Friday, 21 December 2018

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Merry Christmas and a Peaceful New Year



Remember;  The celebration of Mass for Jesus Christ starts on the eve of the 25th of December and continues for twelve days ending on the 6th of January.


Friday, 9 November 2018

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.


Thursday, 18 October 2018

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.


Thursday, 11 October 2018

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.


Tuesday, 25 September 2018

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

2011 -2018

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