Alberta Bound!

The last time I stayed a while in Calgary I was looking for a job, and I ...well, let's just say I got 'bucked off'. Truth to tell, I wasn't really looking forward to repeating that experience any time soon. Yesterday, whilst I was working on tonight's material for the Toastmasters International Speech Contest, the 'Jester phoned! He wanted to know if I'd like to take a little tour of Alberta this weekend? Just a short trip, with one night in Calgary, and two in Edmonton, nothing special really ...just the usual funny business!

Calgary would be a, 'Show Case', or, if you prefer, an audition for a spot in Calgary's 'Funny Fest', coming up at the end of April. It's the second biggest comedy festival in Canada! ...Wood Eye? ...Wood Eye?!? Unrequited resumes aside, I love Calgary; the perfect place, to my mind, for a Plaid-Assed Plainsman, such as myself! Ride into town on a Work Horse, Saturday Night, and ask for a job again? No! I'll ride into town on a Hobby Horse, and ask for a spot to demonstrate my hobby! Just give me a few minutes to catch my breath and dust myself off! Below I've inserted a few observations on Calgary that I made my last time out:

"Fort Calgary was built in 1875, and the following year was given its name by Colonel James MacLeod whose family owned a small Castle called “Calgary House”, located on Calgary Bay on the Isle of Mull at the northern end of Scotland. The name is believed to come from the Gaelic “Cala-ghearraidh”, or, “Beach of the Pasture”, as cattle were raised in that area of Mull. The name seems fitting, for, while I haven’t seen much beach, there’s no shortage of pasture in the area. Indeed, some consider Calgary to be Canada’s most Scottish city, with regards to the Scottish names applied to many of its communities and subdivisions.

www.rampantscotland.com/placenames/placename_calgary.htm

Some of the names were established by historic Canadian Hero’s like Colonel MacLeod, many by the settler’s who followed in his tracks, and even more by the 1920’s real estate boom in Calgary when immigration from Scotland was encouraged by the advertising of lot’s for sale in subdivisions named with an eye to appealing to Highland hearts."

I went to the web-page of 'Funny Fest' to fill out the requisite paperwork, and found this rejoinder; "All material to be, 'PG-14', and, as a rule, our audience doesn't respond well to 'Blue'!" OK! I see it's time to have a little talk with our Jester! I called him, and asked if I should keep to the 'mild' end of my comedic spectrum. "No!", was the Jester's reply, "This is a Show Case, I want you to go with your best stuff ...and ...go hard! I'll be so 'Blue' that anything you do will look, 'Pink' in comparison!"

So, 'Pink' it is! If my ten minutes generate half the laughter now, as my resumes did years ago, I should be, 'In Like Flint!'

"Pretty in Pink! ...Don't ya Think?