Free Press’s Jack Moulton, a new and underrated city hall reporter, published an opinion piece on how the Mayor may rein in the “runaway property tax hikes” in London.
At his State of the City breakfast, Mayor Morgan stated his intent to get the next 6.4 percent property tax hike to under five percent.
As a homeowner with two earners in healthcare and non-profit work, I see both sides. Our wages haven’t risen commiserate with inflation. We keep a low-key lifestyle, and higher property taxes ultimately mean less “fun” spending for us. But, at the same time, I recognize that our municipal government is the only level of government that cannot run a deficit and that a lot of city council spending is fixed. Is having funding to transit or your library system cut back worth saving $30-$50 on your property taxes every year? If you haven’t used your local library recently, I can assure you that it would STUN you the amount of services and value delivered to Londoners in so many different ways, entirely free of charge. Like Randy Jackson is famous for saying on American idol,
Lastly, according to the London Free Press, more head scratching decisions are coming to light at the Thames Valley District School Board.
I think the world of Bill Tucker, the interim director. I have nothing but negative opinions towards the previous director, who was most recently paid almost $1,000 daily to stay home for six months.
There are many other bright and talented people in the school board at the executive level and countless hardworking and dedicated staff members supporting and teaching our kids at the school level.
When you change leadership in any corporation, including our $1.2 billion board, you should see a significant cultural, strategic, and operational shift about twelve months later. We are approaching six months since Bill Tucker took over and are seeing some progress. We should have the school board that our children and staff deserve by this fall.
When it comes time to vote for new trustees in October 2026, remember which ones were transparent, took action, and stood up to make their voices heard on our behalf over the past six months and the next six. Vote for or elect the people who do or will do the job they’re supposed to do for us.
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