Opinion

The standard consumer expert advice about buying extended warranties is don’t do it. The warranties are too expensive. A $100 extended warranty on a $500 device makes little sense. Instead, set up a warranty fund.

Have you gone to buy any Mexican limes or avocados lately? The price for both has skyrocketed in recent months, with a wholesale case of limes worth as much as four times what it cost just a year ago.

It might be that things have changed since I was an active player in the public-education game, and it might be that much wiser heads than mine have thought things through before launching onto the front pages.

A hundred years ago, the Komagata Maru, a ship carrying 376 passengers of British Indian origin to British Columbia, arrived at William Head quarantine station before heading to Vancouver on May 23, 1914.

A riddle for you: How far is 88 kilometres? In a car, heading out of Victoria, it’s about as far as Ladysmith. On a road bike, pedalling up and down rolling hills through six municipalities, it feels like the Never Ending Story.

With the cost of water and electricity going up, our household has been making modest efforts to cut back on the use of both. Cutting water consumption has been fairly painless and hasn’t required changes to our routines.

Words have meaning. But as we all know, governments don’t always give words much attention when making promises and painting rosy pictures of what is to come.

When something great approaches, like the start of summer holidays or the return of a loved one, we usually count down the days left.

There will be a concerted attempt Tuesday night to explain the many downsides to the government’s decision to shut down the Victoria Youth Custody Centre.

Picture a community hall on a weekday evening. About 40 people sit in rows. Official-looking sorts look back over the audience.