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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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The family reunion in Saskatchewan, a poor night out with the staff, sleep, the next morning off to Saskatchewan for the Boyle Family Jamboree. Were it just me I'd give it a miss, but there's the kids to consider (and they as well would give it a miss, but it's family, and they should know them). We set off, the grey, ragged skies of Calgary seemingly following us from Alberta, talk about the importance of getting gas before we run out, I've only ever run out of Gas once in my life, and a 5 mile walk with a Jerry Can taught me a lesson...
I thought. Past Swift Current the towns along the highway get smaller, we pass Chaplin and the Salt mines, the gas light comes on, not even a 100 KM to go...
...and there are no service stations. None. Just the bare and rolling prairie. After our conversation the boy and the girl are watching the guage anxiously, finally, a couple of old houses beside the road, an ancient gas pump, we swerve in...
...looking at the pump, it's not hopeful, 70 years old at least, no sign of a nozzle or hose, there's an older lady getting out of her car ... "Got Gas?" I ask, despite all obvious evidence to the contrary...
"Sure do." She replies..."Let me go grab you a can", And she goes into this little house, a makeshift diner, waiting, waiting...
After about 5 minutes she emerges with 5 empty plastic Jerry Cans under her arm, "Had a bit of a run on it..." she apologizes "But we might be able to squeeze enough out of these to get you to Caronport...it's only 40 KM up the road...when did your gas light come on?"...
There's a faint swishing of gas in a couple of the cans, we marry them, upend them one by one into the tank, marry them again, try again, 20 minutes work for a couple of tablespoons of gas at most...
"How much do I owe you?" I ask, not for the gas so much as her futile helpfulness and good intentions, "Nothing, nothing, come on in and have a coffee, brewed fresh this morning, sign our guestbook", and we have no choice, the boy and I, help her line up the empty gas cans beside her SUV so she can fill them tomorrow, go in for a coffee, small, character living room-cum-diner, sign the guest book..."You know, this town, it''s the home of Gainer the Gopher, where y'all from anyways?" and when I tell her Calgary she explains Gainer the Gopher to us, I know Gainer the Gopher, I lived in Saskatchewan long enough, it's the comically surreal small-town Saskatchewan, David Lynch couldn't cover it better, reminds me a bit of the squirrel lady from ratrace, we head off with our coffees again...
Drive slow, cautiously, optimizing the speed to mileage ratio, we wanna get to Caronport, count the kilometers, eventually, eventually, hold your breath, every kilometer in that direction is one less that we gotta walk, ...
And we make it.
Moose Jaw, the skies clear and the unbounded horizons, visit with family, short, we've arrived at the end of the reunion, dinner tonight, breakfast the next day and we're heading back, spot deer, antelope, a trio of badgers surfing through wheat, the daughter's impressed, she's never seen a badger before, finally Calgary again in the early evening, and now, perhaps, my vacation can begin...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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I'd been seeing them forever, late at night they'd come out after I had a few drinks, lurking about the apartment, I never told anyone, who would believe me?
As luck would have it, the daughter, she caught a couple of pictures of them...
***
After which we went a little further afield, I'm interested in this, not so much that I'd play, but in the possibilities. There's a Lure set up in the neighborhood, a gym, countless people in the parks waiting for the Pokemon to show up, there's the Pokestops, and other, older players give her advice how to level up quicker, how to shoot them in drive by's, the walking aspect of it, the attention to neighborhood attractions, these are all very cool things, and I can imagine a thousand ways the technology will evolve, different fauna for different regions, appearances at different times of day, in differing weather conditions, the possibilities are just beginning and my mind races, but for the moment, it's time well spent with the daughter...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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Meanwhile, the ship is sinking faster and faster. Bills come in and the owner begins ranting and screaming, he's being robbed, fucked, everyone is out to get him.
He's not far wrong. Business - compared to the countless restaurants that have gone under - has been "good" - but we're down, down a lot, we have lunches with a single deuce, we're all expected to hang around and serve them, rarely do we get sent home...we're on salary, after all, and if we're not there the 100 hours every 2 weeks we can't really be said to be working. We've been running in the red for a few months now, even with no rent, this economy, it's tearing every business apart, we hear it from all of our suppliers.
Today is payday, another "Bill" for him, he's screaming, I understand - not the reaction, it's inexcusable, but he's paying us now, a lot of the bills, out of his savings, his investments, his own pocket, there's no profit in the restaurant to be paying us, it's no longer a sustainable business...
8 Days until Summer Vacation. 8 More days of working.
Beautiful summer days, he sets up a folding table and a couple of chairs in the parking lot, watches the birds, plays solitaire on his iPad...
...and like a lighthouse, a beacon this makeshift patio attracts guests. An appalling lover, who visits him every day, lobbies him to give more money to his 40 year old raving alcoholic daughter....and she takes a free cappucino. She's there every day. This is followed by his girlfriend, and her friend, a couple of free glasses of wine quickly turn into a couple of free bottles...and the plumber drops by for a few free double's of Sailor Jerry, and J***, who's son killed himself a couple of months ago, and he starts with a few glasses of juice and mineral water, helps himself to brushetta platters for the table, comes in to talk to the salad girl, orders a large platter of Antipasto, free, of course...and the dread D****, 40 year old alcoholic whore, still posting hot swimsuit photos of herself on Facebook from when she was twenty with captions like "Eat Your Hearts Out Boys", she starts with a couple of glasses of wine, "On my bill" she tells me, never expecting the bill, J*** looks at me and tells me not to charge her..., not "Put it on my bill", merely don't charge her...
..The Owner, the bills, they're killing him, and now the scavengers...scarcely a day goes by when they don't come around, they pay for nothing, act like royalty, and the owner, he's had it, and we, the staff, are bearing the brunt of his wrath...
J***, he's in every day some weeks, for a free glass of wine, sparkling water, salad, meal, espresso, yet he considers himself a great customer because once a month he comes in and spends a couple of hundred bucks. Never mind that he's consumes freely and without charge a thousand dollars before ever spending a dime. And he lords it over the staff, walking into the dining room to find the waiters and order glasses of free wine for the new arrivals on the patio, ...
It's a circus. These people, they have no clue.
***
The Girlfriend and The Birthday Party
I wasn't there, but I've hear the stories, they are legend. About how the owner celebrated his birthday party, a significant one, working in the restaurant, cooking, supposed to be a slow night...but his girlfriend had other plans....
...she sent out emails, organized a surprise birthday party, 20 unreserved, unannounced tables, all at once, the Bosses Nephew was working, he's still scarred, his children, "Favorite Customers", meaning those who pay for a little and expect a lot for free, they all show up and drink and order lavish items like lamb and halibut and veal because, after all, it's a birthday and they've been invited...
...The owner, he's flipping out in the kitchen, he wasn't prepared for this...not a pleasant birthday surprise at all...
Then, when all the shit is over and he's done his cooking and can come into the dining room there's the slight matter of the bills...of course, the girlfriend isn't going to pay, she thought the owner would be comfortable giving a few thousand dollars worth of food and wine away for free on his birthday...and the owner, well, if you've been reading this blog, you know, this is not gonna happen. Gullible, stupid, but there's gotta be a line...
...and the guests, wealthy, every one of them, uncomfortable at the prospect of paying for their own excesses, slipping out the back door, hasty and furtive departures....
Oh, classy, the rich people of Calgary, let me tell you...and his girlfriend - wow. You'd rather straight up fuck herpes. But in this little history of the Surprise Birthday Party find a parable of Corporate Alberta....The people, the companies, are the same ...
***
This ship, it's sinking, it's about time, it's overdue. If the NDP and low oil prices have one good effect it'll be the closing of this Asylum. Making it to vacation, at most a month beyond, the waters up to my chin and I'm treading water when I should be swimming away from it, enough is enough, I have to try but I'm not convinced I can. We'll see.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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And cleaning now, cutting a swath through the dust and grime, the bathroom, wafts of urea drifting into the kitchen, it's been needing a cleaning for a while.
A couple of months at least...
And so I do it, buy some new light bulbs, it's bright now, and the brightness illuminates the fantastic job I've done, dig out a new toothbrush, a mere 20 minutes worth of work, close the door and set about clearing a spot for the vacuum, there's still a lot of stuff to be sold off, my pack needs to be lightened, the time draws ever nearer...
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
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Coming home from a day with my daughter, 8:00, stop at the Kalamata Grocery...across the street, in Connaught Park, there's about 50 people standing in a circle, phones out and extended...briefly I wonder WTF, but the penny drops...by the time I get back to take a photo the crowd is dispersing.
It's surreal, this, a whole other level of engagement/disconnect from the world around you...
Pokemon-Go thing, it's quite the new craze, and I'd be curious to try if I were a bit more of a nerd and didn't give a damn about the EULA, (which is terrible, but people have long grown used to the idea of no-privacy). But it's the start of interesting things, Augmented reality, layers superimposed upon layers, there were always these layers, but it demanded a sound and reflective mind to find them, now, anyone with a cellphone and a good data plan can roam their neighborhood catching Pokemon, but there are ever the countless invisible layers they miss...