01:00 - 02.02.07
reflections
The adventure began as soon as the radio went off this morning. The DJ was talking about an accident involving the train and a pedestrian. Those are usually pretty messy. The announcer went on to say that the incident had occurred right in the downtown core and that train service, therefore, was shut down for the whole length of the core route. Depending on whether the switches that allow the trains to enter downtown were activated or not, it could mean walking a considerable distance from the last train platform before the downtown to get to the connector bus that takes me to my son's home. Started getting ready, but listened intently, trying to decide whether to catch my usual bus or not. The 6 am news seemed to indicate it wouldn't be a good idea. If it had been a warmer day I would have opted to walk because I enjoy such things, but at what had been forecast to be a -30 C with the wind chill journey, I decided to wait it out for a bit longer. Phoned to let my daughter-in-law know what my plans were. Did I just want to stay home today then? No. I would come as soon as it was certain I could safely do so.
The news had also confirmed what I had read just after I posted to you last night dear diary. The publication date for the final Harry Potter book - July 21 this year. Something to look forward to anyway on a very chilly winter morning. Continued dressing, fed the cats and then heard the rest of the train story. The pedestrian had been pulled out from under the train and was suffering only bumps and bruises. One of the announcers joked that that person should go out and buy some lottery tickets. Indeed. Seems to me they'd already won that in a very real sense of the word. The odd thing was that there was no further reporting on the incident past the morning commute. If my son's boss hadn't heard it too, I might have thought I had dreamed it. Just odd.
I caught the local bus about half an hour after my usual time. The trains were still moving very slowly, but at least they were beign allowed to travel into the downtown by the time our bus reached the train platform. As you can guess, the backlog of commuters meant our train was jammed even before it left our station - the first on our line. The upside was that the amount of body heat generated by such close quarters made the outside temperature a moot point. One really ignorant male was belittling someone near the doors who wasn't moving the way he wanted them to. The only thing that works when transit is tied up is patience. All the mouthing off in the world isn't going to get one where they want to go any faster. I was sitting with three other women and we all just rolled ours eyes being thankful we weren't anywhere near the jerk.
It was so hot inside the car that I started to sweat. I felt almost claustrophobic - something that isn't usually an issue for me. Paid for that when we finally did make it into downtown, of course. The bus stop for the commuter bus is quite exposed to the elements; that icy wind was blowing steadily. I started to cool off very rapidly and then the freeze set in. It wouldn't have been so bad, except that the buses downtown were also delayed as a result of the earlier accident. Standing out in the cold with about 15 other people for over 20 minutes was the result. When the bus arrived, the driver called to us to hurry - no doubt, since he was in shirtsleeves. He was also quite late, I think, and wanted to catch upto his scheduled stops. Fair enough. He was new to me and expressed surprise when I rang to have him stop at my final stop. You're getting off here??? The handsome male across from me also was looking quizzical. Nice company, but my grand-daughter is waiting for me, you know.
By the time I arrived at my son's door, I was spiking quite a fever. The intense cold seemed to have cryogenically killed all the germs in my nose and throat. Chased them all the way down into my bronchioles, didn't it. Oh well. A goodly amount of snow had fallen overnight, so my son did a quick shovel of his walkway then headed off for the day. My granddaughter and I played and sang songs. She was much more active today and was feeling assertive too. She grabbed the hairbrush from my hand, when I tried to comb her hair, and attempted that task herself. Did not a bad job - she is so clever. Ditto for feeding herself pablum. She felt she was fully capable of feeding herself, thank you very much. In that case Mr Carpet was getting more than she did, and the task was very quickly returned to grandma's hands. After all, I don't want my son and daughter-in-law thinking I don't care about their things do I? By the afternoon the fever I had finally subsided, but the nasty hacking cough didn't. Bleagh. Oh well, just another day in paradise. At least I'm not homeless. I felt really badly about those who were out on the streets trying to find a warm corner for themselves. Despite some of the less empathetic people in this city, I don't think anyone would readily choose homelessness at this time of the year.
Arrived home at the end of the day to find that Elections Canada had put some money in my account. Probably storage fees for the nearly one third of my home that is filled with their stuff. An income tax receipt from them and the tax assessment for my home as well. The value of it has gone up considerably, but the tax levy itself was down - by about $8. Better down than up though. Tax season - the other big chill. An announcement in my email that the former head of Elections Canada is now going to be working with one of the international agencies that monitors elections. Hopefully they'll keep an eye on his treatment of staff for that group. It's bad enough to live in a dictatorship without having someone from a democratic and privileged society like ours abusing international labour standards as well. Who knows - maybe he'll change, now that he's experienced a bit of what it's like to be in that position. Funny thing; that email was addressed to all the previous Returning Officers - even the one who resigned a few weeks ago. Wonder what's up with that. Maybe that high profile person I posted about last night - the one who didn't know she had been dismissed until she heard it through the media, just as we did - threatening a wrongful dismissal suit against her department is giving Elections Canada pause too; times 100+ staff. On second thought I think I won't waste my time speculating. Dreams under the full moon are much more enjoyable and productive aren't they. Good night dear diary.
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