Figures!

[bjarvis]

I follow Canadian elections like some people follow baseball or football.

This week was a double-header: provincial elections in Newfoundland & Labrador Monday and Ontario tonight. Woo hoo!

The numbers were streaming in after the polls closed at 9 PM and TVOntario had continuous coverage. The Liberals appear to be re-elected with another large majority. The Conservative leader was losing in his own riding. But just as they were covering my parents' area --the riding of Temiskaming-Cochrane in north-eastern Ontario-- longtime Liberal MPP Jim Ramsay was 500 votes behind the NDP candidate, it happened: we lost the satellite signal. DAMN!

The universe has a twisted sense of humour.

Comments

[abqdan.livejournal.com]

And ridings came from the Danes, who created them in England back in the 9th century. Yorkshire is the only county left in England that still has ridings. A riding was a third of a county - hence the East, West, and North ridings of Yorkshire. (A common question from outsiders... "where's the South Riding?" elicits giggles from Yorkshire locals-in-the-know.

[bjarvis.livejournal.com]

I didn't know ridings were originally defined as 1/3 of a county. Having learned something new today, I've determined that life is worth clinging to after all, at least for the next 24 hours. :-)

Re: ridings

[weekilter.livejournal.com]

When I was visiting a friend in West Yorks we went to a shopping centre in the area called "The Ridings." (Or if you believe in Brit punctuation "Ridings".)