Sleepy Old Bear Diaries

Our blogger Deborah of Seattle has, with our son Joel of Esquimalt, announced their engagement this afternoon.
We couldn’t be happier. She is a gem. And he is quite the man.
No date set yet … we will stay tuned.

1. Yesterday I was exhausted from lack of sleep. Today I woke up with a bad headache. But I am gradually coming right again, and I hope that tomorrow I can do something serious. Today was not entirely lost — I filed our income tax returns (looks very good!) and prepared my travel expense submission. [...]

… is soon going to be one of my mailing addresses. Stuck here for an extra day on my way to Paris, now stuck through the afternoon, hoping (well, sort of) to get on the 1940 to Halifax. Then … on to Sydney ? Don’t hold your breath.
Paris is a mighty fine town. People rude [...]

On my home last night from the Bibliothèque nationale — Stalinist-realism ugly, but a great place to work — I had intended to stop for dinner at a nearby English pub (a make-work project for young Brits who prefer to travel than study).
It is named The Frog and British Library.
On a sign outside there is [...]

In answer to my critics, I don’t blog much or write copious emails because of this darned French keyboard, which instead of kwerty is azerty, and it is too much bother to correct ad nauseam. My laptop is in my flat, and I can’t bring myself to lug it to the local internet shop. Actually, [...]

My time is flying by. I am working generally in the Bibliothèque nationale François Mitterand, though yesterday I went to the Richelieu branch to search a few manuscripts. Being here provides a good opportunity to think about what next, and it seems to me to be pretty clear that I can’t escape Scotland entirely–I simply [...]

… and it as a beautiful sunny day here in Montreal. But I reckon it is pretty cold out there. I shall be leaving the hotel within the hour.
Air Canada has said that it will not pay for my hotel room because missing the plane last night was a function of bad weather. Fuggeddabowdit. It [...]

I call it Underwear Airport. Officially Stanfield Airport, and Robert Stanfield, former federal leader of the Progressive Conservative opposition, was the scion of a great underwear manufacturer in Amherst, NS.
Anyway, I arrived here on time, from Sydney, but the weather is now deteriorating, and there is a real possibility of my flight being delayed or [...]

But, remember … always play nicely, and don’t get me in jail or in another Human Rights Complaint.
I prefer to do those things for myself.

The Dam
This is an actual letter sent to a man named Ryan DeVries regarding a pond on his property. It was sent by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Quality, State of Pennsylvania. This guy’s response is hilarious, but read State’s letter before you get to the response letter.
SUBJECT: DEQ File No.97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec. 20; [...]