After having enjoyed watching the Olympic Winter Games, Ruthy and I were all set for the sequel, the Paralympics. As before, we got up at 6 a.m. to be ready for the 7 a.m. update on the Sports Channel. But, alas, no such luck. Instead, they first showed a soccer game, followed by high school football. To make it worse, they showed us brief glimpses of competitions happening in Sochi we really would have liked to see, such as wheelchair curling, sled hockey, downhill skiing and others. Needless to say that we were very disappointed.
The Paralympics always seem to get the short end of the stick, which is very unfortunate. This, plus politics overshadowing not only the end of the regular Olympic Winter Games but especially the Paralympics, should really not happen. Did nobody remember the part of the Olympic Truth asking all participants to "put their feuds at rest for the duration of the games"?
Surfing for Sochi, however, was not totally in vain, since we learned something new in the world of sports. The question was (it was the French channel) "Et - il possible de voler comme un voisseau?" (Is is possible to fly like a bird?)
Well, it is hard to believe but somebody, wearing a special suit, has found a way and demonstrated it to a windsurfer! Needless to say that the windsurfer - and the viewers, I am sure - were duly impressed!
In other news, Ruthy and I learned that our Great Lakes were 91 per cent frozen over this year, which might mean a cooler summer! And what about more than one million of "small" asteroids being "out there", potentially providing close encounters at any time? Just last week, for instance, three of them came closer to earth than the moon! We should keep this in mind whenever we get angry at the state of the world.
But then, there is Madame Pauline Marois in Quebec, who has re-discovered lofty ideas about sovereignty. Mind you, tourists from the rest of Canada will be welcome — there will be no borders and the currency will stay the same. One flag on the screen even announced that passages will be paid for tourists - something Ruthy and I have to look into since we had planned to take the ship from Toronto to Quebec City and return next year and any help would be welcome! But, mind you, we saw this only fleetingly — those T.V. flags are awfully fast!
A very good thing we noticed is that the quality of advertisement sections on T.V. seem to have improved lately and Ruthy has a neat idea: once a month she wants to pick what she thinks is the best ad - Ruthy's pick - and here is her choice for this month: "The All New Toyota Highlander" ad, the one at the border crossing.
Her Rating: Neat Story, Good Direction, Best Acting. Ruthy's Comments: "I give this ad A-Plus because it advertises the "All New Toyota Highlander" very well without giving bad examples to young (and not so young) drivers."
Well, there you have it!