blogx
musings of mark since 2001

I’ve always said it’s a small world after all. Like meeting someone a couple weeks after moving to Bowen Island, shortly after becoming The Caretaker it’s another blast from the past and bumping into Christine, my old buddy Scott’s (now ex) girlfriend.

No smoking inside just about any building in the lower mainland now-a-days, and that includes here too, so the few of us in the building that do have a couple formal smoking areas around the building courtyard and also our “secret garden” beside the O’ Canada House. Part of my job is to stroll about the outside of the building and make sure that it stays in order as well, so smoking on the south side and hear a familiar voice calling my name.

Look up a couple floors and across the street and there she is on the balcony having a smoke herself, and she’s still in contact with Scott who moved back to Ontario and is passing along my email address. I crossed over and we had a nice little chat about the good old days, it’s nice to run into someone you know after moving to a new neighbourhood.

I’ve heard of some birds parrotting other birds, but never knew the seagulls around here could too. This one was a very Oscar like bird, and he was taking over a pair of crows’ territory around a garbage bin in the alley. The crows were mighty upset to be giving up their dinner, but were staying well away from the gull as it was making a the sound of a dog yelping. When the gull was on the ground it was more waddling than walking, and quacked like a duck. Serious, a dog and a duck, never seen anything like it.

Craig’s List gets some real gems once in a while, seems I’ve seen this post somewhere else with an anonymous author attributed.

I don't have anything.

It rains too often in London.
sometimes I think it probably rains everyday.
to be frankly with you, I don't like rain
I don't have umbrella since I don't have anything
so, I always have to just sit
and scrouch myself when it's raining 

Today I brought a box from the back yard of market
it is now my fortune

also got a free lunch
guess I got lucky today..

but.. I think I'll have to give this box away tomorrow..
I didn't have any worries because I didn't have anything
but after I brought this thing..
I got tones of things to worry 

will someone steal it while I'm sleeping?
what if it gets wet..? 

I know.. for you,
I may look like a stupid person
who worries for worthless thing.. 

_ but I'm happy at the most...
... when I don't have anything...

The Kid of Speed, Elena Filatova, has a new book out named “The Atomic Middle Ages” and is available from her web site. She is donating at least a third of the profits to helping the homeless children of her war and radiation ravaged country. There is a lot of reading available there about what happens when nuclear plants get out of control, a reminder too that if Iran has their facilities bombed it’s not only Iran that will suffer the consequences. A timely reminder, those that have already contracted some form of cancer whether from living close to radiation, or simply picking up a single particle from the fish they ate caught in a high mountain lake or being unfortunate enough to be downwind from Depleted Uranium bullets don’t need.

Great video on You Tube, “The Meaning of American Pie” that brought back some memories. Glad that today’s generation has someone like Severn Cullis-Suzuki and they are putting out books like “Notes From Canada’s Young Activists”, which is a positive look at the future and their generation’s role in it.

Got the little Mazda Great Little Car back from the mechanic, and that funny noise in the back was a wheel bearing needing replacing, glad that’s done. A more critical part failing though was the fuel pump, and the source of the gas smell so very glad it’s taken care of and they were able to find the parts for a 20+ year old car.

A classic Vancouver back-alley garage, the best type around these parts if you get referred to them by one of their long time customers which I had the luck that my  boss was. The owner Helmut sure is a nice guy, we had a good little chat and went over all the possibilities. Bottom line, it’s a good, solid, 100% rust free car with very low (69K, that’s it!) milage and those don’t come around very often.

Sigh, and lol - glad he went through everything, not many mechanics/garages that do that anymore and he remembered the person that referred me too, another bonus. All in all both of us were pretty happy with it and he liked working on it, and I will see him again when something other than those darn “Air Care Certified” mechanics are needed.

There is a ray of hope that it will pass Air Care too, the carb is the problem and we were pondering, I’ll be taking it out for a highway cruise to the Valley, blow out the carbon and run some of that triple cleaning high test gas from Chevron/Exxon through it, and an oil change - you never know eh! Otherwise if it fails, I have a referral to an Air Care Certified garage that won’t charge an arm and a leg and at the very worst it will have a “conditional” pass put on it. By conditional, Air Care means that it gets a tune up once a year by the certified guys and it’s as good as they can get it and that’s it. Needs a tune up once a year anyways, oh well.