Author archive for: Jocelyn Tomkinson
New Westminster »
You may have noticed that T2F has gone quiet this week as William and Briana awaited the new addition to their family. As those of you on facebook or twitter have already discovered, the big day has come and gone!
We are all thrilled to introduce you to Nora Mary Alden Tomkinson, who was born at 4:35am Thursday October 22nd (the day before her daddy’s birthday!). She is healthy and happy and (so far) is proving to be a very generous sleeper. Bree and Will are well and coping graciously with …
Downtown, New Westminster, Parks, Politics, Quayside »
By now we’ve all heard gripes about the so-called Hyack Square revitalization project, just recently completed with a replaced overpass grand re-opening this month. ince the grand reopening of Hyack Square, criticism has come on multiple levels. Now that it’s all open, however, it is an evident lack of criticism that concerns me most – lack of criticism of the replacement of a totally inaccessible pedestrian walkway to a now public facility that has no other safe wheelchair or stroller access, as part of the renovation of Hyack Square.
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West End »
(Today we are live-blogging from the 12th Street Festival – come find us in front of Village Coffee at 7th avenue and 12th Street!)
NW Firehall #2 firefighters turn the hose on a joyful crowd at the Thirsty Duck’s raffle – part of the 12th Street Festival here in New Westminster. Even the photos are refreshing…
West End »
(Today we are live-blogging from the 12th Street Festival – come find us in front of Village Coffee at 7th avenue and 12th Street!)
Here at the T2F booth at New Westminster’s 12th Street Festival, we are sitting across from three of the most beautiful cars that came out of the 1950′s and 60′s, and talking cars we love and wish we could own.
Will has a yen for the crazy Japanese import Delicas, wierd retro jeeps from the post-war period, and other cars whose names and number I don’t understand. Jen, …
Neighbourhoods, Politics, Tenth To The Fraser, West End »
Dawn Black and Peter Julian stop by the Chai by Night and TenthtotheFraser booth at the 12th Street Festival – check out the hard copy print of our second T2F newsletter Dawn’s holding!
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Events, Neighbourhoods, New Westminster, West End »
The editorial board of T2F is here on 12th street enjoying the sun, breeze, good cover tunes and great conversations here at the Chai by Night booth just up from Seventh Ave by Village Coffee.
Some pictures so far:
New Westminster »
Waves Coffee House – 715 Columbia Street, New Westminster
Open Monday-Sunday (and holidays), 6am-12am
View Wireless Internet Cafes in New Westminster in a larger map
In a decision which must go down in history under the column “why didn’t we think of this before?” New Westminster’s first Waves Coffee House location opened June 1st in the first floor of the Westminster Trust Building, in the former Provincial Government Office space at the corner of Columbia and Begbie.
In a building full of small businesses, within spitting distance of newly remodeled Hyack Square, and at …
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New Westminster »
Last night at the third New West tweetup (soon to be blogged by @punkvspunk, I hope!), the idea of celebrating New Westminster’s future resurfaced. It’s no wonder it came up, given that we were twelve under-35′s, 6 iPhones, and one twitter hashtag (#newwest), meeting at a locale quoted by one tweeter as “the closest thing New West has to hip.”
It was roundly agreed that New Westminster as a city government and as a citizenry does a marvellous job of celebrating the past – from ragtime festivals to classic car show-n-shines, …
Events, New Westminster »
Cross-posted on disadventure, Jocelyn’s blog about life, travel and more.
Last night I joined @gnb, Hollie, @duckbeaver and two of my co-editors from Tenthtothefraser, Jen Arbo and Will at a “Burger and a beer” fundraiser for the Royal City Farmer’s Market, at the Brooklyn Bar and Grill on Columbia Street in New Westminster.
Chuck Puchmayr’s band was playing, the weather was good, conversation was nice, and we met some great people – like Loren from the Apple Barn Pumpkin Farm, a market vendor who drove all the way out from Abbotsford to …
New Westminster »
Readers, we in the creative team behind T2F acknowledge that a huge omission has been committed, for which we are eternally apologetic. What would a New West Blog be in May without a post about our fair May Queene? In the flurry of child-rearing, cold-minding, and baby-growing (and all the stuff the rest of us do), we forgot to make sure that New Westminster‘s biggest event got the coverage it deserved on T2F: May Day.
As the longest-running May Day celebration in the British Commonwealth (which is saying something, because the …
New Westminster »
So, we all know that any new west celebration of bc’s 150th birthday is sure to revere our fair city’s stories past. But as I sit here on my iPhone typing out this post with my thumbs, I wonder what we’ll do to connect this historical celebration with our brave new future. Live tweeting the parties and events? Helping to plan small group events by blog and wiki? What about HistoryCamp? Could we stream the procedings live on the Internet or get famous locals like jordie morneau (MLB MVP baseball …
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New Westminster »
I learned about elevator pitches in grad school – we were put on the spot, standing in a box outlined on the floor in front of our class, and provoked to give a 30-second spiel about a global health issue we were passionate about. Lately I’ve been preparing gleefully for a trip to the Big Apple, and I’ve been thinking about all of the endless websites that tell you the 10 meals under $10 in NYC, “Best Vegetarian Dining in New York,” “Must see before you die in the big …
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Events, New Westminster »
Remember that Game that the beloved movie and book classic Pollyanna used to play, the game that became her namesake in any discussion perceived to be a little too sweet and idealistic?
“Oh, yes; the game was to just find something about everything to be glad about — no matter what ’twas.” – Pollyanna, from bestselling 1916 children’s novel by Eleanor H. Porter.
The recent post on T2F gave me pause because of it’s several references to New West’s losses, including the reinactment of a debate with Governor James Douglas on the …
New Westminster »
According to Translink and the Vancouver Sun, the Patullo Bridge opens tomorrow morning at 6am – up to 3 weeks ahead of schedule.
Translink attributes the unexpected opening to their ability to source the workers and supplies needed to repair the southern part of the span that was destroyed by fire. A replacement span from part of the Canada Line construction project was even used to take the place of the missing span, which sped up the rebuilding process considerably.
The slow response of vehicle commuters, however, has got transit planners …
New Westminster »
In a recent post on my blog, Dis:adventure, I took an idea I saw on CityCaucus, and ran with it. What would happen if we left the bridge broken? I mused.
Well, 9 comments later, and some good discussion both here and there, and I began to realize that I asked the wrong question. T2F co-author Will rightly pointed out,
I know that if you build a road that makes driving easier, people will use it and move to those places. That is the point. But if you remove a …
New Westminster »
His name is Derek, and I met him at Starbucks.
He really stood out, and from the minute I saw him, I knew that meeting him would change me. In fact, he turned heads from the moment he stepped into the room – just by being there, his presence was felt.
I saw him first just as he left, and before I could think of what to say, he was gone. I didn’t realize until he was too far away to say something. But when he came back the next day when …
New Westminster, Tenth To The Fraser »
SEE OUR CHALLENGE BELOW – TELL US YOUR FAVOURITE WIRELESS CAFE HOTSPOT!
I am one of those people who works better when I have a din of white noise behind me, when I’m in a place with a good feel, surrounded by people but not in demand. For me, coffee and good work go hand in hand, so it’s no surprise to anyone who knows me that I have spent the majority of my university years (both undergrad and post-grad) doing my studying and schoolwork in coffee shops.
When I lived at …
Businesses, Bylaws, Downtown, Reviews »
Just about anything anyone can talk about now is the crazy snowfall that we’ve ad in the lower mainland this holiday season. The way it usually goes is this:
Native BC’r: Wow – isn’t this crazy? We NEVER get snow here! And if we do, it usually melts!
Former Ontarioan: Are you kidding? This isn’t snow. It’s nothing! You should see what we had back home! And hey at least we get more sun this way…
At this point I’m tired of talking about it – except for the fact that a holiday …
New Westminster »
Ice Blocking (February 2008) 087Originally uploaded by *Jame*
My fair brother posted previously on the many snowy and wonderful ways (and places) that people can sled in our fair city… however timely this may be, what with the freakish sub-zero weather and inches of snow and all, he has made one critical omission.
Ice blocking.
What is this, you ask? Well, in our (usually) temperate climate, what’s a young non-drinking teen to do for fun in a city of hills but no snow?
Answer: Buy a few blocks of ice from your local gas …
Events »
Followup on our favourite Arbologger’s post about the Coca-Cola Santa, here’s another ‘Beta’ Santa, perhaps soooo proto that it’s ‘Alpha!’
Prepare for a New Westminster Holiday Tradition, the arrival of Sinter Klaas to open the holiday season. Children will wait in anticipation on the Quay boardwalk for Sinterklaas and the Black Peters to arrive – you can help your 2 year old to chant like the Dutch kids do, ‘Zie ginds komt de stoomboot uit Spanje weer aan…’ (See there the steamship from Spain is coming again…) to welcome Sinterklaas on …
History, Politics »
I just came back from my weekly lunchtime yoga at work, and as I sat down for a dose of 102tF, it got me thinking about the role that the spiritual life, and churches in particular, have played in our Royal City. Without any real historical training or knowledge (Will and Peter Julian will have to help you with that), I figure that when New West was settled and in the decades after, churches likely played an important role in developing a sense of community in our city.
The first …
Tenth To The Fraser »
In TenthToTheFraser’s short little life, we’ve made a big splash. Okay, I can’t take credit for any of it – I was just approached as a civic-aware, once-a-new-westie-always-a-new-westie girl to pen my piece for this blog only about 6 weeks ago – but we’ve been cited in the paper, recognized on other blogs, scooped almost every other major outlet, big or small, on New West’s electoral standings, and now we’ve been nominated for the Canadian Blog Awards, in the “Best Local Blog” category.
It’s up to you, New Westies …
Tenth To The Fraser »
Okay, there is simply no accounting for my previous post, and for that I apologize. It doesn’t make that much sense, I know. Just chalk it up to election overexposure. Too many burger polls at Burger Heaven.
But I had to post again after reading so many of the comments, especially those from Poli-Sigh and Anonymous in exchange with the City Communications Manager and both Briana and Will (co-editors of the blog) on this post and others. Can I just say how great it is to see people getting into discussions …
History, Politics »
Now that the dust has settled and the result is no different than last election (Is it just me or does anyone else have deja vu from October?), perhaps there’s no wonder that a proportion of New Westminster’s citizens voted (in a completely non-binding way) to increase the electoral cycle from 3 years to 4 – perhaps this proportion of the population believes that since nothing will change, why go to the expense to have elections so frequently?
I’m sure that in the coming weeks, editors, electors and candidates will toss …
New Westminster »
Reading the earlier posts on Lynda Fletcher-Gordon, it reminded me of my early teenage years growing up as a part of the engine of civic democracy.
When I was in Grade 7, I remember having a bit of a mishap, cracking my knee and spending about 3 weeks at home on the couch in front of the Christmas tree with my leg in a splint. One day in the midst of that, there was a phone call for me: I didn’t want to move (understandably at that point, the splint on …