Friends are Electric

Growing up I do not know when I became aware of the uncomfortable fact.

It may have been on television, not the news but popular programming. There was almost never any that featured us. When people like us were featured, it was in a mocking way.

It may have been Aux Trois Moulins (The Three Mills), a local restaurant. I can not remember a time when there were three mills in operation. There were two for a time, and now one.

It may have been that whenever something burned down nothing was ever built to replace it. The main street has at least three gravel lots where businesses once stood, although two of them predate my memory.

Thinking about it noww, all of these things, and others, are responsible. Their impressions build up over time. I do not think I ever consciously became aware of the fact until I left. But it was there. Day in, day out, we lived with it. Struggled with it. Endured it.

My home town was dying. Is still dying. And, baring any unlikely reversal of fortune, will die.

Some day Chapleau, Ontario, will be a ghost town.

I have seen the end. On one edge of town is a street. It is lined with houses on one side, like any other street in town, and the other the Chapleau River. When I was in grade school I had friends who lived in these houses. I do not recall when they moved away, as more people than I can remember did (and I myself did eventually), but I know that no one has lived on that street since. The houses are boarded up and run down.

Forgotten.

Forgotten will be the terminal state of the town. Just like these houses. Boarded up, with trees and grasses overgrowing everything. And then decay.

When I think about why the cracked highway overgrown with grass had a profound effect on me, the image forever ingrained in my memory, it must be because I know that is what Chapleau will come to. My obsession with the world moving on, my love of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, games and film comes from my upbringing. From the subconscious foreboding that permeated the air, the faint smell of death.

But as much as I deeply love my home town, I can never go back. Its Chiché to say, but its true. I, too, have moved on.

When I was twelve or thirteen years old, I took a trip to Timmins, Ontario with my parents. Maybe it was later, the year does not stick with me, it is unimportant. Trips to Timmins were frequent enough that this one should hold no memories for me, no meaning. And it would not except for something I saw on the way.

We had stopped along highway 101, probably for the call of nature. The sun was bright in the sky, which itself was a deep and vibrant shade of blue. When I think back to growing up in Northern Ontario, the sky rarely stands out. The sky there always seems dull in my memory, as though the colour was washed out. But not this day, or maybe it is only my memory playing tricks on me. Either way, I remember they sky being unusually blue. We were walking along a side road, probably an old logging road, to the south of the highway.

We came around a bend and there it was. I did not take pictures. I had no camera, could not have taken them if i wanted to. Not that it matters, the image is clear to me even now. We had found a stretch of the highway from a previous alignment.

(Background information, highways in Northern Ontario frequently change their course, they generally start out meandering lazily along and are straightened out and shortened with each reworking.)

The old highway was beautiful. My mind recalls it to be as straight as an arrow, but this is likely not true. It had tree branches overhanging it from both sides. The dashed yellow line was clearly visible along the centre of the paved surface, which was itself broken by frost into many scale like fragments. Grass grew up from the cracks. The wind caused the overhanging trees and the grasses to move gently.

I have a fascination with things people leave behind. With old highways. Abandoned bridges. Forgotten foundations. The image above was taken at South Baymouth on Manitoulin Island. It stands on a point near the harbour, beyond it is Lake Huron. These relics, when I see them, almost call out to me. To be admired, to be photographed.

Maybe I want to understand why things were left. Why is there a chimney facing Lake Huron? What happened to the rest of the house? Who lived there, where did they go? Thinking about it, however, I feel as though I am more interested in the structures than their stories. The world seems to move blindingly fast. It is the defiant timelessness of these artifacts appeals to me.

Worked for a week in the field in Northwestern Ontario. Saw some black bears, for of them to be exact. Was stalked by a wolf. Twice. Lost lots of sleep and was completely covered in dust. Still finding pieces of rock in pockets.

Snow on June 1st. Not the latest I have seen it (Canada Day 2001 is the latest snow I have seen).

Flew home. Airport security was not as bad as I had been lead to believe. Nor were the flights absurdly late. Nor were the planes extremely uncomfortable.

That is all.

If ever you have the opportunity, watch this film.

After the film has ended, it stays with you. The only way I can describe it is like the taste of something fantastic which you hesitate to eat anything after for fear of losing it. Like a nice cheese or wine, perhaps.

Its a film from Hong Kong in the 90s, so finding it might be challenging. If you do, watch it. You will not regret it.

When running their vehicles to gather Street View data for many Canadian cities/towns, Google left the cameras running while driving the highways. This provides information that I never expected to have access to in my lifetime. You can take virtual drives on many of the highways in Northern Ontario. I do not recomend this, they are actually more boring than having to drive the highways.

These images, however, do capture some of the most amazing geology you can see from the comfort of your computer. Today, we visit the Trans Canada Highway 401 south of Parry Sound, Ontario. This outcrop is part of the Grenville province of the Canadian Shield.

The outcrop.

Unlike last night, where live-Tweeting the English language debate just happened, I set out tonight with the plan of doing the same for the French language debate. I do not speak French well enough to follow the debate in French, so I watched the dubbed version broadcast on the CBC website. Commentary follows.

<8:06> Not the rules as I understand them #constitution #db8 #elxn41

<8:08> Duceppe: Coalitions are legitimate. (again, why does he have to be a separatist?) #db8 #elxn41

<8:09> Ignatieff is already on the talking points, already repeated himself four times. #db8 #elxn41

<8:15> The Liberals are the clear alternative. So I've been told eight times. #db8 #elxn41

<8:19> Love these hockey references #elxn41 #db8

<8:25> Tax hikes will cause the apocalypse. #elxn41 #db8

<8:28> Layton is on about ebil banks again #db8 #elxn41

<8:35> Harper: If we raise taxes, gravity will reverse, the oceans will boil and the sun will cease to glow. #elxn41 #db8

<8:37> Duceppe states facts on forestry job losses, comparing to auto industry. Only one saying anything interesting. #db8 #elxn41

<8:47> Fun fact, crime rate in more rural provinces are higher than in cities. http://is.gd/HmYgQb. #elxn41 #db8 #guncontrol

<8:48> Than in more urban provinces*

<8:49> Here comes the dodging on Bill 101 again. #db8 #elxn41

<8:54> Eyebrows #db8

<9:04> Is it just me or does Layton's translator sound like an Irish John Wayne? #db8

<9:10> Last I heard Nutrition North wasn't so great #db8 #elxn41

<9:11> http://is.gd/8cRDKO for example on Nutrition North #nunatsiaq #db8 #elxn41

<9:12> The old food-mail program ended last fall, Nutrition North just started this month. Thats a large time delay. #db8 #elxn41

<9:33> Ignatieff is defiantly no Trudeau. #db8 #elxn41

<9:33> Fun fact: Quebec is against Aboriginal sovereignty. Sovereignty for them but no one else. Just like what he said about Canada. #db8 #elxn41

<9:35> I call BS on the billions to forestry. #db8 #elxn41

<9:44> No, Layton, the Harper government is in power because of #voters. Like it or not. #db8 #elxn41

<9:45> Ignatieff criticizing someone for wanting to be everything to everyone is kinda rich. #db8 #elxn41

<9:49> If you want to invest $12B in jobs, etc., then invest $12B, buying planes and HOPING that some jobs are made is weak policy. #db8 #elxn41

<9:55> Canada in Haiti? Don't make me laugh. We are a colonial power in Haiti. http://is.gd/kR38fm #rabble #haiti #db8 #elxn41

I did not plan to do this prior, it just happened. I missed the first 10 minutes because I was making dinner which is why there are no comments on subjects covered during this time. Missing are comments others made. Without further adieu:

<7:21> Layton has got some really good lines in, Harper handling himself quite well. #db8 #cdnpoli

<7:26> Jack Layton is really good at changing the subject, I didn't even notice him do it. #db8 #elxn41

<7:28> Canadian mission in Haiti? Don't get me started. #db8 #elxn41

<7:40> Did #Harper really just imply he was not as responsible for mud-slinging as the rest of them? #db8 #elxn41

<7:43> Majority government puts country at greater risk than many minority governments. Liberal or Conservative are both bad in majority. #elxn41

<7:46> So sick of hearing about the economy. That is not the only issue here. #elxn41 #db8

<7:47> Wrong. The childish bickering is part of what is important. #elxn41 #db8

<7:51> Harper: blatant lies about the nature of Canadian government. Again. Unsurprising. #coalitions #db8 #elxn41

<7:53> Party that finishes does not necessarily form government. Coalitions are reasonable and quite legal. Stop the #lies. All of you. #db8

<7:57> Like what Layton is saying, but way off topic again. #db8 #elxn41 #electoralreform

<8:05> Layton, you are debating Duceppe, not Harper... #elxn41 #db8

<8:09> Annnd Duceppe blows Layton out of the water at the end of their one on one. #elxn41 #db8

<8:31> Layton, again, off topic. He is really good at this. #db8 #elxn41

<8:45> Gilles Duceppe, why do you have to be a separatist? Only reasonable person in this debate. #elxn41 #db8

<8:55> Taxes hurt growth. [citation needed]. #elxn41 #db8

From the Canadian Museum of Civilization