Watermelon hats? I had no idea.
The CanaDoper Café (2012 edition of The great, ongoing Canadian current events and politics thread.)
Sorry was thinking in laymans terms, so when I read about her testimony she’s saying ‘I killed her, he just raped her’ ergo to my mine per her testimony she’s the murderer, he’s a rapist.
Which it appears has caused a kerrfluffle because that’s not what she told police.
There were tons of watermelon hats around here one Grey Cup.. Last year? Year before? Apparently you couldn’t find watermelons for love or money. I never actually saw any of the hats, but it was all over the news. What is up with that anyway?
Riders didn’t make the playoffs last year.
Riders lost the Grey Cup to the Alouettes the year before.
Riders lost the Grey Cup to the Alouettes the year before that.
Probably had watermelon hats those two years, so people looked extra silly after the games.
(And yes, at this point, Northern Piper, I’m just rubbing it in because I can!)
Oh my God, this had me cackling my head off! It wasn’t actually titled “Rider Fan,” but it could have been! 
<—check out the watermelon head on THIS guy!
ETA: There’s more where that came from!
psst - I think your first one is a gal, not a guy…
Several of the shots in the second link are clearly Rider fans in action.
The last shot, of the girl in the watermelon bike helmet - we have exactly that helmet for PiperCub when he’s biking!
I’m pretty sure this constitutes child abuse.
You mean that isn’t Miss Saskatchewan?
Absolutely deserved. I chose Burlington for a reason; it’s a wonderful city in which to live. Terrific municipal services, great parks and facilities, on the water, access to Toronto without the smell and the mayor, lots of local employment opportunities, clean, extremely little crime, nice downtown, great restaurants. What’s not to like?
If -gods forbid - I should have to live in that area again, I admit that Burlington is nominally better than Hamilton and Oakville. The whole region is still the armpit of Ontario, but this area is somewhat less…armpitty. Hardly the best place in Canada, but perhaps the best place in the GTA.
I did like the Royal Botanical Gardens, the IKEA and Rib Fest. I would go back there to visit just for Rib Fest.
Now I want ribs.
Hey, he picked it out himself!
Which doesn’t mean you should let him have it.
I’m sure he’d love to take a spin all alone on a motorcycle, too, but you wouldn’t let him, now would you? You are the adult here - make good choices for him! 
As I said, I got nothing against Burlington. But it’s no different than other satellite suburb cities close to Toronto. A prosperous enough community, nice restaurants, low crime, but it has absolutely nothing to distinguish it. The same arguments about Burlington apply to Oakville, for example.
Hell, I could see someone claiming Niagra on the Lake is tops, or Montreal, or plenty of places that have some claim to, well, something. But as I said, clearly the writers of the mag have different opinions from me about what makes a place livable.
No, actually, there are strict standards for Miss Saskatchewan - she must have ALL of her teeth. 
Please, PLEASE let there be a God and let that God exact ultimate and eternal vengeance upon anyone who has ever deliberately put a watermelon on his/her head.
What’s bad about it? I admit Hamilton has some pretty gross areas; it’s a very old, indudtrial city. But what makes this entire region the “armpit of Ontario”? How is it objectively, or even subjectively, worse than, say, London or Smiths Falls or Kingston (where I grew up, so I know it well) or Thunder Bay or Windsor or any other place?
Of course a lot of this depends on what a person wants in life. I will freely admit that if what a eprson wants is solitude, quiet and access to genuine outdoors and sportsman’s land, you don’t want to live here, you want to live in Northern Ontario. If you’re 24 and want to pursue a career in the entertainment industry you want to live in downtown Toronto. It all depends what your life goals are. But really, Burlington and Oakville are the “armpit” of the province? How?
Hey, Saskatchewan isn’t all bad! It produced my mom!
[sub]Who then moved to Burlington when she was 14. Seriously. 
[/sub]
Where my Burlington friends live is about a 10-minute bike ride from the Bruce Trail. I don’t know about the rest of the city, but I’ve come to think of ‘Nature Conservancy’ when I think of Burlington.
Hamilton’s downtown is pretty grotty, but the rest of the city is quite gorgeous.
Since I learned the expression while living in Hamilton, I thought you might know it - here is a map... see the curve of Lake Ontario? If the Niagara penninsula was an arm, where would the armpit be? 
It really was a joke - Burlington is a rather nice little city.
I can’t really compare it to the other cities you mentioned, because I haven’t lived there - I know London is full of roads with the same name (as a teen, my friend moved from Grand Avenue to Grand Road…or maybe it was Grand Street or Grand Crescent?). All I know about Smith Falls is that my friend’s ex grew up there and he’s an asshole. Kingston isn’t bad, but kind of boring, at least the parts I’ve seen when visiting for a day or two.
I don’t know what it is about the GTA that I dislike, but I was really unhappy there - I felt that people were always very stressed, always very much in a hurry and cared WAY too much about status symbols like houses and cars. People I worked with, early 20s just out of university, were practically racing each other to buy up $300 000+ condos and houses on $40 000/year salaries because it was the thing-to-do, despite being left without enough money to have a drink after work once a week or even once a month. It was weird. I could never predict how people would drive and hated driving in the city there, but I have no issues whatsoever in Montreal. Lots of little things that added up.
There are just enough cultural differences between that area and where I grew up that I disliked living there. Toronto feels very different from Montreal - I live on a busy 3 lane road in a densely populated area of Montreal now, so it’s not the crowds and business that bothers me at all.
I agree with you, actually, that it really is all about what you’re looking for - and the GTA was most definitely NOT what I was looking for in life and is most assuredly not the best place to live in Canada…IMHO.
That said, we might be going back up this summer to visit friends and try and fit in as many of the pubs and restaurants and places we liked when we lived in the Hammer. Ever been to Lo Presti’s at Maxwell’s? Place looks like it’s owned by the mafia, but for a fancy dinner and amazing food, it’s worth sitting next to the Godfather. It’s where I got engaged! 