I get my wine delivered by plane.
Everything Wine is a Jimmy Pattison company related to but NOT connected to Save-On Foods. They advertise and sell wine (duh). But, to compel customers to shop with them, they promote wine ‘sales’, offer wines NOT offered by the Liquor Distribution Branch and, get this……DELIVER. FREE.
My palate is unsophisticated. Primitive. I am more of a gorilla than a connoisseur. I am much more appreciative of quantity rather than quality. And I am more than price sensitive. I hate paying for anything. But NOT them. Everything Wine is – most of the time – more expensive than the LDB when doing a direct comparison but they flog good ol’ cheap hooch too. And they have different cheap hooch. Vin ordinaire to use the common vernacular.
We reserve the term cheap swill for scotch.
So, if volume is your aim and free delivery is their game, we may have a match made in heaven. I pay a tiny bit more but get it delivered. “So, guys…? Free delivery you say? Anywhere in BC you say? I live on a remote island. I can barely get the post office to deliver mail. You still offering free delivery?”
“Yes, sir. Anywhere in BC.”
So, the first time I ordered from them it all went well but was still a smidge off-putting. They have really big, overstuffed shipping boxes and four cases occupied the same volume as a Honda Civic. The airline was happy, tho. I inquired with EW and they said, “It is all recyclable.”
But recyclable only makes sense if you have a recycling centre nearby so I went the extra miles to recycle but held off doing it again until…well….I hit 70. Now I am inclined to get heavy cases of fragile wine bottles delivered. It’s NOT being GREEN but neither is driving into town to do it so I have rationalized the plane. And, if I shop on their ‘sales’ days, the prices are much the same for the hooch level products. And, thank God, I don’t have to schlep.
I am sure some ‘alternative’ housing guy will eventually figure out a way to make cheap housing out of the boxes and their packaging. He’ll be featured in an article. Incredible.
The idea of having wine delivered is antithetical to the whole concept of living off the grid, don’t you think? But YES, of course, I am looking into getting some nice cheese delivered with it. I am not stupid!
Speaking of stupid……… sorry…HAVE TO SAY IT…….Doug Ford? DOUG FORD? Here’s a guy who is a life-long spoiled brat (emphasis on brat as in ‘dodgy’) and has run the company business into the red, cheated his widowed daughter-in-law and could NOT articulate a vision for Ontario voters beyond buck-a-beer and yet they voted this dumpy Trump into office? Has Ontario gone mad? That is BEYOND stupid. That is TRUMP-LEVEL STUPID!
Sorry. Had to say it.
And…ABOUT TRUMP !!!! Well, I am not saying anything more on him. For me, it is all too obvious. But I will ask the question….any of you Trumpists out there think the Trump and Kudlow NAFTA comments and trade tariffs are ‘good’ for Canada?
And, finally………
Woofer Julia leaves in a few days. She’s been good. Great, actually. We’re going to miss her. Julia single-handedly put Woofers back on our ‘will-do’ list. We stopped accepting them for a few years but this was such a good experience we are getting back on the Woofer train.
Our Off the Grid Home 
Dial-a-bottle comes to Dave’s cove. The key distinction being that it is free. Taxi run booze delivery costs a premium. Will this free service include drones direct to the deck? Is Amazon looking to fill this growing market? Now that weed has passed The Canadian Senate, will dial-up-dope services be seeking new remote customers in your environs?
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Dave grows his own brand….only way the good Woofers will keep coming back………
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Man o man.
Booze from the sky!
You sure you’re not dead?
As for Drug Ford …..well, remember how loathed Christy Clark was? That was Kathleen Wynne.
And the NDP were promising to spend spend spend just like Wynne.
Tis a shame Drug Ford is such a one dimensional loser.
He could really shake things up but he wont.
Different party in power, same pigs in the trough
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So you are saying, “Drug Ford is a crook and loser but the voters prefer that to someone who will spend money on the poor!”
And people wonder why I got out…!!!!!
I did NOT go far enough
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ahahahaha.
You’re pretty far “out there”.
I think after 15 years of Liberal rule topped off with a left leaning Premier who spent the budget deep into the red…..the voters looked at there choices.
The NDP promising to spend even deeper into the red on even more social programs or …..Drug Ford.
Sad, when the choices are between …a Rock or a Rock of Chrystal Meth….
Hard to believe but Kathleen Wynne was even more unpopular than Christy “Prom Queen” Clark
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There’s a polisci lesson here…..the ONLY thing that matters in politics is the voters wallet. I could run as a purple rhinoceros candidate if I had a credible tax reduction plan. The average dork measures political performance by impact on personal finances. Environment? Poverty reduction? Education? NOTHING compared to ‘perceived taxes’. Leave more money in the wallet and you get their vote even if you put their lesser taxes in your pocket.
We get the politicians we are. We get the politicians we deserve.
We get the politicians who act as we would. I am ashamed. .
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Doug Ford is a populist and he promised one dollar cheap beer, cuts to the price of gasoline by ten cents per litre, the elimination of sex education instruction in schools and deep cuts to public services without any layoffs. He did not have a platform.
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An intelligent friend of mine contacted me. “I’m depressed. I don’t know why. I think it is because stupid people seem to be winning. I think it’s because of idiots like Trump and Ford with Trudeau being our only defense. It feels hopeless. Ignorance and bigotry reigns. I wanna give up!”
My answer: “The battle between good and evil is constant. Has been for eons. And good does not always win very battle. Good seems to be losing right now. The bad guys are ahead. Concede if you want. Quit.
But…..where do you go? You can check out anytime you want but you can never leave (Hotel California. The Eagles).
Sorry, pal. You are in it til you die. So gird your loins to the sticking post and fight the good fight.”
He wondered what loins had to do with it.
OMG!
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We have the expression of hope but experience tells us to expect disappointment.
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‘’But screw your courage to the sticking-place’’ said by Lady Macbeth, as she pushes her husband to murder the King.
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March 2018, the rate of unemployment in Ontario was 5.8 percent, which is among the best in Canada. During the election the Ontario economy was called a failure. A lie that went unchallenged.
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Doug Ford? C’mon David, you’re Weinsteining him. It hasn’t even reached the Courts. The
ALLEGED stiffing of his “daughter-in-law” (actually, his sister-in-law, unless he’s a serial allegeder)
hasn’t been proven. At least, not beyond a reasonable doubt – even though you and I doubt that the allegation is unreasonable.
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The civil case has.
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If I had any clue about which you speak, I might have a go at answering the question.
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Doug and Rob and Randy Ford are somewhat notorious bad boys in Ontario. They used and sold drugs when young, Rob was caught on camera stoned when he was in his underwear and they have all lived of the old man’s label company all their lives. He died. Rob and Doug had been elected to Toronto city hall. Rob became mayor. Then died. They inherited and the once healthy company is now in the red in part, by way of two five million dollar loans Randy and Doug took. Rob didn’t. Instead, he died of cancer leaving Doug as the executor. But Doug was busy running for office. So MRs Rob, herself no Tinkerbell, mortgaged $600,000 over two years on the family home to live. The Ford’s are used to living well. On someone else’s dime.
JA is right to some extent….mostly….a lot is allegations. But their drug use and work history is fact. Mrs Rob’s mortgages for living is half fact. And Doug’s campaigning on stupid stuff is on the record. I suppose I should say, “We’ll see.”. But I feel as if I’ve already had a peek.
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Reflections.
Google “Rob Ford Crack Video”
Former Mayor of Toronto smoking crack cocaine while still Hizzoner.
Rob Ford died of cancer
Doug Ford( his younger brother) is now Premier of Ontario.
Get ready for the ‘Ford Nation gong show to ensue
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There is no accounting for people’s taste.
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The populists want to vote for someone who is a ‘waste of space.’ Populist revenge move.
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Mission accomplished.
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Not that it really matters, but Noncon, you have 3 choices: they’re, there and their. You chose the wrong one. Rob Ford was the youngest (Doug was NOT his younger brother) and Ms. Rob was not Doug’s daughter-in-law. I know – slow day around here.
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I feel obliged to come to noncons defense. It was me who first used daughter rather than sister in law. Mea culpa. And I am also blaming bloody spell check for the their/there/they’re incidents. One has to proof read one’s own writing now!
Having said that I was pleased to be accused of Weinsteining. Should be a new word. And apt, too. I really have no proof except what read.
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Grammar Police ahead!
I’m “aghast” at my grammar faux pas.
I noticed it immediately after I posted. Cant take it back once it’s gone.
I don’t really care so long as the meaning of the post was conveyed.
Regardless, I’ll sleep well tonight….
That’s what counts.
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No need! “Your” blameless! I see it all the time, but I thought of Noncom as one of your more erudite commenters, in spite of the fact that he doesn’t know the difference between ‘cement’ and ‘concrete’, so I felt obliged to comment.
And I wasn’t blaming him for DIL instead of SIL. That was yours.
In any case, I was just assuring him that I read his comment, hoping he’d sleep better because of it.
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Trouble for us it would go to the post office in town. Not an easier solution than liquor stores. I hate delivery services other than Canada Post. Here in Powell River if you aren’t home it goes back to Vancouver Island. Annoying. – Margy
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I know. I especially hate DHL. They go only as far as Courtenay. And they tell you nothing. If you track it because it’s late, they may have returned it as undeliverable. DHL stands for dickheads limited.
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Canada Post isn’t much better.( Apologies to Sal)
I’ve missed Christmas presents that were “returned to sender… Wrong address” when the address/ postal code was 100% correct and the DELIVERY was wrong.
Weekly Economist Magazine subscription is hit or miss with Canada Post. Sometime I get it…..sometimes I don’t.
(Call the 1-800 Complaints line for the endless runaround……)
But they never , ever miss delivering junk mail.
When I ask the postie stuffing junk mail in the mail box why I get erroneous deliveries…. The insolent answer, ” I don’t sort it. I just deliver it”.
Couldn’t care less…..As they continue to stuff the WRONG mail into the WRONG box.
Unaccountable unionized drones with jobs for life ….unless of course…. they are caught throwing junk mail in the garbage.
A postal worker in Nova Scotia was fired when a sewer in a residential neighborhood blocked up and upon investigation….3 YEARS worth of junk mail was found in the storm drain. The same thing happened in Edmonton.
Don’t get me wrong.
I toss the Domino’s Pizza brochures as quickly as the next guy but when Canada Post deems Garbage Mail to be the #1 priority over private letters/ packages…..something is seriously wrong and THAT corporate agenda will be the death of door to door Govt Mail delivery in Canada.
Perhaps, ultimately, that IS what the govt wants……?
Amazon delivered a package at noon on a Sunday last weekend to my workplace. Excellent customer service
Unlike the postal worker( letter carrier) I met at a BBQ who was still in uniform, unshaven, drunk , loud , boorish and ( as if it needs stating) one of the stupidest people I have been involved in a conversation with.
Or the postal workers that used to work downtown at the Georgia St main sorting plant.
Their favorite trick was to agree to work over time, clock in and then scurry around the corner to The Railway Club where they had their own seating section by the dart boards in the back. Drink beer until almost the end of shift, run back to the plant, clock out and come back before their pints got warm.
Don’t believe me? I used to drink at the Railway club and I saw them in there, in uniform, week in and week out.
Fire them all. Automate everything.
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The irony is that Sal came home the other days, “I am a hypocrite. I keep getting junk mail from the Corporation (Canada Post) and 99% doesn’t apply to me ’cause we are non-union and considered NOT part of the ‘Corporation’ anyway. So, I don’t read any of it. But then I stuff junk mail into everybody else’s box. The only good thing that comes from all this is that the winter ‘paper starter’ box fills up and people take hand-fulls home to light the stove”.
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Spotted outside a US Postal Office below the US Postal Service unofficial motto:
“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds”
Someone painted “What is it then?”
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Appointed rounds at the Railway club?
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Canada Post delivers to remote areas in the hinterland. Advertising has made Canada Post profitable after being left as road kill by Conservative budget cuts. The plan was to kill it. The assertion that Canada would be a better place without Canada Post…doubtful.
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I’m not talking about “the Hinterland”.
I’m talking about their almost weekly screw ups in a major metropolitain city of Canada.
As for competition?
Canada Post bought shares in Purolator courier several years back and the other courier companies cried “Foul”.
Why?
Courier services are MANDATED to charge 2.5 times MORE than Canada Post to deliver the exact same items….and Purolater was using Canada Post to ship items.
Im not asking to ban Canada Post….just eradicate the environment of entitlement that seems to infest every level of unionized, job for life, govt employees.
Consistantly incompetant would get you fired in the real world but it seems to get people promoted far beyond their level of incompetancy in govt. jobs
Canada Post being but one.example
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What entitlements do you mean?
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Oh I dont know.
The seemingly impossible ability to FIRE an incompetant, lazy, surly govt worker?
A headline in the Globe and Mail last week mentioned a Toronto Police Officer that spent 11 YEARS on paid leave while his union fought his dismissal.
He was dismissed last week..
The Halifax Transit supervisor that physically, verbally bullied staff, customers, fellow supervisors for YEARS until he was finally terminated a few weeks ago.
Teachers in inapproriate relationships with students ….still working.
Drug addicted staff caught stealing, intoxicated, etc. given every chance to clean up. Fired….then rehired or paid a massive severance for “wrongful dismissal”.
It is virtually impossible to fire govt workers at all levels these days without years of paperwork, endless written warnings,, etc. without being accused of harrassment, racism, sexism, on and on and on.
I know Supervisors that have given up trying because its just too time consuming and difficult.
And that “empowerment” mindset is beginning to infest the private sector as well.
Canada a nation of lawsuits and lazy, invunerable workers.
It’s bankrupting this country and sucking what little work ethic there is left out of our population. ” Why should I bust my ass if that lazy prick gets paid the same money for doing nothing?”
We wont talk about the garanteed pensions for govt workers subsidized by the taxpayers.
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You are right. Firing someone is getting harder and those deserving of being fired is consequently growing. Ying and yang. If I walked into the Railway club and saw employees sitting there when they should be at work, they’d be fired. And to make that stick might take years. Insane.
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Do you advocate for the abolishment of the Labour Relations Board? The LRB stops discipline without cause. The board wants evidence justifying administration’s desire to fire workers. It is not hard to fire a worker if the administration has done the evaluation and has the evidence but administration is so exhausted that they have no time to make a case stick. Disorganized. They do not want to follow due process. They often disregard the Collective Agreement, and are aggrieved by their impotence.
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I never said a word.
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Ironic that you should mention the Labour Relations Board.(LRB)
I used to look after the office building they were in years ago when the Socred Govt created the Industrial Relations Council.
It was essentially a union busting govt agency created by the Socreds and big business. The Labour unions boycotted it. So for 3 YEARS 4 floors of govt employees sat and played solitaire on their computors, answered wrong numbers, etc
Just before the election that saw the Socreds booted out, ALL the top managers at the IRC renewed their contracts for 4 years..
Then the Harcourt NDP came to power
All the same managers were fired, enmass, $2 million total in severance to 8 people in 1990 wasnt chicken feed… One of the managers hadnt showed up to work in 9 months( I checked his security pass).
Then the LRB began barganing with the unions.
The LRB grew bigger because the staff had been sitting for 3 years with their collective thumbs up their asses and couldnt handle the work load.
It gets better.
The NDP created The Corbin Commission. A lawyer with ties to the govt spent millions discovering that….” Govt is inefficient and wasteful”.
The LRB out grew the building and moved to Library Square after signing a ridiculously long lease(20 years…industry standard is 10) at above market rates.. ( what the hell its only taxpayer money).
The federal govt was also a tenant in the same building.
Wasteful, lazy, surly, miserable staff that spent all their time bitching and moaning about the “work environment” when the problem was…they didnt have enough work to keep them occupied.
The building was eventually sold to another owner and I gladly moved on
I did a short stint managing the former GVRD(Metro Vancouver) building in Burnaby (dubbed the Golden Tower by the media due to the amount of staff that made over 100k per annum). Miserable, lazy, rude, stupid were but some of the adjectives used by contractors to describe the govt employees in that building. Where are they now? In a bigger building because they outgrew the space.
One manager decribed it to me thus, ” If I dont hire more staff I dont get a pay raise. Eventually I have enough staff to change my position automatically to a higher position in Management. Its automatic.”
No.
Govt workers and the real work world are two entirely different entities.
Fire them all and turn it all over to the private sector.
Save billions and get the job done much faster and cheaper with courteous service.
The Feds, The Province, Cities, whatever.
ANY of their jobs could be dont by the private sector.
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I’ve heard about of the cases you mention in your explication of examples. It is challenging to argue a specific instance condemns an entire group. I’m sure you have heard about Canadian troops taking casualties from “friendly fire” but that does not make the entire American Airforce incompetent. Nor are nurses in general worthy of attack based on the actions of a drug addicted nurse who murders the elderly. The exception does not prove the rule.
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Interesting you should mention the Nurse in Ontario.
Apparently she was given verbal warnings, written warnings, suspensions, more warnings, etc, etc etc, 9 warnings over 5 years. Never fired
Why?
The Old Folks Home stated,” Its was too difficult).
Bullet proof employees that get away with murder……
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You telling me I can get wine delivered here for free?
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Yes (thus the title of this blog). I have even called them to tell them how to do it cheaper but they, being corporate, don’t seem to care. “We deliver”. It will change when the bean counters get ahold of it but, in the meantime, get a shipping container full.
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Apparently DHL has been experimenting with “Delivery Drones” from mainland Germany to some Islands in the North Sea.
They drop off mail packages several times per week with great success.
I think you will see more and more of these types of drones flying over unpopulated areas delivering mail. Areas where a drone crash wont be such a expensive litigious prospect.
Eventually “people delivery drones” ( flying taxis)?
They’re experimenting with them in China……..
Who knows maybe someday I can have fresh wasabi and chilled wine delivered for your next home made sushi dinner?
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Good idea. Come with it. I have the same.
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I will let you know how it goes… !!!!!
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