Up at 06:00 for a 09:00 flight from Toronto to New York City on Air Canada. Had unexpected guests the night before so was not terribly perky for the early morning get up and go. Through US Customs quickly a nice change for once. Uneventful flight. A muffin or Danish and a cup of coffee. The quality of airline food has plummeted over the years. No doubt one day they will make you pay for food! Not pleased with cab driver from LaGuardia who gave me 20 ones in change. Checked in at the Avalon on 16th and East 32nd. They had given my room away to Patrick Stephens. A Manhattan mix-up! I would be upgraded as a result but the room would not be ready for an hour so off to a gross deli lunch starting off with a big black curly hair in the middle of the table. The pastrami was chewy and the fries a whitish colour. At least no food poisoning. Bought a daily subway and bus ticket and visited the Forbes Museum with a large collection of Fabergé eggs. Off next to the United Nations with an arrogant Israeli tour guide. The decor is tired Danish 1960’s teak. Met sister Barbara at Annan a very good Vietnamese restaurant and back to her place for a glass of wine and plans to meet tomorrow at a Cuban restaurant.
Virus # 26”: Chapter 2 Director’s Version (A Serialized Novel by Robert K. Stephen)
Chapter 2 “A Little Bit About Virus #26: Turks and Iranians Should be Thanked for Originating Virus # 26”
The world was weary with COVID-19 and COVID-19 Plus and just when all Canadians thought matters were back to the new normal yet another virus called Virus #26 reared its ugly head in 2030.
Virus # 26 originated in Turkey. The state of Greek-Turkish relations in the late 2020’s was very strained. Turkey was ready to invade Greek Aegean islands claiming historically they had always been theirs of course not to mention the natural gas grab for natural gas fields just off the coast of so many Greek Aegean islands. The United States invasion of Cyprus in 2028 necessitated by the huge amount of Muslim terrorist training facilities on the island organized by the Turkish Free Army had left Turkish occupation forces of Cyprus in disarray and the survivors fled to Turkey to the safety of their expansionist president Mamool Farouk but not before using a few dirty nuclear bombs against the Americans destroying two huge aircraft carriers and killing thousands of U.S. sailors and soldiers. The usual Turkish military incompetence resulted in thousands of Turkish residents of Cyprus to be felled by radiation sickness.
On top of that Turkey’s attempted invasion of the Greek Islands of Samos and Lesbos in the Eastern Aegean in 2028 had been a miserable fiasco as Greek forces and Israeli special forces cut the Turkish invaders to ribbons as they landed on the beaches of Samos ad Lesbos. Yes, the Israeli’s were becoming increasingly alarmed by the Islamification of Turkey and Iran’s support of Turkey’s Muslimification designs and decided to protect its interests by assisting the Greeks. The Israelis were cognizant some 50,000 Jews in the northern Greek City of Thessaloniki had been whisked to their deaths to German concentration camps by the Germans in 1941. They felt a certain degree of solidarity with the Greeks.
Since 2017 Turkey had facilitated the movement of thousands of Muslim “refugees” and Turkish secret police disguised as refugees from the Turkish coast to several “refugee” centres to the Greek islands of Samos and Lesbos in the Greek Eastern Aegean in a more peaceful but heavily orchestrated programme by the Turks to inundate Greece with “friendly” waves of Muslim refugees and Turkish spies. After the refugees began overrunning the camps, destroying local’s crops and threatening Greek islanders with violence the Greek government put an iron fist down and closed its Northern border with Turkey and its Eastern Aegean islands in 2027. This was throwing a wrench in Farouk’s “The New Crusades” movement which as you may have guessed it had the goal of the Muslimification of Europe. Western Europe expelled all Turkish guest workers because of the Turkish nuclear attacks in Cyprus augmenting disarray and discontent with Farouk in Turkey. Greece finally closed its “refugee camps” in 2027 and with the help of the German coast guard docked in the port of Samos deported the “refugees” back to the Turkish coast from whence they came.
As a successful physical invasion of Greece was becoming a hollow dream Turkey with the technical assistance of Iran had established a “research centre” in the Turkish port town of Kusadesi which was but a few kilometres from the Greek island of Samos. The official Turkish-Iranian story was that this was an agricultural research centre but European security agencies and the Israeli Mossad determined against all international law the research was based on developing a biological chemical weapon that would be dumped into water reservoirs of infidel countries and kill millions of “non-believers”.
Israeli forces were in the midst of preparing an Entebbe style strike at the “research facility” in late 2029 when the 25th sample of Turkish poison mutated after a severe earthquake centred a few kilometres from Kusadesi sent vials of it flying all over the “research facility”. In the midst of this chemical soup what was known as Virus #26 was born. Unlike the poison the Turks and Iranians were working on this had mutated strangely into a virus and was no longer a poison.
In the period of a week the virus cut a vicious swath through Kusadesi and like COVID’s it spread globally and it was so deadly it was beginning to make the COVID viruses look like harmless flies.
As a cardiologist this Virus #26 had special interest to me as it did not attack the respiratory system but after an incubation period of a week or so it attacked the heart causing it to go into severe arrythmia of which no known drug could reverse. Your heart just collapsed under the incessant and hugely irregular waves of arrythmia. If the arrhythmia didn’t collapse the heart it caused blood clots to form many of which lodged in blood vessels to the brain causing death by stroke. I was powerless to help my patients except to drug away the fear and pain.
There was a bizarre immunity to Virus # 26 which took months to surface. Those who had contracted measles and chicken pox were somehow wired to fend off the virus. Since legislation mandated measles and chicken pox vaccinations in the 1960’s in most First World countries the older baby boomers and anti-vaxxers were immune from Virus # 26 as the majority of the pre vaccination boomers had contracted measles and chicken pox. The rest of the populations in the industrialized world were easy picking. The less developed countries where vaccinations were a luxury also had a lower mortality rate initially.
For the time being The New Crusades propagated by Farouk was going nowhere other than just about killing many a Turk. The United States was preparing an invasion of Turkey in reprisal to Turkey’s nuclear attack on American aircraft carriers in Cyprus.
By the way when I was growing up children were encouraged to socialize with those friends who had measles and chicken pox as it was a childhood disease simply to contract and get out of the way. Thank goodness I had put my foot down and refused to have my daughter Alexi vaccinated for measles and chicken pox. It is too late to regret having my two late sons being vaccinated against measles and chicken pox but that was a moot point as they were already dead due to the COVID viruses.
Virus #26 was Turkey’s and Iran’s gift to the world. A deadly one. A mistake. An error. Something that could never happen again. So they said. Seems they said that about the earlier COVIDs!
Virus # 26”: Director’s Version (A Serialized Novel by Robert K. Stephen)
“Virus # 26-Director’s Version: Chapter One “Who Am I?”
My name is Dr. Evan Terpene. As I start writing this it is 2030 and I have recently celebrated my 56th birthday. I am a cardiologist working at a major hospital in the City of Toronto. Better said I used to work at the hospital but with so much civil unrest and chaos the hospital now only has a skeletal staff. Most of the nurses, doctors and support staff have died with Virus #26 sweeping the country and for that matter the globe. We took a severe hit with our five-year battle with COVID-19 (which became widely known as the American Virus) and COVID-19 Plus back in the 2020’s and then out of the blue Virus # 26 virtually leapt out of the bushes at the beginning of 2030. Virus # 26 genome’s code was entirely different from the COVID genomes.
I lived on a tony street in Toronto but there are few people remaining in their home there. They paid biker gangs (strangely reminiscent of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans) to patrol my street from looters and then headed off to their mega retreats in “Cottage Country” thinking their money and rural settings would protect them but Virus #26 knew where to find them and then there was no more money to pay the bikers so matters are a bit rough outside. The biker protectors are now the looters.
My wife and two boys did not survive COVID-19 and COVID-19 Plus and I have only my 14-year-old daughter Alexi and an equally old West Highland Terrier Pill-Boy. What remaining family I have live in London in the United Kingdom. So many of them have died with this Virus #26, COVID-19 and COVID-19 Plus. It’s almost better that way as those who perished would not have believed what is happening in the world. It’s painful and I am thinking these days inevitably matters will come to less than a happy ending.
As a cardiologist there was little I could do to stem the deaths caused by COVID-19 and COVID-19 Plus. Were the deaths caused by an underfunded medical system that was on its knees when COVID-19 and COVID-19 Plus hit and never recovered? The politicians promised us we would be prepared for the next virus but by the time Virus #26 struck Canada was bankrupt after spewing out money locally and internationally to deal with COVID-19 and COVID-19 Plus. It had turned all taps on with funding to combat the COVID-19 viruses and then it simply ran out of money and credit. The slashed and burnt out hospital system and its employees was crippled with COVID-19 viruses’ hits and never recovered. Yes, I blame the politicians for stripping down the healthcare system prior to COVID. If they had properly planned staffing, drugs and equipment that might have given us a fighting chance. So when I saw them on television looking and play acting like they cared for us as a physician knowing what they had done to us and themselves, as most of them have died, I had nothing but contempt and by the time COVID-19 viruses had been beaten back the country felt the same way.
Today was a beautiful day and in better times there would have been so many people taking a stroll and enjoying the spring weather and the blossoms on the trees but alas those inhabitants are mostly dead or in lock-down in their splendid Cottage Country mansions assuming they survived the COVID- 19 viruses and have yet to succumb to Virus #26.
So I am in my living room with daughter Alexi and Pill-Boy and there is a pounding on the door accompanied by crazed voices bathed in too many opioids. “Open the fucking door or we will blast your rich fucking head off.”
One of my patients Spike was a vicious and ruthless criminal known throughout the country. Of course, even criminals can have a “bum ticker” and he had a very bad one. He died at my hospital and Spike prior to his demise gave me his keys to his luxurious condo and told me where the guns, ammo and cash were hidden. As tough as he was we had formed a relationship. Like many a criminal he had been abused as a child and trusted no one. Before he handed over the keys he said, “I know I am dying of this fucking Virus #26 and the least I can do is ask you to protect yourself with cash, gold coins, guns and ammo. I got no family and no friends, only enemies and associates. By the way thanks for that morphine and how you got that I’ll never know.” Spike died peacefully in a cloud of morphine.
Guns, cash, gold coins and ammunition. You’ve got to be kidding. I am a peaceful man but living in some very unpeaceful times. Strange that before the COVID-19 viruses swept through Toronto guns and gangs had a bad rap but COVID media coverage left the daily menu of shooting, stabbings and violence in the shadows. Perhaps I should do that very un-Canadian thing and arm and protect myself. Gun sales during the COVID viruses were very robust in the United States and I can see why. Of course, we here in Canada wanted no part of this Yankee “barbarity” and the survivors of Virus # 26 (yes there were some) were easily picked off by gangs of armed marauders. The unarmed were and are slaughtered
It was with a lurid curiosity I found myself in Spike’s condo. $2,000,500 in old fifties. A sack of American gold coins, 3 Glock semi-automatics with plenty of ammo and probably a kilo or so of some white powder which I assumed was some drug. I was a reservist with the Canadian Armed Forces so handling the beauty of a Glock was not going to be a problem. The drugs might prove to be valuable currency.
Well back to my situation. The knocking on my door was getting hysterical so I sent Alexi and Pill-Boy up to her room put two Glocks in my belt and put a jacket on to conceal them. Then I played the frightened” rich guy” and let 3 maniacs in and immediately had a gun thrust in my throat. ”Give us your food you rich fuck.” So I pointed them to the kitchen and they loaded up a sack with what little food I had left. They were ravenous and aided by some bourbon they dropped their guns and stuffed their faces. My military training said know your enemy and take advantage of his inattention.
Very calmly I pulled out my concealed Glocks and said, “This rich fuck is going to teach you a lesson.” Despite my Hippocratic oath I squeezed the trigger then dragged out the bodies and left them on the sidewalk. I would defend myself and Alexi at any cost and to hell with Hippocratic Oath. Two down and I had a feeling there were more to come and I felt no guilt or remorse. A fucking plague will do that to most people and if it doesn’t, they won’t survive. The hell with finding toilet paper at COSTCO. I’d rather have my life. Have I become Dr. John Wick?
“Travels to a Different Time” : Santiago de Cuba: July 1996: Attack of the Cuban Red Ants: A Near Dangerous Shampoo
Woke up in the early morning for a swim and a game of tennis. I found someone looking for a game and sat down on the court to put on my running shoes. One night there were sheep on the tennis court and one morning turkeys. We had roast turkey for dinner that night! Boy a few minutes into the game my legs started feeling like they were being pricked by pins and they started burning. They were tiny red ants that packed a nice little sting. A quick emergency jump in the pool. Be wary of red ants in Cuba! Then off to a shower before breakfast and almost put some shampoo on my head but it smelt a bit strange. It was cleaning fluid of some sort in a shampoo bottle that a chambermaid had left in the bathroom. The day was not going well.
RKS Wine: A Laggard Cali Cab Sauv?
The Pull 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles isn’t exactly roaring off the shelves. Perhaps it has no “big score” so buyers steer clear unwilling to risk getting stuck with a clunker. So it is shown in the Liquor Control Board of Ontario’s (LCBO) Vintages Catalogue as being an “editor’s choice”. Certainly not a good idea to criticize wines your clever buyers are gracing the citizens of Ontario with! Not quite sure who the editor is!
Having the courage to open and try a non renowned critic recommended wine lets give it a try. As for what wafts up from the glass there is dense blueberry and blackberry. There is also a fair amount of black cherry. Chewy tannins and the acidity is well controlled. This is a full-bodied wine but what exactly is in that full body? At first blush the palate is tight so give it a half hour to open up. Pour it into a decanter and go take the dog for a walk.
Back from the walk now the aromas have not changed. The wine has a big mouthfeel and a bit of a burn no surprise considering its 14.9% alcohol. Mostly rich black cherry and a touch of nutmeg. Not terribly exciting.
Pair with a burger or flank steak with chimichurri sauce.
Given its tannins the wine could improve over the next two years and perhaps gain some complexity.
(Pull 2017 Cabernet Sauvignon, Paso Robles, California, Pull Wines, Paso Robles, California, $24.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 23822, 750 mL, 14.9%, RKS Wine Rating 86/100)
RKS Film: “The Passengers of the Night”
Having watched French films for many years I am rarely disappointed. You like something sophisticated and creative you can find it. Like something mainstream the French are on par with Hollywood but I can’t say that is a plus. That is the reason I turned to watching French films as they once had their own distinct identity.
“The Passengers of the Night” is a rather uninspiring film centering on family drama. And the drama is not cheerful for most of the film. Elisabeth (Charlotte Gainsbourg) is in pain after a break-up with her husband after battling breast cancer. Her son Matthias is a bit of a wannabe poet and daughter Judith a political activist.
Great shots of Paris throughout the film many retro.
The film starts on May 10, 1981 when François Mitterrand is elected French President. Great socialist hopes contrasted against the despair enveloping Elisabeth.
Elisabeth lands a job at the switchboard for a late-night radio show “Passengers in the Night”. The show is hosted by Vanda Dorval (Emanuelle Béart) a tightly wound woman that sounds like melted butter on the air. One night a guest Talula speaks with Vanda. She is an 18-year-old homeless street waif that inexplicably Elisabeth takes home feeling sorry for the lass. Talula appears to be a lovely girl and Matthias falls for her and the compulsory French sex scene ensues even though Talula says to Matthias that she is not the girl for him giving no reasons. She disappears to reappear in 1984 as a junkie. She then seems to clean up her act and after Matthias declares his love for her she disappears again.
Elisabeth works a second job as a librarian and starts to fill in for Vanda who is off for some reason. Elisabeth is in a happy relationship with Hugo a man she met in the library. The film ends with the family dancing to a Jules Dassin song and all seems to end happily.
While the director’s statement by Mikhaël Hers presents the concepts behind the movie in personal terms they may mean more to the director than the average viewer. Yes the shots of the trains and subways is symbolic of passengers but hardly clever.
While the plot may be a bit pedantic Gainsbourg’s performance as Elisabeth is compelling. When sorrow, compassion, despair, optimism, grit or tenderness is called for she delivers a commanding performance. My goodness that little grin of hers and her eternal calmness is amazing and highly worth the watch. Emanuelle Béart as Vanda deserves a round of applause as a lovable tyrant.
The film is directed by Mikhaël Hers and opened in Canada on July 1. In French with English subtitles.
You can see the trailer here https://vimeo.com/704625452
RKS Film Rating 86/100.
As for Gainsbourg will she be in the running for best actress in the 2022 César Awards?
“Andrij the Orphaned Ukrainian Rescue Dog” : Chapter 25: Time to Say Farewell
We arrived in the land beyond to a great crowd of many we know who went to the land beyond. What a dream to see my master and mistress Boyka and Anatoli and our children Danilo and Daryna all killed in Russian missile attacks. What surprised me was a crowd of Russian soldiers mostly very young killed in action. They wanted to apologize to us saying they had no idea they were being manipulated in a brazen blitzkrieg plan to decimate Ukraine. They all said my death was not in vain. Strange that in death freedom often follows. Good-bye dear readers.
Hi it is Reggie. You have no doubt been reading my story “Reggie the Egyptian Rescue Dog”. My master Karim welcomed me with a bone crushing hug not like the last time I was at the doors of the land beyond where he sent me back to fulfill my destiny. You know I was told that my good friends Jill and Joe Biden were enraged with the bomb attack that killed me and hundreds others and in short order America was finally at war with the evil Putin and finally crushed that Vermin! The Canadian Parliament created a new statutory holiday “Canine Heroes”. The Pope mentioned our tremendous sacrifices in his address to the faithful. Nicole Kidman will be directing a documentary on my life. The Nobel Prize Committee has designated a special prize for children’s films promoting peace and understanding called The Reggie Peace Award. The great Ayatollah of Iran who I prayed with declared a day of mourning and phoned President Biden suggesting as a mark of respect for me they meet to promote peace between Iran and United States. And the big surprise was that Rottenwiler in Cairo that took a chunk out of me when in a starvation mode I tried to pike his food. He apologized profusely for his overly aggressive response. And I thanked him as in a strange way it set in motion a short but rich life. He was called Mustafa and we became best friends in the land beyond. Isn’t life and death strange.
Hello all. It is Bosco here. We dogs all died together as we struggled against the barbarities of the world. Dogs are man’s best friends but cross us and cause pain and hurt to our fellow dogs and humans you have seen we can be the worst enemy man has known.
Well it is Bob here. What you have read is a story of brave and courageous rescue dogs. Initially unwanted and unloved and threatened. Vile curs as Putin called them. These dogs have taught me they are far smarter than humans give them credit for. Don’t worry or cry for us. We are safe. Goodbye. Remember there is something very special about rescue dogs.
“Travels to a Different Time” : Santiago de Cuba: July 1996: Evening Entertainment: Glorification of Colonial Exploitation!
Do I require nightly entertainment? It starts at 21:30 each night. Usually finish dinner at 20:00 and then have a coffee outside. One night it was some university students performing a cabaret show. One night dance. One night synchronized swimming with a fire eater and a magician. Then a strange cowboy and Indian show which was particularly violent against the Indians. Cuba the protector of oppressed people? It amounted to a glorification of the exploitation of indigenous people. Indians begging for firewater, getting kicked by cowboys etc. juvenile and racist. There is always some form of classical music during dinner and lunch. There are many graduates of the conservatory of music that have no real employment opportunities so you want to say they are underemployed playing for tourists at a hotel.
RKS Wine: Quinta Cabriz’s Rosé from Portugal’s Dão
We do not see very many rosés from Portugal and I think I have yet to see any sparklers. Timid Liquor Control Board of Ontario buyers?
The Cabriz Colheita Selecionada 2020 rosé is a blend of Touriga Nacional and Alfrocheiro and clocks in at $13.95. In colour it is barely pink so I am wondering what sort of punch it has to it? Is it more of a white than a red wine or is it somewhere in between? I believe I had it in Obidos in Portugal with roasted baby goat and it was a stellar match.
On the nose it is a middle of the road rosé meaning it is neither red nor white. How is that for a brilliant statement about a rosé? Yet a Pinot Noir rosé most often is more red than white. In any case there is light influences of sweet red cherry, raspberry and watermelon. On the palate it is very light once again with raspberry and cherry influences with a bit of a raspy finish that saves it from being a 99-pound weakling. I would pair with a Greek salad or if in Portugal with a tomato salad or even Bachalau. Perfectly fine to sip on its own. An innocuous wine for a steamy hot and humid day. Drink by the end of 2022. It just might suit grilled chicken with a beer and paprika spice rub?
(Cabriz Colheita Selecionada Rosé 2020, DOC Dão, Global Wines Carregal Do Sal, Portugal, $13.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 30445, 750 mL, 12.5%, RKS Wine Rating 85/100).
RKS Travel: Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Harbour House
I have stayed twice at Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Harbour House during the plague. Perhaps the strongest feature is its location off the dreaded main drag, Queen Street, clogged with day trippers in the summer and fall months eating Hungarian Funnel Cakes and chowing down on ice cream. Yet for tourist gawking, it is a rich gawking ground and you are a 10-minute walk to Queen Street from Harbour House. On Melville Street, where the hotel is located, life is quiet and mostly residential. You face the Yacht Club and are just a two-minute walk to Riverbeach where you can enjoy a walk along the river and see Fort Niagara across the river in the State of New York. If you have a yoga mat it is a tranquil spot to make your moves.
A premium room at $340 a night is a fair price given the neighbourhood and a “continental breakfast” is also included and it is more than continental with home baked quiche and bread pudding something to look forward to. Although the mini croissants appear grocery store variety you may luck in with a butter tart! The service is impeccable with friendly locals whether it be at breakfast or throughout your stay. You may not have the mini-bar or an other than breakfast dining room but this is no 5-star Ritz-Carlton or Four Seasons in New York, Paris or Madrid. You want wine then take a few minutes drive into wine country and thoughtfully there is a fridge in your room to keep wine chilled or food if you want a simple meal of cheese, bread and olives.
And this is a dog friendly inn charging $25 a day for your dog with water and food bowls, poop bags and a bed at the ready. Niagara-on-the-Lake is a dog friendly town.
A leisurely two-hour drive (non weekend) from Toronto but mostly an ugly one. Get off the QEW at Beamsville and take the country road to Niagara-on-the-Lake as it is more scenic.
Why Niagara-on-the-Lake? A never-ending amount of wineries, Niagara Falls, the botanical gardens, the Butterfly Conservatory, the floral clock, golf, boating, hiking, cycling, The Shaw Festival and decent dining.
As for daily linen and towel service this is a feature that COVID has eliminated for many hotel properties. And one can become accustomed to that but some communication as how to request towels and glassware would have been helpful.
As a plus as this is wine country a shuttle service operates in the evening. Taxis aren’t exactly plentiful.
Not in the mood for dining out or you would like a glass of wine before or after dinner there is a small patio off the main reception area where you can bring your own wine and relax. Speaking of wine between 4 and 5 there is complimentary wine and cheese although the wine served is run of the mill and the cheese is a weird orange cheese ball from 1960’s suburbia!
As for dining many wineries have their own restaurants and patios. You may want to try Two Sister’s Winery restaurant “Kitchen 76” for rather expensive dining. Unfortunately the quality does not match the price. The Truffle Pizza at $36 is steep but worth the price. The Arancini at $20 was mediocre. The grilled octopus at $28 was not tender but rather mushy. Do try their Merlot at $21 a glass! For Ontario it is a winner. The Lemon Olive Oil Cake at $14 was unremarkable. At $218 for two I would have expected better. Treadwell on Queen Street was a third visit for me. The last meal in October was stellar although the wine list remains surprisingly abbreviated for a “fine dining” restaurant. It was a lobster club with bits of annoying shell still in the lobster meat with a side of fries. The Hidden Bench rosé was pedantic and a very minute pour. If you want some quality baked goods the trip to Willow Cakes and Pastries on 242 Mary Street is worth it. And I hear the golf course a 10-minute walk away has a great food and a patio overlooking the lake.
A low-keyed inn off the beaten path but far from isolated. Not quite a bed and breakfast but definitely not a full-service hotel. Located at 85 Melville Street. The room size is generous.
RKS Travel Hotel Rating 83/100.
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 