Make us all believers, Tom!

About a month ago I fielded a call from an energetic, assured, young-sounding operative of the Thomas Mulcair campaign. By this time we'd already sent in our contribution and he was checking up to see how we thought they were doing.
And they could still count on our votes, right?
Recognizing a pitch for further funds, I had to stifle an impulse to put him off before engaging. I explained that yes, he could count on my vote. Mulcair, for me, was the most likely to give voice to my visceral dislike of  Harperites and all they stand for, and that was,  and remains, my over-riding priority.
(Hell, this 40-year-card-carrying activist NDPer has proven before that I have no trouble voting Liberal if I think it will keep Conservatives at bay!)
However, not on the first ballot. There I was planning to vote Nathan Cullen (who had by far the most original proposal, involving electoral cooperation with the Liberals) with Mulcair (whose plan instead was to move the party more towards where it could be a logical choice for Harper-hating Liberals) my second choice. I explained that although I had doubts that Cullen's French skills were up to the task, he'd certainly fall off before the last ballot, so that my most important vote would go to Mulcair.
The young man tried his best: Had I considered that my vote might pull Cullen into second place, and that he might consequently either be removing Mulcair from the race or end up facing him in the final? After all, Cullen was from BC, and BC had the largest block of votes.
Not going to happen, I said, noting he clearly wasn't from BC if he talked “block” of votes! I also pointed out that, although my contacts are reasonably good, at the time I didn't know anyone else who planned to vote Cullen #1.
In fact, I rather thought the final would see Mulcair facing Peggy Nash, in a sort of “centrist interloper vs staunch unionist” scenario. In my defense, the venerated Ed Broadbent had yet to turn the Topp tide, which I believe sank her chances. (Not Ed's finest hour, I thought, although a godsend for the press, which finally scented some blood.)
Anyway, I'm delighted to have been proved mostly correct, and that Thomas Mulcair, a man whom I first appreciated when he was the Minister of the Environment in Jean Charest's Liberal Quebec government, is our new leader.
Make us all believers, Tom!

Big wind

We live in a windy part of the world, so seeing the rain flowing uphill on Marina Boulevard just outside the front door is not a new phenomenon for us. However, since we built here it has lessened as the lots in our part of Rockland have filled up and the trees have grown.
So last Monday's wind storm, from which significant areas of Campbell River have not yet recovered, was an interesting experience: the most violent since we've lived here.
Happily, the house, while it groaned a lot, survived without damage, and we were without power only 12 hours. In fact, we had a fine time reading, feeding the fire, commenting on the weather, and making coffee on the camp stove.
It wasn't till the wind died and the sun came out that we noticed the remains of the green house (in this blog: "Paean to polyurethane" from November 7, 2010) and the fact that a major pine tree in the park across the way was down.

At least it didn't launch.