I have done a fair amount of hitchhiking across Canada. In the past 15-16 years, there have been a few windy days where I found the wind annoying or even tiring, but usually the wind was restricted to a specific local. It may of been windy in Portage, but the time I got my next ride a few hours down the road, the wind would have died down. This year, perhaps because I had had only short rides, it felt as if the wind was far stronger than normal and that it was spread across the whole of the Prairies. Regardless of why I was so aware of the strong wind, it was annoying, tiring and made a mess of my hair. Normally my braided chin strap is enough to keep the hat on my head, but not this time - I frequently had to hold my hat down with my hand else the hat would lift up and the strap would choke me. However, the next day in the same general area, there were tornadoes so I guess I should be grateful that the wind was not any worse.
It was still very early in the morning just outside that small truck stop in Swift Current. My spot looked to be a good one in terms of the width of the shoulder and visibility but cars were going by too quickly. Once one eliminated the big trucks, local traffic (people going to work) and cars and trucks belonging to various local companies from the vehicles streaming past me, there were not a lot of options. But the business of hitchhiking is in part to be grateful for the possibilities, to take joy in the knowledge that the next ride will be the best ride ever. Hitchhiking is always about being grateful for the present circumstance and always looking forward to the next opportunity. So I stuck out my sign, held down my hat and slipped into the semi awake, not really conscious of how much time you are spending standing there mode and tried to remember to look at every vehicle as it passed me.
It takes a lot of energy to stay focused. It is so easy to stand on the side of the road and just let the cars move on past without any real awareness. If one believes that eye contact, or at least looking at the driver may be one of the ways to get a driver to slow down, then one has to work at it. To remind oneself to do it. Sometimes after an hour or two or three, I need to mentally kick myself as I realize that I have been lost in my thoughts, not paying attention to the task at hand. I always wonder if I have missed a drive or two because I was day dreaming or whatever it is that I do when I stand on the side of the road. In fact I almost missed my next ride because I not paying attention.
The truck stop was not a large one but it appeared to have a decent sized restaurant that looked to be fairly busy. The trucks that were coming and going from the parking lot were not at all interested in me, and the cars seemed to be driven mainly by local people stopping by for some gas or a coffee before they started their day. I eventually stopped paying a lot attention to the coming and goings of the parking lot. However, after standing there for a couple of hours, by sheer chance or the grace of the hitchhiking Gods, I looked at the parking lot and saw a young looking woman waving at me. I was not sure that she was actually waving to me but I saw her doing things that looked as if she was moving stuff around to make room in her van. I took the chance, grabbed my bag and hurried over to her.
Yes - she had been waving to me and she was going to Kolowna .
Friday, July 20, 2018
Monday, July 16, 2018
Missing Ontario But Not its Politics
There are, contrary to the opinion of almost everyone living in British Columbia, a number of negatives about not living in Ontario. I miss the seasons, I miss the lovely spring days and the cool, crisp smell of autumn. I miss the streams and rivers, the deep dark lakes and of course I miss the majestic maples not just for their colour in the fall but for their long burning heat in the depths of winter and their glorious shape. But right now I do not miss their politics. It is tempting to delight in the fact that I not have to get up every morning and read about the destructive force that is Doug Ford. On the surface, I don't need to think about him or his poorly thought out "policies" (it may become a 21st century oxymoron to use Doug Ford and policy in the same sentence). But the sad truth is that Ontario's policies do affect the rest of Canada - and so I do need to worry.
If one is a resident of Ontario, it is easy (and important) to get upset about his decision to do away with Ontario's new sex education outlines. It was, without a doubt in the forefront of such educational policies. It was designed to not only help students talk about difficult topics at age appropriate times, but it also was designed to encourage discussion as to what does consent means. It clearly was not perfect and it did offend a number of people who do not like or realize that we live in a society that generally accepts a broad diversity of gender preferences. But if parents and educators do their job properly, the damage in the short term may be negligible.
Mr. Ford's policies on climate change vs. saving money in the short term is another matter - one that not only will affect Ontarians for the foreseeable future, but could as well affect Canada's capacity to reduce our collective carbon footprint. It would appear that Ford, without ever saying it, is a denier of the truth about climate change. Not only has he vowed to cancel the carbon cap and trade system - that process that is designed to recognize that the release of carbon into the air does cost money to society - but he has also cancelled 758 renewable energy deals (Financial Post) - including developing new wind farms, eliminated all of the homeowners grants to upgrade their houses with better windows, heat pumps and solar panels and done away with rebates for those who buy electric cars. Wide sweeping changes that yes will save millions of dollars in the short term but will add billions of dollars on to the budget in the years to come. Ford has made these announcements without one suggestion of what he will do to replace these programs. His goal is to save money - for the taxpayers he says- but he has cost those same tax payers millions of dollars
Canada is already far behind in its promises to do its share to reduce humanity's carbon footprint. With Leaders such as Mr. Ford denying that they have any responsibility to become part of the solution, the gap between what we need to do, what we promised to do and what we will achieve will only get larger.
One of the great lessons that people like Mike Harris, or Stephen Harper taught the voters is that when populist conservative leaders make election promises - when they get elected they do what they say they will do. I wonder how many of those home owners who will now lose the government's support to replace their windows or air conditioners voted for Mr. Ford - assuming that when he said he would cut government spending - that he meant cut funding to programs that only affected other people
.
If one is a resident of Ontario, it is easy (and important) to get upset about his decision to do away with Ontario's new sex education outlines. It was, without a doubt in the forefront of such educational policies. It was designed to not only help students talk about difficult topics at age appropriate times, but it also was designed to encourage discussion as to what does consent means. It clearly was not perfect and it did offend a number of people who do not like or realize that we live in a society that generally accepts a broad diversity of gender preferences. But if parents and educators do their job properly, the damage in the short term may be negligible.
Mr. Ford's policies on climate change vs. saving money in the short term is another matter - one that not only will affect Ontarians for the foreseeable future, but could as well affect Canada's capacity to reduce our collective carbon footprint. It would appear that Ford, without ever saying it, is a denier of the truth about climate change. Not only has he vowed to cancel the carbon cap and trade system - that process that is designed to recognize that the release of carbon into the air does cost money to society - but he has also cancelled 758 renewable energy deals (Financial Post) - including developing new wind farms, eliminated all of the homeowners grants to upgrade their houses with better windows, heat pumps and solar panels and done away with rebates for those who buy electric cars. Wide sweeping changes that yes will save millions of dollars in the short term but will add billions of dollars on to the budget in the years to come. Ford has made these announcements without one suggestion of what he will do to replace these programs. His goal is to save money - for the taxpayers he says- but he has cost those same tax payers millions of dollars
Canada is already far behind in its promises to do its share to reduce humanity's carbon footprint. With Leaders such as Mr. Ford denying that they have any responsibility to become part of the solution, the gap between what we need to do, what we promised to do and what we will achieve will only get larger.
One of the great lessons that people like Mike Harris, or Stephen Harper taught the voters is that when populist conservative leaders make election promises - when they get elected they do what they say they will do. I wonder how many of those home owners who will now lose the government's support to replace their windows or air conditioners voted for Mr. Ford - assuming that when he said he would cut government spending - that he meant cut funding to programs that only affected other people
.
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