From the book 350 Lost Buildings of Canada, an entry on Charlottetown’s Peter Pan:

Peter Pan Drive-In 1958-2020

In the postwar years, the Peter Pan was beloved by locals for its milkshakes, burgers (served in a basket), and lobster burgers. There were few franchised fast-food restaurants at the time; this locally owned place in an A-frame building was a landmark. The restaurant closed in 2013 and was demol-ished, but carpenters from Holland College rescued its sign, featuring Peter Pan and lettering that seemed to have been created by a young child. 711 University Avenue; demolished.

We dipped our toes in the waters of vinyl this spring: I was gifted a collection of LPs, and the loan of a portable turntable, to see if we could muster what it would take to replace Spotify et al with a record collection.

The vinyl was as good as it gets: Lisa and L. curated a collection of Dennis Ellsworth’s deaccessioned collection, which had remarkable crossover with albums I played on the radio thirty years ago.

But the vinyl didn’t take: we’ve been lulled into the comfort of “Alexa, play Rosemary Clooney on Spotify,” and going back to needle-dropping wasn’t meant to be.

With hipster street-red eroding, I realized urgent action was required to re-establish, so to return the turntable across town I fashioned a bungie-cord-based system to strap it to the front of my Brompton. After dropping it, I came to the library to have an espresso, just to cement my credentials.

Not since the big Coles Building stairs rebuild in 2017 has there been a downtown Charlottetown  stairs project to match, but the new Grafton Street steps at the Polyclinic, which reopened this week after months of work, surpass in both beauty and utility. 

I was the senior member of a small but mighty band that visited Red Rock Climbing Wall in Stratford this morning. It was my first time at, near, or up a climbing wall, and so a chance to live out the aphorism, posted there on the wall, “when was the last time you got to do something for the first time” with a dose of moxie.

We were greeted by personable owner Matt Cormier, a skilled climber, and an even better concierge and teacher. He really is a master of getting one from uninitiated-just-off-the-street into gear (a harness, purposefully-tight climbing shoes), awareness, and up the wall.

I love a new experience, and was curious about what climbing would be like, and that was enough to get me over the fear reflex. It’s a fascinating series of spacial, strength, and body-awareness puzzles to get from the bottom to the top, and, after a slow start, I managed to climb to the top of the first run. I’m proud of myself.

Once I was at the top, there was nowhere to go but down, which is done—and this is the most counter-intuitive part, something that Matt warned us of—by leaning back off the wall and sliding gently back to Earth. Lisa shot a video of me doing just that:

Notice that I was smiling when I got to the ground!

Thank you to Lisa for the invitation to Red Rock, for Matt for being so helpful, and for younger L. and S., the other members of the crew, for their inspiring feats of climbing prowess.

If you’re curious about rock climbing, and want to get a taste, I highly recommend a visit to Red Rock. You need to bring only yourself and your moxie.

I was sad to learn, via Citizen’s Alliance Newsletter, that Hugh Segal had died.

In his remembrance of Segal, TVO’s Steve Paikin recounts Segal’s focus, after joining the Senate, on Universal Basic Income:

From that Senate perch, Segal championed what became the mission of his lifetime: getting a basic-income program put in place so that Canadians could avoid the stigma of being on welfare and use a non-judgmental hand up to get back on their feet. He made the case most eloquently in his 2019 book Bootstraps Need Boots: One Tory’s Lonely Fight to End Poverty in Canada.

Although he had significant policy disagreements with most Liberals, one of Segal’s best relationships in politics was with Kathleen Wynne. When Ontario’s 25th premier implemented a basic-income pilot program in three cities, no one sang her praises more enthusiastically than Segal, who played a significant advisory role in getting the government there.

Segal’s loyal Tory core was shaken to its foundations when Doug Ford came into office in 2018: one of the first things the new premier did was cancel that program in its infancy, rather than waiting until the end of its trial period to judge its effectiveness. Segal didn’t need a reason to dislike Ford’s brand of obnoxious populism, but cancelling the basic-income pilot for reasons that made little sense was a bitter pill for him to swallow.

However, when I asked Segal about the program’s cancellation, he was not mired in despair. “This is the nature of politics,” he allowed. “Two steps forward, one step back. We’ll just keep at it and continue to try to roll the boulder up the mountain.” Again, the happy warrior.

Hugh Segal visited Charlottetown in October 2019 to speak about Universal Basic Income, and he was a convincing warrior in that fight: engaging, sharp, prepared for any rebuttal. I had a brief email exchange with him in the days following, about the portability of such a program. Because social and disability assistance are provincial responsibilities in Canada, people receiving assistance are effectively held hostage to their province of residence, with the high mountain of re-establishing eligibility in a new province presenting an impediment to the inter-provincial mobility guaranteed in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms otherwise. Segal’s reply was optimistic:

The present federal Guaranteed Income Supplement for seniors began in Ontario in 1975 as the provincial Guaranteed Annual Income Supplement (GAINS) for people over 65. Over time, the federal government made it a national programme (GIS). I am confident that once one province launches the Basic Income, the migration to a national programme will be unavoidable, and transpire relatively quickly.

Welfare reform, along with disability support is inevitable. My goal has always been to promote Basic Income as a rational, humane, efficient and constructive way to invest in both a productive economic mainstream that values inclusion, personal dignity and reduces poverty with all its negative pathologies.

I am hopeful that Segal’s mantle will be assumed by others, and that we will realize the dream of a federal, portable Universal Basic Income for all Canadians soon. When this happens, we’ll all owe a great debt to him.

Every year I sponsor the Oscar Wilde Award at Island Fringe, given to the show that “most effectively celebrates non-conformity.” The award-winning show is chosen by a jury, and evidence suggests that the process of jurying the shows is done with considerable thoughtfulness. Island Fringe is one of my favourite things, and watching the Oscar Wilde take on a life of its own continues to be a lovely part of it.

This year’s award went to Riley Jane Carson for her show Transpectrum:

Follow Riley Jayne Carson on a wonderful journey. This neurodivergent trans beauty queen explains how a love for Anne of Green Gables awakened her identity. And after over thirty years of self denial, it took another red headed Ann to help her rediscover her gender identity. Riley Jayne is a Jack (or should I say Jill) of multiple talents.  A background in theatre and very basic music allowed her to express her views, humour and attitude in a variety of forms ranging from stand-up comedy to drag.

On the way over to the closing ceremonies I was talking to Olivia about what “non-conformity” means, and used her owning her neurodivergent transness as an example of it; that the award went to “neurodivergent trans beauty queen” was a delightful counterpoint to that.

In Anatomy of an Indian Address, Gowri N Kishore takes a deep dive into how civic addressing works in India:

India has no standardised way of describing addresses as Western countries do. And a one-size-fits-all approach may not even work here because different states have their own terms like street, main/cross, colony, and more. Each address is its own little adventure. Phew!

One of the under-appreciated public works megaprojects here on Prince Edward Island is the civic addressing system: introduced in the early 2000s, the system was designed to enable the introduction of 911 emergency service in a province that, outside of larger cities and towns, had no standardized address system. From the original Civic Address Standards and Guidelines:

The civic address standards outlined ensure that all residences on Prince Edward Island are universally and uniquely civic addressed. The civic address guidelines present recommended rules to follow when providing new civic addresses. The document also describes situations where undesirable (unacceptable) civic addressing may exist and recommends possible remedies.

…

The present status of civic addressing within Prince Edward Island can be summarized as follows:

• Both Charlottetown and Summerside are essentially complete;
• Five of seven towns are essentially complete;
• Three of fifteen communities with official plans are essentially complete;
• All other areas within PEI are minimally or non civic addressed.

I was under contract to the Province of PEI throughout this process, and was privileged to witness, up close, what a Herculean task it was to find a unique civic address for every property on the Island: not only did addresses themselves need to be assigned, but road names needed to be established (and made unique within a county), and, in many cases, new “civic address communities” established, as much of the province isn’t covered by formal municipalities.

The civic address system was one of the signature achievements of former Provincial Tax Commissioner Jim Ramsay: while the process involved many people across departments and agencies, inside government and out, it was Jim who was the driving force. And that the data underlying the system — a geolocated civic address database — was made freely available to the public is a testament to Jim’s ability to see the tremendous upsides of such a move (I was in the room when the decision to do this was made, and the page offering the data was online the same day — there was no way I was going to miss the opportunity to see such a resource be made public, and wan’t to ensure the horses were out of the barn before any layer of the bureaucracy changed its mind).

This summer Lisa and I are performing, with our improv troupe No Questions, every Wednesday night in August at the Benevolent Irish Society at 7:00 p.m. (admission by donation; bar opens at 6:30 p.m.).

The troupe is an outgrowth of Laurie Murphy’s improv classes, classes I started in November of 2021, and that Lisa, who’s had her toe in and out of improv for many years, joined this winter. 

As I’ve written about before, it’s not a word of a lie to say that performing improv has changed my life. The devil may care “yes, and” attitude it has steeped me in was the pathway I needed to find my way through the forest to Lisa. It’s the juice that’s powering an upcoming career turnabout. My mind has been opened I’m a better listener, a better risk-taker. I’ve become convinced that it’s a curative experience that everyone—especially the shy, retiring, quietly wry, not-jokey types who would never every consider it—should try at least once.

We segued from improv training to troupe rehearsal in July. Last week was our final rehearsal before opening night last night.

And it was shit.

We were off the rails: not listening, not connecting, forgetting how to say yes, ignoring the fundamentals. We micromanaged ourselves into a malaise.

We came home dispirited. I thought idly whether there might be a way to get out of the August performances. For the first time since I started, I wasn’t excited about performing.

Sigh.

But we pushed on. Rallied.

I agreed to host the opening night. Lisa agreed to host the “PEI Famous Celebrity Interview” that anchors the second act. We made a conscious effort to show up last night.

And, as it turned out, so did the rest of the troupe.

What, just a week before, had felt like an irredeemable train wreck, last night just gelled.

We listened. We made each other look good. We had fun. And we finished the night with the unmistakable high that being vulnerable with a group produces.

So whereas two days ago I was loathe to even admit that we’re performing this August, now I want everyone I know to come. I’m proud of our merry band, I’ve seen what we’re capable of together, and I know in my heart that we’re going to get better every week we perform.

Again, the details:

• Every Wednesday in August (August 9, 16, 23 and 30, 2023).
• Benevolent Irish Society Hall, 582 North River Road, Charlottetown.
• Bar opens at 6:30 p.m., show starts at 7:00 p.m. and runs to 9:00 p.m.
• Admission by donation. 
• Add the shows to your calendar with this ICS file.

Please join us. Tell your friends. Bring your friends.

Currently posted up at LOLI in Moncton, stopping in for an espresso and a pause before heading back to the Island after dropping family off at the train.

Coffee is good. Vibe is relaxed. Wifi is fast. I believe that fellow on the balcony is a DJ.

Not quite Berlin.

But certainly not the Moncton I arrived in for the first time—at the selfsame train station—40 years ago this summer.