This week marks my return from a long and overdue holiday. Also returning (oddly enough) is the site itself. It seems my ISP decided to change my IP address within hours of our departure which in turn brought the site down for almost 2 weeks! I have to laugh, I’ve been hosting my own site for well over 2 years, and this is the first time this has ever happened and it just had to happen the day I go on holidays!

Whenever I get back from a road trip, I always tend to reflect on just how big Canada is, and just how far away anything of “significance” is from my home city. I live in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, and for those who may be unfamiliar with Canadian geography, please direct your browser to maps.google.ca, and you’ll see it staring at you right in the middle of your screen. From Winnipeg, Ottawa is a good 3 days drive north of Lake Superior through “wilderness” country where distance between “towns” (read: gas bar & gift shop) is measured in hours and constant roadside warnings of Moose danger are everywhere (see left). One sign even warned of “Moose Danger” for the next 75kms! Try as we might however, we didn’t see one live moose our entire trip. sigh

Still on “family vacation” stuff, I was at an Esso station buying gas and a coffee where I was waiting in line behind some other customers. This particular Esso station also has a Tim Hortons, which is partly why we stopped (extra large black becomes a staple when driving northern Ontario). The Tim Hortons section of the gas station was quite small, and there was a woman behind the counter taking everyones order - only she was doing so far quicker than the girl behind the till could manage. More barking at customers “can I take your order please!!”…gee, reminds me of home! sarcasm. When I got up to the till, I gave the girl a $5 bill and in a very quiet voice she said “you sorta look like Matthew Broderick.” I’ve never been compared to anyone else in that way in my life, and she said it so quietly I wasn’t sure she was even talking to me. “Me?” I said. “Yeah” she replied. I laugh slightly and say “I’ve never been told that before..”. Now embarrassed, she hands me my change and turns away and I walk back to the car. If you (girl at Tim Hortons at undisclosed location in Ontario) happen to be an HP sauce fanatic and stumble across this post, please know I took it as a compliment. I mean Ferris Bueller, come on! lol

On to HP related news…

I come back from vacation and all sorts is going on. According to the BBC, Heinz has bought out HP Foods!

“This acquisition underscores our commitment to become a faster-growing, more focused company,” said Heinz president and chief executive William Johnson.

Buying HP Foods was “consistent with our strategy to drive growth in our profitable and expanding core condiments and sauces category”, he said.

More details here.

I’m not sure I’m fond of this merger, but I’ll withhold judgement and bite my tongue for the time being.

Something else to take note of: If you happen to be in the Ottawa area (Canada’s capital), don’t bother with asking the local law enforcement or security detail to pose with a bottle of HP, it’s a waste of time…trust me on this one.

One final thing; Before going on holidays, I became aquanted with the Montreal based podcast Catfish Show. It turns out there’s some HP antics going on over there at the moment the show itself isn’t half bad either!

This past week saw the 100th picture posted to the gallery! I can’t believe there are over 100 pictures of HP sauce in the gallery!

Yes, I did change my posting strategy ever so slightly this week where I ended up uploading about 20 pictures within only a few days time. The reason being, I’m going on holidays later this week and won’t be able to make updates until my return. No worries, the HP bottle is already packed and ready to hit the road. Let’s hope it lasts the trip - it’ll be very tempting to crack it open when sitting around an open fire with steaks on the BBQ. yum Actually, that does sound rather like that HP commercial! sigh You’re the only one for meeeeeee…. LOL It’s all so subliminal at this point…

So for an added bit of fun, here’s the actual HP Commercial for your viewing enjoyment. Pssst, it’s the image…THAT’S the link! (download with care!)

This past weekend, we had a friend over for our weekly 4-hour Coronation Street marathon. This week turned out to be the wrap up of the “Will Dev & Sunita ever get together?” saga. To our UK viewers, Coronation Street is 9 months behind here in Canada. The story wraps up (literally) with the sari wearing Sunita proposing to Dev in her fancied up flat. In the background, some trendy Indian music can be heard:

Me: exclaiming Hey, I know that music! Wife & Friend: puzzled looks Me: That’s Talvin Singh! Wife & Friend: puzzled looks What is? Me: The background music! Friend: And you know this….why? Me: Because…I LIKE it? Friend: Like…WhatEVER Wife: rolling eyes Me: Yeah…like WhatEVER! arms crossed

I always thought Sunita would have good taste in music. Talvin rocks!

It must been a full moon this whole week. I swear, I’ve never seen people drive around the city with such agression with such consistancy as I have this week. One such example I witnessed was at Tim Hortons the other day. Cars were cutting in front of other trying to get into the drive-thru. I saw this happen not once, not twice but three times in a mere 5 minutes! Aye, top of the mornin’ to ya! good grief

It’s finally BBQ season, and the HP Sauce has been flowing like water once again at our place. It really does make a great marinade. Doesn’t go half bad with red wine either.

Interestingly, I received a question for a site visitor from Boston this week asking if HP Sauce was available in Canada to which I replied with a resounding “YES”! As it happens, I ended up at “Boston Pizza” today at lunch with a few co-workers. I should say, I normally avoid this place. I’m not really a “sports-bar” goer, and those commercials featuring Howie Mandel really put me off. Still, I found myself there for lunch today. Soon after placing our orders, the waitress came back to our table with our drinks etc, and a bottle of HP. ??? It’s been a long time since I’ve seen someone bring around a bottle of HP along with the other usual condiments at a restaurant - at least not without asking for it. The jokes, the wink wink, nudge nudges soon commenced and my site became the topic of conversation - for a couple minutes anyway. The really ironic part of it all is, not that I received a HP question from Boston and later ended up eating at Boston Pizza where they served HP (although that is pretty interesting). The real irony was that I had left my camera at my desk, without a way of documenting the moment. This from someone who carries a camera practically everywhere, for this very purpose! Pfth!