Presqu’ile Needs Some Attention

I've camped at Presqu’ile Provincial Park in Ontario every summer and at times in the spring and fall for over 40 years. It is a home away from home and holds a lot of great memories as a kid and an adult.

It has gone through a lot of changes over those years, as you would imagine, some for the better and some for the worse. I could write a book on these changes but will try to keep my thoughts as brief as possible.

It still remains a great park for camping with good sites however the CAMIS reservation system is not the best online. I spoke with many campers who are dissatisfied with how it works now and what appeared to be very slow servers. Twice while booking sites I was kicked off 3 or 4 steps into reserving the site and lost the site I wanted. I never had this issue in the past. I hope they upgrade before next winters reservation period.

For some reason, maybe to save on fuel costs, the park workers weren’t cutting the grass as often as they should prior to the lack of rain when it was growing a lot. Plus, there are a lot of areas that used to be kept cut that no longer are and this looks dreadful. I'm sure it has something to do with the naturalists wanting to keep the park a more natural setting. It just looks like they're lazy or too cheap to cut the grass the way it used to be. I’d say it makes it harder to spot the deer but that’s another story.

The main roads in the campground need to be paved or resurfaced properly right away. Not only have they been patched over and over and are very bumpy but the dust kicked up by passing cars is disgusting and an absolute disgrace. Anyone camped on the side of the road where the dust is blowing towards is constantly eating the dirt, having to clean their vehicles and must keep their tents and trailers closed up tight to avoid having everything covered in grit.

This has been like this for many years and so far the best solution the park staff have come up with is to pour a little water on the roads to try and keep the dust down but this happens infrequently and does little to solve the problem. Campers will even walk back and forth with jugs of water and will wet the road themselves for some relief. Not exactly what these paying customers had in mind for an activity when they booked their vacation.

For the amount of money that is spent in the park each year you would think they could afford to properly pave the roads most in need. At the very least, pave the main roads around High Bluff and Trails End where the problem is the worst. Use recycled asphalt on the other campground roads. But it seems the powers that be would rather stay under budget and continue to find temporary and cheap solutions that really aren't solutions at all.

One nice change recently was the addition of newly built comfort stations on High Bluff, The Pines and the Maples campgrounds. Although I guess they couldn't afford to put hot water into the Pines washroom. Now they just need to build one more with showers near Trails End.

I'd also suggest that as every camper registers upon entry, they be given not just the park newspaper that contains the rules but a separate piece of paper with five or six of the main rules that are constantly being broken. Among those are people cutting through campsites not their own and washing dishes at the fresh water taps where people get their drinking water.

And speaking of drinking water, what does the health inspector think about the dumping station being located only a few metres from the fresh water tap. While one camper dumps their septic tanks, another is filling their holding tank with drinking water. It would be a smart idea to move the location of the drinking water across the road where trailers could fill up with water in a much healthier location. Plus with the tanks being on different sides of the trailers they could set up the new water filling station so trailers could fill up on either side.

Finally, the biggest safety issue in the park is the speeding. How a child hasn't been killed or injured is just luck. The speed limit in the campground is 20 Km/h yet it is not uncommon to see cars doing 40-60 Km/h at times in the camp area. Campers can often be heard yelling at the speeders to slow down but if the security would set up on foot and catch and fine a few each weekend, it would go a long way towards solving that problem. It wouldn't take long to nab a few and they're easy to spot. You can see their dust flying from some distance down the road.

I know to some this all might sound like nitpicking but the back of every campers registration card that goes in the post at the campsite has a place where suggestions can be added and turned in. I have a sneaky suspicion that a lot of those cards are either ignored or just filed and forgotten. This might be a little more public and harder to ignore.

I love the park and spend a lot of time there with family and friends and I think these changes if implemented would go a long way towards improving the stay for each and every paying customer.

Toronto Violence Escalating

Forget the Gangs of New York! In 2012 it’s the Gangs of Toronto that we need to be concerned about.

I don’t even live in Toronto but I’m sickened by the growing trend of gun violence in one of Canada’s greatest cities. The number of shootings in 2012 in the Big Smoke as of July 18^th is 143, including the mayhem just a couple nights ago that left two dead and 23 wounded at a Scarborough block party.

There have been 29 homicides this year already and shooting victims total 178 which is up over 40% from this time last year.

The bottom line...enough is enough. But what can be done about it?

Everyone in any power position talks tough. From the Mayor to the Chief of Police to Premier McGuinty and other politicians, they all say enough is enough and it’s time to crack down on the problem. That sounds good but is it really possible to put an end to the violence? Can Toronto’s reputation as a safe place to live and visit be restored?

I have to laugh when I hear these same individuals claim every time these crimes occur that they’re just “isolated incidents” and that “Toronto is a safe city”. Pull your head out of the sand and open your eyes. These stopped being isolated a long time ago and are now common occurrences. When I turn on the morning news, I expect to be told of another shooting or killing on the streets of the GTA. It stopped being a surprise a long time ago.

It may seem wrong for me to say this but if it was only gangbangers getting shot and killed I’d say, “Have at it boys!” A little insensitive perhaps but that’s the life choice these gang members made and knew what they’d be facing going in. As long as innocent bystanders were left alone I could almost tolerate it.

However, that isn’t the case as we’ve seen time and time again; there always seem to be non-participants caught in the crossfire and that is the real tragedy.

Police Chief Bill Blair while sounding upset and disgusted by the most recent events was quick to point out that it’s “not indicative” of the turmoil Torontonians endured during the summer of 2005 when 24 people were shot dead between mid-June and mid-September. A total of 52 people were killed by guns in the city that year. It should also be noted that of the 29 murders in Toronto so far this year, only 20 have been by guns.  Yup, ONLY 20, like that’s something to be happy with.

 

The most shocking trend this year seems to be the circumstances surrounding these murders. Many of them seem to be taking place in busy public gatherings or locations. The most recent happening at the large block party, another during the fireworks display Canada Day at Woodbine Beach and another at the Sicilian Sidewalk Cafe in Little Italy crowded with soccer fans. Perhaps the most shocking to anyone with thoughts of visiting the city took place on June 2 at the Eaton Centre downtown where one man was killed and six others were wounded, including a 13-year-old boy shot in the head. And let’s not forget the hundreds of other shoppers who were traumatized and terrified during the ordeal.

When these “attacks” start happening outside of the usual neighbourhoods and impact the safety of those in what should be considered safe locations, this is what strikes fear into anyone thinking of making Toronto a vacation destination. This is why I won’t be making the drive up the 401 to Toronto anytime soon. The city has many great attractions that I enjoy but a trip into the Wild West shouldn’t be one of them.

Hot Enough For Ya?

Clouds Above Marsh
Originally uploaded by *Bundy*

As someone who is not a fan of winter and the bitter cold in the least, you might think I'd be in my glory this summer with the sweltering heat and lack of rain. But that just isn't the case.

Sure I love the fact that we have had lots of sunshine but when the mercury creeps past 30C and the humidity makes it feel like it's in the 40's, that is not my idea of comfortable weather.

I won't complain too much though because before we know it we'll be talking about windchill values and snowfall totals again and wishing for the heat of summer.

Farmers are crying for rain as their crops continue to suffer from lack of moisture. I can't recall the last time we had any significant rain.

It's been so hot I've had the A/C on in my car more this year already than anytime in the past. I'd much rather have the windows down when I'm driving but the muggy conditions give no relief no matter how fast I'm driving.

The scary part is the fact we're just coming into what is normally the hottest part of the summer. But I can't imagine it can get any hotter than it already has been.

There are a few positive things about the heat and sunshine. I've already golfed more this year than this time last year. My car is staying clean longer and with it being burnt to a crisp, I haven't had to cut the lawn in almost three weeks.