One of my favourite Canadian musicians, Jef White, just released a new video to promote his upcoming CD “Ol’ Crazy Half Moon Wheel”

See it on YouTube

Sometimes I miss being a bike messenger.  There’s a kind of giddy freedom in it that’s difficult to resist.  I don’t have as much time as I’d sometimes like to hang out with some of my old friends, but once in a while there’s an event that is simply unmissable, and I have to drop everything and go.  The ice race is probably my favourite.

I met up with Anaïs and Sam at the Linux Caffe before the race, so we could walk there together.  They have the best damned hot chocolate in the world.  It was a perfect night - mild and still, with a gentle snowfall.  We arrived at the ice rink just as the racing began:

There were a number of heats, though I confess I have no idea how the selection worked.  I’m sure Derek knew what was going on, but I suspect most of the racers didn’t care much - they were just there to hang out and to ride:

This stuff is always pretty fun to watch.  Despite the metal studs in the tires, a few guys did go down, but most of them were surprisingly fast and steady.  Jim went down later in the evening, but was looking good during this race:

The best part was that I got to see so many old friends

There are a bunch more photos and a couple of videos here, so go check em out!

There are no words to describe the depth of my loathing.

There is, however, a brilliant song which adequately expresses the limit of my hatred as my frustration approaches infinity.

Found art, St. Clair station.