Well my big summer of major distractions is coming to an end. It was a beautiful summer, lots of hot days and sunshine for many weeks on end, but it didn’t really turn out the way I expected on a couple of fronts.
First, our house didn’t sell. We had the paperwork all signed and we were busy ignoring our household maintenance jobs because the house was going to get bulldozed anyway – why waste the time and money to paint? The City of Abbotsford was in the process of making new rules for increasing density in old neighbourhoods like ours – while we were shopping for mansions and laughing off our chores – rules that would ban townhouses which is what our house was going to be replaced with. The bright spot in this failure is that the new rules permit smaller lots, and now our lot can be subdivided into three properties instead of two. At half a million per lot, we still could laugh away our work and shop for gaudy homes, but that is not happening any time soon.
The next failure was the test I was supposed to write. The test is overseen by a body that certifies Water Operators, and they have decided, in their holy wisdom, that I don’t qualify to be a Water Operator. In so doing, I have wasted hours and hours studying that could have been used doing something interesting or productive. The dominoes that fall in this chain reaction are that I don’t get hired full time at the City of Surrey, as the test is a prerequisite to being hired. In turn they have to hire someone else, who in all probability will be some 22 year old who won’t know a water meter from an avocado but will have seniority over me and will one day be my boss. It also means I continue getting older and nearer my retirement without a pension, which is the main perk of this job. The people who denied me my test also withheld some of my money when they refunded me after they denied my application, as if the other problems weren’t enough joy. Yes, this has me rather upset from several angles. Surrey has appealed their decision, so it might not be over yet. Still, my partner at work is retiring in five days, so I still might be beaten in the race to become the next person hired in my department.
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This summer was also frustrating watching the news from the Big Circus down south. Trump infuriates me daily. He is a pig of a human, with no decency, compassion or diplomacy. He has lied so many times about so many things that he often lies about other lies he has told and contradicts himself frequently. But my main frustration with him is his portrayal of Canada as being something other than a loyal ally. He has put tariffs on steel and aluminum for national security reasons. Really? We declared war on Japan before they did after Pearl Harbor. He says the US can’t allow Chapter 19 in the NAFTA deal, which allows Canada to challenge them if they break the deal, because it interferes with their sovereignty. However, they can insist that we do away with our supply management system without seeing it as interfering with our sovereignty. They have already indicated that they intend to rig the new NAFTA deal in their favour, without any compromises. Is that bargaining in good faith? Absolutely not! It’s like trading hockey cards with the schoolyard bully and hoping to get a fair shake. He says Canada has been ripping off the US for decades because the old deal was so unfair to them. Really? Actually, in 1994, the first year the original free trade deal went into effect, Canada’s gross domestic product went down. Then, because we loved the deal so much, we voted out the Progressive Conservative party that negotiated it, dropping them from 169 seats and a majority government to 2 (!) seats, and virtually destroyed the party which had been in Canada since Sir John A McDonald. These are sure signs we’re not ripping you off. That first deal was so bad for Canada that I offered to bet anyone that, in time, Brian Mulroney would be shown to be an American agent, as no one faithfully negotiating on our behalf would have come back with such a dud. No one would take the bet. The original deal said the US had access to our water “in all naturally occurring forms,” a clause I sincerely hope we do away with this time. Since that deal, they haven’t come to take our water, but it came close. The story I heard is one year (2002?) there was a drought in the US Midwest and the farms were drying up. The US Army Corps of Engineers came north with the intention of making a pipeline from Great Slave Lake to the American heartland, and there was nothing we could’ve done about it. Luckily, it got raining again and the whole thing blew over, so to speak.
Anyways, that was my pent up rant from two months or so of not writing anything. Trump is facing his day of reckoning soon, so I shouldn’t let him get me crazy. All the other stuff is temporary too. Onward to fall and the wedding!