Earlier in this space I talked about how I’d been turned off by Hertz and turned on by Alamo in planning to rent a car this week. Well, Hertz came through in the end, responding personally and completely to my email about wanting to be able to rent a Subaru Outback. And so I cancelled the Alamo reservation, and I’m driving the Subaru. What a wonderful car it is: solidly built, handles like a dream, smooth ride, very logical controls. Only problem is that I bump my knees on the steering wheel every time I get in. And it insists on giving a little horn honk every time I lock the doors (nice in the light of day; annoying outside the B&B at 11:00 p.m.).

Good things are found in strange packages in strange places. There is a restaurant called Lee and Mt. Fuji in Keene, New Hampshire. It is located in a ramshackle old New England house, on the side of the highway on the outskirts of town. There is a roaring fire in the middle of the restaurant. The walls are stencilled tole-painting style. There is Mozart playing in the background. The washrooms are grotty. The staff is average. And they serve the best tasting, most interestingly presented Chinese and Japanese food I’ve ever had — including an overly complete selection of sushi. Thursday we’ve plans to go back to Martino’s — a great Italian place where we ate a couple of years ago — right in Keene; stay tuned for a full report.

It’s the way of the world, people do it everywhere, if you’re going to do it over here, then usually they do it over there, too. Symmetry is the way things have to be. So sings Jane Siberry. One of the delightful things about Charlottetown’s layout is that it is the very embodiment of symmetry, having been laid out in a pattern of four civic squares which surround Province House (“…firmly rooted in the City’s earliest plans, and… an integral part of Charlottetown’s image and identity.” says A Vision for Charlottetown).

The four quads of the City are bisected by University Avenue and Grafton Street and each is the core of its own neighbourhood. Reinvented’s new World Headquarters falls in the heart of this geographic confluence. You can’t chop down a symmetry.

Much is being said about Richard Wood these days, given that it’s East Coast Music Awards time. Most notable: he’ll be playing at Carnegie Hall (which my father pronounces Car-Nay-Gee Hall) on St. Patrick’s Day with The Chieftains. Back in 1994, when Richard was barely a teenager and I was working with Victoria Row in Charlottetown, we hired him to play for our opening ceremonies. He pulled up in a car with his parents in tow and fiddled up a storm. The Charlottetown Parking Cops were obviously not moved by his performance, and ticketed his dad’s car while he was playing.

I’ll be making a presentation at the 2001 conference of the Atlantic Provinces Library Association on June here in Charlottetown.

I need to rent a car for a week in mid-February, so I visited the websites of all of the major car rental companies. After looking in detail at all of them, I must say that Alamo comes out the best. They responded quickly to my online request for a Quicksilver Number — their “bypass the counter” program — while other companies wanted me to print out a form, fill it in, sign it, and fax it to them (or fill it out online for $50 at Hertz). Their new reservations system is dead simple to use: it took me about a minute to make a reservation. And, at least in theory, once I get to their facility at the airport, I just stick my QuickSilver card in, print out the agreement, and I’m on my way. Wish me luck.

Apparently, the ~ symbol, to which I have heretofore referred to as a squiggle, is official known, at least in the U.K. as a twiddle. Addendum: several correspondents in the guest book have called this into question; I direct you to this page as evidence.

The marketing tagline for Midland Courier is more than just on time. I wonder what they mean by this? Is it a suggestion that they won’t deliver your package all smashed up? Do they offer chocolate bars with every delivery? As far as I’m concerned, if couriers were just on time, I’d be happy.

You can read the tale of Scratch, the Anarchist Cat. Still looking for more good anarchist children’s literature.

It’s interesting to follow the progress of the DNA Lounge, currently under construction in San Francisco. If nothing else, it’s a lesson in how to deal with contractors.