Aftermath

Well, it’s been yet another week. The photo above was taken around the corner from our home. Summer is here and temperatures are rising. The locals — and the poppies — are thrilled, but I already miss the rain.

I spent tons of time working on the BCA website and on the monthly email, which will be published in a couple of days. I have nothing else to show for the week. Er, well… there is one thing:

That’s yet another downspout filter, this time for the lower roof. It’s much smaller than the previous ones, but it’s important. The drain it protects handles most of the water coming off that roof, so things would be bad if it clogged. The rock is just there to keep the filter cage from moving.

We’ve had a small amount of rain since that went up and I should take a peek to see if it works as intended, but I haven’t made the chance to do that yet.

Window installation is still in limbo. The contractor and his entire family caught COVID last week. He’s recovering but still not back at work. Apparently a couple of his crew caught it too. Nasty. He says they will update us sometime next week, but they are clearly behind. It will be a while before we get any work done.

I went to Langara College and watched while Heather’s public art piece was taken down. She’s still on track to have it installed at the local salmon hatchery, though it will be in storage for a couple of years before it goes up. The trip allowed me to catch up with a couple of friends and generally goof off for a day, which was nice.

That leaves only news and politics, which feels very much like this:

That seems to be a recurring theme, at least as I see the world.

The Premier of BC — John Horgan — has announced his intention to step down once a successor is chosen. He was treated for throat cancer and the radiation treatments took a lot out of him, so he’s decided he’s done. I don’t fully understand Canadian politics. In the US, this decision would result in a special election but things are different here. His party will select someone to replace him, and I guess they stay in power until the next election, whenever that may be.

Next, there was a bank robbery out on Vancouver Island. Something like 50 gunshots were fired, multiple police officers were injured, and the two suspects were killed. You almost never hear about stuff like that up here. Very American.

On the COVID front, Omicron variants BA.4 and BA.5 are taking over around the world, and BA.5 — in particular — is not nice. Apparently you don’t have much immunity if you were previously infected with some other strain. There are predictions we’ll see a raging BA.5 peak this summer, which does not thrill me.

And finally there were the various US supreme court rulings, none of which I agree with.

A week like that only reinforces my happiness at having moved away. If you are thinking about moving abroad — and apparently a number of Americans made enquiries along those lines — feel free to contact me. I have some pointers if you are serious.

That’s it. That’s all I’ve got. Despite getting so little done I feel exhausted by it all.

Take care, and keep safe.