Aerospace 20 - Bombardier Turboprop Era Ends

The writing has been on the wall/s for a very long time.  Bombardier’s relationship with the de Havilland name comes, finally, to an end … truly the end of an era.

Bombardier has agreed to sell the Dash 8, Q400 programme, together with the de Havilland name, to Longview Aviation Capital, the parent company of Viking Air for $300 million.

Longview will continue to produce the Q400 at Downsview, Ontario, and Bombardier will transfer the Global business-jet assembly to Toronto Pearson International Airport.

The entire de Havilland product line is now reunited under the same banner.  Having transferred the C Series programme to Airbus, Bombardier was seeking options for its remaining aircraft business.  “We decided to sell the Q400 to a better owner.” said Bombardier President and CEO Alain Bellmare (A very intriguing statement).

The interesting result of this agreement is that Longview Aviation Capital (Viking Air) now, owns the type certificates and manufacturing rights for all de Havilland Canada aircraft from the DHC Chipmunk, Beaver, Otter, and Twin Otter, through to the Dash 7/8 turboprop series and the CL-215 amphibious aircraft.

Not quite the end of an era yet, it seems, even though Bombardier has, just, announced the lay-off of 5,000 positions globally.  The government’s opposition is going to have a field day.

Food 11 - Black Trumpet

Continuing to place a restaurant review within my Blog may be a need to refer to it as a journal.  Nevertheless, being sadly, unable to encourage Followers (or anyone else) to make politically correct comments … here is another.

The Black Trumpet restaurant in London, Ontario, has the most wonderful, Indonesian teak inspired, interior decor found anywhere.  The name, seemingly, inspired by the black trumpet (black chanterelle) edible mushroom.  The whole area is divided into a number of comfortable and varied sections permitting both individual and group settings.

I ordered an entree of Seafood Linguine comprising;  sautéed shrimp, scallops, overrated mussels (Please chef, study the long list of ingredients found on a list of sea food), spinach, and cherry tomatoes, in white wine dill cream sauce, which had signs of prior preparation, confirmed towards the end by a complete loss of temperature.  Nevertheless, the dish was saved by a very palatable glass of sauvignon blanc (Map Maker, New Zealand).

Seafood Linguine

The chosen dessert was, truly, a wonderful surprise;  Black Chocolate Brownie with caramel sauce, fragments of fruit, and ice cream.  This was absolutely delicious and deserves a Gâteau du Grand Prix.

Black Chocolate Brownie

During the summer, meals (or an afternoon glass of wine coupled with a slice of Black Chocolate Brownie, ‘smile’) may be enjoyed on the patio of a beautiful, private, Zen-inspired garden.

A couple of McDonald’s-inspired reviewers who, obviously, prefer plastic chairs, have ignorantly, and incorrectly, complained of expensive dishes, which should not influence your choice for a visit.

https://blacktrumpet.ca/

Quotation - Truth

It is interesting to note that [Vicomte] Antoine de Saint-Exupéry only hyphenated his name whilst living in the U.S. because, to his annoyance, he was usually referred to as Mr. Exupery.

He was well-known as a French air force pilot in World War II (Recipient of the Légion d'honneur and Croix de guerre), and the author of the novella, Le Petite Prince (The Little Prince), written and first published in Québec, Canada, in 1943.

15,000 Views

Summary

The ‘Blazar’ (Did you notice the subtle change?) has climbed to 15,000 views and I present the statistics here in a form of personal audit.

Each time I do this, usually following each period of 1,000 views, certain interests come into focus.  This time, the Statistics represent both the period since last reported, together with the overall period of eight years of publication.  This places the following Posts (and their comments) in the five most-read positions.  It seems that, although political discussions may be frowned upon, my Followers focus onto that subject … which is quite satisfactory ... I suppose.

By the way, I have embellished my sidebar with more global photos representing places where I have lived and worked, i.e., not including vacations (Except Ireland).

2018

• Put Up, Shut Up, or Get Out  http://berniesblazon.blogspot.com/2018/08/politics-20-put-shut-or-get-out.html
• The Power, Jesus, and a Life Force. http://berniesblazon.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-power-jesus-and-life-force.html
• The Demise of NATO. http://berniesblazon.blogspot.com/2018/07/the-demise-of-nato.html
• Mr. Putin Takes A Question. http://berniesblazon.blogspot.com/2018/05/mr-putin-takes-question.html
• ‘Don’t Step Out Of Line’ Confidential Report ….  http://berniesblazon.blogspot.com/2018/01/dont-step-out-of-line-confidential.html 

2011 -2018

• Percentage Formula.  http://berniesblazon.blogspot.com/2013/08/politics-8-percentage-formula.html
• Multiculturalism.  http://berniesblazon.blogspot.com/2011/08/politics-2-multiculturalism.html
• Vladimir Putin, A Question.  http://berniesblazon.blogspot.com/2015/01/politics-10-vladimir-putin-question.html
• South East Asia (Bangladesh).  http://berniesblazon.blogspot.com/2012/08/travel-5-south-east-asia-bangladesh_5.html
• A Ticking Time Bomb.  http://berniesblazon.blogspot.com/2014/11/education-10-ticking-time-bomb.html

Note:  Photos and Quotations, etc., are not included in the above statistics.

Views by country (Leading five):  

• Canada
• United States
• France
• Russia
• United Kingdom

Leading browsers

• Chrome
• Firefox
• Internet Explorer
• Safari
• Opera

Operating systems

• Windows
• Macintosh
• Linux
• iPhone/iPad
• Android

Travel 14 - Dublin

There’s a general saying, “Milk it for all its worth.”  So, I will.  Having, already, written about a day in Baltinglass … then, that's grand!  It is probable that, although most of you live with a few drops of Irish blood in your veins, you have never been to Ireland and, although I was there for just a few days, I may be able to introduce more colour into your existing picture.

Exiting the Dublin airport’s Terminal 2, I was surprised by the complexity of the public transport system.  There were double-decker buses (both airport express and local city), comfortable coaches (both airport express and long distance), small limo vans, limo cars, and taxis.  You would be well advised to use the frequent and inexpensive (€7) airport express coaches.  It should be noted that only the limos and taxis will have an hotel drop-off, which could be a consideration if you have checked heavy baggage.

Trinity College (Library Square) - Dublin

If touring the country, hotels should be booked ‘with a view’, but in Dublin a quiet room would be the preferred choice.  Additionally, choose a location within a reasonable distance of Trinity College (Dublin University).

Trinity College Main Entrance

This is not going to be a 'grand' review of Dublin.  Phew!  There is the valuable Lonely Planet guidebook for that.

The Irish Great Famine Memorial - Dublin

Free city maps are available in abundance but, from my experience (and other’s) they do not illustrate the city structure.  Therefore, my initial advice, for the first day, would be to use the frequent Hop-on-Hop-off buses.  There are numerous city buses with complicated routes not designed for tourists, not to mention a rapid-rail system, and taxis are expensive.

An example of the ships that took emigrants to North America

I’ve often described myself as ‘living-to-eat’, thus, before my journey, I studied the Internet with that in mind.  Gone were my thoughts of Irish pubs serving Guinness and fish-n-chips.  (Perhaps one regulatory visit to a pub and the Riverdance show would be sufficient).  There are many Micheline-starred restaurants in Dublin and, here, was my greatest disappointment of the whole trip.  Most restaurants in the haute cuisine category were not open for lunch, those that were would not accept reservations for less than two people (which also applied to dinner reservations) and, together with my hotel's reception, I was unable to find one good restaurant that would take a reservation within one week.  I, honestly, felt like jumping into the River Liffey.  But, I can assure you that I never entered the swing doors of any McDonald’s. 

Well, who doesn't know Molly?

In short, wistfully, I concentrated my visit to Trinity College, focussing my dream of being there in a previous life.  There was a queue of hundreds in Library Square hoping to look at the Book of Kells, such that I strolled to College Park to watch a lazy game of cricket.

I could visit again.  Probably … in my next life.