Breezeblog

Hope you like the new look. A little cleaner, lighter and – well, Breezy. Artsy props to Elena at Design Disease for the lovely Albeo theme. Find out more about Albeo and other themes at the WordPress blog.

Am writing this in Toronto where I had one of those near-perfect days. I’m up here to get my daughter settled into university – my talented eldest Jessica will be studying Fine Arts at the Ontario College of Art & Design, since you ask – but before we started rushing around sorting out accommodation, banks, etc., I found myself with that rare gift of a glorious summer Sunday without kids, obligations and absolutely nothing to do, nowhere that I had to be.

With Jessica having been at school in Toronto for the past three years, I’ve come to love the city and its neighbourhoods – and even its hopeless  MLS team – and I wanted to explore an area I didn’t know well. So I took myself off to The Beach area and stumbled upon the Tommy Thompson Park. This is a conservation project in progress, a former dump and landfill site that is restoring valuable wetlands to the Toronto lakeshore. It is only open on weekends and public holidays so I lucked out. In addition to seeing Torontonians of all ages taking to their bikes and roller blades along the pathways, I saw red-tailed hawk and numerous other birdlife. I walked for nearly two hours along the spit of land that offers a very different perspective on the city skyline, an oasis amid Toronto’s urban sprawl. After the humidity of a Bermuda August it felt good to take off my short and feel a warm breeze without dripping in sweat.

Back at the car park I got chatting to a local rollerblader and asked about somewhere for lunch. She recommended the Nevada on Queen Street East which turned out to be the perfect spot for a leisurely brunch of warm spinach salad with goat’s cheese followed by an excellent seafood linguine washed down with cappuccino and fresh orange juice.  I spent a happy hour wandering in and out of the funky stores along Queen Street before heading back to my friend’s house for a nap and then headed downtown to catch a movie – I was in  the mood for something mindless and Tropic Thunder, Ben Stiller’s grossed-out pisstake of Hollywood fitted the bill (worth seeing for Robert Downey Jr and Tom Cruise alone). After that, the indulgence of a browse and late-night shopping in the nearby Chapters followed by a Starbucks latte and a slice of orange cake to round off the day.

I haven’t had a lazy Sunday city day to myself like that in years. It was nothing special but it was one of those days where I felt perfectly content and de-stressed and at ease in my own company. Not even the parking ticket I got on Queen Street could spoil the day.

Mmm … I see TFC  are at home on Saturday, the Film Festival starts Thursday and two of my heroes, Oasis and Paul Weller, are playing the V Festival on Sunday. I wonder if I could wangle an extra couple of days ….

Meredith Ebbin - signing off

I was amused to be referred to as a “veteran journalist” in a farewell tribute to my good friend and Bermuda Sun journo Meredith Ebbin, who is retiring from reporting. But then again at almost 51 and having been in the business in one form or another for more than 30 years, what do I expect?!

Space prevented the Sun running my full quote about Meredith, so here it is:

“I’ve known Meredith as long as I have been on the Island (more than 25 years). She was working at the Gazette when I arrived here in December 1982 and we’ve been friends ever since.

“Meredith is able to combine a love of the history and parochial detail that makes Bermuda and its people such a fascinating place with an appreciation of the bigger picture outside the Island. As a result, there is a unique perspective, fairness and compassion in her writing.

“Over the last couple of years we’ve been working together on the Bermuda Biographies website which is a real labour of love on her part to ensure that Bermuda’s unsung heroes get their due recognition alongside the likes of Dr. Gordon and Jack Tucker. Through it I’ve learned a great deal from her about the selfless dedication of people like Millicent Neverson and Adele Tucker who were real heroes of education in segregated Bermuda.

“As a senior black woman journalist, Meredith is a role model in her own right. I wish there were more like her in the profession – there should be more black Bermudians in the business, period! Hopefully more will follow as a result of the work she has been doing to help establish an internationally-recognised journalism course at the college.

“She also has the loudest and most infectious laugh in Bermuda that always lifts my spirits – so I guess the Sun newsroom will be a quieter place without her!”

Meredith thankfully isn’t quitting writing all together – she will be working on the Bermuda Biographies site and is working on a special biographies project for Government to mark next year’s 400th anniversary of the Island’s settlement as well as contributing the occasional feature to the Sun.