trying to help

Well now, that was my first mistake LOL. Trying to help. Anyway I have to face up to the fact that my oldest kid is 36 this week. I heard a rumour he was going to quit his job but he might have been trolling his roommates.

Hopefully, a shop this morning, we are definitely OUT of things and I have no realemon for iced tea. Let’s see if Jeff’s thinking along similar lines.

27093 words. Still not back to Toronto, what do I have to do to make that happen? OH YES I SHOULD WRITE but will I. Very much enjoyed Dark Winds and Westworld yesterday.

Funniest thing happened when I was waiting for the taxi to go to Paul’s (Katie drove me home because she needed to do an errand and needed to leave Ryker (who made strange at me for the first time yesterday YAY DEVELOPMENTAL MILESTONES boo Grandma feels) in the car for a second); a hummingbird attacked every species of bird on the street neeeeYOW nnnneeeeeYOW buzzing them continuously until they flew away to get some peace. Hummingbirds be feisty.

challenges

Off to Paul’s this morning (later… after a negative RAT), sometime, to help him with various things; 26861 words, burritos for supper last night but they were really terrible so we don’t know whether we’re ordering from there again, and this morning hopefully we have a Dark Winds and a Westworld.

Received word from Jan that Jim’s in hospital in Victoria. He’s doing better that he was when they choppered him down there, that’s for sure, but no further details were authorized and we are ALL of course quite concerned for him.  Jan’s with him. All skill to the hands of his doctors, all love and patience to him and his family.

Absolutely fucking hideous breakdown of what’s known about BA.5, the latest variant of concern.

And more.

And more. But I can’t find the link. You’re safe for now.

My mood right now is pretty dark. I’m trying to keep myself right side up with a reminder that I’m not responsible for the happiness of other people, and only responsible for controlling my own reaction to people and events.

I’m going to start treating July 4 as the International Day of Mourning for failing Democratic States, and Canada’s looking like one.

must have been a mighty fine town-o

The bear went out on a summer’s day
He prayed the cops would stay away
For he’d many a goose to crunch away
Before he’d leave the town o town o town o
He’d many a goose to crunch away before he’d leave the town o

Juvenile bear in Central Park in Burnaby, in front of MASSES of horrified witnesses, ran down a gosling, stomped it and ate it.

People who drive around Burnaby LOOKING UP AT THE NORTH SHORE MOUNTAINS keep asking a very jejune question WHERE DO THE BEARS COME FROM and it’s look up, ya dimwit.

26862 words on totally boned.

Walked three circuits in Hilda Park with Paul yesterday. I’ll be going over to his place tomorrow to help him with some phone calls.

the saanich bank robbers were stochastic terrorism standard issue white guys

I was going to call it on twitter and thought THEIR POOR PARENTS. I’m glad I had the sense and decency to restrain myself even if that’s where they likely learned it. I hope the lads enjoyed their brief moment of liberatory violence.
And congrats you dead guys, you just made it inevitable that the taxpayers of Saanich will hear the police say, “Open your wallets and repeat after me, Help Yourself!” when it comes to better training for … er … terroristic right wing assaults. They’ll all have to go to Hawaii for training (or some such venue), and come back even bigger dicks than when they left. After all Victoria is a provincial capital of a G8 country, it should have a world class terrerizm response team, correct?
I can hear my auntie Mary cackling; who knows why, she’s not here, but I do hear things occasionally.

HUNG OUT

It was an absolutely lovely afternoon to early evening. I took Smokey the guitar and ate the lovely barbecue/charcuterie/fresh veggie plate that Cindy made and hung out with two of her neighbours and her oldest kid Jasper. Everything was delicious and we sat out on the deck and enjoyed the PERFECT WEATHER.

I am so blessed among my friends. There was a tiny bit of filking in there too.

And now my aching body is demanding painkillers and the last of my meds for the day.

a remarkable corporate emission

added later: Jacobin article about just how shitty Air Canada and other airlines have been to their employees.

THIS IS A LETTER FROM AIR CANADA TO ITS CUSTOMERS FROM THE END OF JUNE 2022

My comments in red 

At Air Canada, we know how important travel plans are. This is even more the case today when many are taking their first trip in years following the pandemic. Whether for long-anticipated vacations, visits with relatives and friends, or for business, we are grateful and recognize our responsibility when people like you entrust your travel to our airline.

is this an apology? this sounds like an apology

Regrettably, things are not business as usual in our industry globally, there is no shit here, whatsoever, Sherlock, to be sampled or detected, and this is affecting our operations and our ability to serve you with our normal standards of care. Sample previous tagline “Air Canada, we’re not happy til you’re not.” The COVID-19 pandemic brought the world air transport system to a halt in early 2020. Now, after more than two years, global travel is resurgent, and people are returning to flying at a rate never seen in our industry. BECAUSE LIKE THE IRRESPONSIBLE SHITHEELS RUNNING PUBLIC HEALTH ACROSS THE GLOBE THEY’RE OF THE BELIEF WE CAN GO BACK TO JAMMING OURSELVES IN PRESSURIZED INFECTIOUS DISEASE CONTAINERS AMONG PEOPLE WHO ARE RICH ENOUGH TO TRAVEL AND YET SOMEHOW HAVE DECIDED THAT THE MICROBIAL WORLD HAS NO IMPACT ON US. Wait until the flight where Monkeypox, Cholera, giardia, COVID, and hemorrhagic fever all come out to play. you’ll be shitting through the roots of your eyebrow hair and praying for sweet death

This surge in travel has created unprecedented and unforeseen strains on all aspects of the global aviation system. I’m so worried about the baggage retrieval system at Heathrow I mean, have you seen it? bags ERRYWHERE. same like hundreds of other airports. Around the world, there are recurring incidents of flight delays and airport congestion, resulting from a complex array of persistent factors impacting airlines and our partners in the aviation ecosystem. He’s not wrong and that’s an interesting way of putting it. But governments ERRYWHERE dropped the mask mandate and he doesn’t fucking mention that. Similar effects are being seen in other industries too, where companies and suppliers are struggling to restart, unclog supply chains and meet pent-up demand. Sadly, the fact that airports are pest holes means that the people who WORK THERE GET COVID, AND PEOPLE WHO GET COVID aren’t supposed to work – but they do – and at the same time are really encouraged by the company not to stay home, which means we get the maximal mixing of variants in airports while not knowing who’s infectious while mask mandates drop, a less than ideal situation for both travellers and staff.

At Air Canada, we anticipated many of these factors and began taking tangible action during the depth of the pandemic to be ready for a rapid restart. Yet, despite detailed and careful planning, the largest and fastest scale of hiring in our history, while basically telling those people they weren’t getting a raise, better benefits, better working conditions or better management, so that they were returning to work after two years of income stoppage to a stagnant paycheque while housing, fuel and food prices soar so maybe a little less use of the self congratulatory language bub as well as investments in aircraft and equipment, it is now clear that Air Canada’s operations too have been disrupted by the industry’s complex and unavoidable challenges. It’s the other guys what done it and we could keep busting ass but something terrible/interesting/black swan happened. This whole shivaree of shit corresponded to the fucking Russians booting fuel costs through the troposphere so they’re now going to make a virtue of necessity, sacrifice the employees ONCE-A-FUCKING-GAIN. YOU WILL NOTE that none of these ‘challenges’ mentions that the people who just got hired back will in large numbers be laid off again while the chaos and kinks work their way through the system. Sadly for Air Canada, a lot of people are just going to say fuck it and not come back to the company when the economy comes back, and I see many very troubling signs in the economy that it won’t be coming back at all, not for anyone who doesn’t have at least 50 million dollars’ worth of insulation, including real property, not fucking NFTs. The result has been flight cancellations and customer service shortfalls on our part that we would never have intended for our customers or for our employees, and for which we sincerely apologize.

In response, we took a number of important steps, including introducing flexible ticket policies, new travel self-management tools, improvements to airport operations, as well adjustments to our schedule – all to strengthen operational resiliency and to give customers more options. However, to bring about the level of operational stability we need, with reluctance, we are now making meaningful reductions to our schedule in July and August in order to reduce passenger volumes and flows to a level we believe the air transport system can accommodate. Yikes

This was not an easy decision, as it will result in additional flight cancellations that will have a negative impact on some customers. But doing this in advance allows affected customers to take time to make other arrangements in an orderly manner, rather than have their travel disrupted shortly before or during their journey, with few alternatives available. It will also enable us to more reliably serve all customers. If you say so, I’m staying out of the expensive disease canisters for the time being.

I can assure you Air Canada is also working in close cooperation with airports, government, and its third-party service providers, who all are striving to return our industry to pre-pandemic standards of operation. One awkward shift in the China Sea, maybe a dustup between China and US vessels, or a full scale attack on Taiwan when ‘none are looking’; one small nuke in Europe as Putin’s fury is unleashed, and the global travel industry will collapse as the banks who’ve loaned money to the airlines start calling those loans when their cash flows collapse. Pre pandemic is GONE. it has to be understood. It’s gone and it’s not coming back. Things are operating at zero bone.

We are convinced these changes will bring about the improvements we have targeted. But to set expectations, it should also be understood the real benefits of this action will take time and be felt only gradually as the industry regains the reliability and robustness it had attained prior to the pandemic. You mean you’re finally looking further ahead than this quarter? AMAZEBALLS. Too late chuckles.

On behalf of all of us at Air Canada, please accept my sincere apologies for any disruption you have experienced or may experience with your travel plans during this unprecedented period. I also assure you that we very clearly see the challenges at hand, that we are taking action, and that we are confident we have the strategy to address them. This is our company’s chief focus at every level.

Thank you for your patience and understanding. We certainly look forward to future opportunities to serve you and regain your loyalty at a time when we can better demonstrate our commitment to taking good care of customers such as yourself.

Sincerely,

Michael Rousseau
President and Chief Executive Officer

Air Canada

further comments

This is the correction, happening right in front of us. They say it’s just for the summer, but if they can PLAN TO do that in the high season, there’s nothing stopping them from doing it the rest of the year.

anyway, I’ve said it before. I’m not flying anywhere unless minimal conditions are met, including I fly first class, I don’t pay for it, carbon offset sufficient to cover is purchased and I don’t have to come back for at least two weeks. OR it’s not a jet flight and regional. Or it’s a helicopter. Or air ambulance. Anyway, it’s time to book that train ride I’ve always dreamed of; maybe a year out.

 

I don’t know their names

Fifty three dead migrants in a truck on the wolf’s mouth highway; dying of heat prostration in an airless container for a better life is a refinement of cruelty.  Six hundred have died making the perilous crossing from North Africa to Greece and Italy from Tunisia and Libya so far in 2022.

Now think about what happens when those fifty one are fifty one thousand. When six hundred are six hundred thousand.  Nothing will stem the tide of migrants, alive and dead. Between autocratic governments forcing people to starve rather than express their rights and climate change drying up water for even an inadequate life, people will migrate. Technologies will be made available for food, for light, for water, for shelter, but here’s the thing; the gap between what is possible and what gets done is going to be monitored and posited and funded and ideologically supported by and profited on by previously existing academics, disaster scammers, politicians and wealthy families. The best solutions will be stick handled out of the way at the top; we’ll be taxed like beasts to support solutions that actively make things worse and then be blamed for having supported it (however involuntarily) when things go wrong.

It’s why it’s imperative to think about local solutions for problems. No-one’s going to save us; there will be a million photo ops and no help, like Doug Ford everywhere all the time. Something weird is happening inside my brain. Maybe it’s the chocolate. Maybe I’m angry enough to feel really vengeful, but in a new way.

Maybe I’ll go back to write. I have a little bubble of energy left I think. And something else happened today that’s knocked me down, and I don’t want to feel this way, I want to shoulder it off.

 

 

First 2 eps of “Only Murders in the Building” were funny, VERY FUNNY in spots and embarrassing (as in I THREW MY BLANKET OVER MY HEAD IN AN AUTISTIC ATTEMPT TO SPARE MYSELF THE EMBARRASSMENT) anyway, quite witty and in retrospect pretty damned funny, oi the bleedin’ parrot.

R. Kelly American singer, songwriter, record producer, and convicted sex offender got 30 years in jail for raping and otherwise sexually abusing women, mostly minors. I don’t support the existence of the carceral state and believe he should have been forced to give everything down to his shoelaces away to his victims now and anything in future so he gets ten percent or a living wage, enough to keep a car running, and they get everything else and otherwise he’d be allowed to walk free. Jail just makes money for asshole white investors and asshole food service companies and asshole jailers. It’s no place even for a rapist.

I read to my amusement that ‘this here haunted doll for only 60 bucks can be yours because THE LAST BUYER BACKED OUT what no reason did I tell you this doll is haunted’ is for sale. Still, what a bargoon.

I think one of my favourite things about the Slash/Back script is how Canadian it was. It was cadenced completely differently than an American movie. Anyway.

Just in case you think I’ve gone off the deep end, a return to my normal levels of lunacy. I couldn’t find attribution.

KISS FM IN SOME KIND OF PUBLICITY STUNT or possibly because of angry fired people is playing RATM’s Killing in the Name of NON STOP and a) it’s a supremely kick ass tune and b) if it’s not a publicity stunt it’s an interesting choice of tune. anyway, this is six hours and a bit now they’ve been doing this. I think it’s very funny either way. oh well I HAVE NOW BEEN LISTENING FOR MOST OF AN HOUR if this is a publicity stunt I don’t get it and they’re going to collect a CRTC fine for this.

 

pix

Jarmo and Susana have sent pictures from a trip to Finland, and they are wonderful and extremely solstice-y, (drumming for solstice) but I don’t have permission to post, so I won’t.

Left a message for mOm indicating I sent her another 850 words; current count is 25,151. Our lads are stuck in MIA and Richie has reappeared, having done some sleuthing in a part of the airport he shouldn’t have visited. Omar has since been despatched for provisions from the food court.

I’ve got a load of laundry on. Lunch, probably in a couple of hours, will be pork chomps, leftover broccoli and cole slaw, and some form of starch. Either that or I’ll make pork fried rice, sort of depends what Jeff wants.

sad reminder

Ten years ago or thereabouts Lois and Bob lost their child Kaitlin to suicide, and I’m holding those two and her brother Jesse in my thoughts today. Keith attended the memorial service for us all. Please reach out to your friends and family even if you think they’re doing okay. Young women right now especially are really feeling the news quite personally and may be feeling desperate or unheard. The most attentive family may miss signs; it’s part of the grief and self-doubt that follows this terrible event, that we’ll ask ourselves what we could do, what we could have done. Sometimes we don’t get that conversation.

I am really lucky that when I’ve been right on the ground with depression my family and friends have rallied around me. We’re all different and need different things. I want to believe that I’ll reach out to my friends and let them know how much I love and appreciate them. Kaitlin was a vibrant, lovely human being, and she has stepped into eternity, and we remember her.

I have not forgotten

I haven’t forgotten about Roe vs. Wade being struck down.

I don’t share Jeff’s optimism about and relish in anticipation of the downfall of Clarence Thomas.

I’m unmoved by the revelation that were it not for Trump’s secret service agents telling him that the situation at the Capitol would not allow him to be conveyed there, he would have stood in front of a very well armed crowd, a crowd for whom he had previously turned off the magnetometers for his speech at the Ellipse, and turned them loose on downtown Washington, probably starting a bloody insurrection that would have gone on for days while the world watched in horror. We all knew what he was capable of, from the fountain of bilious spite that seems to be the only motivating factor, besides a nearly impervious vanity, in his personal arsenal.

I will be moved when I learn what Putin had on him. I likely never will, but the body language doesn’t lie.

I haven’t forgotten about Putin, pressing the ‘you don’t know if this is the day I nuke London’ button over and over again through the mouthpieces of those still depraved, meretricious and sycophantic enough to sit upright and talk under tv lights. I haven’t forgotten about the dead in a shopping mall, the shore boats with small cannons that are coming from one country, the shoulder mounted rockets from another, the three D printed field tourniquets (they’ve already saved lives and the Russians are stealing them, theirs are shit) from private citizens; the pencils and markers and paper for schoolkids. The Ukrainian forces are exhausted. Wave after wave of Siberian kids who may not even have indoor plumbing at home are being thrown at what are now some of the fiercest house to house fighters, kilo for kilo, in the world, but they’re tired and sometimes the reservists who’ve been called up are fighting kids young enough to be their grandchildren. In fact before the war is over I’m expecting to find a grandson and a grandchild face to face in this conflict. The Russians too are sending 50 year old reservists into battle. It’s a shit war. He ran through his youngest tropps too fast, through his autocratic contempt for them in his scheme for glory. It is NOT ‘the brother’s war’ and to call it a civil war would be to stomp on Ukraine’s self-determination and to feed yourself lies about Russia’s territorial demands. But it is a war between people who know each other, the direct consequence of the longings for Empire restored in Putin’s policies, and the fucking oligarchs who either ran away when shit got hard or followed him hoping for a payday.

I haven’t forgotten that the convoyancers are restarting their national tour. Lich has been rearrested for as far as anyone feels comfortable reporting, breach of bail conditions. Stay off social media? LOL. Unless you’re impounding her phone and serving public notice to the telecom companies that she can’t have another one for the duration, bes’ uv Bri’ish luck wi’ ‘at. Senior members of parliament (the Conservative side of the house be scuffing their loafers and avoiding comment) have warned Canadians not to become complacent about abortion rights; stuff that happens in the US can happen here and we’re fools not to pay attention.

I haven’t forgotten about my grandsons, who thrive, or my children who appear to be doing satisfactorily. Nor about my wide skein of acquaintances, family members and friends who suffer from cancer, or loneliness, or depression, or lack of work, or excess of work, but mostly from the terrible grinding dailiness of the bad news, when they’re supposed to be holding down ‘all that’ a household, a family, a routine, two squares a day, gardening, maintaining family and social contacts, navigating the minefield of contemporary politics.

I haven’t forgotten about how all of the pleasures I enjoy are balanced on a knife edge. But the landlord just came for the next three months’ cheques, so I doubt we’ll be going anywhere until September, and that has settled my mind just a small tad. Thank you to the founders of that particular feast.