Jill Browne, from home and away

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

One of the local news stories this past week was about our mayor going to Toronto and having a private firm pay for his trip. People tried to make hay out of the fact that the trip was paid for.

What I understand, based on no research, just listening to the radio, is that he was invited to go and give a speech. The people who invited him paid his expenses.

That seems quite acceptable to me, with one big caveat, and that is, we need to be clear on whether any elected people should accept invitations from the private sector, period, and what the rules for that should be. That is a discussion for another day.

The issue getting all the attention was, who paid for the trip to Toronto. Frankly that doesn’t concern me as much as who decides how the mayor should spend his time.

If going to Toronto and speaking at whatever venues he did is going to help the mayor advance Calgary’s interests in a meaningful way, then he was right to go. I would hope the decision to go was part of the mayor’s plan for Calgary, and that it advances a strategic objective.

Two or three days of the mayor’s time is very valuable. Was the trip worth the time?

This mayor seems to be an intelligent guy with common sense. I expect he determined it was in Calgary’s best interest that he go to Toronto and I’m optimistic that we got, or will get, some value out of that trip. Time will tell, I suppose.

One thing I’m sure of:  a working trip to Toronto in February is hardly a boondoggle.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Here is a typical winter scenario in Calgary.
Snow. Thaw. Snow. Thaw. Snow. Thaw.
When the thaw comes, the snow melts, of course.
This creates two things: the risk of ice on sidewalks and other dangerous places as soon as the melted snow, now water, freezes again; and dirty cars.
The slush and water from the melted snow mix with whatever dirt is lying around to create thin mud soup. This is just the right viscosity for car tires to spray around, and so all the cars out on the road get coated with brown mud.
The weekend can be a very popular time to go to the car wash and rinse it off.
Surprisingly, when we went today, there was absolutely no line-up. Yay, it was done in 10 minutes and feels so much better now.

Friday, February 11, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

All I can say is it was a tiring week and I am really glad it’s Friday.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

OK, Christmas was almost two months ago. And yet, there is a stack of abandoned Christmas trees on the side of the road in a pull-through. Why? Because in years gone by, in the early weeks of January, the city has asked people to pile the trees there between stated dates. The city then took the trees away and ground them up for mulch. Excellent.

This year, the city did something different. They told us to put the Christmas trees out where the garbage goes, on certain stated days. They picked them up. They never whispered a thing about putting them in a big pile at the side of the road. They didn’t put up the little fences they had to mark where to put the trees last year. They didn’t put up a sign saying, “Christmas trees go here.” No, they told us what to do with the trees: leave them where the garbage goes.

Come on, people. You got the same notices I did. What are those trees doing at the side of the road?

I am open to hearing sensible explanations, but “Because they always did it” isn’t one.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Yippee! Wednesday. It’s become my breakfast out with Suzanne day. The rule is, never the same place twice.

It’s going to be a hard rule to keep, because I’ve really liked a couple of the places.

Today: Over Easy on Edmonton Trail. Never been there before.

Decor is fun and relaxing, a sort of 50s meets Danish modern with a blackboard on the ceiling for good measure. Nice big front windows.

Delicious omelette with artichokes and other good stuff (not on the regular menu, it was the special). Good coffee.

Reasonable price. I am a bad reporter. Too lazy to pull out my receipt and have a look but in the neighbourhood of $11 sounds about right.

The food was good, the restaurant was not empty but not packed, just pleasantly humming.

Very friendly, attentive servers.

Liked it and that’s no yolk.

😉

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

In addition to deciding to stop adding fluoride to Calgary’s drinking water, the City Council approved (by one vote, I understand) the building of a tunnel underneath the airport.

Without such a tunnel, the expansion of the airport will create a kind of barrier for those who want to get in and out of north-east Calgary.

The Mayor said it will cost more not to build the tunnel than it will to build it. I suppose the more comes from dealing with the stress on the rest of the infrastructure.

Now the city engineers and outside contractors have got a big job ahead, though in radio interviews the city’s engineer seems calm about it. Building a tunnel in and of itself is not an extremely difficult feat of engineering, and the city staff have already got a lot of the preliminary work done. The kicker is that the airport, which is federal property leased to the airport authority, is going to build the new runway starting soon. Barlow Trail closes in April 2011. It’s now February.

Expect lots of digging.

Monday, February 7, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

I confess, I’m writing this after the fact and the events may not match the dates perfectly. History may never forgive me.

Calgary City Council voted to stop adding fluoride to the water supply.

This is one of the hottest issues, perennially, in Calgary. We got fluoride added after a couple of plebiscites said, “No” and then one said, “Yes”, about 25 years ago. Before then, people who wanted fluoride for themselves or their children had to get it in little bottles and add it in drops to their water at home.

I was taught that fluoride is essential for strong teeth and bones, but that too much or too little is harmful. There is an optimal range, and that is what the addition of the fluoride to the water supply was aiming for.

One lady called in to the radio and said that by boiling water for babies’  bottles, parents were changing the fluoride concentration, I think by a factor of 40. I don’t know how that fits within the optimal range, or whether it’s true, but it’s certainly something to check out if you’re in that position.

Which we now won’t be.

I expect the health unit will advise us to add fluoride into our water at home if we have kids or perhaps if we are at risk of osteoporosis.

I don’t mind. I want it, and I’ll add it. I am happy to let people who don’t want it make their own informed choice.

I also hope those same people are scrupulous about their children’s diets and dental hygiene, because the absence of fluoride will mean extra care is required to keep the teeth and bones healthy.

Wonder how long it will be before we have another fluoride discussion.

Cattle liner. Photo by Jill Browne, Calgary, February 4, 2011.

Cattle liner, close up. Photo by Jill Browne, February 4, 2011.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Took these pictures on Friday, driving down Blackfoot Trail.

I thought this cattle liner was empty because I couldn’t smell it and couldn’t hear any cattle. When I looked harder, I saw fur and then one cow looking out at me. All I could really make out, since it’s dark inside the trailer, was the cow’s eye.

In this picture, the eye actually looks sort of tame, but in real life it had that alarmed look cows get when anything upsets their ruminations.

It was a horrible moment, me thinking about how I happily eat beef (and enjoy it), while looking into the face of a helpless animal.

A big hardware store and parking lot, Shawnessy, Calgary. Photo by Jill Browne, February 5, 2011.

Grey sky with snow lightly falling, Shawnessy, Calgary. Photo by Jill Browne, February 5, 2011.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

A colder day with light snow falling and a very grey sky. The camera flare exaggerates the sun; really it was just a dull yellow hole in an even duller sky.

I didn’t mean these pics to be depressing but they really don’t have much life to them!

We had to go out foraging for food and office supplies, thus ending up at this mall in Shawnessy. The mall is at MacLeod Trail and Highway 22X, but there is a lot more of Calgary even south of there. If you haven’t been here for a while you may be surprised at how much the city has expanded. This is the last shopping I can think of this far south on MacLeoad, though.

Calgary provides free sand to residents in winter. Photo by Jill Browne, Calgary, February 4, 2011.

What passes for sand in Calgary. Photo by Jill Browne. Calgary, February 4, 2011.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Home: Calgary, Alberta, Canada

It’s Melting! The snow is melting today, as the temp has been above zero (freezing) and sunny all day. This is my favourite weather, actually: from zero to ten degrees C, sunny and calm. Very uplifting.

But the melting snow turns to ice at night or when the daytime temp goes back down, as it will do again and again. We have to put “sand” on our sidewalk to prevent people from falling.

We get the sand free from the local fire station. It’s a help yourself arrangement, and there is a limit on how much you can take, but a pail full at a time is well within the limit.

Take a look at what we call “sand”. It’s angular grit! Gives good traction but a real irritation when a pebble hits your windshield.

Hey, should I apply for work as a hand model?