A check on the new acquisitions shelf at Greater Victoria Public turned up the 2006 revised third edition of the Granta Book of Reportage. Most of the pieces were in the first edition in 1993. Most of them are long, most are immediate and thoughtful and all are well-written. The thinking tends to represent the conventional wisdom of the British Left intelligentia, Germaine Greer’s coverage of Women and Power in Cuba being nearly effusive in praising a Marxist, egalitarian social experiment. Some pieces were translated from East European publications. Ryszard Kapusicinski covered the 1969 soccer war between Honduras and El Salvador. Svetlana Alexiyevich’s piece “The Boys in Zinc” (the bodies came back in zinc lined coffins) distills the Russian occupation of Afghanistan into a series of short first person fictional narratives.
Author: Tony Dalmyn
Pop Quiz
Watching TV. The Green Berets has turned up on cable. What does the movie have in common with Star Trek and Heroes?
George Takei.
Reading List
Randy’s point about the fall TV lineup is good. There is so much material, so little time. The days of 3 channels are long gone. I have the same problems with reading material. I have picked up several mystery or thriller titles, primarily serials, out of loyalty to the writer. I see them on the new release or Fast New shelves in the library so I am not throwing cash away on a one time read. I pick them up because the product is predictably entertaining, familiar characters acting in familiar situations. On the other hand, it isn’t always that good, and I find myself wondering why I bothered.
Century
The weather having been nice on Saturday, I sat down with John Crouch’s cycling book and planned a Sunday ride. I wasn’t sure I was up to a century ride, so I did not plan a pure out and back. I joined some loops that might add up about 80-90 k with the option of cutting the loop and coming back straight down the Lochside or the Interurban Road, and the option of a loop around James Bay or along Dallas towards Ross Bay to top it up. I made the century. Use it or lose it.
Jasper
Jasper Park was busier than Wells Grey. I stayed in the Wapiti campground, between the Icefields Parkway and the Athabaska River, south of the townsite. I hiked the trail into the Opal Hills one day, and Wilcox Pass the next. I did the Opal Hills hike on a clear sunny day, with good views for pictures of Maligne Lake and mountains to the east and south:
Wells Gray
On Saturday August 5, I drove into Clearwater, and checked the information center for Wells Gray park.
Wells Gray has rugged rivers and trails. It lacks the iconic scenery of the national mountain parks but it is rougher and less spoiled.
August ’06
I learned a lesson in Victoria living, trying to get into the Interior last Friday before the August long weekend. I had planned to pack Thursday night and get to the ferry early on Friday. One thing led to another. I had to sort through gear to make sure I had what I needed for a few days of hiking. I got to Swartz Bay at 10:50 AM, by which time there was a one sailing delay. I sailed at noon, arriving in Tswassen at 1:40. I thought getting across Vancouver to the TransCanada would be the hard part. The TransCanada was congested from Burnaby out as far as Abbotsford. The traffic would move at 20-30 kph, sometimes coming to complete halt. I think it took about 3 hours to get as far as Abbotsford. The radio news was full of stories about ferry waits, accidents and traffic delays.
Upgraded MT 3.3
Another new release of MT, another upgrade. The FTP chugs along, the upgrade is easy. Once again, some little surprizes. The new online manual is clear enough, but the installation documents were not. There was a plugin for MT 3.2 called BigPAPI, which has been superceded by functions in MT 3.3. One of the instructions missing from the installation Doc was to turn off BigPAPI and plugins that used it. So I had some interesting error messages when I tested the new installation.
Race Rocks, July 23/06
Close to nature?
Sunshine and Blue Water
On Sunday, I joined the Sunday Paddle, a tour run out of Pacifica Paddlesports. I had a wonderful day. I should have done this weeks ago. The conditions were great. On Saturday, we had gale force winds down in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It was windy again this morning, and we hit a day in between, with relatively light winds, and a clear sky. Unfortunately, I left the camera at home. Next time I will take it in a Pelican box.