An open letter: Snow in Vancouver is actually a big deal.

OK, I know I’ve already lost some of you right from the headline. Or, you’re snorting to yourself in that ‘Okay, buddy, sure’ sort of way.

Before you get all ‘Canadian Winter’ on me, hear this: I do know a thing or two about snow.

I grew up in Kamloops, back when Kamloops got snow on the regular. The deep stuff, the cold days. And no, I never got a snow day from school.

I also spent a few years in Edmonton. Props to the people of central Alberta. You know how to do winter. My shovelling muscles were never so well developed. Alberta, I’m pretty sure, is where block heaters were invented. -40 temps AND mountains of snow… I’ve been there, and I ain’t never going back.

In summary, I know how to drive in it, I know how to shovel it, and I know how to bundle up against the cold.

And here, my final disclaimer: Unless I’m skiing on it, I have no use for snow. I hate the stuff. Looking pretty on the trees is not enough payoff, as far as I’m concerned, for all the work that’s involved in dealing with it.

Now, Vancouver. There are some things you need to know about Vancouverites before we talk about snow.

1.Of imported Vancouverites like me, I’m certain that most of us love it here because there’s only a small chance each year that we will get any hint of the white stuff. Bring on the 400mm of rain, I say. It, at least, has the decency to head for the drain as soon as it’s hit the ground. We Vancouverites like it between 17-22 degrees, with variable sun, cloud, or showers. And that’s how it is, most of the time. Bland, predictable, not too hot, not too cold.

2. Along with that, we like our transit options, we like our bike lanes (well, some of us), and we like having to mow our lawns, year-round. Whenever the words ‘Snow’ and ‘Vancouver’ are uttered in the same sentence, it’s usually because someone is making a joke, or rolling their eyes at the chaos that always ensues during a Vancouver Snow day (see video below for just a touch of that).

But the truth is (and this is a biggie)

3. Snow in Vancouver… isn’t snow (skip to 6. for the full explanation) Not like most Canadian’s know it, anyway. And Vancouverites don’t even receive it each year, which makes everyone extra-panicky when the snow shows up.

4. Obviously, many Vancouverites do create their own problems around snow. Many do not own snow shovels, far too many people think they can get away with all-season tires, or worse, and the locals think a credit card makes a good windshield ice scraper. This is still Canada, and that laissez-faire attitude is just stupid. And when Vancouver “snow” falls, those tires just don’t cut it, and having no shovel or salt for your sidewalk is just plain neglectful.

5. The City of Vancouver, as an entity, creates its own problems. It’s fleet of 49 salt/sand/plough trucks are, for whatever reason, are never quite ready to go on time, and they never quite manage to actually plough/sand the whole city, no matter how long the snow lasts. I can pretty much put money on the fact that my street will never. ever. see a plough or drive-by sanding.

But here’s the real deal: 

6. You see, the snow that falls out of the sky in Vancouver isn’t like the snow you get anywhere else. Our snow is a form of white Teflon.

And you are at its mercy.

There are those folks who just recently moved here from “somewhere else” with their pickup trucks and ‘Vancouverites don’t know how to drive in the snow’ attitudes.

These are the first people to be humbled.

I see you in the ditches. 
I see you spinning out on gentle slopes. 
I see you doing your paperwork on the sidewalk after you’ve just rear-ended someone because you figured you could stop in time. 
I even see you spinning your tires, just trying to get out of your parking spots. 
Because, sometimes, the snow is so slick, even good snow tires are made impotent by our special brand of wintery goo.

As evidenced by the recent viral video of downtown Montreal, where two buses, a commuter car, a police car and a tow truck all slid into one another, NOBODY knows “how to drive” in that kind of snow. That snow was out of the ordinary for Montreal. Here in Vancouver, that’s basically the only kind of snow we get.

sure, it looks pretty...BUT WHAT GOOD IS THAT TO ME?!

First, it falls slick as snot, causing initial commuter chaos. 

Then, it becomes slush within hours, clogging drains across the city. 

Then, if we’re lucky, it freezes, turning the entire city into an ice rink.

I’m going to go ahead and say that the majority of Vancouverites hate snow. My modest-sized house on my modest-sized lot—just like all my neighbours’—is worth millions. Surely, with all that expense, we shouldn’t have to deal with snow, too? Oh, the injustice.

The only real winners in Vancouver snow are the kids who head for any local hill they can find, using anything they can get their hands on, to do some sledding. Cardboard, plastic bags, crazy carpets, cut-up milk jugs… anything that could be perceivably used as a sled. And the payoff is big. Within just a couple of runs, the Teflon snow has condensed, and kids are setting land-speed records that would make Clark Griswold jealous. And snowmen? You’ve never seen packing snow like this. You can roll an entire field of snow into a single ball that won’t break apart (but don’t get too excited, that snowman will melt the same afternoon when it starts raining).

So the kids have fun with the snow, and that’s as it should be.

But the rest of us suffer.

We miss our walks on the beach, and we just want to get back to having clear sidewalks and roads. It’s hard to get to the marijuana dispensaries and Starbucks with all this muck underfoot.

So please, Canada, take pity on us, and thanks for listening.

VOTE YES!

I rarely get political/overly sweary here on my blog. I usually talk about family things. Babies, dogs, vacation time. But right now I’m terrified and annoyed about something happening in my region.

So I have to take pause to say this, in bold, curse-ridden caps: VOTE YES ON THE FUCKING TRANSLINK PLEBISCITE, HOLY SHIT, PLEASE, FOR THE SAKE OF ALL THAT IS GOOD AND SIMPLE TO UNDERSTAND.  

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) has been doing, unfortunately, a good job of making people believe that the requested funds will be mismanaged by Translink, and therefore, it’s all just a bad idea. Jason Bateman is an idiot. He just wants to win. I don’t think he genuinely cares about facts.

The naysayers seem to think that the expanse in transit options, if funding is approved, will only be good for Vancouverites (ie, me). While it will fund a new subway line for the Broadway corridor, it will expand options for folks living south of the Fraser River. Which is a damned good thing, cause guess what? A MILLION PEOPLE are expected to move into the region in the coming couple decades. A MILLION. In a highly populous country, maybe that’s just ‘another Wednesday’, but around here, that’s a big fuckin’ deal.  And guess what? Those people are going to work ALL OVER the Lower mainland. Including the Broadway corridor, by the way.

So that Broadway corridor, let’s just focus on it for a second.

Did you know that this relatively puny section of real estate has the second largest employee base IN THE ENTIRE PROVINCE? One little stretch of road, say around 10 km, is so jam packed with offices and places of business that it has more jobs and population than any other city or town in the region, save downtown Vancouver itself (which has plenty of transit options and a heck of a lot more space). Put that in your infographic generating machine and see what the visual looks like.  And what serves that corridor for transit currently?

The most unbelievably, armpit-smelly-crowded- together-with-strangers bus system, evah, basically.

500,000. What does this number represent? That’s not the number of riders that get ON the bus. That’s the number of people who get PASSED by a bus, every year, on the Broadway corridor, cause so fuckin’ many people want a goddamn ride to work! HALF A MILLION PISSED OFF COMMUTERS! That’s tant amount to, like, nine out of every  10 residents in Vancouver getting passed up for a bus ride. The B-line express bus route was jammed to capacity the day it launched, and that was in 1996. Almost 20 years later and it’s an exercise in frustration trying to catch a B-line during rush hour. Somewhere in the neighbourhood of 55,000 people ride that single B-line route every weekday. EVERY. DAY. That’s like most of the entire city of Vernon, say, lined up to catch a single bus route to and from work. It’s just goofy.

Enough about the Broadway corridor. My head hurts thinking about the stupidity of saying no to this project alone. Let’s move back out from the core of Vancouver.

If you say no to funding the strategy, you are saying no to a new Patullo bridge. I barely drive, and I barely ever cross that bridge. I HATE THAT BRIDGE. Disaster scenario nightmares run through my head every time I see it; cars tumbling into the water as the old relic sighs its last and buckles from the sheer boredom having to have stood there for so long.

If you vote no, you are saying no to MASSIVE improvements in bus service. New light rail for Surrey and Langley. More sea busses to the North shore. More trains on all the existing services, more community shuttles and handydarts for seniors and those living with disability. You are saying no to greener transportation and more bike routes.

“Yeah yeah yeah, but it’s gonna cost ME! The TAXPAYER!” Yeah, it will. Primarily cause awseome shit like this ISN'T FREE. But it's only going to cost, like, $125 bucks a YEAR. Seriously, per household, it has been costed out to something like 35 cents a day. For some, a struggle, I understand that. But for many, many people, I think you can handle the cost.  

If money is not your motivator, then how about social cost? How about some psychology? Do you want to be a less healthy, more miserable old shit than you already are, 10 years from now? This article suggests you will be, all because you’re too fuckin’ stubborn / short sighted to say ‘yes’ today to something that won’t show up for three, five, seven  years down the road. 

“By most measures, a “No” result in the plebiscite will make the average person poorer, sicker, less free, more frustrated and, yes, less happy”.

SOUNDS AWESOME! NOT!

You think someone else will fund this stuff if we don’t do it ourselves? Don’t kid yourselves. The province, as but one example, is WAY more interested in natural resource investment and infrastructure than this. Yeah, they’ll help hold the money for this project and distribute it if ‘yes’ wins (Listen to what Peter Ladner says about this on a CBC interview from March 16^th, ANOTHER reason to not bother listening to the  rhetoric about Translink mismanagement). But if ‘no’s wins, I doubt the province will want to spend a dime on the lower mainland.  They have their heads showed so far up their LNG asses they may never see daylight.

Unfortunately for them, this region is the economic engine of the province. Always has been, always will be, even with LNG money lining all our pockets! If the province wants to spend its money on resource development over the health and sustainability of the lower mainland, they should also remember that stat about how many people work on the Broadway corridor. A recent article shows that there are about 47,000 resource sector jobs in BC.  That means there are more people working in that 10 km stretch of Broadway than in the entire resource sector in B.C...

…OK, I’m getting sidetracked… point is, we NEED to make investments ourselves in our future of roads and bridges and transit, as it’s a very real possibility that no one else will.

I want to have options ten years from now for even further expansion, instead of looking back and saying ‘well, now we’re screwed. Sure wish we voted yes back in 2015. Now it’ll cost double just to get to the basics’.

I want my kids to grow up in a region that has the environment in mind.

I want my cycle into work to be safe and enjoyable, and I want others in the region to feel encouraged to ride, too.

I want to be able to think about using the Broadway corridor again, rather than avoiding it like the black-fuckin'-plague because it’s such a snarl the way it is now, for busses and drivers alike, and will only be moreso without changes.

So for these reasons, and more, I am voting YES.

I hope everyone else can look past the horrible, single-minded 'Translink sucks' focused smear campaign of the CTF, can look past the relatively paltry personal price tag, and can look far enough into the future to see a more enjoyable, stress-reduced commute to work.

The way things are, well, #THISSUCKYVR, and I want change. And you should too.

Just… vote yes. Yes? Yes. 

'Bees in my Bonnet' or 'Occupy Christmas'

I'll keep this short and sweet--and yes, I look fabulous in a Bonnet, for the record...

First, let’s talk Christmas. News flash: it’s not here yet. Universe, please stop sending me flyers. Give me a few more minutes to get past Hallowe’en, and for dang sure give me a moment to pause and reflect and give thanks on Remembrance Day before Santa starts putting his nose all up in my bizness.

Charities, stop sending me address labels, calendars, Christmas cards, envelope seal stickers and the like. You’re still welcome to send me pictures of sick and malnourished children with puppy dog eyes and pictures of sick and malnourished puppies with sad infant eyes, but please, stop wasting your money on goodies and gimmies. Yes, I have donated to a number of you. No, I didn’t expect any percentage of my donation would come back to me in the form of a gift bag and ballpoint pen. Please give my money to those kids with puppy dog eyes. I’ll buy a calendar from you if I feel like it.

Next, let’s talk Occupy. If you don’t know what that is, then I can only presume you live in a cave on Mars under a rock with your fingers in your ears and your eyes squeezed shut. I support the right to demonstrate, to exercise free speech and make your opinions known. What I don’t appreciate, however, is talking a lunch hour walk through my local Occupy site and being given the third degree on “what corporation do I work for?” and “what am I doing here?” questions from belligerent protesters who seem to think that they now own the city-owned, public-use land on which they are encamped. Yes, that happened yesterday. Colour me unimpressed. You want people to take you seriously? Stop talking to me like that and, absolutely and unequivocally, stop biting police. Stick to your key messages, work with authorities to make your valid right to protest go smoothly, and “stick it to the man” for as long as you like. I won’t get into the irony about the way-more-than-half-a-million-dollars that has been spent on the local protest, at the expense of the 99 per cent whom you are trying to represent. As a last comment on this, I hope cooler heads prevail if a Court injunction ordering your removal gets approved and another riot doesn’t get sparked.

Did I mention back in June how stupid I thought the Stanley Cup riot was? Bah.

Alright, that’s enough griping for now! I’ll be cheery once the Christmas spirit sets in. Not to worry—just have to get past November 11th first, Lest We Forget.

Voter Fatigue? Consider this.

The U.S. government approved armed drone patrols and--if necessary--attacks against Moammar Gadhafi's troops in Libya this week, while John McCain put out calls to give official recognition to the rebels in that country, who are most recently engaging in close-quarters battle in the streets of the Libyan city of Misrata.

French troops on Africa’s Ivory Coast managed to ferret out incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo from his presidential compound bunker In the weeks previous, where he encamped himself after refusing to accede to the internationally-recognized president Alassane Ouattara as leader of the nation. Concurrently, UN human rights investigators say they found more than 100 bodies in a mass grave that were indications of an ethnically motivated slaying.

And unless you were living in a cave on Mars, with your fingers in your ears, and your eyes squeezed shut, you should’ve noticed the massive citizen uprising and protests in Egypt this year, which led to Hozni Mubarak—the country’s ruler—being toppled after 30 years of power. It was not a task completed without violence.

Many Egyptians are now supporting Syrian protestors who are calling for President Bashar Assad to step down, a dispute that has seen much blood shed, as have all the instances of political strife noted above.

Given these few examples of people standing up for their political beliefs—and dying for them—do we as Canadians really have any reason not to go to the polls on May 2nd?

Do you have any reason to buy in to the term ‘voter fatigue’ in the face of municipal, provincial and federal elections all in the same year, when you are SO fortunate to be able to exercise such a right as voting freely?

On May 2nd, there will be no armed security force escorting voters safely to polling stations. There will be no arbitrary detentions or threats of torture when you choose to cast a vote.

I suspect it highly unlikely that Stephen Harper, Jack Layton, Michael Ignatieff, Gille Duceppe, or Elizabeth May would barricade themselves inside an arms camp at the news they have not won leadership and command their followers to start an uprising against the elected government.

People seem to think that voting is pointless these days—that all politicians are corrupt, money gets spent unwisely, that generally nothing ever changes, and we’ll just end up with another election sooner rather than later anyway. Another election? That’s music to the ears of many on this planet, consider yourselves very lucky.

So, ‘Conservative’ or ‘conservative’, NDP, Liberal, BQ or Green? I don’t care. Just raise your voice in the peaceful, democratic, fear-free way which we are so fortunate to be able to do: vote. And if after you vote you don’t like the result, feel free to raise your voice again to complain. Another bonus of our system, you can do that, too, without winding up in a mass grave. It’s all a pretty good deal.

www.elections.ca

Staying Abreast of the Issues...

We all know a few ‘alternate’ terms for breasts. Boobs. Knockers. Mazungas. Cans. Headlights. Funbags. And, the less commonly known but perhaps most accurate: Milk Jugs.

The last few days, the local media and some national media has been covering the story of a woman who was in H & M department store with her husband, when she was asked by a store employee to stop breastfeeding her baby in the public space, and was given the option to move into a private nursing room set up within the confines of the store. The scene grew to involve a few store employees chattering to management, and trying to usher the woman into the feeding room.

Fast forward to a few days later, and more than a 100 women showed up at the same
H & M location to hold a nurse-in, and remind everyone that breastfeeding in public is not just a privilege: it is a human right. The right of a woman to breastfeed in public is enshrined by the B.C. Human Rights Commission, which states, "women who wish to breastfeed or express milk can do so while walking in stores."

And I am proud to say, at lunch hour yesterday, Kate and Sacha were in the thick of the nurse-in at the department store (six point five weeks old, and a social activist. atta boy!).

The mission of Kate and other women accomplished two things, I think. One, a public apology was issued by store management, and the national spokesperson concurred that what took place was in error, and that H&M do not, in fact, have policy against women feeding their babies in the store. So that was one victory. And second, the action stood to reassert what I mentioned above, that what the women were doing was their right.

Needless to say, the actions of the last few days have stirred as many controversial comments as they have supportive words. And I’m here to say that, as far as the former is concerned, I just do not understand, and see it to be a gross double-standard that is present in society.

We are a society—at least in North America, I would argue—that is obsessed with breasts. Why else would we have so many ridiculous names for a body part that, until utilized in child rearing, does absolutely nothing?

Our advertising is full of over sexualized images of breasts: Suffocated cleavage pouring out of tight fitting shirts in desparate attempts to breathe, shirt neck lines in a suicidal plunge toward the belly button, see-through peekabo sheer materials, and the list goes on.

So WHY, when given the opportunity to see a whole breast, pulled out in public for the purposes of breastfeeding, are people so appalled?

Is it because confident, self-assured women have all of a sudden taken the sex out of the breast and shown it to be what it’s actually for? Feeding children? The horror!

Is it because there’s some sort of breach of modesty? Surely not moreso than the lack of modesty present in today’s advertising campaigns, television shows, and movies.

Is it because we’re so used to media images of babies being bottle fed with formula that we forget that women into themselves are the only vessel for food that a baby needs at the start of its life? Don’t even get me started on the evils of the Nestlé Corporation!

I’m particularly surprised by the level of opposition that I’ve heard about public breastfeeding in my own office space, which is filled primarily with female lawyers. We’re taking highly educated people with a respect for the law, and they still think feeding in public is odd. I say that is, as much as anything, our overly-sexualized media culture at work, influencing their opinions.

And, back to the point of breastfeeding in public, there’s also the plain fact that some babies just won’t take a bottle. My own mother recently informed me, while we were discussing this very issue, that neither I, nor my older sister or brother, would have anything to do with a bottle. It was lait d’source, or nothing. When faced with that option in public, guess what? The headlights will get turned on whenever and wherever necessary, in order to cull the screaming fit that often precedes the need to feed.

In summary, I know that everyone is entitled to their opinion on this, and that’s fine, positive or negative towards the matter. I also know that lots of women are probably happy to find a quiet, out-of-the-way place to feed their babies if in a public space rather than be out in the open, and wonder what all this fuss is about.

I would suggest that many of those 100 or so women down at the H & M were those very types, more than willing to find a corner somewhere to breastfeed. But even they came out of the woodwork the other day, to ensure that people remember that when they decide to come out of the corner, or have no choice but to feed in a public space without cover, they have every right to do so.

Ladies, I say milk it for all it’s worth.

A little more Green...

well, I got some good feedback from y'all in regards to the last entry, so I think I'll just be lazy about bringing forward new material, and give you a sampling of the things people had to say about eating locally!

"... I love that you’ve put your thinking about eating locally out there, sharing your own reasoning and thoughtful choices about how to combat global warming. Eating locally, mostly locally...is something I’m interested in and trying to learn more about (and practice in my own way!).

By the way, I agree about olive oil, and I think each of us begins to do as much as we can w/o feeling guilty about a few concessions.It has to be user friendly or people might not even consider trying..."

"...I’m a ‘green girl’ myself but with a twist. I buy organic or biodynamic only. My diet is organic, predominantly raw vegan, which means nuts, seeds, and avocados are a staple of my diet, none of which are grown here. I also can’t eat apples, so pears play a big part of my diet, especially in the winter when fruit selection is limited. I don’t buy local unless it’s organic or I know that the farm is not spraying. I will not support the use of pesticides even if it means I’m paying a lot more for produce and it’s grown more than 100 miles from here. I do not eat processed food or anything that is GMO (canola, corn, soy, wheat). I eat what’s in season and have been stocking up the freezer with BC organic fruit and veggies. It definitely costs more to eat this way – just last week I spent $2.79 on a bunch of organic BC carrots (4 of them), instead of $1.79/lb for organic US carrots.

There are a number of areas where I disagree with the 100 mile diet (especially that they were vegetarian who went back to eating meat, which is not sustainable for the planet), but if even one person becomes more conscious about what they eat, it’ll be a big step in the right direction……..

You might like to check out the following two movies: “The Future of Food” and “We Feed the World.” Both are very interesting. There’s also the Slow Food Movement, which is predominantly in Europe and places other than North America..."

and this same person also suggested a bit more interesting reading, if you're into it:
http://www.thegreenguide.com
http://www.organicconsumers.org/
www.idealbite.com , and last but not least:
an article from david suzuki

"...After reading your blogspot on the 100 mile diet, I think you and I share some common beliefs around the topic of consumerism. Good on you by the way, and Kate as well! It's a good practice, one that I myself am trying to incorporate into my daily life too! It's tough though, and I do indulge in things like wine, rice, couscous, olive oil, chocolate, cheese, and certain fruits like kiwis and oranges. But the key for me right now is to cut down on eating imported foods, and also to eat as many whole foods as possible. I've been a vegetarian for five months now, but Scott still eats meat and thus purchasing organic meat is important to him, and me! The consumerism issue has been on my mind for quite some time now, and ...I went and saw "The 11th Hour", the DiCaprio documentary on climate change. It is good and I highly recommend it. It addresses the issue of consumerism as being one of the fundamental problems at the centre of the global warming/climate change dilemma. It makes connections and provides solutions.

For me, I've been thinking a lot about the importance and the value we (as human beings) place on material things. I've been thinking about and evaluating the extrenuous, unnecessary things in my life. I think about ways of living more simply, and thus more happily..."

A Somewhat Inconvenient--But very Tasty--Truth.

Now, I think I’m a pretty standard sort of guy. I’m your average white suburbanite, as a matter of fact.

We have one fuel-efficient car parked in front of a nice house, and that’s plenty. I mow the lawn, and listen to inoffensive music like John Mayer and Maroon5. I get up at 6 a.m. to run the dog, and I pick the morning paper up off the porch when I get back. I work at a job I love, in an innocuous-looking office building downtown, and I take the bus to get there. I call my mom at least once a week, and chat with the neighbours over the fence. I hit the gym a few days a week, and get in on a volleyball game when I’m able to.

Pretty standard stuff.

But Kate and I are trying to be a little more radical these days. No, we’re not out there with protest signs. We’re not spray painting our messages on bus stops or getting our voices heard on the six ‘o’ clock news.

What we're doing is growing veggies.

Shocking, I know. Okay, okay, so that in itself is also nothing new, nor particularly radical. We’ve done that for years. But the veggie garden has been a seed for bigger ideas as of late (pun intended?)

Ever heard of the Hundred Mile Diet? Chances are good you have, since the book about it, and the environmental movement in general are gaining so much steam these days.

What the Hundred Mile Diet basically says is that you should not rely on any food source that comes from anywhere outside of a 100 mile radius of your home, because it’s killing our world. Have you ever put much thought into where the meal on your table comes from? We have. And that’s all part of the reason that there is so much smog hanging around the Fraser Valley and in the Strait of Georgia these days.

At the end of our block, there’s a Chinese grocer, and it stocks every manner of Asian foodstuff imaginable. Problem is, it literally comes from China. No, we’ve got nothing against the Chinese, if that’s what you’re thinking. What we have a problem with is that all of that Bok Choy, all of those Ya Pears and Fuji Apples, were picked before they were ripe, put on a giant boat, spent the next 58 days crossing the pacific ocean, got on a truck, was sent to a packing facility, put on another truck, and was then sent to our neighbourhood store three hundred yards away, only to be put on a shelf for 69 cents a pound, where it has two days to be bought up before it’s thrown out, over-ripe and only suitable for the crows and seagulls that swarm the dumpsters.

So what was the point? The pollution problem in itself is obvious and alarming, but I’m not going to beat anyone over the head about it--we all get enough of that in our daily media as it is. Nutrition is also a question, though, since the fruit was picked two months ago and left to ripen off the vine. It’s no different that a California strawberry, picked green and shipped up the coast, so we can pay $4.99 / pound from the local Safeway.

And Kate and I thought about all this and said: why?

Why go to the little grocer to get the apple that’s done more international travelling than I have, or go to the Safeway to get the strawberries with no flavour, when we can go to the farm, pick 40 pounds of the things at a quarter of the price, and have enough fruit to eat fresh and freeze to last us for the next year?

So, we’ve changed some things. We now buy our produce—and our fish, dairy, and meat—from a farmers Market on Saturday morning, from a local producer, or we go to the farm and get it ourselves. talk about fresh, and the money goes right into the hands of the farmer. In the price of our eggplants, garlic scapes, apricots, apples, sides of lamb, and strawberries, there is nothing built into the price other than eggplant, garlic, apricot… well, you get the point. No paying for advertising or trans-continental shipping in the price of our food. Major nutritional value and virtually no carbon footprint.

okay, so you can probably see the drawbacks to this plan. It means giving up a lot. And I am the first to admit, we are cheaters. We’ve put up an exceptions list to deal with these little… indiscretions. For example, while we don’t buy pasta anymore, we will still buy bread, so long as it is at least baked locally. The common denominator of course being flour. We don’t grow wheat here in BC, so technically, we shouldn’t buy it. But we do anyway.

Beer is also a no-no. So, I’ve stopped buying it. But there too, is an exception. We’ve said if guests are coming for dinner, we’ll buy a six pack or something. Not to worry, wine is still made well within a hundred miles, so that can still be bought… unfortunately, I despise the stuff. Too bad for me, good for Kate who loves it.

Tofu, edamame beans and other soy products are out. Sure, Tofu is made here in Vancouver, but the beans aren’t grown here. In Olive oil, we confess our hypocrisy, and will continue to buy the stuff.
well, there's lots more to it, but basically, if you come over for dinner at our house, pretty much everything in your meal will be local—if not from our own backyard—and unbelievably full of flavour.
We even eat out less now, as our home-cooked meals are so satisfying. We just don’t feel the need to go out.

By now, you get the point. Maybe it's not so much radical as it is exciting and satisfying, and different. But when there is so little in my life that I am preachy about--To each his own, I usually say--I figure I can stand on the soap box for a while too :)

I’ll wrap it up here by saying that no, it isn’t as cheap as going to the Safeway or IGA. And no, we know not everyone has the luxury of paying extra, nor of having a big veggie garden.

Ultimately though, we need to find ways eat local, drive clean cars, fly less, etc. etc. etc. God gave us this big, beautiful world. It is nothing more than our own desire for convenience which will result in our losing it.
An intro to the 100 Mile Diet

City Farm Boy, a vancouverite with a great idea about urban farming

The Omnivore's Dilemma... haven't read it yet, but it sounds interesting!

responses from y'all.. and more on Francois...

Well, the last update got a ton of response, and I thought some of what you had to say was definitely worth sharing, so here you go! (Don’t worry, names have been removed, and I left *most* of the glowing praise out of it!) And at the end of reading all the comments, stay tuned for an epilogue of last week’s episode.

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"...with all your best effort and intention things out of both your and Frances' control got in the way. That with all the wealth this province and country has there is such a lack of human services and long-term solutions. But, like you mentioned, you two didn't just talk about the problem you acted on it. That is true compassion and that is what although it may not seem so at the time, in the big overall picture makes a difference. That six weeks may be a short time but for Francis you never know what doors and possibilities that may have opened up, even if the aren't apparent right away..."

"...Hmmm I appreciate the sentiment of doing good and all...but the whole Ned Flanders ...okilly dokilly ...live in my basement is a little much for me. A wonderful Christmas effort though...But, I don't think my scared little recovering catholic arse coulda done the same..."

"...I understand your frustration and sadness, having worked in health-related industry for going on 16 years now. I lived with my aunt, who was a paraplegic living alone, for about 6 months in 1997 and saw the health care system from another side as well. Currently, it’s quite upsetting to me that we’re spending millions of dollars on the 2010 Olympics and other ‘great things for the city’ when there are far more important issues to be addressed..."

"...there is so much wrong with the "system" and we may never understand what this kind of mental illness can do to a person. I'm sure soon there will be another Francois who may be able to take full advantage of your basement, and in the meantime its onwards and upwards..."

"...I was glad to read your story today, thought more about it and know that it is a problem. I see homeless people like Francois every day on my way to and from work and often wonder if I'm doing the right thing by offering food instead of money when I can..."

"...I am happy to hear I am friends with someone who tries to make a difference instead of just complaining that no one is helping. It is inspiring for the rest of us. I also wish the best for Francois and all those in similar situations..."

"...I'm just so sorry for that poor man. It makes me even more sad thinking that even medication cannot help him..."

"...It's really really sad and scary to think about. It could be anyone. It's not just reserved for a certain section of people.

Just think about Alberta right now, with the boom...people are living outside of their means. If something happens - and it will - lives and families will be ruined and people will have nowhere to go. And they, like Francois, will have to start the battle and possible find themselves twenty years down the road still trying to find peace, inner peace.

That could be any of us..."

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The day after he left, Francois was back again, looking level, wanting another chance. Wanting to try for at least another month. Kate and I were tired, but willing. But before he was going to be allowed to stay, rules would be set down. A tenancy agreement that left no stone unturned.

We sat Francois down. This was how it was to be: first, the damage deposit. We’d need it back. He didn’t have it. Strike one, but let’s move on. Next, we have to live our lives as we always have, with friends and family visiting, with repair and maintenance people coming into the house do maintain our furnace, etc.

And that was all it took. He lost it again. Stormed out. Ten minutes later, back again. Calm, again. We talk to him for an hour. This time, no trying to get him to stay, no telling him to go. Just trying to get him to the hospital.

And so it was agreed after much discussion with him, that Kate would take us to the ER first thing, and I would wait with him until we got him some help. 8:00 am, we said, we’d leave the house and take him to Vancouver General. He could stay in the basement suite overnight.

Would he still be here in the morning? Would he be here, but refusing to go?

At 6:45 in the morning, the bell rang. He was ready to go. Kate drove us over, and Francois and I went into the ER.

Long story short, he didn’t want to stay, but I found ways to keep him there. It was a long day of waiting, broken up with the occasional visit from a nurse or doctor. It was a very revealing day, listening to him speak to the staff. Turns out he went off his meds weeks ago, and was using cocaine. Now we know where our damage deposit went. Anyway, the whole day of waiting almost all fell apart when Francois decided that a man in the waiting room had a gun, and we had to go before we got hurt. Talking him down from that was worth it though, because 20 minutes later, there was two psychiatrists to talk with him. Off they went, and I headed to the nurses station at Triage.

I made it clear that no matter what, I had to talk to those doctors when they were done with Francois. And I got to. I filled in all the details of our experience and left nothing out (trust me, there is WAY more than what this blog says).

They had me go back to the waiting room, to sit with Francois. Shortly, they came out asking Francois to have another chat with them. One of the two doctors came out seconds later, saying that was it. He was in.

I left the ER, got on the bus, and went home.

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We’ve seen Francois once more; looking not just level, but human. He was out on a day pass and came back to us to get a bag of his clothing, and to get the damage deposit back. We had to tell him that we already gave it to him, that we understood how he may have forgotten, given what he was going through. As of today, we’re happy to report that Francois has stayed on with the hospital, where he can reconnect with housing and care services. Whether or not he stays on the system remains to be seen.

Next week, SUNSHINE AND HAPPINESS, I PROMISE!!!!!!!

meet Francois

Francois Lamontaigne. Age 52. Not very tall, maybe 5'7" or 5'8" at the most. Grey hair, pulled back into a small pony tail. And a beard, pretty neatly trimmed and peppered with the colour of his younger years. He speaks with a thick French-Canadian accent, having grown up in Montreal. He's also Bi-Polar. And homeless. well, he was homeless, until he found Kate and I. Actually, he's homeless again, as of today. Perhaps I should start at the beginning...

... Francois first came to us through our church. Mid December, Christmas season fast approaching. Kate and I were in a Sunday morning meeting with our Social actions committee, just before the service started. Gary, our minister, poked his head in the door and said good morning, adding that he had something he just wanted to put in our ears.

"There's this homeless fellow who's come in the last few weeks," He said, "he's got his government cheque for $325 a month, and he's looking for space if any one has it. He's here again this week, and still asking around."

Gary said he had told the fellow that the chance was slim, but that he'd ask around. Once Gary had made his announcement, Kate and I turned to one another. We had a basement suite in our new house. not yet rented, but then, in no shape to be rented yet. And yet, better than the streets, surely.

To make a long story short--we talked to Gary, we talked to Francois, and it seemed like a good fit. Bi-Polar yes, but level, and medicated. He just knows he can't be on the street, and needs a quiet warm place to sleep and eat.

And so it was. Francois moved in right away, despite the state of the suite, and you've never seen anyone so happy, so thankful. After all, it had to be better than dirty, back-alley concrete. He was happy to be out and about during the daytime, and I fixed up the space while he was gone. New paint, new trims, new flooring, furniture. In no time, we had a gleaming suite, and a tenant who was happier and more grateful by the day. He told us he was never leaving, and that our place must be the Hyatt.

Francois was the perfect fit as a tenant. A guy who just wants quiet space, who keeps to himself, who respects our property, is happy to play with our dog, and who even joins in our yard work with us. Sure, he talks a lot to us when he's around us--but a guy who has lived on and off the streets for 20 years has a lot of stories, and probably not many people to listen to them.

This happy arrangement all came together just in time. The snow, the windstorms, the frigid rains. we had helped bring someone out of that. When there is so much talk about the homelessness crisis in Vancouver, we were doing something about it.

Just last week, though. Last week was all different. Something went wrong. Not with us. Not inside the house. But inside his head, something went wrong. The place of warmth and shelter was all of a sudden a prison. we were either working with the police, or with a gang. Either way, we were watching him. And poisoning him, through our furnace. Nothing we said could convince him this was a safe place. No question he asked could we answer correctly. Kate especially could do no right in his eyes.

Francois' Bi-Polar had bubbled to the surface. Boiled, more like it. And it wasn't pretty. Lots of anger and storming off. He's lost his grip on reality, and we can do nothing to influence him positively.

Fast forward again, to today. Francois has reappeared today, after being off the property for a few days. Reappears with bloodied cotton swabs taped to his wrists. He's been in the hospital again he says, calmly. We gave him a heart attack, he says, again calmly. He had to be in the hospital. With IV's hooked into his hands and all that.

He seems more level today, but there's an edge there that I don't intend to push. He's still not back to normal, I can tell. I let him talk. He's got to go, he says. Can't stay here. It's not us, it's this place. He apologizes for the things he said to us, said to Kate. I hang around in the suite while he packs, which isn't packing at all. I've gien him my old travel bag, but he just moves things from one couch to the other while he talks. Changes his socks three times, his shirt, four times. Finally, he gets some things in the bag. not much, though. In the end, he leaves the bag in the suite with everything else, deciding it's too much weight to strain against his heart. I listen to his frustration. About the system, about 20 years of disappointments, of being let down.

"The people, they're always nice--well, usually, like you guys," he says. "But they don't know what it's like for me. If everyone could be me for just one day, they would see how hard it is. But they just don't know."

and with that, he left. He says he'll go to the church tomorrow to talk with Gary, to see if he has anymore help for him. And he'll come back for his stuff tomorrow, too, or I might take it to the church, and he can get it there.

Maybe he will be back tomorrow. maybe not. maybe he'll visit Gary. maybe not.
We tried to give a man a home, and, during the coldest, wettest, windiest, ugliest period of weather in Vancouver's history, we did.

We tried hard to keep him off the street. A Government issue, $325 a month cheque doesn't by happiness. If it gets you a place in this overpriced town at all, it just hides the problem away for six weeks, until there is a need for more than shelter. Like a qualified mental care team, and 24 hour assistance.

These things were not well enough in place, and today we are left with frustration, a feeling of helplessness, and an empty suite.

Good luck Francois. We're praying for you.

David Emerson shmemerson

Okay, for those of you unaware of the situation that David Emerson has put himself in, let me give you a quick recap of the last week.

Who: David Emerson, Liberal candidate elected into office by the constituents of Vancouver-Kingsway (my riding)
What: Emerson crossed the floor last week to join the Conservative party
Why: the move precipitated an appointment to the cabinet, a position he would not have gotten as a Liberal (of course)
When: Last week... didn't I already say that? Pay attention!

okay, enough of the five W's... if you want a full account beyond what I've written below, go to this story in the Vancovuer Sun Newspaper:

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=1e797bd2-4ad0-4830-820a-8fd7bd88f098&k=71383.

SO, the situation is this: The people of Vancouver Kingsway overwhelmingly voted for a Liberal, and ended up with a Conservative. The pro? We're one of the only ridings in a major city (read: Toronto, Vancouver) to have representation in the federal cabinet. The con? a mochery of the democratic process!

If the people of this riding voted in a Conservative, then fine, they voted in a Conservative. The will of the people and all that. But they didn't--nor have they been anything but Liberal for the past 50 years--and now the locals are all kinds of angry.

This past weekend saw a few protest rallies in front of Emerson's riding office, there was a town hall meeting with local NDP MLA David Chudnovsky to discuss what's to be done about Mr. Emerson, and in general, the neighbourhood is in a state of disgust over the whole thing.

Emerson can't see what all the fuss is about, and doesn't understand why his kids are getting harrassed on the school grounds ( okay, so that part isn't cool. Quit bugging the kids, eh?). Emerson has said the move the move wasn't premeditated, and Conservative party leader Stephen Harper's offer of the cabinet gig came after the election.

so which pill is harder to swallow?
A) no premeditation was invovled, and Emerson's decision to switch parties was knee-jerk and totally inconsiderate of his constituents, or
B)It was a premeditated move, and Emerson ran his entire campagin under totally false pretenses.

Either way, I think there's something stuck in my throat.

The fact of the matter is that 82 per cent of our riding voted liberal. And now 82 per cent of our riding is asking for a recall and by-election.

I know that there have been times in my life when I haven't been the most honest person; flip-flopped on some issues and ticked some people off. But once I realize what a complete and total tool I'm being, I'm happy to make an apology.

Mr. Emerson, we're waiting for yours.