My Day on the Anthem of the Seas
This tale begins about a month ago. I received a marketing email from my favourite travel company Maritime Travel. It offered a talk about the offerings by Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, lunch, and a tour of the Anthem of the Seas when it was in port on September 13th. I had never received one of these invitations before but was in envy of those who did. I was kind of in an when I showed it to a colleague, her eyes lit up and said: “I’m your plus one right?” So, I replied back that I was interested and quickly go a reply back that I was on the list. About a week before the trip, I received an email with the details that basically confirmed the times. Meet at the “Port of Saint John” by 9:30 am. There were no specifics. Let’s face it, if I can find a…
Paramount Theatre Doughnuts
Here are some pictures that I took Saturday night, except for the clouds picture from Friday morning. There are pictures of the Paramount Theatre and Doughnuts.
Haven’t we learned how to settle our differences?
This morning I was reading the Political Blogger Charles LeBlanc’s site when I came across the following little gem. Worker was confronted by a nut with a Machete because he was making too much noise while shoveling snow on Regent Street in Fredericton. Doesn’t that just make you want to say OMG! The sad thing is that this is not the only recent event like this. Last week there was the 15-year-old Hampton NB native charged with 2nd degree murder for bringing a kitchen knife over to an alleged sexual assulting drug dealer and killing him in the back or side. Then about a year ago the guy chasing after another down the streets of uptown Saint John with a freaking broad sword. I once heard that you are more likely to get stabbed than shot in Canada, does that really make you feel any better?
2008 Saint John Santa Claus Parade
Update: The show was cancelled due to the weather. Night-Rain-Fog-TV Cameras don’t mix well.
Believe it or not, the Santa Claus Parade is one my my favourite shows to work on each year. I also like seeing what is new each year and really enjoy coming home later to actually watch it. As a bonus for my readers, I have the float list for this year’s parade.
Making a TV Show
Note: This article was originally written for Journalism 2023 Journalistic Writing in November 2002. The 50th Annual Saint John Santa Claus Parade comes around for another year. This was a difficult production for producer Don Ferguson to organize volunteers. In addition, the float list was only available late on Friday afternoon. Three hours before the parade was to begin, we headed down the hill to set up the equipment. On arrival, we realized the taped introduction had the old TVNB logo and Parade 2001 on it. It was determined that we could just cover it up with graphics, but at about the time the parade was about to start to come down the hill the tape got jammed in the machine and I had about 2 minutes to come up with an alternative. Then the parade went really well until the floats stopped coming down the hill in order of…
Royal Visit
It is a typical Friday morning in Uptown Saint John. There are a few people sitting around casually chatting to one another. The big issues on peoples minds are focused on what cuts the Mayor and City Council are going to make in their budget, that the one time great Saint John Flames hockey team are having their season opener later tonight, or that tomorrow is the first day of the long-awaited Thanksgiving Day long weekend. In all there is not much thought being given to the fact that in a small city an hour and a half to the north the queen is arriving. Earlier as I waited what seemed to be an eternity for the bank to open, an elderly man slowly entered and joined me in the wait. Casually I asked him what was his thoughts about the queen. “She is not of great concern,” he said…