Alberta Diary is closed, but, like Gen. MacArthur, we (I) shall return … in 10 days

Yeah, we’re closed, but we don’t plan to be closed for long. Below: Gen. Douglas MacArthur. Below him: Alberta Diary’s crack research staff scouring the Internets, looking for blog ideas and royalty-free illustrations to go with them. This may come as a surprise to readers, but actual Alberta Diary researchers may not appear exactly as illustrated.

I had a friend who travelled to Portugal many years ago. Or maybe it was Brazil. Whatever, she brought back a poster torn from a lamppost that proclaimed (in Portuguese, I presume), “Fear Not! O Globo is back on the stands!”

Here in Canada, we hadn’t been aware O Globo was missing, from the stands or anywhere else, but there you go. (Maybe it was this O Globo. Maybe it was another one. Maybe it was a strike, a press breakdown of a sudden liquidity crisis that made it disappear, however temporarily, from the stands. Who knows about any of these things?) Apparently folks had missed it, though, and the poster – large and crude as it was – certainly should have reassured them.

Well, fear not, dear readers – God willin’ and the crick don’t rise – Alberta Diary will be back on the stands again, metaphorically speaking, in about 10 days. So we’re closed, but we don’t plan to be closed forever. And as Gen. Douglas MacArthur famously told a crowd of confused Australians, “I shall return!” 

By the way, the general refused the request of the U.S. Government to amend that to “we shall return.” He had, after all, a clear perception of his own place in the world, and even if his compatriots refused to share it, others would for a spell.

Now, I have to say, this is not the ideal moment in Alberta political history for a political blogger to take either a vacation or a business trip, but when has been in the past couple of years?

It does mean Alberta Diary – being a one-man operation and all – will not be around to cover the outcome of the Oct. 27, four-by-election mini-election. Predictions? You’ll have to watch for those on Twitter, turn to Daveberta.ca, or, heaven forfend, read the mainstream media.

As soon as I’m back, I’ll explain it all.

Hasta luego, compañeros!