Part of the reason I don’t subscribe to The Guardian, our local newspaper here in [[Charlottetown]], is because I just can’t abide that much newsprint piling up around the house. And the confusion of paper carriers and collecting weekly and all that is just to dizzying to integrate into my daily life.

While I’m not one to jump on the “e-paper” bandwagon, and I find the process of reading stuff on the screen entirely dissatisfying, I’m somewhat intrigued by the digital version of The Guardian released today:

To use the product you have to download and install an abysmal proprietary reader application from Zinio (the same folks that bring you Penthouse and Playboy online!), an application that runs so slowly on my relatively modern Mac as to be almost unusable — page flips take about 5 seconds, and searches take about 30 seconds.

And of course because they’re locking all the content inside DRMed proprietary files, you can’t really doing anything with it that’s programatically interesting.

Nonetheless, it might be a handy enough tool to subscribe to: there are only about 3 pages in the paper that are useful and interesting, but they’re an important three pages, necessary for proper execution of life of the Island. I’ll stick with the free trial for two weeks, and see how it takes.

I’ve made some minor updates to the Interactive Charlottetown Transit Map, detailed here on the bus map weblog. They’re mostly cosmetic and functional; there are no actual route or schedule changes.

If you’re playing the home game, code and route data in the SVN have been updated too.

Yesterday at the [[Charlottetown Farmer’s Market]] I tasted a bit of heaven: [[Karin LaRonde]] was selling slices of a spicy zucchini cheese bread that was just amazing. It’s a little dear, at $3.50 for two slices, so you might think twice before investing: don’t worry, it’s worth it.

I’ve posted photos of our trip. My favourite:

It doesn’t get much greener than that. I also like this one for the blue, and the contrast:

Got back yesterday from a short trip to the Îles de la Madeleine with [[Catherine]], [[Oliver]] and my [[Mom]] and [[Dad]]. Which answers the question “where do you go to get away from it all if you already live away from it all?” It was great.

Recorded on the Magdalen Islands during a family vacation in 2006. We both had stuffy noses.

When [[Catherine]] and I first moved to [[Charlottetown]] in 1993 we lived at 50 Great George Street, right across the corner from Saint Dunstan’s Cathedral. As such our life was regulated by the ebb and flow of parishioners and our ability to secure on-street parking was determined by where in the ecclesiastical week our search fell.

Despite having lived so close then (and only a block away now that we’ve moved to town), somehow I’d managed to avoid actually going inside the Cathedral. At some point it became an odd point of pride, like Harry Baglole with the Confederation Bridge or Catherine Hennessey with the trans-Kent pedway.

Today, however, [[Oliver]] and I were driving home from the [[Charlottetown Farmer’s Market]] and had a little time to kill, so we ventured in:

Once you get over the whole “monotheism” thing, and the prohibition against in-line skating, it’s actually a rather pleasant space, at least in a “bow down before me you foolish and vain humans” kind of way.

The owners of the Rodd Charlottetown hotel have been running ads on the CBC trumpeting their 75th anniversary. One of the shots in the commercials is of what appears to be a roof-top deck. I’ve always had a fascination with the notion of this deck, especially since seeing archival photos of it. But I’d never heard of anyone actually going up there.

This afternoon, bolstered by a hearty meal from [[Interlude]] and the fearless moxie of my sister-in-law Jodi, we walked over the see what we could see. I stopped at the front desk and asked if we could go up and take a look; they happily handed over the secret code that unlocks the door to the roof, and provided instructions for navigating our way there. Five minutes later, we had a panoramic view over the city:

Something tells me that I have to organize some sort of party for this space sometime very soon.

It looks like Air Canada’s website has just undergone a major upgrade. And the warnings that users of Firefox used to see are gone, suggesting that it’s more browser-friendly.

We took a quick trip over to Halifax on Wednesday, stayed overnight, and then came back yesterday. Here’s a quick recap of the trip:

• The Hilton Garden Inn Halifax Airport is a wonderful modern hotel with excellent rates. It is, however, not actually in Halifax. I knew this going in, but I underestimated the hassle of the 40km drive from downtown out to the hotel. Next time we’ll bite the bullet, pay $100 more a night, and stay downtown.
• [[Oliver]] and I test drove a Smart Car: here’s the photographic evidence. Verdict: in first and second gear it drives like a lawn tractor; at higher speeds it’s fine. The transmission — a sort of manual/automatic hybrid — is the weak point of the car. It’s positively roomy inside — lots of head room, and it doesn’t feel cramped. There is almost no storage space, however — not even a glove box. The sales guy O’Regans, which appears to have the car market in Halifax pretty well tied up, was very helpful, and very low-pressure.
• Talay Thai, on Barrington Street near the train station, is an excellent Thai restaurant. It was packed on Wednesday night (every other Thai place we’ve ever visited in Halifax has been deserted) and the food packed a wallop. Service was on the slow side, but transcendentally nice.
• The ferry is a much more pleasant way to travel to the mainland than bridge. And the photo ops are better too.
• Cabin Coffee on Hollis (it’s tucked into the side of the parking garage) is a great place to hang out with kids. They also serve great food and drink. Very comfortable armchairs.
• Brio is the best soft drink going.
• Frog Hollow Books, inside the mall on Spring Garden Road, has an excellent kids books section, and a great selection of “armchair travel” books that I haven’t seen elsewhere.
• Pete’s Frootique still rocks after all these years.
• …as does The Italian Market.
• Gasoline is very expensive. $53 to fill up!? See also Smart Car above.