SCHOTT'S and FRIENDS

   The title relates to the series of books by Ben Schott, and the TV series Friends which you probably watched in the last years of the last century and have, most certainly, been reading about more recently. The Schott's volumes are small hardbacks, about the size of paperbacks, which are packed full of information, both bizarre and mundane. Three are pictured below and I have mentioned them before, in the post about the word "scissors" which can be spelled in hundreds of ways, (see: "Scissors and Spelling.")

There is a fourth volume, Schott's Quintessential Miscellany, which I also have and in which you will find on page 11, "The One With All The Friends Episodes" which I will paste below. It is highly likely that it is the one bit of information about Friends that you have not read. 

  "Chandler" is mentioned in many of the episodes listed, (e.g. "When Chandler Crosses the Line") and he was Matthew Perry. Even if you were not a fan of Friends, you will know about Perry who passed away on Oct. 28, 2023. About him much has been written and he wrote recently, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, so I need not offer more.

Post Script: "Several Degrees of Separation."
   In the summer of 1968 I was in Montreal and, in the evenings, took a course in "International Relations" at Sir George Williams University (now Concordia.) It was taught by John Langford who had just returned from Oxford. He went on to have a successful career as a Professor of Public Administration at the University of Victoria. Over that summer I got to know John outside of the classroom and many years later visited him in Victoria.
   This post script might seem like one long non sequitur, so I will mention here that John's sister, Suzanne is the mother of Matthew Perry. I won't pretend to remember conversations from over 50 years ago, but I do know that she was discussed, probably because even then she had attracted a lot of attention. She later became a press aide to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. She is now the wife of Keith Morrison.

Sources:
  I usually provide some, but cannot do so about my Montreal experiences and also do not usually write much about personal experiences, especially if they involve other people. I was curious, however, about Suzanne Langford back in the last century and found this interesting article from which the pictures and quotes are taken: "PM's Press Aide Isn't Just Another Pretty Face," Michael Prentice, The Citizen, Ottawa, March 8, 1980. It begins this way:
"From teen age beauty queen and New York Model to press aide to the prime minister of Canada, Suzanne Langford Perry has turned head wherever she goes..."
"Suzanne Langford was born into the "Rockcliffe Set." Her parents Warren and Lucille live on Ashbury Road, and her father is director-general of arts and culture in the Secretary of State department...."
"She has worked for some for some fairly demanding taskmasters, and they were more than satisfied....She is No.2 in the press office to Patrick Gossage, 40,  and Gossage says: "Some of the toughest, most hard-headed political people in Canada - like (Jim) Coutts and (Keith) Davey - trust her implicitly, and that's important."

BEYOND THE PALEWALL (1)

["Beyond the Palewall" is the title of this series because "Beyond the Paywall" is taken. Information for which you are not willing to pay, along with information you may not wish to know, is presented in abbreviated form without charge. What has caught my eye may sometimes feel like a poke in yours and, in that sense, be beyond the pale for you. Items will appear weekly, or perhaps monthly, or maybe semi-annually, if I can get started and the weather is bleak.]

SACRÉ BLEU - Wine Destruction

   You may have missed this bad news among the other bad news, but this is truly terrible. There is too much wine in Europe and the French government is spending over 200 million euros to get rid of it. Perhaps they could just ship it to the LCBO.

   "France Has Too Much Wine. It's Paying Millions to Destroy the Leftovers," Caroline Anders, Washington Post, Aug. 26, 2023.

"Ruining so much wine may sound ludicrous, but there’s a straightforward economic reason this is happening: Making wine is getting more expensive due in part to recent world events, and people are drinking less of it. That has left some producers with a surplus that they cannot price high enough to make a profit. Now, some of France’s most famous wine-producing regions, like Bordeaux, are struggling....

In June, the European Union initially gave France about $172 million to destroy nearly 80 million gallons of wine, and the French government announced additional funds this week. Producers will use the funds to distill their wine into pure alcohol to be used for other products, such as cleaning supplies or perfume.

Wine consumption in France has been plummeting since its peak in 1926, when the average French citizen drank about 136 liters per year. Today, that number is closer to 40 liters, The Washington Post previously reported. Consumers are also inundated with beverage choices now, and they’re choosing wine less and less.

As consumption has taken a nosedive, production costs have increased and inflation has tightened budgets around the world. That’s especially true since the coronavirus pandemic, which shuttered bars, restaurants and wineries, driving up prices. The war in Ukraine also influenced the industry by disrupting shipments of products essential to winemaking, such as fertilizer and bottles. And on top of the pandemic and war, climate change is forcing growers to adapt to new harvest schedules and reckon with more extreme weather."

Rivers of Wine! 

  Not long after that article was published, this one was. I am not suggesting they are related.

   "Nearly 600,000 Gallons of Wine Wash Down the Street in Portuguese Town,"  María Luisa Paúl, Washington Post, Sept. 12, 2023. 

"Residents in a Portuguese village woke up to an almost biblical scene on Sunday morning. The streets were impassable, replaced by a raging river of close to 600,000 gallons of red wine.

After two wine tanks belonging to a local distillery burst, enough booze flowed down the roads of São Lourenço do Bairro to fill an Olympic-size pool — and to spark fears from local leaders about possible environmental damage…

Sunday’s wine wave began at Destilaria Levira, a company that specializes in transforming wine into a slew of products, including gin, cleaning supplies and food oils. Though authorities are still investigating what caused the tanks to burst, the company said the wine they carried was essentially going to be destroyed — or distilled into raw alcohol — as part of the Portuguese government’s attempts to address a brewing wine crisis.

The nation with the world’s highest wine consumption per capita is among the European countries grappling with a massive surplus of wine this year. The combination of rising production costs and an ever-increasing range of alcoholic drink options has resulted in plummeting demand for wine in countries such as France, Spain and Italy....

The episode in Portugal isn’t the first time large amounts of wine have spilled. In 2020, the Russian River in California’s Sonoma County was tainted red after a 97,000-gallon winery tank burst open. That same year, a 13,000-gallon tank broke at a Spanish winery, leaving a flood of red wine gushing down like a breached dam."

  This story was also reported in the New York Times: "A River of Wine Flooded the Streets of a Town in Portugal," Sept. 12, 2023.

"The tanks that collapsed were part of an effort to address a broader problem: There’s too much wine in Europe. Portugal, like other major European wine producers such as France and Italy, is suffering from an oversupply of wine, largely because of a decline in both consumption and exports. The tanks that collapsed were being used to store surplus wine, according to the distillery."

I will try to find some better news.

B.C. Tidbits or Titbits: Take Your Pick

 

 This blog was abandoned over three weeks ago because I was in British Columbia for part of that time and have been experiencing trip-lag during the rest of it. Now the weather has turned and I am inside, without excuses, although I may have to come up with some if I can't increase my blogging output. 

  B.C. is a marvelous and scenic place and many interesting things happened there while I was in it, but not to me. Unless I include items relating to my children and grandchildren about whom you are not interested. Therefore, I will simply present past material about British Columbia, which is very interesting, but which you will likely not have read. In the academic world, where I was a minor citizen, presenting links to past work is known as "self-citation", and I am guilty of it here, but only for the legitimate reasons hinted at in this definition: "Self-citation occurs in an article when an author references another of their own publications. This can be a legitimate way to reference earlier findings; but self-citations can sometimes be unduly made in an attempt to inflate an individual's citation count."

  The good news for an increasingly small number of us is that British Columbia is still called "British Columbia." I had suggested that it was likely (and likely still is) to be given a new shiny name or a duller, pre-colonial one. See: "British Columbia or Sasquatchia? There is more good news (for a few) in that, although the elementary school which the grandchildren attend was retrofitted to withstand the coming earthquake, the name was not changed and remains as, "David Livingstone Elementary School." The Vancouver School Board "Archives & Heritage Blog," indicates that it was named for that David Livingstone, but apparently no one has read it or thought much about the name of the school. If they do, there will be a call for a change since it is now known that Livingstone should never have been on the African continent and Stanley should never have bothered looking for him. As an aside, it should be noted that the folks in London are perhaps more progressive than those in Vancouver. The father of the children who go to David Livingston, attended "Ryerson Public School" in London, which has now the very imaginative moniker, "Old North Public School."

  My post about B.C. last year was titled, "The Left Coast", not for political reasons, but because residents there once drove on the left-hand side of the road as a result of the retrograde attitudes of the British colonialists. Another, "Notes From the Coast", describes the "atmospheric rivers', which were flowing again this year.

  The crows which darken the often dark sky over Vancouver were still able to fly against the flow of the atmospheric rivers. See, a "Murder of Crows."

   Although we did not go to the Van Dusen Botanical Gardens and the Yosef Wosk Library located there, you can learn more about the philanthropist, Mr.,Dr.,Dr.,Rabbi Wosk by reading "Unexpected Libraries" or the section about him in, "Olde Posts Addenda."

  We also did not make it up to UBC, but I am sure it is still the "University of Beautiful Cars," since we saw many on the streets close by. I did not notice any 

Cullinans, but I did see a few Rivians. Other evidence of opulence abounds even though one sees many people apparently without homes. Back in the early years of the last century one could get a piece of property in B.C. by subscribing to a magazine, see: "Property in British Columbia."

  We did see the sculptures of Parviz Tanavoli at the Vancouver Art Gallery, but, being white, were made to feel somewhat guilty by another exhibition, "Conceptions of White" which was designed to help "viewers grapple with contemporary configurations of White identity." Those who created the rather crude collage probably aren't aware of "A Black Sculpture" found in a back yard elsewhere in the city. It was based on an event that happened many years ago on the Eastern Shore of Maryland where I grew up and which I would have more reason to feel guilty about if I thought guilt was heritable and that I was accountable for the historical acts of others.

   This has been a useful exercise for me, if not an enjoyable reading experience for you. I often don't properly "tag" posts in MM and had difficulty finding some of these that relate to B.C. There may be more. For example, you will learn about the "British Columbia Food History Network" in my post about "Food History." and about the "Angling Books" found in the "Harry Hawthorn Foundation Collection" at UBC.

The Bonus:

   If you want more old news from British Columbia, be sure to visit "BC Historical Newspapers" where you will find hundreds of digitized newspapers dating from the mid-1850s. Unfortunately there will be fewer of them in the future. Both the Alaska Highway News and the Dawson Creek Mirror recently stopped publishing. See:"As B.C. Communities Lose TheIr Last Newspapers, Hope Emerges For Locally Owned Publications," Kate Partridge, CBC News, Oct. 18, 2023.

Bad News From Brescia

    The main purpose here is to move down the page the previous rather depressing post about "Water," while I think of a new topic.  Nonetheless, readers will benefit from this rehashing of university-related items since the resulting hash relates to an important local news story during a time when there is not much reporting of the local news.

   There was some news from Brescia University College this week and it was characterized as “bad” by many who followed the stories. Apparently most of those who attend Brescia thought it was not good, because this statement currently appears on the BUC website:
"OUR THOUGHTS ARE WITH OUR STUDENTS AND WE EMPATHIZE DEEPLY WITH THE WAYS THE NEWS ABOUT BRESCIA’S TRANSFORMATION HAS AFFECTED YOU."
One way the transformation may be characterized is to say that Brescia, after working hard to change its name from "Brescia College" to "Brescia University College," will now become what seems to be much more a mere "college” than it formerly was. 

   This does not seem to be a good decision to me, but given that Brescia is (or was) committed to educating women, I will not appropriate the subject and instead simply offer resources which might be of use to readers of any gender. I will move from general sources from this blog to more specific and helpful ones directly related to the likely diminishment of Brescia University College.

Potemkin Villages?

There is a lot of construction on campus with more to come

  One hopes that “Brescia-like” stories do not become common across campuses across the country, but that, if they do, perhaps the citizenry will become more concerned. Here are some posts that relate, tenuously in some instances, to the matter at hand.

Perhaps The Lack of Money Is The Problem

  This post titled, “Bloomberg” was really about Johns Hopkins University and the massive amount of money it received from Michael Bloomberg. Actually, the post was mainly about money and in it there is a lament for Laurentian. Since none of you are likely to bother to read the post, here is the “Bonus” it contained. Do at least read it. The subject is Canadian universities about one hundred years ago. Not much has changed:

   The universities had no contact with one another. Most of them had been conceived, born, and nourished for sectarian purposes, and all were very poor. Because they were poor they were ill-nurtured, and were as a rule at odds with one another. Professors were badly paid, libraries were meagre, laboratories were few and scantily equipped, museums hardly existed. The provincial treasurers, harassed by other demands for which they were afraid to tax their constituents, took advantage of the divided interests of the colleges to refuse aid impartially to all. From: Fifty Years Retrospect: Canada, 1882-1932.

Ivory Towers in the Eastern Provinces

   In this one you will learn that Canada actually has “Maple League Universities.” In the “Bonus’ section you will also learn about other "Ivies" including the "Public Ones" and the "Hidden Ones." Unfortunately you will also find out that I thought Brescia was doing quite well back then, but offered some advice if it was ever needed. 

A Purpose For Brescia
   It is not quite clear what Brescia is to become, but it appears that it is to be a place for students not quite ready for university. Rather than teaching mainly women, Brescia will now focus on "prep courses for international and domestic students", even though the London International Academy is apparently doing that at two locations in downtown London
   If the merger fails and the lovely location is not usurped by the city for a "Homeless Hub," I suggest going after more mature students, many of whom will have already been to university. It is quite a trend and much more exciting for professors who won't have to teach elementary English or arithmetic. Seniors are flocking back to university towns and many are even roosting at times right on the campuses. See: "Lifelong Learning."

The Purpose of Universities
   Perhaps it is this that we are really not quite clear about.  An assessment of the purpose of HIGHER education is found in a review of four books on the subject which was in the Globe and Mail back in 2021. A summary is presented in this post - "The University" - and it is followed by a very long bibliography of books related to "University Education." Specific sources related to the Brescia situation follow and at the very end of it you will find a remark from the CAUT which I think is worth considering.

Sources:

"Brescia University College Students Plan Protest Amid Western Merger Announcement," Kelly Wang, Global News, Sept. 24, 2023.

"Brescia Merger With Western University 'Devastating' for Faculty, Students'," Heather Rivers, London Free Press, Sept. 23, 2023.

"Brescia's Students and Faculty 'Blindsided' by Decision to Merge with Western University," Isha Bhargava, CBC News, Sept. 24, 2023

"Hundreds Gather to Protest Brescia's Merger With Western University," Isha Bhargava, CBC News, Sept. 27, 2023.

"CAUT Opposes Merger Between Brescia and Western,"The Gazette, Om Shanbhag, Oct. 3, 2023. This article includes a link to the letter sent from the CAUT to President & Vice-Chancellor Alan Shepard of Western and President Lauretta Frederking of Brescia University College. This paragraph from it makes sense to me:

"The serious concerns raised by this matter beg the question of whether the integration as it is currently being planned should even proceed. If there is a desire to merge Brescia into Western, it should be from the start discussed openly with the Senate and faculty associations so that the academic community can assess the merits and, if agreeing, decide upon how such a merger could be properly managed from an educational perspective. At the very least, it is essential that the faculty associations have effective representation on the integration committee as their members and their rights are directly affected."

Post Script:

   It has been observed that this is a "Mast Year" in many areas and that the trees are producing more acorns and walnuts than usual. I hope that is the case for the PAWPAW TREES which have been planted on campus and that they continue to flourish along with Brescia University College.

Water Woes

 

   Although I would prefer to avoid the awful things now occurring, a recent article compels me to issue this alert: "Our drinking water may soon disappear!"

   I read the article which is the first one listed above and both the graphic and the article are from the New York Times. It was written by a team and the data supporting it were substantial. The other articles pictured above constitute a series and there may be more. If you can access them, do so. "America Is Using Up Its Groundwater Like There's No Tomorrow," is in the Aug. 28 issue. The "Big Farms" one is from Sept.3, the "Colorado City" one from Sept.5 and the "Monster Fracks" from Sept.25.

   I will offer my simple summary of the core article by suggesting that we are all living in Arizona now and that assertion is based on a lot of data. Here are some extracts from the article:

   "Many of the aquifers that supply 90 percent of the nation’s water systems, and which have transformed vast stretches of America into some of the world’s most bountiful farmland, are being severely depleted. These declines are threatening irreversible harm to the American economy and society as a whole. 

   The New York Times conducted a months-long examination of groundwater depletion, interviewing more than 100 experts, traveling the country and creating a comprehensive database using millions of readings from monitoring sites. The investigation reveals how America’s life-giving resource is being exhausted in much of the country, and in many cases it won’t come back. Huge industrial farms and sprawling cities are draining aquifers that could take centuries or millenniums to replenish themselves if they recover at all.

“There is no way to get that back,” Don Cline, the associate director for water resources at the United States Geological Survey, said of disappearing groundwater. “There’s almost no way to convey how important it is.”

   This analysis is based on tens of thousands of groundwater monitoring wells that dot the nation. The Times collected data for these wells, which are widely scattered and often poorly tracked, from dozens of federal, state and local jurisdictions....

   One of the biggest obstacles is that the depletion of this unseen yet essential natural resource is barely regulated. The federal government plays almost no role, and individual states have implemented a dizzying array of often weak rules....

   The federal government sets rules on groundwater, but not its overuse or depletion, although experts say Congress has the constitutional authority to do so. Overall, federal responsibility for water is scattered among a half-dozen different agencies....

   America’s approach to regulating water is “a total mess,” said Upmanu Lall, director of the Columbia Water Center at Columbia University.

   “From an objective standpoint, this is a crisis,” said Warigia Bowman, a law professor and water expert at the University of Tulsa. “There will be parts of the U.S. that run out of drinking water.”

   In the very near future, thirsty people will be found throughout the country. Minnesota, the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" is not excluded, nor is Maryland, the state in which I grew up. Charles County, "which contains fast-growing suburbs of Washington, has used most of its groundwater for homes and agriculture. And, it isn't coming back anytime soon."

Canadian Content

   Canada is not mentioned, but it is not difficult to find articles that indicate concerns about this commodity in our country. Tofino, one of the wettest places I have been, has nearly a dry reservoir and has issued water restrictions and this headline indicates lack of water is a problem elsewhere: "Gulf Islands Water Woes an Ominous Omen For the Rest of B.C." Also in that province, there are major issues between the U.S. and Canada involving the Columbia River and the water in it and it is not too difficult to imagine that there will soon be increased demands in the U.S. from some of the Great Lakes, one of which supplies water to London. Let's hope that Line 5 does not burst under the Straits of Mackinac.

Post Script:
  The water-related news continues to be bad, which is one reason I decided to bring up an issue we would rather not think about. When you do think about it, you realize that it is rather amazing that we plop down housing developments and assume that water will magically come up to supply the residents. Among the news stories one learns that the folks living in New Orleans soon may run out of drinking water, although they generally have to worry about having too much water, and salt water intrusion is a problem in many coastal areas. (see, for example, "A Saltwater Wedge Climbing the Mississippi River Threatens Drinking Water: New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell Signed an Emergency Declaration Friday as Saltwater Threatens the City," Brady Dennis, Washington Post, Sept. 22, 2023.)

Even the Panama Canal is 'Thirsty.'
   The picture above shows ships waiting to enter the Panama Canal. Who knew that it takes 50 million gallons of fresh water from the Gatun Lake to move one ship through the canal and that daily the Panama Canal uses three times as much water as all of New York city? If you are still waiting for that fridge to come from the Far East, it may be delayed because of a lack of water. (The NASA photograph is found in this article where you can learn more about another cause for supply chain interruptions: "Panama Canal Traffic Backup.")   

The Vigars & Salter Western Invitational

Running Around in London

  One fine day last week I was playing golf badly up at the Thames Valley Golf Course when I spotted Bob Vigars who I have spotted many times over the last fifty years, mainly up at UWO and Western. While we played, Bob worked, dutifully spray painting arrows to indicate the directions the runners were to follow in the University cross-country meet which bears his name, and the name of Bill Salter, a teacher and coach who has helped organize the meet over the years. Although Bob retired from Western about a decade ago, he continues to be actively involved with the Invitational and his dedication spurred me to attend. I am glad I did.

  Given that our 'local' newspaper is 'local' in name only and that it provides no news on Monday, many local activities are overlooked or undereported. The few remaining reporters are dedicated, but they can only do so much. For that reason, I will offer a few words here about The Vigars & Salter Western Invitational and then a few more about Vigars from reporters like Dalla Costa, back when the regional coverage was more robust. It also saves me the work of having to tally up all of Vigar's accomplishments. 

    The day of the Invitational was a fine one as well and the Thames Valley is a scenic place in which to run. For those of us who are older and out of shape, it is perhaps more depressing than inspiring to see so many fit men and women effortlessly gamboling all around the course, prior to running a grueling eight-kilometres. 

     There were over fifteen teams from all across the country and the spectacle was a colourful one with all the Varsity Blues and McGill Redbirds and Carabins and Martlets gathered on the green fairways. The female Thunderbirds are fleet footed and five of them were among the top ten with Kyla Becker way out in front. I see that she is from Portland, Oregon. Queens from closer by, was first among the men's teams and again the UBC Thunderbirds were near the top, in second place.

The Mustang women finished in second and the men in sixth. 

The 2023 U Sports Cross Country Championship

   Londoners will again have the opportunity to see athletes from across the country compete in a cross country national event to be held on the Thames Valley Golf Course. Save this date: Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023. For more details, click here. 

The Bonus: 

  It was not that long ago that women were not allowed to compete in long distance running events. See, "Women Running Around."

  For an actual golf event at Thames Valley, which was described by Gene Sarazen as one of the finest public courses in North America, read about the Canadian Open held there 90 years ago: "Joy in Mudville." 

  The bonus for me, riding my bike home after the Invitational, was seeing this large buck crossing the Thames.

Additional Sources:

  Here are some samples from the old days, back before London and other communities became "news deserts."

"From 'Nothing'To Hall-Worthy; Bob Vigars Honoured for Decades of Dominance as Western Running Coach," Ryan Pyette, The Londoner, Oct. 24, 2019.

  "Fifty years ago, Bob Vigars was in the J.W. Little Stadium stands at a regional track meet and overheard a couple of high schoolers talking about which university they were going to run at the following year.

  "One says Central Michigan, another says Toronto and another guy says, 'Hey, I thought you were going to Western,'" the longtime former Mustangs cross-country coach said, "and the kid says, 'That place is s--. They've got nothing.'I was listening to them and thought, 'Man, I've got some work to do here.'" Last week, Vigars and Peter Fowler, the orthopedic surgeon who was medical director of Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic, received lifetime achievement awards at the Mustangs Sports Hall of Fame induction dinner, a signature event at Western Homecoming.

   Since the Canadian university structure started officially recognizing national championships in team sports in 1961-62, the London school has won 34 of them. Vigars accounted for 14 of those - 11 in cross-country and three in track and field - in his 46-year coaching career.

  His women's cross-country teams own seven national crowns (tied with football for most in school annals) and his superb 1981-84 squads remain the only Mustangs program to win four consecutive Canadian titles."

"Western International Cross Country: Race Renamed for Longtime Organizer Bill Salter: 'Amazing' Long Time Meet Organizer Immortalized," Morris Dalla Costa, London Free Press, Sept. 21, 2017.

   "Before the runners go off though they'll find out they won't be running in the Western International Cross-Country Invitational, but will be in the newly named Bill Salter Western International.

   Salter was a teacher, multisport coach and helped organize this meet as race manager from it's inception until 2013. He was still involved until last year.

   Salter, 85, was recently diagnosed with multiple myeloma cancer.

   Bob Vigars, long-time track and cross-country coach at Western, and several others including current track and field coach Vickie Croley, weren't about to let Salter's contributions go unnoticed. Vigars is retired but still scores the Western International.

   "Bill has done so very much good for me personally over decades and he has done a ton of good for Western," Vigars said. "He's done so much not just for cross-country but for the W-Club and so much more. He's just amazing...

   The meet started in 1975 and was moved to Thames Valley in 1986."

"Simpson, Vigars Heading to London Hall of Fame," Jacob Robinson, Londoner, May 16, 2013.

   "They say "timing is everything," and the London Sports Hall of Fame's 2013 inductee announcement couldn't have come at better juncture for Bob Vigars.

   The St. Thomas native was notified of his induction just a few months before he'll put the bow on his 46-year career as Western Mustangs cross country head coach.

   "I've been very, very fortunate to have been blessed to have so many good teams over the years," Vigars said. "You don't win championships without good athletes -- it's the athletes that won it, I just happened to be the coach."

   The man who led the Mustangs to 16 Ontario and 11 Canadian titles (most ever for Mustang coaches) and won CIS coach of the year 14 times in the process, Vigars will also retire from teaching next winter. His legacy with both the cross country and track and field scene in southwestern Ontario is undeniable, but Vigars is also well versed in London's entire sports history."

"Vigars Will Finally Put His Feet Up," Morris Dalla Costa, London Free Press, Sept. 5, 2013.

   "Bob Vigars, one of the best and best-known coaches in North American university track and field and cross-country running, will retire from coaching in December after 46 years of developing runners at Western University.

   Vigars is a man with a big personality and has been tireless in his pursuit of making runners better, promoting Western teams and building the sport.

   He won a remarkable 42 championships, including 14 national and 28 Ontario titles.

   He has the most wins of any coach in Western history...."

   "Vigars has coached six teams at Western....

"The first women's championship for Vigars was the 1971 OUA title in gymnastics."

"End of An Era: Induction Caps Vigars' 45-year Career," Steve Green, London Free Press, Nov. 7, 2023.

   "Sports have been played at Western for a century. It only seems like Bob Vigars has been around from the start.

   He's been there for almost half of it, though, and the longest-serving head coach in the university's history is retiring at the end of the year. The legacy the 69-year-old leaves behind in university cross-country and track and field in unparallelled -- 14 CIS crowns, 28 OUA titles and a similar number of Canadian and Ontario coach of the year honours.

   The St. Thomas native has coached Olympians such as Jeff Glass and he even guided the women's gymnastics team for three years. And it was mostly because of him that women's cross-country became an official CIS sport in 1980 -- he started a women's team in 1974, one year before women were allowed to run university cross-country.

   All of which makes him a more than suitable addition to the London Sports Hall of Fame, which he'll enter Thursday night at the induction ceremony at the Western Fair District's Carousel Room."

Also:
http://metrasmuseum.ca/words-from-bob-vigars/

https://athleticsontario.ca/hof-2017-bob-vigars/

https://westernmustangs.ca/sports/2010/8/19/CROSS_0819103321.aspx?id=560 

Of Things Balzacian

He Loved Pears (Factlet 14)

   It is much easier to find interesting things to relate than to create something interesting to read. I have not, however, used this stall tactic for a while. It was back in the spring of 2022 when I provided you with a "Factlet" and gave you three at once. If you want to learn more about the woman who ran 167 miles in one day, or high real estate prices around Toronto, or the number of First Nation communities in Canada see, "A Few More Factlets." While you are reading that and what is to follow, I will try to  create something interesting.

   Why I stumbled upon this fascinating food-related information, I don't recall. But, at least I remembered where it was found. It is in the New York Review of Books in a review written by Edmund White of the book: Balzac's Omelette: A Delicious Tour of French Food and Culture with Honoré de Balzac, by Anka Muhlstein, (Jan. 12, 2012.) Why I was reading such a review, I don't know, but was probably just stalling. 

    When Balzac worked, he didn't eat much:

"During his intense, prolonged bouts of composition all night long and well into the day he drank only water and coffee and ate nothing but fruit. Muhlstein adds:

Occasionally he took a boiled egg at about nine o’clock in the morning or sardines mashed with butter if he was hungry; then a chicken wing or a slice of roast lamb in the evening, and he ended his meal with a cup or two of excellent black coffee without sugar."

   But, when he was done writing he started eating:

"If Balzac was abstemious while writing, once he’d completed a book and the proofs were sent off to the printer, he sped to a restaurant, downed a hundred oysters as a starter, washing them down with four bottles of white wine, then ordered the rest of the meal: twelve salt meadow lamb cutlets with no sauce, a duckling with turnips, a brace of roast partridge, a Normandy sole, not to mention extravagances like dessert and special fruit such as Comice pears, which he ate by the dozen. Once sated, he usually sent the bill to his publishers."

  And here is the pear part:
"Parisians were obsessed with oysters; six million dozen were consumed a year. Pears had a special appeal for Balzac; he often kept bushels of them at home and could eat as many as forty or fifty in a day (one February he had 1,500 pears in his cellar). In any event, perfect fruits in a wide variety and even off-season were available only in Paris. As a young man Balzac was so poor and abstemious that he was very thin; only later did his binge eating result in his big stomach."

The Dying of the Rich or Famous
   Balzac may have died from the over consumption of caffeine. Most of you are morbidly curious, so I will remind you of an interesting book that deals with the diseases of those stationed above us, presidents, prime ministers, authors, actors, etc. It was written over 60 years ago, however, so you will learn from it, only information about the diseases of those long dead. If you are looking for a book project, an updating of the book mentioned below would be a worthy one. Although the Internet now makes it easy to learn how the famous have suffered or died, gathering such information in one place, along with the related medical information would be useful. For, as the author of this book says: “Interest and curiosity in the abnormalities of others is perhaps the most widespread human trait shared more or less equally by peoples everywhere, and of every time.” 
   The book is: Disease and Destiny: A Bibliography of Medical References to the Famous. For much more information see: "Judson Bennett Gilbert (1898 -1950)."

  If you are interested in things culinary see, "Food History." If you want to know more about "clean" eating or the eating of placentas see, "Forbidden Food."