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02:10 - 05.02.08
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A provincial election was called today. No surprise really though, hints and trial balloons have been floating around for a few months. One of my sisters' husbands was at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon last week where the current Premier of the province was the keynote speaker. The media all reported it as the informal launch of the campaigning; billboards going up around the city another giveaway. Polling date is March 3rd, just before that Pluto opposition to Mars. Hmmmm. Recounts anyone?

I finally shovelled the snow off my walk today. I should have done it a week ago, but the bitter cold, coupled with the exercise out in it, might have closed down my lungs. My Dad said that he didn't check the temperature last Monday - the coldest day of the cold snap - before going out to shovel his walk. He said he couldn't catch his breath for the next three hours nor could he speak. He had to have quantities of soup to bring himself back to comfort level. He doesn't usually have any problems with his lungs, so I think I might have been toast if I had tried. That said, there was a story run on the weekend news about residents in a condo complex whose mail delivery had been suspended by Canada Post, because the tenants hadn't shovelled their walkways. Decided I had better make certain I didn't suffer the same fate. The snow on the ground now is the light, powdery kind. Because it has been so profoundly cold, there has been no thaw that would have meant ice forming within the snow pack. The snow had only been compacted on a regular basis by my youngest and my journeys out on our work or interview schedules last week. Meant that blocks (think igloos) of it broke off as I slipped the blade of the shovel along the edge, making it relatively easy to clear off the sidewalk.

Around the dinner hour I tried to open my south facing balcony doors so I could take out some trash. Today's relative warmth and 9.5 hours of sunlight had caused some melting to begin against those doors, freezing them shut. The extreme cold last week has also warped the outer door so that it doesn't sit in the frame properly anymore. A gap of about a quarter of an inch/.6 cm was the result. I had wondered why I felt so cold the past few nights despite it being much warmer than in the early part of last week - there was the answer. I finally poured some hot water on the outer track, melting that layer of ice briefly. Enough so the door slid open easily anyway. Made certain to dry the entire area so not to find myself in a worse spot next time I need to go out back. One way to ensure the windows are cleaned. I do have some antifreeze sitting in the house, so I might try that to keep the door mobile. Have to be careful not to work with it when the cats are around though - it is poisonous for pets.

I watched the last movie, "Water", my oldest son had left for me. As I had guessed in my post to you yesterday, exclusion and exploitation were central to the story. The theme is applicable in any society though, including our own. In this case, the unexpected plight of the women/girls is precipitated by the deaths of their husbands - something over which they have no control. Neither the spouse's family nor their family of origin will allow them to remain with them. "Widows are to burn with their husbands". The laws of India forbade that by Gandhi's time - when the story was occurring - so the women become another layer of de facto pariahs, forced to ensure their shadows don't fall on any other person and unable to mingle in any way that would allow them to work, even if work was available for them. The only way the group can survive is to sell their bodies to the highest ranking caste of men, who apparently are not "defiled" by the shadows of these women. In some ways the entire society imposes the exclusion and exploitation, because it is the "right and privilege" of those few males at the expense and to the destruction of the women they prey upon, given their society refuses those women any other choice except death. Some do choose that during the course of the film.

No different that what our society does to those living in poverty, really. When so many of the people who are homeless here have jobs, but still can't afford to rent or buy a home they find themselves in terribly vulnerable circumstances that their employers seem to have no conscience about. Can't get workers at a low enough wage? Well our provincial government has a deal for you. They'll import people from third world countries to fill the gap. Even let some of their best friends set up government-funded agencies to pick the right height, size, colour, gender, and weight - kind of like the old slavery days, eh? Yes well, my blood pressure is starting to spike despite the stair climbing, belly dance session, as well as the epsom salts I soaked in after working out tonight. Ms Snowy was in the blissed position, watching me intently as I danced. She loves joining in with me sometimes. Maybe in one of her past (9) lives she was a dancer in a temple and returns there in her meditative state as she watches. Or maybe she just thinks that someday I might come closer to being as graceful as she is naturally. That would be a goal worth achieving.

I'm still working through the reaction I had to Mehta's "Earth" movie and I think I need to watch it again before I write about it dear diary. I need to sleep on it some more. Good night for now.

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