I'm crossing Grace Street at College earlier today.

I'm doing so under the aegis of a walk light.

By doing so, I prevent the driver of a red van from making a right-hand turn on to Grace, costing his life valuable seconds.

As I reach the sidewalk, he not only opens his window, but sticks his upper torso out enough to peek around his windshield.

"Asshole!" he screams at me.

I guess if I'd walked on a wait signal, I would have been a "fucking asshole!"

Can you say, "anger management issues?"

Addendum

I'm crossing Queen Street. The walk light comes on.

Before I step off the curb, a silver SUV bearing a stylish young couple makes a hard right.

They slow a bit to make the turn. As they do, I make eye contact, wave with a faux happy face and mouth the words "walk light!"

They glanced sourly away.

I made my point without screaming obscenities (for once), but I wonder how many pedestrians in T.O. get struck in a given year because some knob has to get around a corner three seconds faster than he otherwise would.

Terrorists, tornadoes, avalanches, tsunamis and icy roads are but some of the threats Aussie travellers should consider before going to the Great White North, according to an Australian government website.

When I was a young boy, we made regular trips to B.C.'s Okanagan Valley where my great-uncle and aunt lived.

At a certain age, no trip would be complete without a trip into Kelowna to see Ogopogo, the friendly mythical serpent of Lake Okanagan.

Through the miracle of the Web, someone saw my comments about Ogopogo at Three Squirrels in a Pressure Cooker.

Cheryl was kind enough to send along some of her family photos which shows to me that the Ogopogo of my youth is not the Ogopogo of today. Thanks, Cheryl!

Go to Canadian Tire and look at the back of the package of (in my case) wood screws for a refresher course. Here, generally speaking, are the three steps:

1. Create a starter hole, if necessary

2. Rotate the screw with the appropriate tool so it screws into the wood

3. Stop when it reaches the appropriate depth

I wish I were making that up, but I'm not.

From globeandmail.com:

Bad news for Coco and Blinko -- children don't like clowns and even older kids are scared of them.

The news that will no doubt have clowns shedding tears was revealed in a poll of youngsters by researchers from the University of Sheffield who were examining how to improve the decor of hospital children's wards.

The study, reported in the Nursing Standard magazine, found all the 250 patients aged between four and 16 they quizzed disliked the use of clowns, with even the older ones finding them scary.

"As adults we make assumptions about what works for children," said Penny Curtis, a senior lecturer in research at the university.

"We found that clowns are universally disliked by children. Some found them quite frightening and unknowable."

Jack Handey, who came to fame through his "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey" bit for Saturday Night Live, once said this about clowns:

To me, clowns aren't funny. In fact, they're kinda scary. I've wondered where this started, and I think it goes back to the time I went to the circus and a clown killed my dad.

Today marks Sir John A. Macdonald Day, the possible birthday of our country's first prime minister, born in Glasgow, Scotland on Jan. 10 or 11, 1815.

I admire him in part because of the famous incident in which he was drunk at a political event and vomited.

He didn't slink off the stage or otherwise descend into absolute mortification. He didn't abjectly apologize. Instead, he said, "And that's what I think of my opponent's ideas!"

There are other versions of the story, but that's the myth I prefer.

In a 1989 appearance on CBC's Front Page Challenge, his great-grandson Hugh Gainsford said, "If that's all they can remember him for (drinking), he's better forgotten."

Panelist and legendary popularizer of Canadian history Pierre Berton said: "I kind of like the idea that the father of our Confederation wasn't the guy who couldn't tell a lie; he was a guy who liked to drink."

According to CBC Archives, historian Michael Bliss has written that Macdonald did enjoy long periods of sobriety and hard work.

Ever the wit, Macdonald, a Liberal-Conservative (Conservative in today's lingo), reportedly once said that Canadians preferred him drunk to Reform (an early name for Liberals -- oh, the irony!) leader George A. Brown (a fellow father of Confederation and founder of the Toronto Globe) sober. :)

Among Macdonald's achievements: Unifying and expanding Canada (B.C. and P.E.I. joined on his watch) and building a trans-national railroad to link the country from sea to sea -- the latter was something that many opposed at the time.

Among his controversies: The 1873 Pacific Rail scandal that forced him from power and the 1885 hanging of Louis Riel.

In 1875, Macdonald had this to say about dealing with life's travails:

"When fortune empties her chamberpot on your head, smile  --  and say 'we are going to have a summer shower'."

Liberal Wilfrid Laurier, himself a brilliant politician and prime minister, said this to Parliament about Macdonald following his predecessor's passing in 1891:

"The place of Sir John A. Macdonald in this country was so large and so absorbing that it is almost impossible to conceive that the politics of this country -- the fate of this country -- will continue without him. His loss overwhelms us. For my part, I say, with all truth, his loss overwhelms me, and that it also overwhelms this Parliament, as if indeed one of the institutions of the land had given way. Sir John A. Macdonald now belongs to the ages, and it can be said with certainty that the career which has just been closed is one of the most remarkable careers of this century ... As to his statesmanship, it is written in the history of Canada. It may be said without any exaggeration whatever, that the life of Sir John Macdonald, from the time he entered Parliament, is the history of Canada."

Historian J.D.M. Stewart wrote in today's Globe and Mail that some of Macdonald's qualities -- humour, but most notably, an absence of malice -- should be emulated by leaders today.

And yet Macdonald is slipping from the consciousness of Canadians. From a Nov. 9 Dominion Institute news release:

"Ten years ago, 54% (of Canadians) knew the name of Canada’s first Prime Minister, while just 46% now know that John A Macdonald held this position."*

*When I looked on the Government of Canada home page, there were two pictures of the current prime minister, but nothing to note that today is John A. Macdonald Day. Canadian Heritage did issue a news release on Thursday.

Well, sir, I remember you. And I would be pleased to raise a tot of Laphroiag in your honour this evening, and thank you for your contributions in building this great country.

If you ever finding yourself passing through Kingston, Ont. some day, Macdonald's grave is in the Catarqui cemetery, if you feel like paying your respects.

Addendum

Here's a link to the John A. Macdonald portal. Editor Alistair Sweeny sent it to me. (thank you, sir)!

From Russell Smith's column in todays Globe and Mail: (paywalled; subscriber access only)

Happiness sounds terribly sweet. Economists at something called the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research recently published a study that claimed to show that people who live in small towns in this country are happier than those who live in big cities. They claim that Saint John and Charlottetown are among the top five Canadian cities for quality of life. What could this "happiness" possibly mean?

The authors say people who trust in and are involved with their neighbours are happier, so you're better off in a small town. I say happiness is proximity to a video store with the complete Criterion Collection. If happiness means living in Saint John, then perhaps I want to be miserable.

Here's a feature I did for CTV.ca. It features some of your favourite international characters: Hugo Chavez, Robert Mugabe, Vladimir Putin, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and an emerging favourite, Nicolas Sarkozy.

With respects to the latter, I didn't learn about his new nickname until it was too late for this piece. And what is that new nickname? President Bling Bling. :)

From the Jan. 8 AP story:

President Nicolas Sarkozy hinted Tuesday he may soon marry former model Carla Bruni, but polls suggest he's heading toward divorce with some of the voters who put him in power.

Many are irritated by Sarkozy's flaunting of his whirlwind affair with someone whose cast of past partners includes Mick Jagger and Donald Trump. And they question Sarkozy's use of a billionaire friend's private jet for the couple's vacation.

He's being called "President Bling Bling," and it's not a compliment among the taste-conscious French.

From a Jan. 7 AP story:

A Mississippi Blues Trail marker will be placed at the birthplace of Elvis Presley on Tuesday.

The ceremony will honor Presley for his contribution to Mississippi and America's blues heritage.

He was born in Tupelo on Jan. 8, 1935. Presley died at his Graceland mansion in Memphis, Tenn., on Aug. 16, 1977. He first encountered the blues in Tupelo, and it remained central to his music throughout his career.

His early recordings helped revolutionize popular music with a unique mix of blues and country music, which led many rock 'n' roll artists to follow his lead.

"By all accounts, Elvis Presley was the single greatest influence on modern-day rock 'n' roll in America, and much of his musical inspiration drew on the Mississippi blues," Gov. Haley Barbour said in a statement Friday.

Here's my post on Elvis's 70th birthday.