Erin's Journals

Well, there was a surprise after all! First off, thank you for your kind notes both on Facebook and to my email (which is erin@erindavis.com if you’re not on FB and wish to be in touch any time) wishing us a happy 30th anniversary yesterday. As promised, it was a low key one, but we did do something that I totally did not expect going into the day. 
 
Earlier this year, I was Googling Jeff Lynne of ELO (don’t ask me why) and saw that he and a version of the orchestra are touring this year. What?!?
 
I immediately got excited until I saw that the only Canadian city they were hitting is Toronto (August 18th) and that would be an awfully long way to go to see a band – even it if was one that I never, ever thought I would have a chance to see in person. Especially decades after their last hits and long since founder and lead vocalist Jeff Lynne – he of the blue sunglasses – had gone on to Traveling Wilburys and various other projects over the years, including co-producing later Beatles releases “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love.” 
 
You see, in their heyday (as you may well recall), the Electric Light Orchestra was one that relied a lot on production, synthesizers and plenty of effects. Even as a teen I doubted that a band like this – plenty of smoke and mirrors – would be likely or able to replicate their performances in a live setting. Still, I loved them. Still do. 
 
I happened to be playing an ELO song on Ocean 98.5 last week and when it came on, I cranked it up. I said later to Rob, “We have got to see them. I don’t care where they are.” And yesterday we made it happen. 
 

 
In what turned out to be a double-barrelled shot of excitement, we booked seats in Oakland, California’s Oracle Arena (home to the NBA’s Golden State Warriors) to see ELO on August 2nd. But then…then we asked each other, “What if the Blue Jays are in town?”
 
We went online and could not believe our eyes: the Jays are playing a three-game stand in Oakland against the A’s in the three days leading up to the concert! So again, we went online and bought tickets to see the Jays in the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on Wednesday, August 1st, the third of a three-game stand in the city near San Francisco. 
 
We’ve been to the City by the Bay before, but haven’t driven there from home; we did a fly-drive trip about five years ago and about the only disappointment we had was not being able to get tickets to Alcatraz. So that’s the next thing we’re going to book as soon as they’ll let us. Right now you can only book through mid-May.
 
This is what “reWirement” was supposed to be about: having adventures and just hitting the road, when we want, for however long we want. I’m going to keep journalling the whole time – as long as you’re here – so you can come along and share the ride.
 
Have a great day and thanks again for your kind words.
 

If you have the time, why not go to the audio journal today? Rob’s playing DJ for me…you’ll get it….
 
I hope that, if you celebrated it, you had a lovely Family Day weekend. We marked the day here last week at my Aunt and Uncle’s and it was an evening of good food and laughter. Can’t ask for much more than that, can we? 
 
Today, Rob and I are marking kind of a big one: our 30th wedding anniversary. We’ll take a short trip next month, but tonight it’s dinner at a downtown Victoria restaurant and that will be about it. Maybe we’ll exchange cards, but there will be no presents. There’s nothing more we need or want than each other today – as sappy as that sounds. I have a small bouquet that survives from Valentine’s Day, and I’m not indulging in chocolate right now. So we both get off easy, I guess!
 
I don’t know what to say about this little milestone except that the traditional gift is “pearl” and the modern one is “diamond.” I need neither. My days of wearing jewelry, other than my wedding rings, are few and, even at that, most days I don’t wear the set that Rob completed on our 15th anniversary.
 
My first engagement ring featured a nice sized cubic zirconia; I didn’t want Rob spending money when we had a wedding to pay for. Actually, that’s a lie: my first engagement ring was a lovely multi-diamond stunner that we got right after Rob took a knee outside Birk’s in the Eaton Centre. We were a little drunk after a radio industry event that day, stopped off at the mall and voilà. Three weeks after our first date, we were engaged.
 
We put the brakes on that pretty fast, I gave back the ring (against my sisters’ advice) and we took it slow. And you can read the whole tawdry story in my book – out next February (boy, that’s a tease). Anyway, one year later, we were engaged for real and married February 20, 1988.
 
My grandmother was my matron of honour; my sister Leslie maid of honour. My mom and Rob’s stepmom started a small fire when the candle they lit together on the altar ignited the decorations hung above it. Rob and I sang to each other. That, and the fact our colours were grey and dusty rose (aka pink) add up to what I know were cringeworthy now, but we did it. We laughed through our vows and as much as I worried on our flight to our honeymoon the next day that I’d behaved inappropriately, Rob assured me I hadn’t. Besides, that laughter has saved us. 
 
Sometimes I hear Rob’s easy, lilting laugh and, apart from being delighted that I can still make him laugh after all of these years and trials, I wonder where it comes from and how his spirit can be so resilient that he laughs still, despite what has happened in those 30 years since we first promised to “honour, cherish and encourage your own fulfillment as an individual through all the changes in our lives.” (Yes, we both still remember our vows and will say them today.)
 
I cherish the sound of his laughter. Knowing that we can always find some humour in whatever life throws at us is what keeps me sane. I’m so grateful for this kind and gentle man every single day. I’m not exaggerating. Every day. Some days, living with me, he has some heavy lifting to do, but he never complains. And when it’s my turn to carry him – and those days do happen – I hope I show him the strength he shows me. After all, I’ve been given a great example.
 
Finally, I’ll close today’s journal with this. It’s a moment that happened in the TV show 9-1-1 and it stuck with me. When one of the fire team is in a car crash that leaves him alive after having his head pierced by a steel bar from the truck behind him – through and through – his fire chief says something to this effect: “You are the luckiest, unlucky son of a bitch on earth.”
 
I paused the PVR when I heard that line. I turned to Rob and said, “That’s us. The luckiest, unlucky SOB’s there are.” And it’s true. As long as we keep focussing on the lucky part most days, counting our blessings, we’ll be all right. 
 
Thank you for coming by and letting me share what’s in my heart today. It’s full of love and gratitude. Because life is good. And it’s best with Rob beside me.
 

If you’ve come looking for information on the River Cruises with Mike Cooper and me, click here for a link to Wednesday’s journal that has all the details. By the way, Gerry will be responding to your emails all weekend, including Monday. 
 
I guess that given how many movies I’ve seen in the past few months as I get ready for the Oscars (yes, call it my new hobby) it had to happen eventually. Dazed from a film, I’d wander where I shouldn’t. What’s surprising is that in all of my life, I don’t think I’ve done this once before: I walked into a men’s room. 
 
The explanation is pretty simple: at the theatre where we went to see The Shape of Water, Rob and I visited the “facilities” before the show. You never know how long one of these movies is going to be (unless you pay attention when you’re researching it online) and with a movie that has “water” in its title, you can’t take any chances!
 
When the film ended, we were both deep in thought and conversation about what it was that we’d seen, how we would categorize or describe it and so on. We used a different set of doors to access another flight of stairs up to the washrooms. And just as I’d done before the movie, I took the first door on my right. Which was not right. It was oh-so wrong.
 
The first thing I noticed was the smell. Beaucoups de Pee Pee. Then I looked up just as one man who’d had his back to me turned towards the door and saw me. Which could half explain why, as Rob tells me, there’s always a puddle on the floor at the base of the urinals. But that’s too much information. I said, “Oh! I’m so sorry!” and high-tailed it out of there just as fast as I could.
 
Of course, standing outside the door was Rob, who was about to enter the men’s room and was wondering what the heck I had gone in there for. He pointed at the picture of the stick figure on the door and said, “What did you think – she was wearing a pantsuit?”
 
I gave him a “har-de-har” laugh and asked if he’d apologize to the men in the washroom. He did – and they said, “That’s okay.” But who do you think we had to catch up with and pass (in a hurry, I might add) on our way out of the theatre? Those two men and their wives. I’m sure they’d already told the gals about the woman who walked in on them.
 
But here’s the thing: if I hadn’t made it to my own gender’s washroom, I sure would have needed to in about one minute. I got a text from my boss, Susan Knight at Ocean 98.5. She said, “Are you parked in the lot?” and I was. Rob and I had pulled into the station parking lot, taking advantage of free parking just two or three blocks from the movie theatre. “Because you’re about to get towed!!!”
 
We texted back a bunch of messages ending with more exclamation marks and, in so doing, I learned that we’d parked in the building owner’s spot. (Unlike in Toronto, Ted Rogers’ family doesn’t own the buildings other radio stations call “home.”) We were confused about what we’d been told when I started there back in May and obviously we’d parked in his spot before. My business card was on the dash; that’s how Susan knew to text me. Thank goodness I’d done that!
 
Long story short, we ran from the theatre to the parking lot, where we were told by a stern older man that we had come very close to getting towed. (Susan vouched for that: she saw him call and then call off the tow truck company.) I’ve never been towed in my life; neither has Rob. One first in one day is plenty, thank you very much!
 
Have a great weekend and thanks for coming by. I know you have a long one ahead (unless you’re a federal government worker) so I’ll take Monday off here with you and return on Tuesday.
 

We’ve noticed a few funny things while driving out here in BC – and I’m not just talking about the proliferation of VW vans here, or the right hand drive vans that seem to be everywhere. No, this is about a rule that puzzled us…and something else.
 
First, we were surprised when we bought our used Mini back in the summertime that it didn’t need to pass any kind of mechanical fitness inspection. None. This is a requirement in Ontario, of course, and I think it makes perfect sense.
 
But here in BC, where a person hugging a tree should actually be on the provincial coat of arms – heck, both our federal and provincial representatives are members of the Green Party – they seem to allow anything on the road, as long as it will start.
 
You might remember the story I told you about driving home from an event in downtown Victoria last August when we came up behind an old Jeep driving up the street with gasoline literally pouring out of its tank and onto the pavement, where it made a wide stream towards several vehicles stopped at the same red light. We suspect that, because a safety inspection wasn’t required the last time it was sold, the driver had no idea the gas tank was about to give way. And give way it did. Thank goodness the passenger didn’t toss the lit cigarette that dangled from between her fingers out her open window, when we called out to her in alarm!
 
And the government doesn’t require emissions testing here either. Several times, we’ve had to shut the fresh air vent when following an older car spewing out noxious exhaust. It’s surprising in a province where health and fitness seem to be so important.
 
Now here’s something else we find troubling, and this isn’t a BC exclusive.
 
We were driving home in the dark last week and came up suddenly behind a car seemingly without it lights on. Upon further investigation, we realized that it had its daytime running lights on (but no tail lights). We pulled up beside it at the next intersection, Rob honked and I rolled down my window and shouted to the driver to turn her lights on. I’m afraid she pulled off to the side of the road, probably worried that she had a flat tire or was dragging a skateboarder or something. But I hope that she soon realized why we were trying so hard to alert her. On a dark rainy night it would have been easy for a speeding pickup truck to tattoo her rear bumper with his grill, simply because he didn’t see her.
 
Not turning on headlights is an easy mistake to make, since, in many cars, the dashboard is automatically lit up when the running lights are on. So, it’s easy for a driver to forget to turn his or her full lighting system on when it gets dark.
 
Apparently, Transport Canada received so many complaints like this that Ottawa was planning to introduce legislation last fall that would require manufacturers to have tail lights come on along with the daytime running lights, beginning in 2020. I’m not sure if that legislation passed, but if it did, that’s sure a step in the right direction.
 
Some will yell about a nanny state, too many rules, or whatever else people are shaking their fists at the skies over these days, but honestly, this is something that needs attention. A good friend was pulled over a month ago for driving in some windy and snowy conditions without her full lighting system. She’s not stupid; she just thought the lights were already on because they’re supposed to be automatic in her car. But, it was daytime and there was no way for her to tell by looking out the windshield.
 
Just try to make sure you’re not among those who don’t flick the lights on at dusk or in rainy or snowy conditions. After all, whether you can see is only part of the equation. You want to be seen, too.
 
Tomorrow – how I managed to do something I’ve never done before the other day and it was almost compounded with a second, worse, first. 
 

Happy Valentine’s Day. And I guess it’s really appropriate that on this day that’s all about love, I get to tell you of something that combines my loves: travel, Rob and my favourite radio partner.
 
I hinted on Facebook a few weeks ago that it looked as if I might be given the opportunity to host a group on a river cruise in Europe. Well, the details are finalized and it’s even more amazing than I hoped: it’s not just one, but two river cruises. And it’s not only me – you’ll be travelling with me and Mike Cooper together!
 

 
Yes, we’re reuniting for a week of Christmas magic in Germany and Austria and again in the spring for the terrific tulip season in Amsterdam and Belgium. How great is this?
 
Below, you’ll find how to get in touch with Gerry Koolhof of New Wave Travel (a trusted friend who has never led Rob and me astray on our own cruise choices over the past decade). New Wave and Ama are the best of the best and we’re so excited to be sharing these adventures through them and with you!
 
Let me share a few details just to whet your appetite: on the first cruise, titled Magical Christmas Markets, we’ll all embrace the holiday spirit beginning November 30, 2018 in Germany and Austria! We set sail from Nuremberg, stopping over the coming week in Regensburg and Passau in Germany and then Linz, Melk and finally the historic and breathtaking Vienna.
 
This spellbinding Danube River cruise will take us on the AmaSerena, the ultimate in custom-designed luxury, and promises us all memories to last a lifetime. Plus, you’ll have plenty of time to get home for your own family Christmas. Just think of the presents you’ll be bringing! We have the opportunity to fill the remaining cabins on this cruise, which stand now at half. So we’d have half of the AmaSerena just for us!

Now, if this trip wasn’t enough, next April we’re going to Amsterdam to take in the wonder of the tulip season through Belgium and the Netherlands! This Tulip Time river cruise aboard the one-year-old AmaKristina celebrates the joy of spring. On this special charter, you’ll experience Amsterdam, Bruges, Middelburg and Ghent. So many adventures – all in the lap of luxury. And I’m sure there’ll be lots of chances to walk off the chocolate, cheese and Belgian waffles!
 

Both of these river cruises have been carefully handpicked by Gerry Koolhof at New Wave and the team at AMA (pronounced Omma – which I didn’t know) Waterways. And there are special offers if you book within the next two weeks, by February 28th. Both of these packages are exclusive offers through New Wave and you can contact Gerry at the number or email above or below.
 
But best of all – at least in my books – is that my partner Mike Cooper is joining us (along with Debbie and Rob, of course) and we can’t wait to enjoy your company. You can bet there will be a ton of laughs and lots of stories (some may even be true) as we all get reacquainted and pick up where we left off on 98.1 CHFI.
 
There are early booking bonuses and Gerry will be able to answer all of your questions. Also, THIS APRIL we’re holding a public gathering for questions, answers (about insurance, flights and so on) and just hugs in a downtown Toronto hotel – date and location to be confirmed shortly. You’ll have a chance to meet Gerry and his fantastic team, visit with Rob, Debbie, Mike and me, and start making plans to have a great time with us on the Magical Christmas Markets and Tulip Time river cruises this November/December and in April of next year.
 
Hope to see you at the gathering in April and maybe on board one of the wonderful river cruises. If you have any questions at all, please contact Gerry Koolhof at New Wave Travel: 416-928-3113 ext 269 or  gerry@newwavetravel.net.