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Those of you who are still sporting poppies on your lapels or car windows this morning are being seen by some as serious violators of poppy protocol.

The fact is, you can display a poppy in solidarity with our war veterans and current combatants at any time. Who knew?

Most of us, me included, always believed that one properly wears a poppy from the last Friday in October until 11:11 a.m. on Nov. 11, which is, indeed, the tradition. So it always grates on some to see poppies worn or displayed well before, or after, those times.

Thanks to a little edjucatin' by the Royal Canadian Legion and Veterans' Affairs Canada, however, we learn that tradition and protocol are two different things.

For example, many people believe it is proper to remove their poppy and place it on the cenotaph after Nov. 11 services. Not so! However, the practice is catching on across the Metro Moncton area and, while the idea behind it is touching and honourable indeed, one wonders who gets to clean up the hundreds of wind-blown poppies after the ceremonies.

The most pressing unanswered question when it comes to wearing poppies is how to keep them from falling off. Don Cherry thought he had a great idea on Saturday night when he appeared during his regular Hockey Night in Canada segment with a decorative, commemorative pin in place of the traditional black centre to his poppy. Too bad for Coach Grapes that replacing the centre of your poppy with a pin, no matter if the pin boasts a Nov. 11 theme, is just about the most serious breach of poppy protocol you can do.

I long ago gave up trying to bend the traditional poppy pin to get it to stay on my coat, or punching it through the material four or five times in a bid to get it to stay put. Instead, nowadays I just go out and get more poppies, as it's another opportunity to contribute to the poppy fund and their great works.

***

A lot of people arched their eyebrows at the sight in the T&T last week of a 30-foot-long, (about 10 metres) two-tonne shark that was hauled onto the Alma wharf last week after the poor thing became tangled in fishing gear.

Few people realize that the Bay of Fundy is home to a variety of sharks, including the basking shark which was hauled ashore at Alma, the second-biggest shark species on the planet.

No doubt recreational fishermen are drooling at the thought of doing battle with a creature of that magnitude.

Little do they know that anyone can do exactly that. Most New Brunswickers think of sharks as fish that live down south somewhere, or maybe in Australia, yet there's a good population of them right at our doorstep.

If the thrill of having a half-ton (or more) of fishy fury on the end of your line appeals to you, contact Sharks Unlimited in Alma at 1-506-851-5168 or 1-506-384-1999 for the catch-and-release experience of a lifetime.

These shark-fishing expeditions are catching on fast with extreme fishermen, so it's never too soon to book your trip.

***

It's a source of quiet pride among Canadians who watch foreign news reports in which pundits wondering how Canada's banking system has largely escaped the current economic malaise that has struck most of the world's financial institutions.

The experts say it's because strict banking regulations in this country prevented our banks from getting into the same kind of trouble in which so many other countries' banks are now wallowing.

These would be the same banks who, only a couple of years ago, were preparing to greet measures to partially eliminate much of those regulations, an idea hatched by the federal government.

Funny how quickly times change; nary a word about antiquated regulations governing Canada's financial system now!

* City Views appears daily, written by various members of our staff. James Foster is editor-at-large. His column appears every Wednesday.