The Squamidian Report – Jan. 19 / 13

 

Issue #556

 

Including:

The Ontarion

 

Hi All,

 

I’m probably not very popular with some of the people living on our street right now, but I’m probably quite popular with others living on our street. You see, one side of the street has now been posted as ‘no parking’. And its all my fault, or at least mostly my fault. I’m the one who complained about the on-street parking. I complained to town council for several winters in a row, and I complained again this winter, just before Christmas, because cars were parked in such a way that the snowplow could not get between them and therefore could not make it up the street. My concern was that if the snowplow couldn’t get up the street because there were cars all over the place, emergency vehicles would have the same issue. I pointed out that should there be an emergency and the required vehicles were blocked by some jerk who didn’t give a damn about anyone else, someone would be held liable, mainly, the municipality. As well, there are two doctors and one councilman living at the end of the street, and those doctors need to be able to get out without having to squeeze between cars while maneuvering on icy, snowy roads. I had pushed for the muni to simply enforce the ‘no over-night  parking’ that has been on the books for decades. That would have solved the problem perfectly. However, they would not agree to enforcing an existing bylaw because, well, this is Squamish and Squamish doesn’t do things like that. However, someone must have agreed with me because one side of the street is now posted as ‘no parking’.

 

The problem is, as is so often the case, do almost solely to one house. The owner lives there and has a car, a work truck and a work trailer. He also has two illegal sets of tenants living in his house. Both sets of tenants have cars. He has a single car driveway which he won’t let his tenants use because he needs excess to his garage where he stores work materials. His work stuff and vehicles are not ‘legal’ in a residential neighborhood but again, this is Squamish and its not likely anything will be done about it. Because of all the vehicles parked on the street, several of our neighbours have had a lot of trouble getting out of their driveways, and several vehicles have been backed into because there was not enough room to get turned onto the street. And, one of the tenants always parked right across from another car and often did not leave enough room between them for even a normal sized vehicle to squeeze between.

 

The unfortunate thing is that the neighbours who would park on the street once in a while along that side can’t do that anymore. But, all the neighbours have more than enough driveway space to fit their own vehicles onto so their complaints don’t hold much water as far as I’m concerned. And many of these people are pretty weird, they almost never park on their driveways, always just on the street. That way they don’t have to shovel the driveway, or shuffle vehicles. Again, I don’t have much sympathy for them. I’d still prefer to see enforcement of the over night parking bylaw but unless something very drastic were to happen, that kind of thing is not likely to ever happen. Oh well. At least we have a step forward, for now anyway.

 

Here’s a questions, totally unrelated to parking…..how come mothers, and grandmothers too, boil water and sterilize baby bottles and mix formula in sterilized water and so on, but those same babies crawl around on the floor like grazing farm stock, picking up and eating, or at least sticking into their mouths, anything they can find. And those babies have a great time doing it. If there is a family dog around, its usually right there with them partaking in the same activity, and often both will share with each other. Just a question. J

 

doug

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THE ONTARION REPORT

 

Hello everyone!

 

Well, I finally got in to see the specialist (plastic surgeon) about the carpal tunnel problem I have in both hands. I’ve been waiting for over a year to get something done to relieve my aching hands and twisted fingers. I was under the impression that Dr Elmaraghy was going to actually do something on Tuesday morning when he asked me to meet him in the Grand River Hospital “Fracture Clinic” at 8:30am. However, he did take a look at the problem and then after about 15 minutes of looking at my xrays and poking my fingers with pin like devices he said that the surgery should have been done a year and a half ago when the last specialist from Waterloo looked at and tested my hands. He said she misdiagnosed the problem as “not serious enough” and consequently my hands have gotten much worse than necessary. He told me that had she done something back in August of 2011 my problems would be gone with much less serious effort! Now he tells me he can do the surgery and it will still fix the problem but only to a maximum of 90%. I guess that’s better by far when compared to what they are like at the moment. He said he’d have his office set up a surgical appointment and call me before the end of the week.

 

Well, his office called on Wednesday and set the appointment for March 18, 2013. I guess that’s better than waiting another year and a half like the last time! I’ve been managing about 3 hrs per night of sleep for the past few months so what’s another two months! The pain is quite strong but with a 90% improvement outlook after the surgery, I’ll be happy to hang in and tough it out till he gets me in to “fix the problem” as he says. Hopefully I’ll be in shape by the time late spring or early summer motorcycle riding season comes around. If he doesn’t fix them well enough, there may just be a beautiful motorcycle up for sale this summer!  I sure hope I can ride again; I really missed riding this past summer and waited my whole adult life for the opportunity to finally own and enjoy a motorcycle. According to Dr Elmaraghy I’ll ride again so I hope the heck he’s right! Patience Greg, Patience! Things could be one helluva lot worse!

 

I have something I’d like to share with all of my fellow Squamidians. Today Carole and I are celebrating our 40th Wedding Anniversary! YUP, it’s been 40 years as of 6pm this evening that we tied the knot! It’s hard to believe that many years have passed since that moment in time. We were talking about this the other evening and saying how amazed we both are that 40 years have gone by already. Huge blocks of time just seem to whiz by like mere hours. The first occasion marked of course is a couple’s first anniversary and that seems like a big one indeed! I’m sure that every couple turns to each other on that occasion and remarks “Wow, I can’t believe we made it through a whole year!” Then the sands trickle through the hourglass and suddenly you’re celebrating your 25th anniversary and your babies are full-grown adults! At this point we tend to remark once again in disbelief how quickly life is fleeting by! I do have to say however that life would be a lot more difficult to handle on one’s own! With a beautiful and caring wife life’s challenges and bumpy spots don’t seem nearly as rough to overcome. We’ve seen our share of rough roads and every time something challenging cropped up it was much easier to smooth out with the love and support that’s been constant between us for the full 40 years! As anyone who has been married even half this long will attest, marriage is one heck of a lot of hard work and filled with challenges created by the bride and groom just as often as by the outside world. However, if you are willing to put in the effort required to triumph over adversity the outcome is always worth it! For those of you who have only been married a couple of dozen years, trust me when I tell you that once you hit the 39 year mark, it does get easier! LOL!

 

The most difficult part of being married so long, is trying to think of what to buy your hubby or wife for an anniversary gift! LOL!

“HAPPY 40th ANNIVERSARY CAROLE”

Lotsa Love … from Greg.  xoxo

 

That’s it for this week folks!

Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!

Bye for now… GREG

PS: Something To Think About>

Did I tell you about the overweight, alcoholic transvestite? All he ever wanted to do was eat, drink and be Mary!

 

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Have a good one..

the doug

http://www.thedougsite.net

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