2:18 PM - 19.10.04
Stories and Legends
I had errands to run today. Dug out my boots and winter gear again. Bleagh. My feet hate having to wear shoes again and they're protesting big time. In the summer months I can get away with a soft soled runner that feels barely there. In winter one must have treads and traction if one doesn't want to spend that time in a cast. Already seen a few of those and we've only had three days of icy weather.
Headed for the Post Office first thing. I wanted to courier my keys and security cards from the last assignment to my supervisor. I waited until I had confirmation from him that he didn't need them for a replacement worker from the data management firm, but the liaison didn't want a replacement. I meant to do the mailing yesterday, but was very distracted by the loss of my "SENT" email - still am for that matter. The young woman at the outlet recognized me from all the election posting I do, so my task was made quick, easy and less expensive with her suggestions. When I tried to check the tracking service online tonight that was another story though. Each time I tried to log on to Canada Post's site my web browser was shut down. There was a story in the newspaper today that indicated that the US government's decision to route all mail through one single plant in Vancouver was causing major problems with respect to delivery. Apparently there are over 150,000 pieces of mail waiting to clear customs in that one plant and this isn't even pre-Christmas season yet. Add in the potential of a strike in the next few days and we could find ourselves with zero delivery options. Great timing.
Got to the bus stop with even a few minutes to spare. I was heading downtown to have lunch with my sister's sister in law. The one who had been making her living as an astrologer in California for the past 15 years or so. We had agreed to meet in front of the IMAX theater here, since it is a place that she knows well and that isn't so busy that we might miss each other. Got off the train at the courthouse stop. Only most of the courthouse is missing - there is just a massive hole in the ground. For decades Calgary residents have had to travel between about five downtown buildings to access judicial services. Some court proceedings are now being held in portables, because even that space isn't enough to accommodate all the activity. The original court house was shut down because of severe contamination in the ventilation system - not surprising since it was built around the turn of the last century. When judges start getting violently ill they don't fool around. Other government workers weren't so lucky, but eventually even the drones weren't allowed to stay in the building for more than 2 hours at a time - the case for litigation against the Province for unsafe work conditions was iron clad. Some of the evidence rooms in the newer Court of Queens Bench also had to be sealed - with the evidence contained therein sealed in too because of what was found growing on them. That has caused major problems for anyone requiring access to that evidence - including documents with respect to divorce proceedings, child custody cases and other life altering processes. Don't know when that's supposed to be resolved, but it's already been about six months since I first heard about it.
Anyway walked past the construction crews, alongside Knox United Church, past Tim Hortons and the Y then over to Eau Claire Market to get to the theater. Arrived on the dot. We decided to go to "The Olde Barley Mill" just outside and over a bit. Usually the place is jammed and reservations are necessary, but it was cold and icy and it wasn't payday. Not that that was an issue for either of us, since we're both unemployed at the moment. This is one of the few restaurants in Calgary that still has a smoking section, so we were ushered up a steep set of turn of the century wooden stairs to the non-smoking section. The joke was that it was a test - most smokers couldn't make it up those stairs because of their habit. Being a Barley Mill meant that the sister was offered several samples of house brew so she could determine which best suited her palate. Me - I had coffee. Lunch was crab, mushrooms, brie and asparagus cooked into soup in a Guinness broth. Och aye, laddie. Followed by mango shrimp spring rolls for the sister and miniature yorkshire pudding stuffed with shaved beef au jus for me. We asked for the recipes, because everything was delicious, but were told they were secrets. I make really good yorkshire pudding myself, but I've never tried stuffing them - guess I'll try it out on my guys next family dinner though.
We started lunch at 11:30 in the am and finally left the restaurant at 2:30 still talking non-stop. Topics? Well, it started out with the sister wanting to get the real scoop on the political landscape both provincially and federally from me. It is really rare to find someone who understands that what is read in mainstream media bears little resemblance to what goes on behind the scenes in the real halls of power. Her questions showed that she had a really good understanding of the "shadows" as she called them. Being a therapist of the Jungian perspective that is how she described the phenomenon. I started explaining what I had witnessed or experienced both as a volunteer over 2 decades being forced to interact with said shadow on social justice issues locally and globally, as well as what I have seen in the corporate world and the federal bureaucracy. I was illustrating my observations with stories of incidents that had happened to or witnessed by me since the 70's. It is really rare to find anyone who will not only listen, but ask for even more detail. Most citizens are fearful of "rocking the boat" even when they are being pushed out of the vessel with nothing but a lifejacket - if they're lucky. It isn't usual to hear any form of approval for my social activism work - not even from family or friends. I usually don't discuss it for that reason. The sister wanted to know who in the city would still be active in those realms and so I gave her names and contact information. The university law faculty, the human rights research center, the NGOs like Amnesty International and such. Nice to find a kindred soul anywhere in this city. While we were talking, a lot of the "shadow" stories I have about dealing with or going up against entrenched power structures in this province came out and it became a catharsis for me in a way too.
When we left the restaurant, she joined me for a walk along the river pathway. She was mentioning that she really had been upset, because she had missed seeing some of the wildlife in the Northwestern States while she was travelling through them. I explained that the wildlife from the Rockie Mountains still used our river valley for a wildlife corridor and a bevy of quail waddled by just as we discussing the phenomenon. Last week two moose calfs were wandering through two different suburbs - one just a couple of communities away from my home. Bears, elk, coyotes, and cougars are also known to travel in the outskirts - schools are locked down with cougar sightings, but everything else is fair game - pun intended. We headed across the bridge into one of the trendy boutique and antique shopping areas, so I could finish my other errand for the day. The hawthorne berries I promised to the master herbalist were picked on Friday, just before the snow started coming down. I wanted to be certain he had them while they were as fresh as possible. The women at reception were impressed with the amount and the quality of the harvest - they can help a lot of sick people with the tincture they produce and that is all I was hoping for. Nice way to end the afternoon altogether.
The sister and I headed back into the downtown and went our separate ways on the trains. Got back into the community at about 4:30 PM and headed straight home. I don't know if it was the walking on the icy pathways or perching on the bar stools or just the tension that took me over as I was telling the sister my stories, but every inch of me from my toes to my hips ached and was cramping up with spasms. I recalled that it was almost exactly one year since I fell and tore all the muscles in my hip, so it could have had something to do with that too I guess. The body remembers things that the mind forgets. Had a nap, then talked with the one worker who I made friends with during this past election. Her daughter had been admitted to the hospital last Friday with what appeared to be female problems but the medical personnel couldn't seem to find out exactly what the problem was. I explained to my friend about the problems I'd had with ovarian cysts and told her stories about other women who had encountered the same thing with the doctors saying they couldn't determine the cause. Cysts can be very dangerous if they rupture - like mine did when I was 19 - and that age group is the one most affected by the problem. We discussed the fact that, even after decades of work, that women's health issues were still dismissed or ignored - this being a case in point. I gave her the name of the doctor who had really helped me a couple of times. Whether she chooses to use him for a second opinion or not doesn't matter - at least though it gives her daughter some other options rather than being told it's all in her head.
She asked about my work situation and I explained about the missing e-mail and some of the other incidents from tha past few days. She asked if I trusted my supervisor and I said yes, but that he was to overloaded with his own work to be able to deal with the issues I had had to cope with the past while. I said I thought he just hadn't realized how badly things were going. She commented that it seemed that I really didn't trust anyone much and I said no, that experience had taught me that the only person I could rely on in the end was myself. I also noted I didn't expect my supervisor to take responsibility for what happens in my life, but that I wasn't able to accept the working conditions I was being asked to cope with either.
Next up she started asking me about the people who had been elected yesterday - what did I know about the politics there. Next couple of hours was spent explaining the political landscape that had evolved over the past quarter of a century here. There was a story in the news today about the police being brought in to investigate what looked like a clear cut case of vote tampering and elector fraud one Ward over. I told her about the security problems we had had to deal with behind the scenes in the Federal Election and said it didn't surprise me at all. That generated some more stories that tied in with the stories I had told the sister earlier. More catharsis and an audience who really wanted to know the truth. Two really good conversations in one day. Best I've encountered in a long time.
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