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Formerly the BACK BUMPER
Collecting Ontario licence plates for 42 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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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
Twofer one
The annual Acton swap meet has usually been held during the third weekend in April, but for this year, its ninth, the date was changed to...
May 12, 2011
Grim pickings
The annual Tinchaser’s license plate swap meet in Grimsby is basically the event that marks the putting of my hobby to bed for the...
Nov 2, 2010
Plates and parenting in Acton
This year, I brought my daughter to the Acton swap meet— a compromise to avoid leaving my wife at home with a nursing infant as well as...
Apr 25, 2010
Destination super
October is a wonderful month because it brings three important occasions—Thanksgiving, Halloween, and the annual Tinchasers’ Plate Meet....
Oct 29, 2009
Old antiques a man alone can entertain
I was stoked, stoked, stoked to go to Acton this year. I had about the busiest winter of plate collecting ever, having bought three big...
Apr 26, 2009
Christmas Swap
I went out to dinner at a local bar and grill the other night, and a swap meet broke out (a fight almost broke out over in the bar area,...
Dec 25, 2008
Grim Reaper (the Grimsby debut)
This year, the fall Tinchasers’ license plate swap meet changed locations slightly, from St. Catharines to nearby #Grimsby, about 20 km...
Oct 31, 2008
Crap we like
Eric and I rolled into the Acton Arena parking lot early this year… possibly too early, given that it was 7:15. We wanted to have our...
Apr 25, 2008
Beginner's luck
I have come to the conclusion that I’m not just a plate collector, but I’m nuts, obsessive, even passionate about my hobby. Why else...
Oct 28, 2007
Acton and Actinolite
I made it to this year’s Acton swap meet, having missed the 2006 edition because of an imminently-arriving baby. The baby did arrive, and...
Apr 29, 2007
Red-eye plategeeking
The 4th annual St. Catharines Tinchasers swap meet was my destination this past weekend. For weeks, I had been planning the trip and...
Nov 2, 2006
Acton or rust
Acton 2005 featured some rare Ontario plates, such as a '21 dealer and a set of '39 doctors... and a never-before-seen 1932 IEC plate.
Apr 23, 2005
Church-Smell
This year, the St. Catharines swap meet was held on a Saturday, much to my delight. Sunday isn’t always doable for me, but Saturday is...
Nov 23, 2004
Providence Gold
#Providence is a fitting name for the location of ALPCA’s 50th annual #convention. Providence, taken from the dictionary, means “luck...
Jul 28, 2004
A piece of the Acton
I think I’m going to make an annual point of descending upon Acton with my fellow collectors, for as long as springtime swap meets are...
Apr 21, 2004
Tucson ALPCA Convention, 2003
The 49th ALPCA International Convention was held in Tucson, Arizona. I decided to attend this one, having missed my chance the previous...
Aug 17, 2003
Action in Acton (the debut)
Back in December 2002, I was pleasantly surprised to find out about a license plate swap meet in Acton, Ontario, the following April. The...
May 6, 2003
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