Journal Entries

A Walk Round the Town Centre

It's Wednesday, twenty four days since the Sunday afternoon when a tornado ripped through the small Ontario town of Goderich. The town centre, a hexagonal area known as Courthouse Square because it's home to, you guessed it The Courthouse, was closed to vehicular and pedestrian traffic until last weekend. It is open now but large parts remain fenced off. I'm at the end of Kingston Street walking toward the Square just to have a look and see what kind of state my town is in and how well the recovery is coming along.

The building complex to my left on the other side of the road is largely unharmed with only a few broken windows boarded up; it houses The Financial Group and The Winemaker's Shop both of which are doing business as usual; a part of the complex untenanted at the time of the tornado is presently in use by a disaster clean-up company. Not an old building would be my guess.

Here immediately on my right is the single-storey Rexall's Pharma Plus Drugmart, open for business as it has been since a week ago last Monday. A work crew is on the roof and another is working to repair the smashed wall of display windows which line this sidewalk. The parking lot is operating normally, the downed trees, crushed cars and overturned RVs having been removed as has the HVAC blown down from the roof. This building was built quite recently, since the turn of the century. The young trees on the boulevard between sidewalk and roadway have suffered only a few broken branches here and there but then they've been there no longer than the Drugmart.

Next on the left is the virtually undamaged Legion Building in stark contrast to the next complex on this side, parts of which are condemned. The condemned parts were, at the front, an appliance store and at the rear a plumbing and heating business. Above were apartments. A large part of the roof and upper rear structure has been torn away. At the far end of this complex was a 3-bay car wash and an H. R. Block Tax Office. These are now a heap of rubble and steel I-beams and have been fenced off. The trees on the boulevard along here are gone, mostly torn out by the roots and blown away.

I cross St. David Street and here's another fence, this one around the remains of The Burger Bar, the home of the best breakfast on the West Coast. A handwritten sign on the fence informs that the staff is still ready to serve at a Country Club on the north side of town. The building has been crushed by the falling upper stories of the adjacent Goderich Restaurant, a much older building of which virtually only the towering front wall remains intact. To the right I can see the destroyed roofs and backs of the older buildings in the first block on The Square.

I walk in the road alongside the fence the last few metres to The Square and can see The Courthouse clearly. For the first time ever. There used to be over a hundred mature trees around it. And a bandstand nearby. And park benches. Now I can see only a couple of the six small trees reported to remain. The bandstand has gone as have the benches. The Courthouse windows for the most part are boarded up and the facility is not in service although I hear that damage to the structure is minimal. Public access is denied so I can't go and see for myself.

Immediately to my right, on the corner of Kingston Street and The Square is J. Carman's Foto Source. This entire block is, as we saw a few minutes ago, severely damaged to the roofs and rear and is closed as far as East Street. That includes Wing Hong Restaurant, Bailey's Restaurant, ABC Investments, Lighthouse Money Management and BMO Bank of Montreal.

On East Street itself I can see on this side the destroyed Centre for Employment & Learning and on the far side the almost equally destroyed New Again store.

On that corner the closed Listen Up! Hearing Care Centre is followed by three shops, also closed: Denomme Flowers, Wuerth's Shoes and The Ross Firm. Then, open for business, Ambeance and Innovation Salon and Spa. Unfortunately, next door on the corner of Hamilton Street, Baechler Kitchens & Interiors is closed.

Hamilton Street itself seems to have escaped and on the far corner The Royal Bank of Canada is open as is Something Irresistible although Schaefer's Ladies Wear and Lingerie! between them is closed. Closed too is Cravings so no more freshly roasted coffee beans or homemade chocolates or fudge for a while. But next door on the corner of North Street Kulpepper's Kitchen Store is open. Their usual sidewalk display is conspicuously absent though.

The next block, from North Street to Colborne Street is operating normally with the exception of the Law Office of D & M Murphy on the Colborne Street corner. This group includes Anstett Jewellers Ltd., Garb & Gear, Winston Men's Wear, The Bistro café, Fincher's Books, Toys and Gifts and they are all open. Between the last two is the future home of ABC Investments, in the process of being remodelled.

The next block, from Colborne Street to West Street is all closed with the exception of the two corners. On the near one is CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) which is open and on the far corner is a small office unknown to me to which the door stands open and the red white and blue rosette signifying business as usual is displayed. Between these two and sadly in very poor shape are Park Theatre, All Around the House, Rivett's Video Centre and Wholesale Jewellers Plus.
West Street remains closed and with only a single exception I can see all the businesses on both sides are missing a roof and/or wall. This list, from memory because I have no access includes Quilters By The Square, The Book Peddler, Wicked Willie's Table & Pub, Westcoast Photography and Framing, West Coast Kitchens all on this side of the street then on the far side Culbert's Bakery and Luanne's Flowers & Gifts. This is the first time in over a hundred years the old brick ovens in the bakery have been cool and it is not known if they will withstand being reheated. Finally, up toward The Square is the sole exception, Christian Life Bookstore is open for business.

There's not much in the next block from West Street to Montreal Street and with the exception of the café, Coffee Culture, on the far corner they are all open for business. They are Scotiabank, Ontario Provincial Police, the Art Galleries (Elizabeth's and Goderich Co-op). Coffee Culture on the corner however, is unfortunately seriously damaged. The Public Library further down Montreal Street, however, escaped virtually unscathed—merely 2 or 3 windows broken, I believe.

The far corner of Montreal Street marks the beginning of another closed, seriously damaged block. Beginning with Sweets and Memories ("A lighthearted atmosphere, guaranteed to put a smile on your face.") followed by King Music, Woof! N Stuff, Collins & Wright Hair Studio, The Bean and ending with The Bargain Store! on the corner of South Street. All closed.

South Street itself seems to have pretty much escaped damage and on the far corner The Bedford Hotel has only a couple of windows boarded up, is open and Paddy O'Neil's Restaurant Pub within is doing brisk business. Next door Mike & Ray's Barber Shop (Only Mike now as Ray retired quite a while ago.) is open and packed as usual. Joe Friday's Sports Saloon is also busy. Shanahan's Quality Meats & Deli is closed, though, as are The Shoe Barn and Edward Jones Investments.

This brings me back to Kingston Street and I can see, opposite the wrecked Burger Bar the River Line Nature Company has just opened and is once again ready to cater to the needs of our feathered friends however few in number they may be following the loss of so many of our beautiful trees.

The recovery is coming along.

Discuss this Journal entry [5]

Latest reply: Sep 15, 2011

Re Creative Challenge Area Of The Charitable Foundation

Re CCAOTCF

Lanzababy wrote:
The proposal is that the new h2g2 will () have a charitable Foundation as part of the whole caboodle. Complicated to explain right now as it is in the beginning stages of being formulated. Basically the intention of the Foundation is to promote world-wide literacy in all sorts of ways, including the literary aspects here in h2g2.

AND

Some of these challenges could be in the form of writing prompts, some may be dedicated to writing fiction, poetry, or for the Edited Guide. We envisage schemes where we can host collaborative writing, for the Guide, or encourage writers to confidently produce Journals.
_________________________________________________________________
Solnushka wrote:
AND we would really want one nice big outward facing comp to coincide with when we think h2g2 is finished transitioning and ready to take over the world....

Anyway, what we need volunteers for is partly to think up the challenges and sort out () a page describing them (I envisage that people could leave links to their entries under this page so everybody could go and read them and, hopefully, comment - not in a peer review kind of way - although we will have EG challenges so that would be in a peer review kind of way, but more generally).

But we also need people to participate regularly, both in submitting and in commenting and answering questions, too I suppose.

And in admin for the comps when we get there.
_________________________________________________________________
Nick Bostrum, evolutionary philosopher at University of Oxford, wrote in an essay in 2004:
"The extravagancies and fun that arguably give human life much of its meaning—humour, love, game-playing, art, sex, dancing, social conversation, philosophy, literature, scientific discovery, food and drink, friendship, parenting, sport—we have preferences and capabilities that make us engage in such activities...."
_________________________________________________________________
To Nick Bostrum's list I add:
creation and use of technology, adventure, husbandry, community service.

Discuss this Journal entry [3]

Latest reply: Aug 10, 2011

Music of the day

17 May 2011 - Lonesome Dog Blues - Lightnin' Hopkins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gr_l2gMuVE

Discuss this Journal entry [133]

Latest reply: May 17, 2011


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