Would she or wouldn't she?
The date fate of a potential tryst between MLA Michelle Mungall and a good-looking, smooth-talking, self-proclaimed Mr. Green had members on both sides of the legislation transfixed this week, as Ms. Mungall spun her spicy tale during an otherwise humdrum debate on the Clean Energy Act.
This guy had all the right stuff, recalled the 32-year old NDP representative from Nelson-Creston.
He recycled, he had a compost bucket underneath his sink, he liked hiking and the outdoors, he cared for "all the critters in B.C.," he drank tap water instead of buying the stuff in bottles. And on and on.
Not only that, added Ms. Mungall. "He was really cute, a really good-looking guy."
The date started to go pretty well. "I was kind of liking this guy at this point," she tantalizingly told the House.
Ms. Mungall began to think she might want to take a closer look at that compost bucket. When her date offered a ride "home," she jumped at the chance "to spend a little bit of extra time with this charming, good-looking guy."
She recalled thinking: "I'll just leave my bike locked up overnight, and I'll take a ride."
And then … and then … the walls came a-tumbling down. No ride. No compost bucket inspection. No nothing.
After all that sweet enviro talk, Mr. Green turned out to drive a Hummer. Gadzooks. "I didn't even get in the car," said the mortified Ms. Mungall.
The moral of this yarn, according to the NDP MLA for close calls: The Clean Energy Act may sound good, but deep down, it's driving a Hummer.
Meanwhile, I'd love to hear her date's version of the night that almost was.
Say cheese
Trivia time. What do Margarita Zavala, Roberto Henriquez, Josip Cardinal Bozanic, Ivo Jsopovic, Jadranka Kosor, Dennis Rukavina, Jerzy Buzek and Jan Pieter Balenende have in common?
Why, they are all personalities met by and photographed with our globe-trotting Prime Minister whilst I was away in the merry, merry month of May. Thank you, PMO, for keeping me up to date on Stephen Harper's wonderful life and his many international friends.
June is already off to a crackerjack start for the PM. Friday, he was welcomed to France by no less than the illustrious Marc-Philippe Daubresse, that country's Minister for Youth and Active Solidarity.
Only France, I guess, would have a minister for "active solidarity." But active solidarity with what? Cheese?
Who's safe on first?
There is much understandable consternation over the blown call by umpire James Joyce that cost Detroit pitcher Armando Galaragga a perfect game the other night.
No one should be surprised. Bloomsday is just two weeks away, and the author of Ulysses is already well known for his tendency to agree that runners are safe at first. As I recall his emphatic words, when asked once before whether a batter was safe: "Yes ... and yes I said yes [he is]yes."
You can look it up.
Gourmet alert
Wondering what to do in the rain this weekend? Wonder no more.
Vancouver is holding an Open House this Saturday at its aromatic landfill site in Delta, a chance, according to the announcement, "to discover what happens to the city's garbage after it's collected."
I hope there's no connection between that and the "free food" being offered to those who show up for a gander at the garbage.
As a further enticement, attendees will also be given free compost to take home. I am not making that up.
Who says this is "no-fun" city?
One of the best, RIP
A sad chore to note the passing of one of the most decent, lovely and sharp-eyed folks I've encountered during my long travails in the vineyards of journalism, the great Archie Rollo. Archie was an institution at the Vancouver Sun for 30 years, unfailingly good humoured and helpful to struggling young reporters from his post as "rewrite man, nights."
One memorable night at the Sun, he amazed us whippersnappers with a virtuoso display of what was known in his native Glasgow as "wee heedies."
Since there was no soccer ball around, Archie used a tennis ball, bouncing it from his head to the wall over and over. That wasn't exactly the highlight of Archie's career, of course, but it was the measure of a man who excelled at his job and didn't mind a bit of fun, too. Imagine that. Fun. In a newsroom. Those were the daze.
Archie Rollo, one of the best, rest in peace.