I was hooked ...

I had an excellent discussion this past week when I dropped in at Collège Borèal in Timmins for a photo. They were having a fish fry to entice students, parents and visitors to drop by the campus to see what courses were being offered. Pretty good marketing idea. It was even better, when after I shot my photo, one of the kitchen staff walked over and plopped down a heaping plate of pickerel, French fries and cole slaw. Now that is what many folks in Northern Ontario call dinner fit for a king. How much better can it get? … well it could be a little better with a nice bonfire, a breeze off the lake and a fresh beer so cold that it snaps your molars. Anyway, during lunch, I was joined by a staff member. We discussed that life is indeed good in Northern Ontario. Yes, it’s nice to visit Toronto and other points down south, every now and then, but it is hard to beat the good life in the North, where people know you, where the streets and pretty safe and we are close to the best of Nature. Both of us could name several instances of where folks have gone south and then returned to raise their children and carry on. I try not to get political here, but the only downside is that we are not masters of our own destiny. Northern Ontario makes up nine-tenths of the province. We have the gold, silver, copper, diamonds, electricity, clean air and fresh water. But a bunch of know-nothings down south always seem to get elected by know-nothing voters (ha ha, now I am in trouble) and the North gets shut out on the decision making.