I would have met Searle over 45 years ago now. Our cottage was built on this land in 1980, and we have a photo of Searle straining to look at a load of wood siding and windows, being delivered here, dated July 1980. Indeed, it was his curiosity that brought him here. A project as big as building a cottage draws onlookers, and he was only a couple properties over.
We were the same age and both of us from Kitchener. In fact, his other step-brother Paul taught science at a highschool in my neighborhood. Paul Marrow would become my favourite science teacher in grade 10. He even appears in a music video I made in the 11th grade.
Since Searle and I were the same age, it stood to reason that we had in common the only thing that mattered in 1980: Star Wars. He and I were playmates during that eternal, infernal stretch of time during which Han Solo was frozen in carbonite at the end of the Empire Strikes Back. Any games that we played with our figures had to work around that time frame if we wanted to incorporate Solo into the story. As it happened, Kenner’s Empire Solo figure, in the snowsuit with the working gun holster was one of my favourite figures of the entire line. Still is! Of course we wanted to use Solo in our games.
“It’s weird how Han Solo got frozen, but it was hot,” I mused to Searle one afternoon while playing Star Wars in his cottage’s yard.
“Yeah,” he responded. “There was smoke but he got frozen.”
“I should freeze my Han Solo in ice,” I suddenly thought. “I’ll put him in a glass and freeze him.”
From that point on in my young life, my mom was never surprised to find a glass with water and an action figure in her freezer. Part of being a mom to a Star Wars kid.
The last time I saw Searle was in the early 1990s. He was big, and bald, and very tough looking. He stopped by the cottage to say hello. By then, I remember he was into the music of Phil Collins. And that was it. Never saw him again.
Until August 31, 2025. Forty-five years after the fact, a big bald man and a smaller companion walked right past me down the road. He was unmistakable, but he didn’t look or stop. He probably assumed there was no way the same guy still lived here. He walked up the way to his parents’ cottage, and stopped to linger a while. Then he moved on down the road and away again, like a ghost.
The ghosts of summers past still live on, and with them the memories. I should try to freeze my new $2 Darth Vader figure in the ice.
These three drone videos are the edited-down results of everything I shot on the weekend of July 4-6. All videos were shot with the Potensic Atom SE. I brought both the Potensic and the Ruko, but as you can see, it was a very windy weekend and I did not want to risk the Ruko. Next weekend, I will attempt to fly the Ruko again.
Enjoy these magnificent videos, and amazing songs by Deep Purple, Hello Hopeless and the Arkells.
RECORD STORE TALES #1197: Moose Sausage & Mental Health
Summer is well on its way. I’ve waited a long time to get here.
I love doing live broadcasts from the cottage. This weekend was going to be packed full, just like our bags and boxes that we loaded in the car for our first trip of July. We hit the road at 4:30 on Thursday. Preparing for Friday’s live episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden, we played all of Live at Donington on the way to the lake. Not necessarily the best album for a lake drive, but Jen liked it, and it helped me prepare a little bit extra for the show.
Thursday night was peaceful, but hot. There was not much to do but play music on the porch. I cued up Tonight At Toad’s Place by Blotto, and started working on some show-related writing. Dr. Kathryn came over for a quick visit. We gossiped a bit about people we used to know, and after dark I shut it down for the night. Friday was going to be a fun day for us.
I began my Friday morning by cooking up a delicious moose sausage, and editing a new episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden. I wanted to do minimal editing, just to fix a couple spots with issues, but I ended up having a little more fun with it. At 8 AM we left for the butcher (The Beefway) and bought two steaks, a chicken breast, some lamb chops, and the best bacon I’ve ever cooked in my life. This extra thick cut bacon was so soft and sweet. It led me to an idea.
Canadian breakfast: moose sausage & mayo on a bun, with coffee.
We were going to do roasted potatoes on the BBQ. Jen likes to stuff hers with butter, but I had a different idea. I sliced up some fatty parts of the bacon and stuffed my potato with that. The end result was a delicious potato that tasted like a Smokey Bacon BBQ potato chip. The bacon pieces inside were soft and melted like butter in your mouth. A new masterpiece, but one that I feel I can only do with the exact right bacon. It has to be cut thick with lots of fat. And it worked beautifully.
The lamb, chicken and steaks also turned out really well. I did up some stuffed peppers with cream cheese, green onions and more bacon. The chicken breast ended up being the best one I’d ever made. The Beefway simply have the best food, and I have to admit I’m not too bad a chef myself. I used about half a bottle of BBQ sauce on one chicken breast, but that’s because I wanted it perfectly and completely coated. It came out so juicy and flavorful. Grocery store chicken seems to have a weird preservative taste these days. Not the stuff from the Beefway!
Friday night’s episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden went really well. It was our first live episode in quite a while, but I am glad that Harrison and I still have the skills. A surprise came that night: a donation! Our very first donation! Viewer Ryan Potter had this to say:
Thanks for this series guys! I’ve been enjoying revisiting these albums and going through my Maiden Collection with each episode.
Thank you Ryan for this first-ever thank-you. If we ever felt like we were not doing as good a job as we want to, Ryan’s comment will remind us that we’re doing just fine.
Friday was a difficult episode, because we had to review four CDs of Iron Maiden: A Real Live One, A Real Dead One, and Live at Donington (2 CDs). There were also two CD singles with an additional three bonus tracks to tackle. It required a lot of listening and a lot of notes, but Harrison and I managed to cover it all between the two of us. A proud night.
Friday night’s broadcast location for 50 Years of Iron Maiden.
But that was just the beginning for our live streaming adventures on the weekend.
Jex Russell, my “other” main co-host for many moons in the past, has been dealing with life lately. He recently had some free time come up, and said to me, “I’m ready. I want to do a live show. I want to tell people where I have been and what I’ve been up to. Let’s call it Ask Jex Anything and we’ll discuss mental health.”
I loved this idea.
We discussed when to go live. I was pushing for 8 AM Saturday morning, based on a past show we did in that time slot together. Mostly though, I didn’t want to do two live shows during prime cottage hours. One was fine. Two would be spending too much time on a screen during the best time of day. Jex was hesitant. What’s the point of an “Ask Jex Anything” episode if there’s nobody watching to ask? I crossed my fingers and set up the broadcast from my favourite spot: fireside. I gathered the firewood and a Canadian flag for an epic backdrop. I waited for 8 AM to come.
I think I had pretty much the best broadcast desk of any music show on YouTube today. You can get Pete Pardo with his wall of CDs behind him, or a “Hair Metal Guru” with loads of memorabilia, but nobody else in music had a backdrop like mine. A roaring fire, a Canadian flag, and nature. A few people walking down the road were wondering why this guy was out at 8 AM, talking on a laptop, at a computer desk in the middle of a beautiful green enclave. Why? Because it’s awesome!
Saturday’s office.
I had confidence that we would do a good show, viewers or no viewers. We always do.
It didn’t take long for the viewers to show up, and for Jex and I to open up, about mental health, music and balance. The questions began pouring in, and I could not keep up with the comments. Some people woke up early just to watch this special episode of Grab A Stack of Rock. Johnny Clauser and Tim Durling joined as surprise guests to share their own stories. Confessions were made, and I told a chapter of my story that I have never revealed before. Not even in Record Store Tales.
I believe that Satuday’s show, Ask Jex Anything: Music and Mental Health, is the most important episode we’ve ever done. Much to Jex’s relief, we had great views. Even exceeding the previous night’s 50 Years of Iron Maiden. We are very, very proud.
It ended up being a very good decision to go live in the morning. Black Sabbath were playing their final concert that afternoon. Everybody would be watching that, had we decided to go live later on. The morning show was a blessing.
From that point on, Saturday was ours to enjoy. It got hot – very hot. Eventually we went into town to get some air conditioning and soda pop. Staying cool was a challenge, and it prevented me from doing too much that day. No writing completed.
Droning on.
I did get to fly my drone a bit. I chose to fly my original drone, the Potensic. It is the better drone for stunt flying, and I made a few great videos. I still have to edit these. I managed to get one uploaded, which is “Nothing At All” by Deep Purple, to the visuals of a Lake Huron sunrise.
Sunday morning was time to pack our bags and head home. My mood crashed that day. It was an uncanny feeling of autumn; of “back to school”, even though it was only July. I could not shake that depressed feeling. We listened to April Wine on the way home because I wanted music that I was less familiar with. “All Over Town” is my new favourite song, but the crash hit me hard.
We tried to cheer me up by ordering in a nice dinner (The Burgers Priest), but failed. I woke up Monday morning unable to get out of bed. I lay there for hours, tired and worn out. I worked from home on Monday. In the old days I would have gone to work and felt worse and worse as the day went on. This time I managed. It is nice to have those options to work from home. It saved my Monday.
A beautiful weekend was had, despite the crash at the end. We’ll be back for my birthday. Close yet far!
SOONER [Noun]: “Sooners” is how my dad refers to the people who show up to go to the beach for the day. I wondered what “Sooners” meant so I looked it up. He must have got it from one of his cowboy movies. Sooner: “a person settling on land in the early West before its official opening to settlement in order to gain the prior claim allowed by law to the first settler after official opening.”
RECORD STORE TALES #1190: Return of the Sooners
I like to do something new every time I go to the lake, if possible. This time, I didn’t have anything planned. I had two shows to do, but otherwise I wanted to enjoy my time and the surroundings without too much goal-setting.
This time, however, plans took a turn of their own. Allow me to explain.
John Snow invited me to co-host an interview with a big, big name. That interview was scheduled for Thursday afternoon, the 22nd of May. I had planned to go to the cottage on Friday afternoon. However, the big interview got re-scheduled at the last minute, to Monday the 26th. Frustrated, I decided to cheer myself up by going to the lake on Thursday night instead, and working from there on Friday morning. Something unthinkable just five years ago.
The wifi is better at the lake and I have more space. We left town Thursday night and I dutifully worked a cold, rainy Friday morning from the cottage. I wanted to work from the porch, but the cold and rain made this impossible. It is rarely so cold in May, but here we are. We have not had one nice weekend at the lake yet this season!
Even so, working from the lake was awesome: making my bacon mere inches away from my laptop, or being able to step outside and enjoy the (cold) fresh air! But best of all, when the day was over we didn’t have to drive anywhere. We were already there! The bonus time spent at the lake was a game changer.
Friday afternoon was booked off. We went into town to buy some treats, and came back to a Friday afternoon all our own. There was nobody around. Not one cottage on our stretch was occupied that weekend. The peace and quiet was unusual! The last time up, I was worried that the guy across the road was going to blow leaves all through my Friday show. This time there was nobody across the street.
Mid-afternoon, sitting in my armchair, I saw a car across the road. I saw him stop, look out the door, and pull into the neighbour’s driveway.
“Ah crap,” I murmured to myself. “Looks like we won’t be alone after all this weekend.”
A few moments later, I noticed five people standing and sitting around our bench at the beach.
“That wouldn’t be the neighbours,” I said to myself. “They have their own property on the beach. They have never used ours. Who are these people?”
I allowed them a few minutes to take pictures or do whatever they were doing, but they didn’t move on.
Sooners. Goddamn sooners! They were back after a long absence. I hadn’t seen any sooners in two years. I decided to make sure they knew they were on private property, and using my bench!
I put on my hoodie and walked down to the beach. I saw them turn and watch me approach. Five guys. They looked like students to me.
I nodded as I approached my bench. I was curt with them.
“Hey, just going to use my bench. This is my property.” I paused. “See ya.”
They began moving on, but back through the neighbour’s property.
“You can’t go that way,” I alerted them. “That’s private property. You have to use the public walkway.” I pointed to it, a few feet to their left.
“Do you know where there is parking around here?” one of them asked.
“There isn’t any. This is a private road. You have to go park up the side road.”
I watched them leave. After a while, I walked up to the side road to see where they parked. They were nowhere to be found. They had left the subdivision completely. I guess I scared them off.
In the Battle of the Sooners in 2025, the score is now 1-0 for me!
Because of the cold and rain, we didn’t get a lot of outdoors stuff done to report on. However, the weekend was not over, and we did get some drone time and some photos taken, so there will be more to come.
RECORD STORE TALES #1188: I Wanna Be A Lifeguard: Long Weekend at the Lake – May 2025
Jen and I were fortunate enough to spend a long weekend at the cottage, arriving Thursday night (May 8). As has been my goal for several seasons now, I try to do new things each time, when possible. This time, it was something out of the box.
Having become more comfortable working from home thanks to the pandemic, I asked my bosses if I could work from home Thursday afternoon, saving me 30 minutes of commute time and accumulating traffic, and getting to the lake that much faster.
“That’s a great idea, you should do that,” came the first response.
“Why don’t you just work the whole day from home?” came the second.
I was pleased to receive so much support. With that plan in motion, we hit the road at 4:30 sharp.
Unfortunately traffic was slow, and it took over two hours to get there, but imagine if we didn’t have that extra time. Music on the way up included Sing the Sorrow by AFI, to prepare for that Saturday’s show with D’Arcy Briggs, an album in review. Once we arrived, I hit the porch and rocked out to “I Wanna Be A Lifeguard” by Blotto. I delighted in emailing Broadway Blotto the video footage.
With coffee and snacks in hand, we were well prepared for a great weekend. Though cold, I did manage to spend a lot of time outdoors, with hoodie protecting me from the bitter breeze. All the snow was gone now, though only recently.
The next morning I went for a fly down to the river with my drone, and captured some wonderful footage.
Music: Blue Rodeo – “Dragging On”
At 8:15 AM, we headed out to get the best choices of steaks at the Beef Way. We chose two T-bones, some fry-pies, and for me, lake trout and duck legs. The duck legs made for a tasty lunch that afternoon. I wanted to do some kind of potato in duck fat, so I boiled two potatoes in hot water until they were soft, but still solid. I then got a grooved aluminium tray, and laid slices of potato in the grooves. I placed the seasoned legs on top and seasoned everything. When the duck fat started to render, the potatoes fried in it, making them so crispy with a pleasant accent to the flavour. In short, the best fries I ever made. And the duck legs weren’t bad either.
Sometimes at the cottage when it’s cold, you have to force yourself to be outside, so I pulled out some old Transformers toys (some vintage, some reissues) and did some fun photos on the front porch. I even experimented with filming one of the big ones from the air with my drone.
I had more changes to fly on the weekend, capturing incredible images of Lorne Beach, on the western coast of Lake Huron. The footage was some of the nicest I’ve managed to take.
Music: Bruce Cockburn – “Lovers In A Dangerous Time”
It is always fun editing these drone videos to music. This time it was all Canadian content and nothing too hard. There’s a line in “Lovers In A Dangerous Time” that has long resonated with me:
“Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight, got to kick at the darkness ’til it bleeds daylight.”
Playing the song on the front porch that afternoon, I dedicated the song to a couple of friends who are dealing with health struggles. Raise your goblet and send some love to these friends.
I watched a lot of Doctor Who, ate too much meat, and had a great time feeling like a kid again. There was one eerie moment of déjà vu, and I absolutely love when these moments come. Usually the come when music was the trigger, but this time it was Doctor Who. I was watching some classic Tom Baker era episodes on Tubi, on my laptop on the front porch. As a kid, I always associated Doctor Who with Sunday nights. There would be a few episodes to watch (either Jon Pertwee or Tom Baker) before bed time, and back to school the next morning. As the day grew late and I started working on dinner, it felt like a Sunday night again. Family dinner as the sun was getting low. It was actually Friday, but the feeling of Sunday was uncanny. Do you ever get the Sunday blues? It was like that, but warmer because it was Friday and just a memory of happy childhood.
We didn’t see any wildlife, which was disappointing, but there’s always next time.
Seeking to avoid a Monday crash, I tried to place my mind in the right set. We drove home without much talking, but a steady soundtrack of Kiss. Rock and Roll Over, Love Gun, and Dynasty. When I really need to feel good, Kiss are usually a good band to go to. Nothing but good memories with Kiss.
As for the cottage, it is always sad saying goodbye, but we came home on Mother’s Day and had a nice visit with the folks, and a dinner on Dad. We’ll be back soon enough. And in fact, when we do return, we’ll be doing our first live episode of 50 Years of Iron Maiden from the cottage. Little things like that get me excited. I’ve already started packing.
RECORD STORE TALES #1185: The Worst Weather, and the Best Weekend! April 2025
We had a busy weekend lined up, but we were prepared for the worst – and the best! We got a bit of both, but our spirits have never been higher. Let’s rock this spring 2025!
Preparation is always key. We left town at 8:30 AM, bound for Toronto. It was time for Jen’s annual face-to-face with the neurologist, but traffic was light. Apparently it was quite busy the day before, with Metallica in town playing Thursday for the first of their no-repeat weekend. That was a stroke of luck, but then we hit a second one just as we arrived. Our appointment was for 10:00, and the 9:30 had cancelled at the last minute. That means we got seen early, and we got to the lake early too!
The doctor was happy with Jen’s progress, and is increasing a couple medications that seem to be have a positive effect. Good appointment, and we were back on the road.
The music to Toronto was Live-Loud-Alive by Loudness, and the music to the cottage was the brand-new Dreams On Toast by the Darkness. The Darkness album is easily their best since Last Of Our Kind, and will warrant a lengthy review over its 29 combined tracks.
We had a second pleasantly uneventful drive up, arriving in Kincardine at 2:00 PM. We made our first stop of 2025 at our butcher, the Beefway. There we picked up two beautiful T-bone steaks, some assorted bacon ends (applewood smoked), and some pickerel, pickles & pies. In and out in under 10 minutes.
Friday afternoon was a weird one. It was cold, then it rained, and then got warm and humid. I took a stroll and found the last patch of snow left on the beach. I attempted to make a snowball, but the snow was not good for packing. It was dark all day, and I set up on the front porch to rock the music. The first album of the year was Combo Akimbo by Blotto, since the guys have been so cool to me this year. Always a fun record. Around “Metal Head”, I decided to try flying my drone. Just as I got it in the air, it started raining. No flying on Friday. The rain did not hamper the 100th episode of Grab A Stack of Rock, which broadcast from the porch as planned. Even Broadway Blotto came to check out the festivities.
We were indoors for the rest of the weekend, but the pickerel and steaks were sublime. The sun did finally come out Sunday morning, which enabled me to take the first real flight of 2025. Nothing fancy, but plenty of beauty. I think I need to start flying less as a pilot, and more as a cinematographer. Maybe that will be part of 2025’s goals. Improve the drone videos with better, smoother shots. I may have something in the works there.
I always like to do something every year at the lake that I have never done before. Here are three for this weekend alone:
First time seeing snow at the cottage this late in the season.
First time barbecuing Spam. (Frying pan is better for Spam.)
Took the drone a teeny bit further this time and got a look down the river.
The music home was, of course, Iron Maiden! There is no rest for the wicked, nor for 50 Years of Iron Maiden. Fear of the Dark is next up on the recording schedule.
It was such a packed weekend that I slept for 13 hours on Sunday night.
We’ll be back soon. The April showers will bring the May flowers.
RECORD STORE TALES #1159: A Mighty Wind & A Million Vacations
As fall starts to take hold, I need to be mindful. Mindful of dark thoughts and feelings. And so, on Friday night when we departed for the lake, I focused. The music must be bright, for it will be dark out soon. We must keep the spirits up, for it is that time of year again. By this time in 2022, I was already suffering from my seasonal disorder. In 2024, I’m doing OK so far.
In preparation for Friday night’s episode of Grab A Stack of Rock (the first indoor show at the lake in a year), we played the soundtrack to A Mighty Wind in the car. It has us singing and smiling along. We followed that with Max Webster’s A Million Vacations. The drive up was relatively uneventful. We were almost killed at the St. Jacobs roundabout by a white minivan who turned left from the right lane, but hey, it’s all good. I hit the brakes in time enough for the guy behind us not to rear-end my car. Thanks a lot of for the sudden jump in stress, but we made it alive in one piece. Along the way we spotted a cute cat in the bushes. We even arrived by 7:00 pm, which meant I had an hour to prepare for the 8:00 pm show, including some daylight time. The show went off without a hitch. Non-stop laughs, love and deep analysis. Just how I like it.
Saturday was a beautiful day, but we have different priorities in the fall compared to summer. Instead of going out and buying the best meat and veggies, we have to start using up what’s left in the freezer. I tried some experiments, but nothing was particularly successful. We ate some frozen steaks that had been sitting around all year, but they were tough and lined with gristle. I tried cooking some leftover corn in a pan with some onions and mushrooms, but the overall flavours didn’t mix well. I was left with something that tasted like shepherd’s pie, which was not what I was aiming for. The sweetness of the corn didn’t mix with the funkiness of mushrooms. After a summer of so many food experiment successes, it was alright to have one failure in 2024.
Saturday night, a mighty wind began to blow. We didn’t have too many storms in 2024, so this was more than welcome. Strangely, it remained warm outside. The rain came in spurts. We never got properly drenched. We just remained inside and enjoyed it.
We didn’t get as much done this weekend as we hoped. We always plan for more than we have time to do, but we didn’t let any time go waste. We made some great meals, had a nice fire outside, took the drone up, and Jen got to watch all her sports games.
On the way home, I began to feel that sadness creep in. I fought it off with Van Halen and David Lee Roth: 5150, and Skyscraper. 5150 did not do the trick. Skyscraper did. With Dave as the cheerleader and nostalgia in the music, Roth kept my spirits upbeat. It was the magical mixture.
Once home, I ordered an amazing deep dish pizza from a local place called Franklin’s. It was my first deep dish pizza, with the cheese running so gooey and the sauce so tangy. It wasn’t super deep, so next time I want to try something even bigger. Either way, bucket list item checked off the list.
Was this our last trip to the lake in 2024? We don’t know, but what I do know is that we did it right this time.
With my mom and sister visiting Japan in August, my dad didn’t want to spend his weekends at the cottage. By that stroke of luck, Jen and I had the cottage for three weekends in a row. I can’t remember the last time I was at the cottage for three weekends in a row. I was probably a teenager.
I spoke to my mom after she got back from Japan, jet-lagged by about 12 hours. My sister managed to catch a case of Covid, but my mom was luckier. Even so, she was too worn out to use the cottage on the weekend of August 9. At the last minute, they decided to stay home that weekend. Therefore, Jen and I could go if we wanted to.
It’s a shame to let the cottage stay empty on a summer weekend. We had planned on staying home and working on organizing the music collection, but at the last minute, we got out of town and hit the road.
I went with Iron Maiden’s Piece of Mind on the way up, followed by War Within Me by Blaze Bayley. I had been immersed in an Iron Maiden writing project and decided to keep the vibe going on the road. It was fascinating to hear how recording and production had changed between the two albums. Piece of Mind was an organic sounding listen, with natural drums and lots of room sound. War Within Me was modern, clean and technical. While I prefer the analog, organic sounds, I realize that it is of the past. A good double bill for the road.
Upon arrival on Friday night, I got the drone out, which is a good thing, because the theme for the rest of the weekend would be “No Drone Movies”!
Editing to the music of “80 Days” by Marillion, it was incredibly hard to fly at sunset with the sun in my eyes. I could not see my drone from the ground. I was flying by camera the whole time. It was a good flight, with great visuals, but it was to be the only flight of the weekend, for within an hour, the gale-force winds rose! The winds would last all weekend, and would not let up at all. The drone was boxed for all Saturday and Sunday.
And this is when things got weird for me.
With the air cool, the wind high, and the skies dark, my seasonal affective disorder kicked in. Big time. It felt exactly like fall at the cottage. Even though it was early August, and the previous week had a beach packed with kids and tourists, this was a cold deserted weekend. All the feelings came rushing back, from years of “back to school” ads and activities. The memories came back too: listening to White Lion on a cold wet day on my Walkman by the river, wondering what the next school year would bring. All back like a Polaroid picture.
My counselor told me specifically it’s too early to worry about fall, but here I am. Unable to get it off my mind.
I am glad we went to the lake this weekend. It’s wasteful to leave it empty on an August weekend. My mental health is better there, than home. But I can’t shake this foreboding feeling of fall.
RECORD STORE TALES #1144: “In The Summertime” (2020 Hindsight)
Remember the summer of 2020? It seems so far away now. It was the “summer that wasn’t” for a lot of people who were quarantined at home during the first major pandemic in 100 years. I knew I would have a lot more perspective on it eventually. Hindsight is, as they say…20/20.
After that harsh winter (got severely sick twice, and don’t know if it was Covid at any time because tests didn’t exist yet), I needed a break. Then Premiere Doug Ford closed the beaches.
It wasn’t just the big city Toronto beaches that closed, but even our little private beach. It made little sense to us. Weren’t we safer outside? Even travel to the cottage was prohibited in 2020. Only “essential travel” was permitted. The idea was not to stress out-of-the-way hospitals, and prevent the spread of the disease. We all know how well that worked! At least I didn’t get Covid for three years (that I know of). This was the reason beaches were closed: to discourage travel.
Since we own property in cottage country, my parents used that as a reason to travel. Property must be inspected and cared for, especially after a winter like that. I used mental health as my reason. My wife and I needed the cottage or we’d have snapped here in our tiny little apartment. By the end of May, we finally made our first trip back up to Lake Huron. Nobody reported us, nobody judged.
We own a piece of property that is beachfront. There was no way we weren’t going down there. It was a cold May. There was nobody around.
We cherished every second we had at that cottage, even though we were alone and social distancing from any neighbour we ran into. That actually suited me fine. As a classic introvert, I really thrived during social distancing. Not shaking hands, not seeing people in person…sometimes, it felt like my own personal utopia!
Beaches started to open up in the spring, and with this came the onslaught of “Sooners“.
People weren’t going on holidays. Most of them were stuck at home. Instead of going away on a holiday, they instead made day trips to beaches like ours. My dad called them “Sooners”. Sooner: “a person settling on land in the early West before its official opening to settlement in order to gain the prior claim allowed by law to the first settler after official opening.” That’s what my dad dubbed the annoying beach-goers that crowded our little area in 2020 and 2021. There was “Man-Bun” and his two girlfriends, and a family of umpteen kids whose mom let them run around naked. Those were the memorable ones.
I’m going to take you on a slight detour here. Another thing that happened in 2020 was the temporary halting of many of our favourite TV shows and movies. YouTube began to seriously thrive. This is when my friend Uncle Meat introduced me to many new channels I had never heard of before. I began consuming the work of Todd in the Shadows by binge. One of his main features is a series called “One Hit Wonderland”. One of the tracks he covered in that series was “In The Summertime” by Mungo Jerry. It was a deep dive on what made the song a hit, and why Mungo Jerry never followed it with anything as iconic. I became obsessed with the song that summer.
My dad believes in asserting your territory, especially where Sooners are concerned. For him that meant sitting down on our beach chairs, ensuring nobody used them. For me, that meant singing out loud like we owned the place. There was more to it than just that though. I was genuinely just happy to have a beach to go to, and my childhood beach at that! So I sang, and I felt every single note in my heart as I reached up to touch the sun.
In the summertime, when the weather is high, You can stretch right up and touch the sky!
Jen joined in.
When the weather’s fine, You got women, you got women on your mind, Have a drink, have a drive, Go out and see what you can find.
Wait a minute…did he just sing “have a drink, have a drive?” 1970 was a different time for sure. Still, it sang well as we raised our voices in song. Nobody turned to stare. Everyone (and there were a lot of people!) stuck to their own groups.
Ahh, social distancing. Gotta love it.
The one and only flaw with our perfect afternoons of singing? I only had one verse of “In the Summertime” memorized. It got repeated over and over. Nobody noticed.
Now that things have returned to something resembling normal, the Sooners have gone. Social distancing is no longer necessary. I don’t mind. I still sing “In The Summertime” when I hit that water. I still stretch right up so I can touch the sky. I still think Mungo Jerry wrote a great song. Its corniness is its charm, but unless you’ve sung that song at the top of your lungs while enjoying a brief respite during a global pandemic, you haven’t experienced “In The Summertime”.
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