Hughtopias

 Notes on Driving – New Driver Edition ver 04b 2015- 2016 Hugh Tayler People who don't drive think that parallel parking and keeping the car out of the ditch are the hard parts of driving, but that hasn't been true for many decades. For most people, interacting with dense and aggressive urban traffic is way more difficult. But drivers have lots of other less obvious issues, some of which I will discuss. How My Sister Learned to Drive My sister once set the record straight: “I drive more than all three of my brothers put together.” It wasn't just the mileage, though. She can also handle a 24-foot long RV or a sedan with 300 horsepower. I've lost track of the sporty cars my sister has driven. I remember the MGB convertible, the Beetle convertible, the Cabriolet, and more recently, the turbocharged Golf. But she learned to drive on a big unsporty four-door sedan, probably Dad's luxurious blue-green Pontiac Parisienne with brocade seats and effortless but insensitive po

  Apple Wedges ver 13f - Fall 2018 – Spring 2019 - Fall 2019 - Summer 2022 - notes by Hugh Tayler. Thanks to Joan Tayler for editing.  Freshness Tips -     Feel for cold and firmness     Avoid sticky wax and wrinkled skin.     Look for green on the stem. Our Short List - First of the season: Ginger Gold or Sunrise Classic applesauce and eating apple: Spartan Surprisingly tart and good: Golden Delicious Long keeping tart apple: Pink Lady A better Gala than Gala: Ambrosia Safe bet: Fuji Best new varieties worth trying: Salish for flavour, Nicola for crisp, Lady Alice for different. Visiting Ontario: Empire Fussy About Apples I grew up in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia and ate apples fresh off the tree, so I know what a good one should taste like. If you are also interested in apples, I recommend the local Davison Orchards website and also the obsessively detailed "Orange Pippin" site. New for 2022: I would also add Mary Jane Duford's "When to Pick Apples"

Big Chicken Short fiction by Hugh Tayler - 2022 Feb - March ver 03a I was rolling my ebike out our front gate when I saw papers scattered behind the Free Table on our boulevard. If you have a table where people put stuff to give away for free, there are always items that don't really belong or that need to be tidied. I put the bike on the kickstand and went to clean up the mess. There were some binders and a high school math book on the table, but the scattered papers were just homework. But the homework stopped midpage, with the last date in January, the middle of the school year. I heard a rattle and looked up at my neighbour Larry, who had just rolled up on his old bike with a trailer full of cans and bottles.  I held up the page and Larry said, "Looks like some kid bailed on Grade 10 Math halfway through the year. But you never know the real story." I said, "No. You don't. Maybe the kid is a TikTok superstar now." "Or maybe they died of cancer."