12:39 p.m. - 2004-01-03
Big Chill
Sorry for not writing you last night, dear diary. Truth was I was just plain tired, physically beat. Started out first thing, the host on the radio as it came on - current temperature -27 C/-19 F, good morning to you too. I rolled over and went back to sleep thinking that a short nap would mean a better start when things warmed up. Not. Since I'd cut my prep time to 15 minutes I was trying to dress for the cold outside and the heat inside in our unventilated building on the fly. Layers were the most logical choice. The transit vehicles were mostly empty - would you go in to work on a day like this if you didn't need too - meaning no extra body heat either. Every time the doors opened there was another inrush of bitter arctic air. The body used up a lot of energy just trying to not freeze on the three walks in between home and bus, bus to train, and train to office.
Started working through the data on my desk and started to feel a bit sheepish for feeling sorry for myself. Why? One report from out of the north part of Alberta. Reason for delay in starting work in the morning? Temperature -44 C/F not counting the wind chill factor. They had to thaw their oil before they could get their machines running because it had all frozen overnight. BRRRRRRRR. They work outside and there was no change in their plans to continue, after that minor inconvenience was dealt with. Ok, so I'm a wimp.
Spent most of the day shifting several banks of records to make room for boxes of new material. Those movable banks have six levels and run about 50 ft in length. The highest shelf required me to have my arms fully extended over my head to reach the records that I had to move. Part of the day I had help from the university student who comes in sometimes. She stands so that her head comes to the bottom of the top shelf. Tall, pretty and articulate to boot she is - hard not to wish I looked like that. We chatted about a lot of things as we worked. The intricacies of the industry, her schooling, astrology, families - that sort of thing. She commented on how good my upper body strength was when I was pulling the records off the top shelf as we moved things. I just responded it came from years of yoga as well as the fact that I had to be able to outwrestle all my young men. I was just kidding but I'm not sure she realized that. I didn't need to outwrestle any of them - just outsmarted or outmanouevered them when it was necessary. Well sometimes, they're pretty sharp cookies themselves.
At lunch the other contract askd me if I'd go back to Chinatown with her. She needed to pick up some more gifts for some of her friends in Mexico. Go to Chinatown - ask for Caine. He wasn't anywhere in sight yesterday. Too smart to be out in weather like that. It had warmed up to -20 C but the wind chill made it feel like - 30 C. Still warmer than the morning so we felt comfortable walking about. She found what she wanted and then we stopped for a bowl of wonton soup and discussed our feelings about our work environment. Venting is useful when it makes you fell less isolated, as long as one does'nt get into bashing other workers. We didn't, much, but we are both finding the conditions we have to deal with daily very frustrating. It's hard to be given a responsibility and then find that every time you try to follow through your efforts are blocked by those around you. She said she's literally counting down the hours to when she leaves on her holiday as the only way she can make herself go into work each day. Me - I look at my bank statement and know I haven't much choice either. Still it's better than the last time I was on assignment in the company a year ago, guess small improvements are better than none. Right?
Bitterly cold when I left at the end of the day - the wind factor was brutal. Don't even want to guess what the temperature was then. Got home, fed the cats and my son and crawled into bed after watching the news. Fire in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan destroyed the old part of the city and threatened the historic tunnels where Al Capone had carried out some of his boot-legging activities. Good to know it was hot someplace else I guess. Not. The firemen there couldn't even use their breathing equipment because of the intense cold from the arctic winds there. I guess I'd better quit belly aching about a little chill here and start being thankful for a warm home and a quiet weekend. I am.
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