00:20 - 26.07.06
tropic of Cancer
There were rolling blackouts in the city during the supper hour yesterday. Stern denials that this was anything like the ones created in California by Enron. Yes but then why were five power generating plants shut down during a peak draw period? The one company that participated in the California blackouts, and was named as co-respondent in that price gouging case, had a detailed description of how they created the "outages" and how they multiplied the effects in one of their own employee publications. That technique was created and refined in British Columbia - our sister province - and then tested out in our province just after our provincial government deregulated power supplies here. I think the resulting rise in power rates to consumers was somewhere in the range of 200%. I could be off there given it has been over a year since I last had access to that data.
Last night it rained at some point, but that didn't seem to cool off the atmosphere too much. Today there were four lightning strikes almost simultaneously on four homes in three different communities during thunderstorms that also did little to cool things down. I had to be certain I had finished some errands out of the house by Wednesday, so had been watching for the coolest part of the week when the businesses I needed to visit would be open too. This morning was the best option I had. Glad I didn't wait for any other time given the weird weather today. Even with the rain, by the time I reached just outside of downtown at about 9 in the am, the smog was so thick it was hard to see through to the other side of the city. The temperature was such already that even though my hair was still damp from my morning shower, I was still sweating before I finished the first errand. Part of the reason was the distance I had to walk once I left the train station. About a mile or two I guess - not that far - but on a major artery just north of the downtown with very little in the way of shade along the way. I was picking up those tickets for number three son's birthday gift and the folk festival, being a non-profit organization, has very modest accommodations in an out of the way corner in an old run down strip mall that isn't near any bus route. I actually enjoyed the walk in a weird way.
The reason for no shade is that there used to be a hospital taking up most of the space in between the station and that mall. It was blown up by our esteemed Provincial government not long after they took power under our current premier, and included destroying the trees and greenery that surrounded the site into the bargain. That despite the fact that our city just reached the 1 million mark today population-wise;yet our public health needs have been under served with respect to hospital beds even since that demolition over a decade ago. That same provincial government that renovated one of the other publicly funded hospitals to bring it up to state of the art heart care using taxpayer dollars and then sold it for a song to one of their supporters who now runs a private for-profit operation out of it. The same government that took yet another one of the other remaining public hospitals, renovated it with tax payer funds and sold it to another one of their supporters for a private for-profit site. Uh huh. No wonder a fork is the lapel pin that symbolizes supporters of our premier. Oh, and that land that the blown up hospital sat on was provided to the city for a hospital site in perpetuity by the federal government over a hundred years ago. Well, developer friends of that same premier have been given the go ahead to put in high density housing on that fee simple, publicly owned land, that will bring them a very tidy profit indeed.
Last week a woman waited in the emergency room for care in one of the remaining public hospitals for five hours, while she was miscarrying. None of the staff would help her, so she lost that baby while about 40 or 50 strangers were watching her agony in a very public place. That is one of the more dramatic instances of how well the average Albertan here is benefitting from that vaunted "Alberta Advantage" the provincial government keeps boasting about. That while two public schools had to be shut down last year, because the damage to their roofs was so great that they were in imminent danger of collapsing. That while there are billions of dollars of maintenance needed on public schools all around the province. How would you like your child working around live electrical wires hanging from the ceiling in one of the autmotive classrooms, for example. That while schools are so crowded that some sessions are being conducted in the janitor's office for want of any other space. So walking through that now partially developed-into-condos space where once stood a public hospital was like sticking one's tongue in the space left in one's jaw where a tooth has just been pulled. Hmmmmm. The walking and the errand took about an hour and a half. I was starting to sunburn again, because I hadn't thought about needing sunscreen. Mea culpa. Stopped in at the bank, then the grocery store then headed home for the day. All done by about noon.
I had been feeling pretty cranky yesterday after another news item I watched at suppertime. Remember that "prize" I had thought I had won. Well yes, of course. The reason the person wouldn't give me a complete description, according to the newscast, was that it is a sham. Another company that tries to sell time shares illegally. Apparently they are due in court on multiple charges in the fall, but in response to those charges the owners simply changed the name of the company and continued on with their game of deception. That so-called prize had boosted my spirits considerably more than I had realized, given the month that has passed trying to find a job. The resulting crash landing was a little hard to take. I suppose finding out now is better done sooner than later, but I needed something positive to keep moving forward. Guess I'll just have to dig a little deeper in my own psyche, eh?
I really shouldn't be complaining any way. There was another news story about the gouging going on for renters in this city with the rapid growth we've had this past year. There were also a couple of news items about employers now advertising in some of the other provinces trying to lure workers to move here while not telling them about the cost of living that will make it impossible to find any type of accommodations let alone cover the bills for basic necessities. One gentleman from one of the other provinces noted that a mid-level earner there could still find a way to save up for a hobby farm, for example. Here one can't even qualify for a starter home any more. At least my let down was for a luxury item I had projected in my own mind, not a necessity. And when I started thinking about it, I realized that I had a lot to be thankful for anyway. My health is almost normal again - I only used my inhaler once today despite the heavy smog - I have managed to pay my bills and still buy food, as well as help out a couple of my sons just by using the income I earned very carefully and I haven't been a burden on anyone in the process. Yes, I am living on credit and I hate being in debt, but at least I am looking after myself without costing society anything. Isn't that what we are told we are expected to do as good citizens? Whatever.
�
�
