A New Chair

I bought a new chair this week. There is nothing extraordinary about that statement. Hundreds if not thousands of Canadians could, on any given week, say the same thing. The number of furniture stores in Duncan alone attest to the fact that a lot of people spend a lot of money buying furniture. So why is the statement that I bought a new chair worthy of an opening line?

I realized as I got home and was assembling my new chair that I had never ever bought a new chair. I would not want anyone to think that I have been sitting on the floor all of this years. In fact considering that I live alone, I probably have too many chairs. I have an old wooden office chair with arms that sits in front of my desk, a modern wheeled office chair to use when weaving or spinning, two dining room chairs, a padded folding chair I use to sit on when spinning at the market, three or four bar stools and a director's chair with my name on it that I have in my bedroom so I have somewhere to throw my clothes.

For years my reading chair was a lovey old wooden chair well padded with cushions. We had bought the chair at an auction with money that was earned by my former wife selling her first painting. I used that chair for probably 20 years. We had built  the couch and the love seat in the living room. My first major attempt at sewing had been when I made the love seat for that room and done all of the upholstery. All of the pieces looked fine for the times and were functional. In hindsight however, none of the furniture was super comfortable. When I sold the farm house the chair went to auction and I think I just left the couches there. They were really too heavy to move and I could not imagine anyone wanting to buy them.

When I moved to a one room apartment to be closer to the university, I bought a queen size futon. It was the first piece of new furniture that I had ever bought. For the next eleven years that futon served as my bed during the first year or so and as my couch for the rest of the time. It was, in my various apartments, the only piece of furniture with padding. It was my work station for teasing out the washed wool, a storage place for spun wool and when I badly hurt my back a few years back, the only place that I could comfortable sit. It was lumpy, the burgundy cover was faded and slightly stained, it was heavy and expensive to move (long distance movers charge by the pound) and I was tired of it. I sold it before I moved.

When I arrived in Duncan, my original intent was to buy an over-sized, super well padded couch and chair. I wanted something comfortable enough that I could wake up from my late afternoon nap without feeling as if my back had been twisted in two. There were lots of chairs and couches available on the various used furniture sites. I looked at a number of them. Some were the wrong colour, others were not comfortable enough and others were just to damn heavy to imagine ever moving them anywhere. But the real problem was that the ones that I envisioned as owning were just too big. I didn't need a seven foot couch and that in combination with a proportionately sized chair  would dominate my living room leaving little or no room for anything else.

So instead I bought from a really nice guy who also delivered it, a small,  reasonably padded love seat. It is a bit lower to the ground that I would have liked and of course I can't stretch out on it but it is comfortable enough to read or watch television on and equally important it fits into the room. It looks as if it belongs there. The next day I drove to Nanaimo and after some comparison shopping, bought a brand new, from a store, modern looking, pseudo leather, semi reclining chair with an ottoman. Again not what I thought I wanted but rather something that would fit well into the room and be functional. I think it will be just fine for reading and if I get bored there....I can move to the love seat. Imagine having a choice where to sit!

Alberta

I think it is human nature to at least think "I told you so". It may not be the most endearing quality about humans, but I suspect we have all taken some secret delight in knowing that we were right and someone else was wrong. For me, I can only hope that before I say it out loud, my better nature will overcome this natural temptation to prove that someone, somewhere should have listen to me.

I must confess for the past few weeks, I have had an almost overwhelming urge to tell Albertans that they should have been listening to me. For years, in countless cars driving across the prairies, my drivers and I have talked about the fact that in a resourced based economy one needs to maximize that government's revenue from that resource. More importantly, in such an economy the state cannot rely on those monies (i.e. oil royalties) as the primary revenue to fund programs. I also wrote about this issue in mid January of last year comparing in part the history of Norway and how it managed its oil revenue as compared to Alberta.

For the individuals and their families who are watching their over-valued housing lose equity and in some areas becoming unsalable, for those who gambled that the high wages (in spite of the high cost of living) would warrant re-location from another province, for those who built a life style based on commuting large distances (sometimes literally across the country) every two weeks and for those who invested their life savings in developing needed business and services, but who now need sell out at a loss - I can only imagine the frustration, anger and disappointment you must be feeling. To be caught up in a bust or boom cycle that is both beyond your control and your understanding is, at the very least, unfair. But it needs to be said -the crash was in part predictable and to some extent, the pain preventable.

 I really wish I had been wrong. With all of my heart I wish it were possible to live in Alberta and for there always be enough money to support people. I wish that there would always be great paying jobs. But all of the best wishes in the world can't change the reality. The crash in oil prices is well beyond the control of any Albertan There were  however, things that could have been done.

Albertans chose not to have a provincial sales tax. They consistently rejected any suggestion that they should pay taxes at the same rate as other Canadians do. While there are a myriad of reasons why last year the provincial Conservatives were voted out of power for the first time in decades, one of the reasons why there was such anger was that Jim Prentice, the Premier, suggested that people needed to pay more taxes (admittedly he did not say the same thing about oil companies). Quite simple one cannot run a government without everyone paying their share. To pretend otherwise is absurd and dangerous. It is also true, that if one lives in a resourced based province, one must bank large sums of money to deal for those times when the resource is either depleted or less valued. To do anything else contemns the people of that province to live on an endless economic roller coaster.

Canada is a federation of semi-autonomous states. For it to function well, all of those states need to be economically stable. For the past few decades it feels as if there has been a continuous imbalance between the West and central Canada. It feels as if there is some sort of secret rule that says when one is doing well, it means that the other cannot be doing as well. The resource sectors and the manufacturing sectors are compatible. We need, as a nation, to work together, to support each other, to cheer on or to commiserate each other. We need to be able to share the pain and to share the benefits of living together.

I would argue that one way of ensuring that was possible is to have unified resource management policies and a unified system of how much we all pay in taxes.

Syrian Refuges and the Cost of Travel

It came as a shock to me last week when I read that refuges have traditionally had to pay their own airfare when coming to Canada. This rule has been temporarily waived since the election of the Liberal government in terms of Syrian refuges. There are however, no indications that the government sees something intrinsically wrong with refuges being placed in debt even before they arrive.

By the very definition of a refuge, one should assume that these individual are not wealthy people, that they have lost everything and have a legitimate fear that if they remain where they are, their very lives are at risk.  Because they arrive with almost nothing in terms of personal possessions, because their only access to housing, to food, to education and to jobs comes through either the largess of the state or private groups, they need time and space to establish themselves. In fact the Canadian government recognizes that each refugee needs to be supported for a year before they can start to be self-sufficient. But we, the Canadian people who with such great fanfare and much slapping of our own backs when they arrive, start to charge them interest on the "loans" for airfare as soon as they arrive!

According the CBC only two other countries charge refuges for airfare and only Canada charges interest on that loan. Really? I find inconceivable that anyone, anywhere in the world would think this is okay. I am embarrassed that I live in the only country in the entire world that places such a burden upon those who we say we want to help.

We want (I assume) these new Canadians to feel like they have a shot of making it, that there is some sort of level playing field, that they have some control over their destiny. We need them (and their children) to understand that because of our belief in fair play, that we will do nothing to sabotage their potential success.  I think we are a long way from proving that.

There is some research that suggest that the rise of gangs that are comprised mainly of kids whose parents are immigrants/refuges is in part due to the fact that those children and young adults see their parents (sometimes qualified for jobs they can't apply for) struggling and not getting ahead. Certainly in Europe, links are being made between individuals who feel separate from/disenfranchised from their society and the rise in home grown terrorism. While these links may be tenuous, we need to ensure that as a society we empower people to be in charge of their lives, not make them feel like they are already in debt before they buy their first piece of fruit or loaf of bread.

We need to help people get out of debt - not to ensure that they are in debt from their very first breath of Canadian air.

Come on Canada - we can do better than this.

Final Move

The last three or so weeks have be strange to say the least. In spite of the fact that I had lots of works to do, a warm place to sleep and grandchildren to play with, I have felt somewhat disconnected to the world around me. I don't yet feel as if I belong anywhere. Part of that disconnection was because my possessions took so long to get here. I spent almost a month living out of a suitcase at either my daughter's or my son's house. I appreciate their generosity and openness but what I really wanted to do was to sleep in my own bed. It was an unusual feeling to get up at my son's house, walk to my new place and working. I did that almost every day.

I dislike painting. I am not very good at it and I find the whole business boring. Perhaps if I were more interested in it, I would find the act of colouring a wall more exciting and therefore do a better job.  I like the results - I just don't like the process. I did find a great paint store and in spite of the fact that good paint is really, really expensive - I got some good deals and some even better advice.  At the end of the two weeks, all of the rooms were done. I guess I am reasonably satisfied with the colour of the walls. I would like to say that the whole place is finished - but that would be untrue. There are a few more window mouldings to be done and most of the hallway still needs a coat. There are a few more shelves to be built in cupboards and or course, a book case needs to be designed and built. It was a tiring process. Some days I was done by 4:00 but on a few nights I stayed until 8:00 or so.  I never felt as if I had accomplished very much. My back was frequently sire from all of the bending and squatting.

I had rented a car for the first few days but it was expensive and not a particularly good use of my money. Having a car made it easier to shop for paint and the bits and pieces that I needed but I was not using it enough to warrant the cost. So for the next 10 days I walked everywhere. Walking to and from my new place, or downtown did take a fair amount of time but the walking give me a chance to become reacquainted with Duncan. Somewhat paradoxically, not having a car made it much harder to buy a car. Most car lots/dealerships are located away from the downtown core. Which I suppose makes sense in terms of the amount of space they require. But it meant that I had to walk a fair distance to see what was available. After considering a number of choices, I did buy a 2007 Hyundai Accent hatchback. I would have liked a slightly larger car but this one will suit my needs just fine. As I was struggling with the decision as to what to buy, I constantly reminded myself that one should consume what one needs - not what one wants. It is tough some days to practice what we preach.

"My" truck arrived exactly when I was told. The driver decided that he could not navigate the big truck through what in his mind were the far too narrow streets and sharp corners of the park. I think another driver would have tried but as he drives for a living - I was forced to trust his judgement. They had to rent a smaller truck from the local U-Haul folks and transfer the load. I was not happy about the extra cost.

I have spent the last five days un-packing. I have enough coat hangers to overwhelm a family of five, but I can't find my kitchen scissors. I have spent hours looking for cables for the stereo system and even more time looking for the bits and pieces required to make my computer work. There are still piles of boxes of books scattered about the place and my weaving room has become the holding tank for everything that I don't know what to do with. This place while it might be about the same size as my old apartment, has far less inside storage. I am having some trouble finding places to put away things that I think I need but don't use very often. To make things more complicated, I have no living room furniture - or rather I have lots of stuff for the living room but I am still looking for a couch and chair. It is hard to know where to put the bookshelves or the guitar stand or my grandmother's wicker trunk until I know what kind of furniture I am going to get. But I have my own bed, I have all of my music around me, access to a real telephone (as opposed to a cell phone), a computer with internet, Netflix to watch at night and all of my other stuff (even if I can't find it quickly or easily).

I guess I can declare that the move is finally done. It has been a long almost six months from the time I decided to buy something in Duncan until today. I think the cost and the hassle and the emotional and sometime physical pain has been worth it. But only time will tell.

Coming Home

I slept better on the train the last night than I had the two previous nights. My seat mate said the same thing. We wondered  if it was because we were so tired from not sleeping well the previous nights that we were able to ignore the discomfort and unusualness of sleeping sitting up. For me I think it was at least in part because we went to sleep a bit later - resisting the urge to sleep in exchange for more conversation and because when I woke up at 2:00AM I didn't try to go back to sleep - something that never works -but instead spent thirty minutes watching the ephemeral landscape drift by. I should know by now that if I am not tired - no matter how long I lay there with my eyes shut - I am not going to fall asleep.

There was more snow on the ground in Kamloops than we had seen anywhere else but it still was not nearly as much as I would have anticipated. It may have been my imagination but I think I did notice that with snow on the tracks the ride was quieter and it felt smoother.  The smoothness of the ride  somehow reminded me of riding a horse through the deep snow. By the time we left Kamloops we were only two hours and a bit late.

As the sun rose the next morning, I woke up my seat mate as we were passing through the last of the mountain ranges. Again the sun was shinning and the mountains looked really impressive. My seatmate went to the dome car for the last time. During the hour or so that he was gone, I packed up all of my stuff. It was so much easier doing so when I didn't have to clamber over his legs.  As I was moving back and forth between where I had stored my pack and my seat, I looked out the window. Somewhere west of Chilliwack we had left the snow behind and entered an area where everything was green, The grass looked luxurious, there were rows and rows of grape vines and it looked as if spring could be just be round the corner.

We got to the Vancouver train station just after 11:00, I said good bye to my seat mate, waited for thirty minutes to get my bag and was off to the Skytrain. The Skytrain was as good as always, I didn't get lost downtown, I didn't have to wait too long for the express bus and before long I was in the waiting room of the ferry terminal. The ferry ride was extraordinary in that it was very sunny and the mountains to the west were post card perfect with their gentle covering of snow. The only glitch in the crossing was when it appears as if the ferry was heading towards Crofton and had to slow down and turn north.

My son picked me up at the terminal and in less than an hour I was in Duncan.

It had been an interesting trip. I had talked to a few people, had some great conversations with my Chinese seat mate, managed to get some sleep, read a lot, listened to a lot of music, managed to stretch out my food with spending too much money, didn't get lost..... and now I was home...... ready to start a new phrase in my life.

Jasper

We were reasonably on time until we got near Saskatoon sometime around 11:00PM. We had to wait for three freight trains to go buy which took some time. Because it was so late (and dark), it took longer than normal to load the new passengers. Once that was done - the train moved twenty feet and stopped. The engine had apparently lost power and it took an hour or so to fix what ever the problem was, then we had to wait for another freight train to pass us by. By the next morning we were running four hours late.

It was a noisy night - whining kids, couples who were courting and people who were, like me, struggling to figure out how to sleep sitting up without infringing upon the space of the person beside them. It was no place to get a good night's sleep.

People who were leaving the train in Edmonton were up early getting ready. They clearly were not aware that the train was running late. Some of the kids had their coats on three hours early.  By the time they were getting ready to leave I was awake but I am not too sure if all of the other passengers were as pleased with the early morning chaos.

It is a bright clear morning , the frost on the trees suggested that it was cold outside. The train station in Edmonton is particularly uninspiring. I did not go outside for "fresh air".

While a number of people left the train at Edmonton, an equal number got on and the train remained crowded. The conductors did an admirable job of moving people around so that couples and families could be seated together.

Hours later the disembarkation and reloading scene happened again at Jasper. While it is normally an almost two hour layover at Jasper, we were only allowed 45 minutes. Which was fine for me. 45 minutes was enough time for me to run to the sub shop and pick up a veggie sub for supper.

During the day I seldom saw my seatmate. He was quite charmed by the Canadian countryside . He spent most of his time in the dome car taking pictures. I asked him at some point how many he had taken - he said well over a hundred. He was fortunate that coming into Jasper, it was bright and sunny. It was late in the afternoon and the sun touched the upper slopes of the mountains - making the whole range look quite magical. I was glad that he managed to get such great shots.

Once it was too dark to see and take pictures he would come back to his seat and we chatted until bedtime. If I had to have a seatmate - having one who spent much of his time in the dome car and who was a good conversationalist was the way to go.

On the Train Winter 2015

Leaving Sudbury this morning was much harder than I thought it would be. My daughter has driven me to the train station, to catch the train out west, a number of times. But on those other times - I was just going for a week or two, or at the most for eight weeks. This time it is for four and half months. This time, when I return to Ontario, it will be just for a visit. I must confess I was more than a bit choked up.

The train was of course a bit late. By the time the train pulled out of the Sudbury Junction station it was 6:30. I suppose for Via Rail being just over an hour  late after travelling from Toronto to Sudbury - a six hour drive by car - is not that bad. It could I suppose been much worse.

The train is surprisingly full. My memory of last Christmas when I travelled out west for a visit is that the cars felt half empty. I can remember at least one person who sat by himself in seats designed for four people. Today I think that there are relatively few empty seats. While I am sitting alone right now, I would think that I will not be  alone for the whole trip. While the company might be nice - it also means that I can't spread out as much as I would like.

The car, in spite of the fact that is more crowded than normal, is quieter than usual. There is a young family at the front of the car, but at least up to now the children are quiet. Other people seem to be sleeping. Across from me are two young guys who woke up an hour or so ago, went for a walk -perhaps to get a coffee - came back and seemed to have fallen asleep again. The seats in front of me and on the other side are each configured for a family group. It would appear that mom and her teenage daughter have one such four seat arrangement, and dad and son have the other. Again they have been very quiet either reading or sleeping.The only thing I know about the person behind me is that they have a bad cold and frequently cough. There are other people who are coughing in this car and I suspect that anyone who has not yet been exposed to this year's cold virus - will have ample opportunity to inhale more than the required volume of diseased droplets  to develop a cold.

4:45PM.
The train remains quiet. Much to my surprise it is on time.  I don't think we have had to pull over onto a siding to let a fright train go by more than twice. On both occasions we waited no more than ten minutes.  I mentioned my surprise on being on time to one of the VIA employees and they told me that the train had been on time on his last run too. Will wonders never cease!

I got out at Hornepayne. The sun was shining, which was a nice change from the grayness of the past few days, but it was rather cold - colder than I had experienced this year.  Within the last twelve hours it had snowed just enough to cover the barren and frozen earth and to lay a thick dusting on the bows of the tamarack and spruce trees. It made for a very pretty scene. I thought about walking up to the store but it was very slippery walking along the train tracks. There was nothing I really needed to buy that was worth falling for.

After the train started up again there was a bit of a magic show. The magician, who was getting free passage to do a couple of shows a day for both the economy class and the rich class was alright. Not wonderful (except for his steel ring tricks which were quite impressive), but it must be very hard to do tricks on a moving train with people within a foot of you. He was entertaining and if some of his tricks were a bit obvious - I think everyone who was there enjoyed it.

I am looking forward in some perverted fashion to sleeping tonight. I hope my body remembers how to sleep while folded up on a too small seat.