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Formerly the BACK BUMPER
Collecting Ontario licence plates for 41 years
2CENTS ARCHIVES
First started as "My 2 Cents" in 1997, I have written posts numbering into the hundreds. New posts arrive continually. Find an article by clicking the tag cloud below, or selecting a category, doing a search (see magnifying glass below on the right), or just scroll down to see the articles in chronological order.
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A blizzard of plates
No two Grimsby swap meets are the same. Each journey always leaves something unique by which I remember it. There was 2009, when a...
Nov 2, 2018
Valley Forge 2018: Part 3 of 3
One thing I learned about Philadelphia is that it’s bigger than the map makes it seem, and it takes a longer time to get to different...
Jul 27, 2018
Valley Forge 2018: Part 2 of 3
I awoke at about 7:30. It was Thursday, the second day of the ALPCA Convention in Valley Forge. The room service breakfast——that I had...
Jul 22, 2018
Valley Forge 2018: Part 1 of 3
The 2018 ALPCA Convention at Valley Forge was my tenth since joining the club in 1995. It was quite a different experience than the...
Jul 17, 2018
Amigos in Acton
I always know it’s been a great #Acton trip when I spend a week recovering before I have the energy to write about what a great trip it...
May 6, 2018
Ottawa Dine-N-Swap
A third Ontario swap meet in December? Is that what we have here? Well, it sure looks like it. Over the past few years, my collecting pal...
Dec 30, 2017
Collectin' one plate at a time
I was waiting at the curb with my overnight bag and a small cardboard box. My skinny house stood warmly behind me, its light shining out...
Oct 29, 2017
Acton up
My trip to #Acton this year was a little abbreviated. I always hope to rise early on the Saturday and take my time checking out junk...
May 4, 2017
Who's Who Roast Beast Feast
For the past few years, a little informal gathering in Ottawa has been picking up steam. Originally started on a whim by Dave Grant, it...
Dec 28, 2016
The family Grimsby
The times, they are a-changing… especially in Ontario, for a small group of close-knit people who band together every six months to...
Oct 31, 2016
Auction in Acton
If it feels good, do it. And if it works well, do it again. That was the theme for this year’s #Acton journey. Last year, before the...
Apr 30, 2016
The Grimsby shuffle
Raring to go. That’s how I’ve been this fall. The Jays are in the postseason, the weather has been halfway warm, and I’d been looking...
Oct 24, 2015
Acton 2015
The winter of 2014-15, unbelievably, was even colder than the year before. It took a lot of mental energy to cope, but we’re finally...
Apr 28, 2015
G-R-I-M-S-B-Y spells relief
I’ve got it figured out. That is: Why the fall plate meet in #Grimsby feels different from the spring meet in Acton. I was e-mailing a...
Oct 28, 2014
Rochester 2014
THE MONDAY Five years in the making: The waiting since I attended my previous ALPCA Convention. 17 years in the making: The complete...
Jul 21, 2014
Acton in the arena
#Acton in the spring… the trees are still bare. The snow is gone. The sun is out (usually). The air is cool. And the plates? Don’t get me...
May 5, 2014
Long time coming
Grimsby 2013 was a long-awaited event that was a year-and-a-half in the making—for me, anyway. You may wonder: How can an annual event be...
Oct 29, 2013
½ Acton
Spring is here—it’s a beautiful sunny day, the windows are open, birds are singing, leaves are sprouting, and I’m leaving to get my ’71...
May 7, 2013
These magic moments
For the past couple of years, when Eric and I have gone to the Acton swap meet together, we’ve planned out a unique route and left early...
May 19, 2012
You had to be there
I made the six-hour drive from home to the Niagara region on the last Friday in October. Not for the wine, and not for the fruit, but for...
Nov 4, 2011
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