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Wakes and Bus Strikes
So, I just got home from a wake. One of our neighbours and good family friend's father died yesterday. He was quite old, 92, and was still living at home, so he had a good life. It was also nice to see (even if it meant we were there a long time) the number of people that showed up. It took us 40 minutes of standing in line before we even made it to the room with the casket. Of course, me being the crier that I am, started to tear up when we got to him, even though I've never met the man before.
It's nice to know that so many people are there for you and your family though.
In completely different news, Ottawa, the city where I live is currently experiencing a very long lasting strike of it's transit workers. The bus drivers and mechanics went on strike before Christmas and it's been 40+ days since we've had buses in this city. I'm lucky enough to have a car, and so far I haven't been impacted too much (my commute is a bit longer) but many of my Ottawa friends rely on public transit. This strike has been particularly ill timed for a couple reasons, but I must say, doing this during the winter is so hard. Especially this year since for the past month we're lucky to have any day warmer than -15, and are more likely at -25. That is fucking cold weather to be walking in. There's this one guy (guy? girl? alien in disguise?) that I pass on my way to work everyday who's been biking into work, and he's so bundled up that not an inch of skin is showing. He's got the full ski mask and even goggles for protection against the cold, not to mention snow pants, jacket and gloves so thick I'm surprised they can grip the handlebars.
It's very frustrating for everyone involved, and neither side is really willing to budge on the matter. And while I actually support the city in their stance (our city's budget is already too full. We're not getting even our basic services, like snow removal, filled half the time and they've had to put through a lot of tax increases to prevent a major deficit. Also, the Unions main sticking point is that the city wants to take away some of their control over scheduling since they've been abusing the current system to the tune of millions of dollars) I still think it is high time that this strike came to an end.
And all of this is background information, so I could show you this video, of a man singing about the strike:
For anyone who's interested, here's a video of the leader of the union, he's also public enemy number one right now, you can see why.
It's nice to know that so many people are there for you and your family though.
In completely different news, Ottawa, the city where I live is currently experiencing a very long lasting strike of it's transit workers. The bus drivers and mechanics went on strike before Christmas and it's been 40+ days since we've had buses in this city. I'm lucky enough to have a car, and so far I haven't been impacted too much (my commute is a bit longer) but many of my Ottawa friends rely on public transit. This strike has been particularly ill timed for a couple reasons, but I must say, doing this during the winter is so hard. Especially this year since for the past month we're lucky to have any day warmer than -15, and are more likely at -25. That is fucking cold weather to be walking in. There's this one guy (guy? girl? alien in disguise?) that I pass on my way to work everyday who's been biking into work, and he's so bundled up that not an inch of skin is showing. He's got the full ski mask and even goggles for protection against the cold, not to mention snow pants, jacket and gloves so thick I'm surprised they can grip the handlebars.
It's very frustrating for everyone involved, and neither side is really willing to budge on the matter. And while I actually support the city in their stance (our city's budget is already too full. We're not getting even our basic services, like snow removal, filled half the time and they've had to put through a lot of tax increases to prevent a major deficit. Also, the Unions main sticking point is that the city wants to take away some of their control over scheduling since they've been abusing the current system to the tune of millions of dollars) I still think it is high time that this strike came to an end.
And all of this is background information, so I could show you this video, of a man singing about the strike:
For anyone who's interested, here's a video of the leader of the union, he's also public enemy number one right now, you can see why.