An abridged version of this year’s trip to Canada. No trip to Niagara Falls unfortunately, but I’m expecting to go next year instead.

• Barbecues
• Wine
• Fish and Chips at Lapointe’s in Bells Corners – which stomps all over Harry Ramsden’s
• Did some work
• Sun
• Music

Kingston

Kingston was the first capital of Canada, before Canadian Confederation. Situated at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, it relies on the public sector for its employment.

Fort Henry

The British colony of Upper Canada built a fort because they anticipated an attack by the United States. It is undergoing continued restoration and today acts a tourist attraction. The Fort Henry Guard founded in 1938 re-enacts the life of the fort, made up of students from the Kingston Area.

Westport

Lying at the west end of Upper Rideau Lake, Westpoint is a cute village with lots of craft shops. There’s a public wharf which costs $2 a day to dock at.

Almonte

Almonte, now part of Mississippi Mills, is a quiet tourist town, notable for its spanning of the Mississippi River. I can highly recommend a trip to The Ironworks Pub and Restaurant.

Manotick

This is a small town on the Rideau River.

Since I don’t have a Twitter account:

• Yesterday I discovered the beauty of Command-Tab on the Mac. I’ve known for years that I can use this to select a currently running application, but never used it. But what’s very useful is that a single Command-Tab will take you back to the previous application you used, thus you can toggle between two applications, like Firefox and Coda.

• Gonna have to get me a new MacBook battery, ‘cos I’m fed up with recharging this one whilst I’m on a wireless connection.

• Yes, I’ve now got wireless internet where I’m staying! And what a story that was.. long spiel on customer service coming shortly.

• Is it sad, or convenient, that I can access my Mac Mini via a VPN so that I can buy some music whilst I’m 3,500 miles away from home? Currently upgrading to iTunes 7.2 to see what Apple can flog me at 256Kbps.

Folks this side of the pond are mourning the end of The Sopranos (a series that I never watched), and in particular the disappointing way in which it ended. I’ll admit that I felt similarly disappointed about the closing season of Buffy.

In Buffy’s defence, the series was terminated more abruptedly than The Sopranos, reducing the possibility of a satisfying finale. The end of The Sopranos was well telegraphed, hence viewers’ expectation for a suitable conclusion.

However, the ending was apparently poor, and rumours abound as to whether it was the real ending.

None of this matters. Because, whilst one might want to believe that entertainment is about giving people enjoyment, fundamentally it’s about making money. Those eight seasons of The Sopranos brought in revenue for the networks that showed it, the advertisers and merchandisers. That’s really all it was about.

This is why there are so many series of Law and Order, and why CSI has two spin-off series. It’s why 24 runs for 24 episodes and so obviously makes it up as it goes along.

Sometimes the viewers know they’re being screwed. Sometimes they don’t.

You won’t be reading this, but anyhow I’ll tell you this: your wireless network is unprotected, and I could if I wanted to play your iTunes music. Leeching off of your network could save me CAD $50 per month, and could cost you extra in bandwidth charges. (It could get me prosecuted too, mind)

In the UK you can buy 30 days of Wi-Fi access via BT Openzone hotspots for £40.

In Canada you can buy 30 days of Wi-Fi access via BOLDstreet hotspots for CAD $30 (£14).