Our beloved Past President, Brad McInnes (1970-1971), loves to "ramble". Each week he writes amusing antedotes and is now sharing them with us! Here is a list of his writings. To read an article, CLICK on one of the (More) shown below.
NEWForever in Blue Jeans Judy and I were in Hawaii some time ago and we went into an upscale department store in Honolulu to look around. I was browsing in the men’s section and saw a rack of Hugo Boss jeans. Hugo Boss is the brand of trousers that I buy so I went over to look at the jeans. (More)
The X-Ray When the doctor gave me the news I couldn’t believe it. The first thought that came to mind was, “Why me?” I asked the doctor if I should get a second opinion and he told me that wouldn’t be necessary, the x-ray was quite clear. (More)
Bat Out of Hell
I was lying in bed one night watching television. The only light in the room was the light from the TV set. As I lay there I was aware of some movement in the room. It was as if the overhead fan was whirling around, but the fan was turned off. (More)
No Bull
In 1958 I spent 6 weeks wandering around Spain. On Sunday, April 6 of that year I was in Madrid and went to my first bullfight. The procession that began the day’s events was quite impressive. The 3 matadors performing that day marched into the ring followed by their assistants. (More)
Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head
I was wandering down the street one day and decided to buy an umbrella. It wasn’t raining but I knew that some day it would be so I should be prepared. I came to a store that looked like it would sell umbrellas and there was a sign in the window. (More)
Sun and Ice In Puerto Rico
Judy and I were holidaying in Puerto Rico. We spent a week in Old San Juan and stayed at the El Convento Hotel. This hotel was built 365 years ago as a Carmelite Convent and was converted to a hotel in 1959. (More)
I'll Be Seeing You
I couldn’t believe it was going to happen to me. When I found out I couldn’t sleep for a week. The day arrived and before I knew what was happening it was all over. (More)
Around North America on $90.
By some miracle, and to the surprise of everyone, I had passed grade 11 and was about to start grade 12 in the Fall. In the meantime, there were 2½ months to pass before returning to higher learning. I had just read, "Around the World in 80 Days", so my thoughts turned to travel. (More)
Government Privacy
I recently had to telephone a government department to ask a question. It was not an easy task. If you ever have to phone the government with a question here is the type of response that you can expect. First, you must answer about 32 digitized questions by pressing the required button on your telephone. (More)
Back to Heidelberg for Dinner
Heidelberg is one of my favourite cities in Germany. Zweibrucken is almost my favourite, but that’s because of Helga. That’s another story…. (More)
Hockey Night in Canada (Two)
The neighbourhood cocktail party started out innocently enough. A couple of drinks, some finger food and a bit of social talk. Then, as the evening wore on, The social talk became a little more intense. By now, the girls were on one side of the room gossiping about all the neighbours and the men were on the other side of the room engaged in a pretty serious conversation. We all agreed that it was about time. (More)
Band of Gold Judy and I were in Paris walking down the sidewalk that runs along the Seine River. The River Seine divides the city into two halves, called the Left Bank, on the south side, and Right Bank on the north. The Seine flows westward and as early ships were floating down the river the south side was on the left, hence the name ”Left Bank” has stuck. (More)
Africa Calling
Over the years I have found out that I have a great many relatives living in various parts of the world. Most of them are located on the west coast of Africa, notably, Nigeria and the Ivory Coast. I first found out about these assorted branches of the family tree when I received an urgent e-mail from a bank manager in Lagos. He advised me that my great-uncle, Mr. Harrington McInnes, had died and left me $12 million U.S. in his will. (More)
The Boob on the Tube
I’m sometimes asked if I miss my weekly television show. My show was on TV so long ago that it always amazes me that someone will ask about it, never mind remember it. I had a half hour show, once a week. When asked to do a weekly program I was interested because I could explore a different topic of my choosing every week and that meant I could broadcast topics that were of interest to me. (More)
More Than Anyone Wants To Know!
I was born in Toronto and was christened George Brian McInnes. I was never called anything but Buddy or Bud since the day I was born. When I was born my Mother said I had lips like a rosebud. It wasn't until I was age 22 that I decided Bud or Buddy was not a good name for the business world so I decided to change it. (More)
Bars Block the View I have been in jail twice in my life. I didn’t find that the experience rehabilitated me from any of my bad habits. The accommodation was adequate and provided a good night sleep. I came out of jail both times none the worse for wear and not significantly better off for the time spent behind bars. The first time I was confined to a jail cell was in Kungsbacka, Sweden. Kungsbacka made a very favourable impression on me as soon as I arrived. (More)
Down the Way Where the Nights are Gay... I enjoy taking photos. I have a couple of very good cameras and when I travel a lot of photos end up stored on my computer. In an attempt to improve my photographic skills I have attended several seminars that are put on by Henry’s Camera store. They are excellent seminars with first rate instructors. At the end of each seminar you are supplied with a CD that contains everything that was discussed. (More)
The Cell Is Waiting I lived in Frankfurt, Germany for a while and shared an apartment with Bill Fogwell. Bill was my age and hailed from Long Beach, California. I had met him in Munich at the “Zoo”, which is a local sidewalk café. The only animals were the patrons. Our apartment was at 42 Hochstrasse and was quite spacious. We would spend hours in the apartment trying to figure out ways to make money. We were going to start a company and get rich. (More)
Lights Out I was in Dublin a while ago staying in a very nice hotel right in the centre of the city. Like many hotels that I have found outside of North America the hallways are always dark. There is usually a button at the end of the hallway that turns the lights on when pressed. The lights stay on for a few minutes to allow you to find the door to your room and then the lights go off automatically. (More)
Chunneling Our Way to Paris Judy and I were in London, England one year and decided to visit Paris for a few days. We took the Eurostar (Chunnel) from St. Pancras station in London to Gare du Nord in Paris. We were soon traveling at 100 miles per hour, 250 feet under the English Channel. (More)
Crossing the Desert on Water A convoy of ships was forming at the south end and another convoy was forming at the north end. Finally, everything was in place and we waited for the signal to start. When the signal was given the ships in the south started moving north and the ships in the north started moving south. The journey through the Suez Canal had begun. (More)
A Lesson in Salesmanship I had the desire to buy a new flashlight. Not a deep, burning desire but just an idea that I would like to have a new one. I looked at them in several stores but didn’t have a strong enough urge to commit to buying one. I was passing a kiosk in a shopping mall one day and saw a flashlight for sale. (More)
A Rose, Is A Rose, Is A Rose I think that I smelled pretty good when I was in high school. I would never think of leaving the house without smearing on a healthy dose of Old Spice deodorant. It had a strong, manly aroma that was, well, spicy. While traveling in all parts of the world a supply of Old Spice was always in my travel kit. It was a necessity because a daily shower was not always available if you had just spent the night sleeping in a field. (More)
Going... Going... Gone It was 10:00 o’clock at night and I still hadn’t found the car. I had looked everywhere that I could think of but with no luck. I was tired, irritable and just wanted to go home to bed. Just one more cruise around this area. Then I spotted it. The car was parked behind a bar just off the main street. It was the right make and model and the licence plate was the one I was looking for. (More)
New York, New York Judy and I were in New York sitting at a sidewalk café in Little Italy. We were literally sitting at a table on the sidewalk alongside the curb. Parked right beside us was a big, black Lincoln. Every time I took a sip of coffee my elbow hit the car. Everything was nice and peaceful when all of a sudden all hell broke loose. People were jumping up screaming and yelling at some guy who was approaching the Lincoln. (More)
Hockey Night in Canada Some years ago I went to Maple Leaf Gardens a few times on my own to see the Toronto Maple Leafs. It may have been a year when the Leafs won a game, I can’t remember. Before the game I would go to Le Baron Steak House on Church Street to start the night off with a steak dinner. (More)
London By Night (and Day) London was a wonderful place to live and there were even visitors from Canada. For the first week I was there I rented a bicycle and cycled everywhere. After my initial round of sight-seeing it was time to find a job. I found a job at Mercantile Credit Company through an agency. (More)
Cor Blimey - It's London So there I was, back in San Francisco after conquering the Orient and India. I had made several friends the last time I was in San Francisco so I renewed acquaintances and spent a few more weeks in the city of hills and trolley cars. Then it was time to move on again. (More)
Say Cheese She looked beautiful lying on the park bench in her bikini. Norma was a friend of mine and on bright sunny days she could be seen sun tanning on a bench in the local park. (More)
RE GARDINER'S: WHY I WANT TO JOIN THE IODE I was surprised to find that I have become the official canoe co-ordinator of Gardiner’s trek to Washington, but, in true YMASC fashion I took on the challenge. So far, I have been able to acquire 10 canoes, so, I have to advise you that space is limited. (More)
Blue, Blue, My Pills Are Blue The Doctor said that everything looked okay but he wanted me to take one of these pills every day and he put some small blue pills on the table. (More)
My Boxing Career The bell sounded to signal the start of a 3-round boxing match. My opponent sure looked a lot bigger than me. (More)
Top 'O The Mornin' There I was in New Orleans for a few days of fun. (More)
Join The Club Back in 1968 I was looking for some type of a club to join. (More)
East Is East How the heck did I end up in India? I was supposed to be in England. (More)
He Flies Through The Air What am I doing 50 feet above the ground swinging on a trapeze in the circus? (More)
Sherlock Doesn't Live Here Anymore I once wrote a letter to Sherlock Holmes at 221B Baker Street in London, England and was quite surprised by the reply that I received. (More)
