About two weeks ago, one lovely morning, I woke up at about 4am and thought that I could hear some odd noises. I waited those few requisite moments for the fog to clear from my skull and concentrated a little harder, trying to ascertain whether it was the sort of noise that one drags their arse out of bed for, or ignores and goes back to sleep. With those moments past, it started to sound suspiciously like the TV was on downstairs, which sadly for me fits into the category of arse-dragging worthiness.
So, having committed myself to the trek, I made my way down stairs to find the little pink think snuggled upon the couch with her pillow and blanket quietly and happily watching TV. I asked what was going on and she let me know that she’d had a scary dream. I asked her what it was about, but with a fevered little shake of her head, informed me that it was too scary to talk about.
I opted for not pursuing it further, rather devoting my energy at that time to getting both her and I back into bed.
With that achieved, I slept through until the alarm went off what seemed to be only moments later. But I didn’t forget. Later I pursued the course of questioning that would ascertain the root cause of the nightmare. When pressed I was informed that it was a “Madagascar dream.” That was both surprising and puzzling so I said, “I thought you liked Madagascar.”
“I only want to see the second one, I don’t like the first one,” I was told. I let her know that next time, rather than go down and turn the TV on that she should come and tell me and let me help her that way instead.
The next couple of weeks passed with out incident until the other night, when at 2am I was awoken by small footsteps advancing toward the bed. Warding off the desire to turn them away sight unseen, I allowed the little girl to climb into my bed for a few moments whilst she calmed down. Once again, scary dreams seemed to be the issue and again, it was too scary to talk about.
Of course, welcoming a small child into one’s bed isn’t ever the comfortable and snuggly experience people sometimes make it out to be. It’s more about elbows and cold feet in disconcerting places and how a 3 foot tall little thing can take up 90% of the available bed space. And as a result of that it was only about 5 minutes later that I was escorting her back to her bed and promising that I would lay down with her for a bit, which was a great promise to make until we reached her bed and I realized that that the last two feet of it was occupied by various toys. This left plenty of room for Em to stretch out, but very little for Daddy.
I only lasted another 5-10 minutes and then I abandoned her to resume sleeping. And thus it was that some 10 minutes after I returned to my bed and attempted to douse the activity that had commenced in my brain I once again heard footsteps. I waited patiently to receive the expected guest but was surprised to find that the footsteps retreated. Retreated, yes, but not back to bed; rather down the stairs and yes, once again I heard the incriminating beep that meant the TV was on. Arse dragging time was back again.
Rather than put her back to bed and face that discomfort, or struggle to accommodate her in my own little night time haven, I pulled her quilt and pillow into my room and had her sleep on the floor beside my bed. That way, when she woke me again, at 4 am, things were a little easier to manage.
And again, the following day I worked to find out just what had been so scary. After much resistance, a quiet and timid little voice gave me just two words.
“Lost Doggy.”
I got dragged out of bed and all over the house and unseemly and ridiculous times of the night for a lost dog? We don’t even own a bloody dog, so it was someone else’s lost dog! Total bastardry, that’s what it was.
Nov 24, 2008
The Sky is Falling
I was driving home from work the other night, staring down the highway, quite relaxed because for once there weren’t any traffic problems. Then I saw what appeared to be a shooting star, but in a trajectory that I’d not seen one before.
On the occasions that I’ve been lucky enough to see them previously, they’ve all had a lateral trajectory, paralleling the horizon. This one was distinctly vertical, headed straight for the earth. It was about half way through it’s 2 second appearance that things got really interesting though. At that point, instead of just fading out, it blossomed into an orange fireball that lit up the sky quite significantly.
It was truly amazing and spectacular. And of course there was no one in the car with me for me to be able to say, “Wow, did you see that!?” It was all over the radio the next day and was seen from all over Alberta, but I couldn’t believe that I’d been lucky enough to witness it myself. I just happened to be on a stretch of the highway that was headed directly toward where it fell. Speculation is that pieces of it actually hit the ground and I have to confess to the most fleeting of thoughts as to whether I was witnessing a plane fall from the sky, but they were quickly dismissed.
What I saw appeared to fade from the bloom well above the horizon, certainly more so than this shot, captured on a police car's camera.
On the occasions that I’ve been lucky enough to see them previously, they’ve all had a lateral trajectory, paralleling the horizon. This one was distinctly vertical, headed straight for the earth. It was about half way through it’s 2 second appearance that things got really interesting though. At that point, instead of just fading out, it blossomed into an orange fireball that lit up the sky quite significantly.
It was truly amazing and spectacular. And of course there was no one in the car with me for me to be able to say, “Wow, did you see that!?” It was all over the radio the next day and was seen from all over Alberta, but I couldn’t believe that I’d been lucky enough to witness it myself. I just happened to be on a stretch of the highway that was headed directly toward where it fell. Speculation is that pieces of it actually hit the ground and I have to confess to the most fleeting of thoughts as to whether I was witnessing a plane fall from the sky, but they were quickly dismissed.
What I saw appeared to fade from the bloom well above the horizon, certainly more so than this shot, captured on a police car's camera.
Nov 18, 2008
Let the Carnage begin ... or traffic, part um,. what 62 now?
Winter is here and along with winter comes driving in the snow. Fun. Well, it can be. But it can also be a right bastard. This morning was just a reminder of that, though fortunately I wasn’t the object of the lesson.
Since I arrived here last year, I know that I’ve complained almost constantly about the traffic in this single-highwayed town. Well over the last 12 months, with the boom in work up here and the increasing number of projects under development, nothing has happened to ease that pain. The 30km trip is almost guaranteed to take a minimum of 1 hour if you manage to leave the office by 5:10pm. Any later than that and it just gets worse and worse. There are bypasses and over passes and things planned and under construction that will probably make a significant difference … about the time that we manage to get out of here.
This morning, after some snow overnight, someone managed to find the going a little bit more treacherous than usual and came unstuck; overturned in the ditch. Of course, they happened to pick a day when I’d had to stop for gas and so wasn’t as early as I might have been (not that it would have made too much of a difference). It meant that traffic banked up. And when it takes you an hour and 40 minutes to travel the 30kms from your door to the office, you really do wonder why the hell you bother.
And having managed to finally get past the pinch point on the road that was the accident scene, I’d only managed to go another 5kms before there was a second vehicle rolled over in the ditch (this time on the far side of the divided highway as opposed to in the ditch separating the roads. Truly the first day of the winter carnage. I’d like to propose that it be the last as well, but with the combination of weather and driver behaviour that we have up here, I just can’t see it happening.
Since I arrived here last year, I know that I’ve complained almost constantly about the traffic in this single-highwayed town. Well over the last 12 months, with the boom in work up here and the increasing number of projects under development, nothing has happened to ease that pain. The 30km trip is almost guaranteed to take a minimum of 1 hour if you manage to leave the office by 5:10pm. Any later than that and it just gets worse and worse. There are bypasses and over passes and things planned and under construction that will probably make a significant difference … about the time that we manage to get out of here.
This morning, after some snow overnight, someone managed to find the going a little bit more treacherous than usual and came unstuck; overturned in the ditch. Of course, they happened to pick a day when I’d had to stop for gas and so wasn’t as early as I might have been (not that it would have made too much of a difference). It meant that traffic banked up. And when it takes you an hour and 40 minutes to travel the 30kms from your door to the office, you really do wonder why the hell you bother.
And having managed to finally get past the pinch point on the road that was the accident scene, I’d only managed to go another 5kms before there was a second vehicle rolled over in the ditch (this time on the far side of the divided highway as opposed to in the ditch separating the roads. Truly the first day of the winter carnage. I’d like to propose that it be the last as well, but with the combination of weather and driver behaviour that we have up here, I just can’t see it happening.
Nov 10, 2008
It's Ba-aack
Yes, it’s November in Fort McMurray and that means that the snow has returned. A couple of days ago we had the first sprinklings of snow that managed to stay on the ground and then last night we received a lovely white blanket thick enough that the grass on the lawn has disappeared and the drive way required the first shoveling of the season.
And of course after reversing out of the driveway this morning to turn and head in the opposite direction, I had that quick little reminder to brake early and allow for the snow as I managed to get the car almost sideways whilst executing the u-turn.
As I left our street to turn onto the more trafficked part of my route to work, I was also quickly reminded of the fact that the nice fluffy white snow quickly turns to icky brown mush when the temperature hovers just over the freezing point and everyone drives all over it.
So it’s really just a matter of looking beyond the dirty brown strip that bisects the pretty picture and pretending that it isn’t there!
And of course after reversing out of the driveway this morning to turn and head in the opposite direction, I had that quick little reminder to brake early and allow for the snow as I managed to get the car almost sideways whilst executing the u-turn.
As I left our street to turn onto the more trafficked part of my route to work, I was also quickly reminded of the fact that the nice fluffy white snow quickly turns to icky brown mush when the temperature hovers just over the freezing point and everyone drives all over it.
So it’s really just a matter of looking beyond the dirty brown strip that bisects the pretty picture and pretending that it isn’t there!
Nov 5, 2008
A thought
Every time that we go through a doorway with no window in it, there’s a chance that there’s going to be someone coming through it the other way. When you’re on the push side of the door, that’s no great drama. The worst that tends to happen is that you push against something that gives way suddenly and stumble forward.
When you’re on the pull side of the door, if someone happens to come through at the same time, you tend to be at risk of a sudden, large, firm object (ie the door) being applied with force to your face. Bring on the dentists.
So here’s the thing. How many toilets have you been to where the door opens outward.
I’m guessing somewhere between none and bugger all. Now think about the use of the room in question. Who’s more likely to be in a hurry and hence be charging through the door with little regard for what’s on the other side? The guy who’s just relieved himself, or the guy who happens to have a bodily function threatening him with public embarrassment if he doesn’t get in there and do something about it RIGHT NOW?
Re-hinge the doors?
When you’re on the pull side of the door, if someone happens to come through at the same time, you tend to be at risk of a sudden, large, firm object (ie the door) being applied with force to your face. Bring on the dentists.
So here’s the thing. How many toilets have you been to where the door opens outward.
I’m guessing somewhere between none and bugger all. Now think about the use of the room in question. Who’s more likely to be in a hurry and hence be charging through the door with little regard for what’s on the other side? The guy who’s just relieved himself, or the guy who happens to have a bodily function threatening him with public embarrassment if he doesn’t get in there and do something about it RIGHT NOW?
Re-hinge the doors?
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