It's all about the corn dogs

The air show...

Instead of going to the weekly dim sum food extravaganza at the New Treasure restaurant I ended up at the CNE for round two of corn dog ingesting (along with other CNE food). It all started with Marc expressing disappointment that I had gone to the CNE yesterday with Linda.

Who would go see the air show with him? After all no one is crazy enough to spend $14 twice in one year to go to the CNE let alone twice in one week? It was the second last day the CNE would be open. Marc's window of opportunity was closing fast. For me, the thought of having another corn dog prompted me to say "Let's go to the Ex!". . In the car I could imagine the burning rubber of the rear tires and the puff of smoke as Marc accelerated the car making a bee line for the CNE. (Note to readers: Marc doesn't really drive that aggressively, I was embellishing a bit there).

We arrived at the CNE in time to wait in line for about 40 minutes. The line up to get in was long, winding it's way around a few buildings. We passed through the gates just in time for the air show and a demonstration of one of the new US fighter jets. The Raptor, or as the announcer over the PA described it, "Freedom's Thunder" roared across the sky and did a pull up right into the sun. Why is it that planes at air shows always have to pull up into the sun? Why can't they have air shows a bit later on in the day when the sun isn't right over our heads?


...complete with helicopter rescue.

Without sun screen Marc started burning and turning into a lobster before my eyes. He inched toward the shadows of the nearby trees while I took photos of the passing aircraft. My goal was to shoot the helicopter. There's always a helicopter of some kind at the CNE air show. This year, a rescue copter. After the helicopter "rescued" a person from Lake Ontario we retreated out from under the sun and into the food building.



Inside the food building.

Over the years the CNE has fizzled out from what it used to be. As a kid, wow I'm saying that a lot these days, the CNE's food building actually had bargains on food. Free stuff or cheap stuff. From the seven cent, yes seven that's not a typo, cup of Pepsi, to the 10 cent Lola, to the bowl of spaghetti with meat sauce for 25 cents, the food building has gone from bargain good food to average priced food court.

I remember getting a pack of double bubble bubble gum every year really cheaply. I only really bought all those packs for the PUD comic strips. I thought the gum tasted like crap. Today I ended up getting a roti from Island Foods. Food that you don't have to go to the CNE to get now a days.

I think the CNE is getting smaller as more and more shows that cater to specific items pop up. It used to be that the CNE was the premiere exhibition for seeing new washing machines, pianos, home improvement, gadgets, and other neat stuff. Now there's a variety of home shows, wedding shows, car shows, comic book conventions, and other specific shows that cater to specific demographics.

Even the rides have been eclipsed by Canada's Wonderland and Marine land to name a few. So in order to give the CNE some appeal the organizers have gotten a human cannon ball, some farm animals, a tiny mardi gras like parade and a tower of Lego bricks. Interesting to see once but hardly enough enticement to return to the CNE a number of times.


The human canonball

While wandering around the "World" section of the CNE looking for the crystallized ginger I buy every year from the Australian booth Marc started getting tired asking "what are we doing?". On our way out we bumped into Steve and his mom. Steve had run out of memory on his camera. He was in luck as I had two 2 gigabyte compact flash cards I wasn't using. I lent him one. That seemed to make his day and it cheered me up a bit for not finding the ginger.


Steve and his mom Agnes.


The Whack-a-mole


Marc with some color.

We ended up leaving the grounds shortly after that to see the "Balls of Fury" movie. On the way out I kept thinking "Should I get another corn dog to go?".