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Thoughts about the relationships between transport and the urban area it serves

Archive for December 29th, 2022

Book Review: “All the Colour in the World”

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A Novel

by CS Richardson

This was a surprisingly quick read. It caught hold of me and wouldn’t let go. The style is unusual – and initially a bit irritating – but you get used to it. It seems like you are reading about a real person. They are certainly real paintings and I have seen some of them. I almost wished that instead of a novel it was some kind of picture book – or perhaps, since it is an ebook, there could be links to the pictures.

There was a real concern among ex-servicemen of my family and other acquaintances that there would be very little sharing of their experiences, once they got back home. They survived WWII, but knew so many who hadn’t. And then there was always Remembrance Sunday. I got the distinct impression that those who made the most performance at such events were not the ones that came back with PTSD. Who often self medicated, drank heavily and didn’t want to talk about it.

I think now that I will go back and read it again, more slowly this time, and actually look up the pictures.

Pub Date 17 Jan 2023 | Archive Date 31 Jan 2023
Penguin Random House Canada, Knopf Canada
General Fiction (Adult) Historical Fiction Literary Fiction

Written by Stephen Rees

December 29, 2022 at 2:07 pm

Posted in Fiction

Year End Donation for Tax Refund

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I am sitting looking at a long list of organizations that send me emails asking for money at this time of year. It starts off with publications. You can claim up to $500 for amounts you paid in 2022 for qualifying subscription expenses. You can find out more about the digital news subscription at that link. (At the time of writing they were still talking about the 2021 tax return on that first link.) I get The Tyee, The Maple, The Narwhal and the National Observer – so that $500 limit isn’t hard to reach.

There should also be some acknowledgment that Canadian not for profit activist organisations are NOT registered charities. One that failed to point this out until AFTER I had sent them money was Greenpeace Canada. So the following are those that while I support them in other ways, won’t give a usable tax receipt: 350.org, Open Media, Lead Now, Sum of Us, Dogwood, Evidence for Democracy, Democracy Watch. And in the US Next City, Oil Change, Inside Climate News, Climate Central, DeSmog, Change.org, Avaaz, Eco Literacy, Stand.earth

So now for the list of the lucky winners

Transport Action

BC Humanist Association

West Coast Environmental Law

Green Party of BC – which gets a different tax treatment as a political party than charities

Amnesty International

David Suzuki Foundation

Georgia Strait Alliance – which currently has issues with credit cards and PayPal but bank transfers still work

SPEC

I have added URLs to each of the organisations’ home page – which is not necessarily a donation link.

Fair Voting BC just sent me an email which says

“A brief reminder that there are a couple of days left to make a donation and get a 2022 tax receipt for supporting the case. To donate, please click . “

Written by Stephen Rees

December 29, 2022 at 12:21 pm

Posted in Green Party, politics

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