Traffic Calming or Soul Killing?

The GTA is often ranked low in Canada on livability. Even when ranked somewhat high it is continually dragged down by one major factor of urban life – getting around. GTA residents suffer not only have the longest commute in Canada but their metropolitan area is also dead last among 19 major cities surveyed - worse than New York or Los Angeles.

They say it’s due to under funding of the transit infrastructure but I have another theory.

It’s policy. “The man’s” way of daily reminding us of his boot heel firmly entrenched on the back of our necks. I'll use my commute for an example, much improved over my former job but still hardly the 15 minute promised by google maps. Not that it couldn't be but “the man” can’t handle that. “The man” needs to assert his power.

I work shifts so I drive at off peak hours. Often on near deserted roads late at night so I know my drive could easily and safely be completed in 15 minutes. Instead, my drive consists of  28 minutes of stopping at a red light. Getting released from this red light just in time to watch the next light turn yellow then red. Over and Over. And Over and Over. Soul killing. Needless.

I could get home in 12 minutes if I was a rebel. If I was one of those carefree souls I sometimes see zooming along at 1.42 times the legally posted speed (thats what it takes to hit a steady stream of green lights). But instead I sit at an empty intersection and ask myself why does "the man" hate me so that he times the lights this way.

Sometimes I muse it's for the corporate interests that bought him his job - the needless wear and tear on the car, the brakes, the extra gas consumed by the constant acceleration - deceleration, sometimes I think it' just sadism. But in the end I just need to go no further than my car to know for a fact that the powers that be hate the little guy.

Spring into action

Spring is a busy time of year. Especially this year. The old truck is no longer fit for the road so we've been looking for a new to us one and we've finally found it. We'll be upgrading a whole decade, from a '95 Ranger to a '05 Ranger.

Next up is a new chainsaw. My chainsaw died. Seized up. Not worth fixing says the guy I the store. Cheaper to replace it but better to replace it with an upgrade for the kind of work I've got planned. So 'm looking into what I'm going to need.

The god news is we found a good deal on some bee hives and colonies so at least there has been some progress this spring. As soon as we get the new truck we'll get to work relocating the hives. That will be the start of an ambitious summer. Fenced garden, bunkie and cutting and drying wood for the house.

Rags and bones

I pity that man who wants a coat so cheap that the man or woman who produces the cloth shall starve in the process.
– Benjamin Harrison

We live in a strange society. Most of us are pitied by Benjamin Harrison because this is exactly what we want when it comes to the things we need - the lowest price possible.

What really makes it crazy though is why we want ultra low prices on the basics - to increase our discretionary income so that we can do things like pay exorbitant prices to make movie stars and professional athletes extremely wealthy.

What is it that makes us miserly on the basics but so extravagant in luxury? The old joke is what do you call 10,000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?

A good start.

I sometimes wonder if it isn’t time to change from lawyers to marketers? Awe heck, it’s a big ocean, I’m sure there would be room for both even if we had to stop dumping toxic waste in there :)