Back in the Loop & Back to the Loop–The Nanaimo Bus Loop, That Is

I’ve got a couple of free hours this morning, and am using the free time to tie up loose ends from my last blog post, posted over two months ago–and to account for my long absence. I haven’t not posted something in this blog this long before, not even when my mother was in hospital for a few months last winter, initially gravely ill, and family matters took precedence over everything else. This time, it was working on the federal election, mainly, that prevented me from writing: I worked as a paid political surveyor for the three months leading up to the election. Contractual constraints prevented me from publicly discussing the work I was then doing–although I did sneak in one related, non-partisan, Tweet:

This really happened. I was tired (this tweet was sent at the improbable time of 6:11 AM because my workday began at the improbable time of 7 AM, and the hours were long) and heading home directly from work when the incident occurred, and the odd perception lasted for only a moment; but it made me think that, with sufficient repetition, it would be quite easy to alter the conceptual categories we usually use for sorting people–for better or for worse.

Besides my employment contract preventing me from writing about the work I was then doing, the long hours prevented me from writing virtually anything at all. Then, too, family matters following from my mother’s medical scare continued to take up considerable time. It’s probably a good thing that all this family friction has come out into the open when my mother is still very much alive –although here, too, although for very different reasons, I’m not at liberty to publicly discuss the details.

Now, back to the incident at the Nanaimo Bus Loop …. As I recounted back in August, I was levelled as I was exiting a small, portable, convenience store located at the Loop by an athletic young woman who was running to catch her bus, whose view of me was entirely blocked by her angle of approach in relation to the design and placement of the store. Although I initially thought I could have a broken or cracked pelvic bone, x-rays proved otherwise, and, although for a couple of weeks, my mobility was limited by severe pain from the soft tissue injuries I had incurred, I made a full recovery within a month.

Although my injury proved not to be very serious, I contacted TransLink, initially via email, at this stage with no thought of financial compensation, to help TransLink avert further incidents of this nature–or worse, related, incidents. For example, if I’d been elderly and physically frail, and was hit as hard as I was hit, I would surely have had at least a broken bone or two. A very young child could easily have been killed. Perhaps because they feared I had a hidden pecuniary agenda (I can’t think of any other reason for their behaviour), TransLink then refused to accept any culpability–even though it is stated in the guidelines for private vendors at TransLink locations, on the TransLink website, that TransLink is responsible for approving the design of, and supervising the installation of, stores and kiosks at TransLink locations.

I did take this to the next level, speaking in person for over an hour with a claims adjustor working on behalf of TransLink. (TransLink uses an external company for this kind of thing.) At this stage, I did ask for some financial compensation (just a couple of thousand dollars) mainly because I thought TransLink deserved some sort of punishment for the way I had been treated when I earlier tried to make my case via email–and because I had indeed lost a few days of work, and pay, because of the incident. Again, this time via a formal letter that I received a couple of weeks after meeting with the claims adjustor, my case was dismissed. Moreover, when I was last at the Nanaimo Bus Loop, just last week, I observed that no changes had been made in the design and/or placement of the portable convenience store at that location. The design and placement of the store in combination with pedestrian traffic patterns at the Nanaimo Bus Loop continue to present a serious hazard to transit users.

If money were my major concern, I’ve been told I could take this case to small claims court, and very likely receive some compensation. Although the money couldn’t hurt, I’m more concerned about TransLink taking responsibility where it is due, and about TransLink being diligent in trying to ensure that transit users can navigate its system without incurring bodily harm. I’m skipping small claims court; however, there are no contractual constraints in my relationship with TransLink, or any other good reasons, that prevent me from further commenting on social media about this incident.

Blindsided by TransLink at the Nanaimo Bus Loop

About two weeks ago, when I was exiting the mobile store at the Nanaimo bus loop, here in Vancouver, I was bowled over by a young woman running to catch a bus that was parked behind the store–where the bus in the above photo is situated. Initially, I assumed it was just this young woman who was responsible for the accident, running too fast in such an environment and not paying adequate attention to her surroundings. I took it for granted that the design and placement of the store in relation to pedestrian traffic were basically safe. Normally, we can take such things for granted. But when I returned to this location a few days later (on crutches), and really looked at the design and placement of the store in relation to pedestrian traffic, I could see the potential perils.

If the young woman had approached the store from the angle from which I took the above photo, and was unfamiliar with this odd little store, she would have been unable to discern that store customers exit (and enter) from behind the hinged door that directly faced her and not from the side of the store where, from this angle, there seems to be a passageway, suggested by the protruding curve. She may even have been unable to discern that this was a store, with any exiting (or entering) involved. The woman insisted when she stopped to help me get up that she had been unable to see me until the moment when she crashed into me, and now I’m inclined to believe this was the case–and that she wasn’t simply being a jerk.

From a somewhat different angle, such as the angle from which I took the next photo, there is less ambiguity–but still, the design and placement of the store in relation to pedestrian traffic leave much to be desired.

Although I initially thought I would be left with only a bad bruise on my hip from my fall, it turns out I was actually hurt quite badly. It wasn’t until I had hobbled to my bus and had sat down that I experienced those telltale signs that something was seriously amiss–nausea and light-headedness. (Usually it does take a minute or two to register these things.) I actually passed out for a few seconds, during which time the bus started to leave the station. (Even if I had thought at the time of getting names and phone numbers of the woman who had hit me and other witnesses, there really was no opportunity, short of jumping off the bus at the next stop and getting back on a bad leg.) The pain in my pelvic area was excruciating for the next couple of days, and I seriously thought I had broken a bone, although nothing showed up on the X-rays I had taken last week. The doctor who examined me then thought it was probably all soft tissue damage, although she did suggest I come back for more X-rays if the pain persisted–which I’m now thinking of doing.

It could have been much, much, worse. I could have fallen on my head, as opposed to my hip. Or, if a very elderly person had been exiting the store at the moment I was exiting it, and had fallen hard like I did, they almost certainly would have experienced serious fractures. Or, if a parent carrying a baby, or pushing a stroller, had been hit as I was hit, the consequences could have been truly tragic.

What really makes me mad about this is that TransLink, our public transportation authority, has refused to take any responsibility for what transpired. When I called TransLink to complain, I was told that TransLink has no responsibility for the design and placement of mobile businesses, like this little mobile store, to which they lease space. But since TransLink should be cognizant of pedestrian traffic patterns in facilities like the Nanaimo bus loop, and since they should be aware of the tendencies of able-bodied transit users to sometimes dash to make their buses and trains (in my better days, I’ve done some dashing myself)–to a greater extent than any vendor with limited transit knowledge to which they lease space–it seems that, for the safety of TransLink users, TransLink should be required to inspect the design and placement of these mobile structures and to exert veto power when necessary. Also, they should be required to take responsibility when something for which they are ultimately responsible goes awry.

I’m tempted to sue, but without names and numbers for the woman who knocked me over and other witnesses, I’m unlikely to have any luck. (When I went back to speak to speak with her, the woman who was then working in the store did clearly remember the incident, and me.)

Has anyone else had a similar experience on any TransLink property–or maybe on a transit property in another jurisdiction?

Too Polite for Words: Missing Joan Rivers in Vancouver

I’ve elsewhere recounted in detail a very strange experience I had a couple of years ago when I was using my then-new iPad at my local branch of the Vancouver Public Library, with free WiFi, to catch an episode I’d missed of the TV show, Smash.  The short version is that I didn’t fully push the jack of my headset into its allotted slot so, although I thought I was listening to the hour-long show through the earbuds of my headset, I wasn’t.  The audio portion of the show–including the raucous musical numbers–was blaring through the section of the library in which I was sitting, loud enough so that I could hear it clearly even with what were effectively earplugs in my ears.  But none of the twenty or so people who, during that hour, were clearly positioned to hear the din and to discern its source said anything to me–not even the young, apparently tech-savvy, guy sitting across the library table from me using his portable computer, and not even the young woman, a part-time library employee, shelving books in that section of the library.  (The actual librarians were stationed around the corner, unable to see me and probably too far away to have heard much, if anything.) Both confirmed to me, when I was packing up to leave and discovered the jack was now completely detached from the iPad, that they had heard everything loud and clear.

Out of consideration for me, as much as out of consideration for themselves and for other patrons of the library, someone should have said something to me.  It was an embarrassing situation for me, not only because I was caught in a public place partaking of one of my private indulgences (although, as far private indulgences go, this was pretty tame) but also because I had been doing something really stupid, that goes against the basic principles of public library decorum.  I wouldn’t have minded at all if someone had tapped me on the shoulder and pointed out the problem, or even if someone had told me, bluntly, to shut the hell up.  Although most Vancouverites probably would regard the latter approach as extremely rude, and utterly unacceptable, I think of it more as outspokenness for the greater good. As I see it, it does far more damage to not tell someone something they need to be told than to provide them with the needed information, even in a somewhat harsh, to the point, manner. Thinking of the library incident in particular, a harsh, to the point, approach may actually have been best–followed, of course, by a good laugh by everyone concerned.

Although there are many things I like about my hometown of Vancouver, the excessive politeness of many of its citizens, that sometimes goes well beyond reasonableness, isn’t one of them. I’m not sure if what I have in mind should even be called ‘politeness’, since real politeness seems to require empathizing with others, and it’s empathy that seems to be lacking in these situations. Maybe what really bothers me is that most Vancouverites excel in the trappings of politeness, but a willingness to actually engage with others, or at least with those with whom one is not familiar, seems to be lacking. It’s a very strange, sometimes very disturbing, combination.  Since that library incident, and thinking about what had transpired, I’ve had many other strange experiences that seem to be related.

It’s quite likely that many, if not most, male Vancouverites never have experienced anything quite like my following example–at least on the receiving end of the situation–and, therefore, will find it hard to believe; but I think probably most female Vancouverites, especially those of a certain age (maybe 50 or older), have had many such experiences, although they may not interpret these experiences quite the way I do.  The example boils down to what may at first appear to be merely a widespread ineptitude among Vancouverites, particularly male Vancouverites, in opening doors for others.  You see, if you are a woman, and especially if you are a woman of a certain age, which I apparently have become in recent years, many ‘polite’ Vancouverites open doors for you as you are about to pass through—even if you are perfectly capable of opening those doors for yourself.  It’s a nice gesture–when it is done well.  But so often in this city, I’ve had the experience of someone opening a door for me ostensibly to make my passage easier yet actually blocking my passage, with their body or even with the door itself. It’s usually men who do this, although sometimes it’s also women, usually women younger than myself. It’s so very strange.

I don’t remember any such experiences from when I lived, for extended periods, in both Toronto and Montreal–although I was younger then, and fewer people were opening doors for me.  But even in my more recent travels outside of Vancouver, I’ve never experienced this phenomenon.  It seems to be just a Vancouver thing, to be experienced mainly, if not exclusively, by Vancouver females of a certain age–and, of course, by women of a certain age visiting our fair city, although, during a short stay they are likely to have such experiences only a couple of times at most, and to dismiss these experiences as bizarre anomalies. Take it from someone who lives here year-round, it’s not just an odd anomaly. Poor spacial perception, you say? I think not.  Or maybe just distractedness in a busy, bustling, city? There are other cities bigger and more bustling where this does not occur.  The high cost of housing in Vancouver resulting in Vancouverites not being able to afford proper eye care? That may be part of the problem, although only part of it.

The main problem seems to be a combination of Vancouverites in general excelling in the outward manifestations of politeness, including usually observing the nicety of opening a door for a woman of a certain age, yet not really connecting with the other person to be able to grasp the subtleties, such as that their ‘polite’ gesture of opening the door for someone else is actually blocking their way.

What is one to say in such a situation?  When this happens to me, I’m never really impolite. Although I may be fuming inside, I usually just tell the person in a resigned tone that they’re blocking my way, and ask them to move their body, or to adjust the position of the door, so I can get through.  That could be the Vancouverite in me. What such a situation, and others like them, may actually require is the harsh, to the point, approach, sometimes including even a rude word or two, so that people here will realize that their “kind gestures” sometimes aren’t actually polite at all, but consist merely of the trappings of politeness.

A post about this issue in my blog also may help to some extent; but, frankly, I think a few choice words, repeated at regular intervals over an extended period when such incidents occur would be far more effective.  In other words, we need more outspoken dames here–like the late Joan Rivers, who surely would have had something interesting to say in such ridiculous situations.

 

Bluebells Blossoming in 5 Pics: What CAN’T be Done With Twitter’s New Picture Posting Feature

I earlier tried posting the following 4 pictures of bluebells squeezing up along the side of our house using the new Twitter picture posting feature that allows Twitter users to post up to 4 pictures in one Tweet.  Unfortunately, I ran into a problem with, basically speaking, aspect ratio.

Before my experiment, I’d seen some good examples of 4 rectangular pictures displayed in a 2 x 2 grid in my Twitter feed and thought my four matching pictures, taken at intervals over the past two months, would suit that format.  (I took the pictures thinking they could be the basis of some animation. Originally, I wasn’t planning to publicly display just these pictures.) The basic problem was I didn’t realize all rectangular pictures that preview in Twitter feed, whether single pictures or part of multi-picture groups, are displayed in a 2 to 1 aspect ratio.  Only when you click on the pictures do you see pictures that don’t actually have a 2 to 1 aspect ratio in full.  (Squares seem to be an exception. I’ve seen some 4-picture groups in preview mode consisting of square pictures.)  In preview mode, not only were the tops and bottoms of my pictures lopped off, but also they were lopped off unequally.  Pictures on Twitter, whether single pictures or part of multi-picture groups, are shifted upward when they are fit into the new frame(s).

I could have dealt with the distortion of the pictures in preview mode if, when the 4 pictures were opened up, they all appeared together.  But this doesn’t happen with the new feature.  The pictures appear only individually–so my intended effect of plants maturing over time was essentially lost.

I’m posting those pictures again here–and have added one final closeup picture at the end.  This still isn’t exactly what I wanted.  (I’m still trying to figure out side-by-side pictures in WordPress, to achieve my 2 x 2 grid. It’s not as easy as one would think. But many things aren’t . . . )  However, it is, I think, an improvement over the Twitter version–even without the closeup, that turned out well, if I do say so myself.

As I’ve learned from my experiment, if you want complete pictures to appear in the preview mode in Twitter feed, whether you are posting a single picture or multiple pictures, use a 2 to 1 aspect ratio for the original pictures (or maybe stick with squares). However, the distortion that occurs when pictures that don’t have that aspect ratio are fit into those rectangles in preview mode can sometimes work to good effect, to achieve surprise when you click on the pictures and open them up, or intrigue that compels people to click–if you know what you’re doing.

 

January 19

February 2

March 4

March 29

Help Wanted: I Need Help Finding a Job in Vancouver or the Surrounding Area

One of the reasons I started this blog was to help me find a decent job here in Vancouver related to my skills in communications and, possibly, my interest in postsecondary education.  In the past two years, since I was laid off from the advertising sales job (the advertising was for educational publications) I’d held for five years, I’ve referred some potential employers to this blog who might want to see samples of my writing and/or who might want to find out where I stood on certain educational issues.  So far, no luck.  (I’ve also been employed during this period, but in an uninteresting sales job that barely pays the bills.)

I originally had planned to write a post this weekend about my recent misfortunes trying to obtain employment as a mid-career candidate in a city where unions have such strong clout and, during these tight economic times, when they do hire tend to hire only at the most junior level.  (As a prime example, even a university at which I which I worked part-time in a unionized administrative job when I was doing my MA in Education there, albeit some time ago, would not now consider me for a mid-level administrative job because I’m no longer a member of the union.  Nor would they consider me for junior jobs, because I’m too experienced.)  The issue of how Canadian unions are now blocking many mid-career candidates is an interesting one, that warrants my further attention in this blog–but not now.  At present, I’m more concerned about just finding a job than in changing Canadian labour law.

So, instead of just referring potential employers to this blog who may wish to see samples of my work, I’m using this particular blog post to aid in my quest for employment, but with a more direct approach.  Do any of you reading this post need an employee like me, or do you know anyone who does?  I’m versatile, a quick learner, and I play well with others.  Besides my more obvious skills and interests, I have a strong arts background. (I studied dance for about twenty years, have done mask work and puppetry, and have made short films–including a film that won an award in the Canadian Student Film Festival.) I also type like the blazes.

Also, Vancouver is my home.  I was born and raised here–although I haven’t lived here for my entire life.  (I’ve also lived in Toronto and Montreal.) Moving back to my home town, about 10 year ago, was much more difficult in terms of employment than I had ever anticipated.

If you want to know more about me, you may wish to have a look at some of my other blog posts.  Also, if you’d like an actual résumé, I’d be pleased to email one to you.

The Real Vancouver Bicycle Wars?: Urban Bicycles v. Two-Wheeled Toys for Big Boys

How about mandatory bicycle registration–including mandatory liability insurance–just for the more powerful, faster, bikes that are becoming increasingly prevalent, and increasingly problematic, in Vancouver? 

A targeted bicycle registration program aimed at only faster, racing-style, bikes could serve as an indirect incentive for purchasing slower urban bicycles, that are much safer in the city. This also could minimize, if not entirely eliminate, the problem that occurred when Toronto tried bicycle registration a few years ago of children being found guilty of breaking the law when they forgot to, or were unable to, pay registration fees: kids generally ride less powerful bikes, so at least most of them wouldn’t have to register their bikes.

The administrative costs for such a program would be offset by safer streets and probably, ultimately, many more people, from many more demographic groups than is now the case, cycling in our city.

Just an idea.

(I created this picture using the ArtStudio app on my iPad, starting with just two photos of bikes from on-line catalogues. I think it turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.)

Update: Pedestrians First for Vancouver, Including Point Grey Road

Since publishing a post here last week about the repurposing of Vancouver’s Point Grey Road to create bike lanes, in which I suggested pedestrians should be Vancouver’s number one priority, I’ve learned that pedestrians already are officially the number one priority at Vancouver City Hall.

You’d never know it, though–unless you were corrected by a Vancouver City Councillor, as was I after publishing that post.

Subsequent to being informed of my error, I came across an interesting blog post published a couple of years ago that addresses the skewed priorities of Vancouver’s Mayor Robertson and his Vision party: “Pedestrians are an afterthought for Vancouver politicos.” Its author is Daniel Fontaine, the former Chief of Staff to Vancouver Mayor Sam Sullivan, our current Mayor’s immediate predecessor.  (In that post, Fontaine provides links to official policy information, including the excerpt I’ve pasted above.)

Pedestrians First for Vancouver–Including Point Grey Road

Although I don’t own a car, I’m against the recent closure of a large section of Vancouver’s Point Grey Road (in the Kitsilano area, near the waterfront) to all but local traffic, to make way for bike lanes that will run between Jericho Beach and Burrard Bridge.  In the design of our streets, it seems the needs of pedestrians should come first, and I don’t think the interests of pedestrians–particularly those who don’t own cars, who walk and use public transportation as their primary means of transportation–were adequately taken into consideration when decisions were made regarding the repurposing of the road.

In an article published last summer in the Globe & Mail newspaper, it was mentioned that the city of Chicago had recently formally adopted a “Pedestrians First” policy with respect to urban planning, and that Toronto was then closely watching related developments in Chicago to see if Toronto should follow suit.  In Chicago’s system of prioritization, pedestrians come first; public transit comes second; bicycles come third; and cars come last.  In the system of priorities of Vancouver’s current mayor, Gregor Robertson, and his Vision Vancouver party, it seems bicycles trump everything else, and this seems very wrongheaded–especially given some of the unique characteristics of this city.

I have some sympathy for Vancouver cyclists, since I used to regularly ride a bike in Vancouver, including in the Kitsilano and Point Grey areas–but that was quite some ago.  Because this city is extremely hilly, even mountainous in some areas, and because it rains so much here, sometimes day after day for months on end, cycling on a regular basis in Vancouver is mainly for athletic kids (of both sexes) and athletic young men who have jobs in which they are able to arrive at work drenched and discheveled.  (Very few women with jobs would choose to arrive at work in such a state even if their jobs permitted it.) In Vancouver, the supposed shortage of safe bicycle routes is not nearly as much of an obstacle to cycling as are the arduous uphill climbs and the rain. 

From my Vancouver bike riding days, I remember choosing routes that were optimally safe, where there wasn’t heavy traffic, and I never had a collision, or near-collision, with a car. Yet, today, there seems to be an unrealistic sense of entitlement among Vancouver cyclists, that is likely to get many of them–and sometimes also innocent bystanders–into serious trouble. For example, last week I had a verbal altercation with a young woman (a gender exception) who was riding her bike on the sidewalk on Granville Street near King Edward Boulevard while I was walking along that stretch of sidewalk, heading to my bus stop.  She rebutted my suggestion that she not ride on the sidewalk by screaming at me that she was riding on the sidewalk because she got knocked down by a car riding her bike in one of the traffic lanes of Granville.  Why oh why had she been riding a bike in a traffic lane on a busy thoroughfare like Granville?!  Furthermore, that accident was no justification for her riding her bike along the sidewalk. (There was no indication the incident had occurred immediately prior.) Riding a bicycle along Point Grey Road (before the road closure, of course) was an equally bad choice–yet ensuing accidents involving bikes and cars along that stretch of road has been used as one of the justifications for the repurposing of the road.

Prior to my visit last week to the section of Point Grey Road that has been closed (which was when I took the above photo), it had been several years since I had been along that stretch of the road. Although I hadn’t personally observed the high traffic volumes about which residents had complained, I concede that there probably was too much traffic for that road.  This section of Point Grey Road is narrow, with only two lanes, and was never meant to become the major artery that it is reported to have become.  But greater motor vehicle access is required than is currently permitted. Paradoxically, this is required largely to address the needs of those who don’t own cars, who walk and use public transportation as their primary means of transportation. These include both those who live along this stretch of Point Grey Road and those who live in other areas, who may need to, or just want to, visit this area.

As for the former group, there are hundreds of houses along this section of Point Grey Road–and they are by no means all lavish, waterfront, homes.  (In much of the recent commentary voicing opposition to the closure, it has been suggested that everyone living along Point Grey Road is fabulously rich. Not so.)  Along the south, non-waterfront, side of the road are densely-packed, mainly older, relatively modest houses (similar to the relatively modest house in which I now live in Dunbar).  Also on Point Grey Road, near Bayswater Street, there is a large apartment building with about sixty units.  Undoubtedly, living in many of these abodes–and quite likely also in some of the ritzier abodes on the north side–are seniors and others who don’t own cars and who, therefore, are likely to regularly require the services of those who do.  For example, I sometimes take cabs, and regularly have groceries delivered. How are these sorts of services to be handled for the residents of this area? And what about the seniors without cars who may require someone with a car to assist them to get to a medical appointment?  Or to provide assistance in a medical emergency?

In the other group (those who don’t own cars, who walk and use public transportation as their primary means of transportation, yet who may require vehicular access to this section of Point Grey Road from time to time), are people like me.  I mentioned earlier that, prior to my visit last week, it had been several years since I’d been on this stretch of Point Grey Road.  A key reason is that there is no public transportation along here–although there should be.  As I discovered in my walk last week, there are a couple of lovely little public parks along this stretch of the road, to which all Vancouverites, including those who don’t live in the immediate area, or who don’t ride bikes, or who aren’t up to walking long distances, should have access.  Both some access for cars, as well as, perhaps, some form of public transportation along this stretch (perhaps one of those small, local, buses, that accommodates about thirty people), would be required for this purpose–as well as just for visiting folks who live in the area.

Surely there are ways of reducing traffic along this section of Point Grey Road without cutting out all vehicles except cars owned by people living along the road.  As outlined in a 2012 blog post by the Vancouver Sun columnist, Frances Bula, attempts had been made several years prior to the closure to rectify the problem by reducing the speed limit along Point Grey Road to 30 KPH (which is only 18.64 MPH).  I would have thought that slowing traffic to that snail’s pace would have worked; however, as suggested at the end of Bula’s post, there seems not to have been adequate enforcement of the speed reduction initiative, and traffic density (and, presumably, average speed of cars travelling along Point Grey Road) did not decrease.

Before closing off all but local traffic to this part of Point Grey Road and turning it into bike lanes–that are likely to go virtually unused doing much of the year in Vancouver, and that will almost certainly be used only by a small proportion of the population during even our dry spells–I believe a more serious effort should have been made to reduce the traffic along Point Grey Road, without cutting it out entirely.  

Stronger enforcement of a lowered speed limit along Point Grey Road; the introduction of public transportation along this stretch of a road; and making Vancouver, in general, more hospitable to pedestrians, so that more Vancouverites will feel they don’t need to use cars in the city, are among the things that should have been tried before turning this stretch of Point Grey Road into the fiasco it’s sure to become.

The Frayed Red Poppy: Suggestions for Updates to Canada’s Remembrance Day

Five years from now, on November 11th of 2018, it will be the 100th anniversary of the end of the hostilities of World War I.   This would seem to be a fitting occasion for the end of the Canadian Remembrance Day, in its conventional form.  Remembrance Day was started, after all, one year after the end of these hostilities, to commemorate the loss of lives of military personnel in WW I.  I would suggest that, subsequently, the focus of the annual national holiday should be shifted to recognizing and thanking the Canadian military, past and present, for its varied contributions, not only on the battlefield–similar to the American Veterans Day, that also takes place on November 11th.   Barring major Canadian military casualties in the upcoming years, the frequency of a national tribute for those Canadian men and women who lost their lives fighting for Canada could be cut back to every 5, or 10, or 25 years, as the majority of Canadians in future years saw fit,  and be just one aspect of the November 11th commemoration.  Only then would red poppies, now a frayed symbol of lives lost in war, bloom on our lapels.

I’m making these suggestions after having accompanied my mother, a veteran of the British Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (or WAAF) in WW II, to two Remembrance Day ceremonies at her local Legion separated by four years–the most recent of which was just last week.  What a difference four years has made at the West Point Grey Legion in Vancouver.  Four years ago, there were a couple of dozen uniformed older male and female veterans in attendance, veterans of WW II and the Korean War–and many other older folk who, like my mother, weren’t in uniform, but who seemed to be veterans.  (My mother turned in her uniform at the end of her service, which she later regretted.  Would she still have fit into that old uniform?  I won’t tell.)  In these four years, the male ranks, in particular, had greatly declined.  Those old guys, who I’d flirted with a little, complimenting them on all their medals and other military decorations, were virtually all gone now, probably victims of the run-of-the-mill brutality of old age.  Also, at the recent ceremony, there wasn’t the large contingent of younger, active, servicemen and servicewomen who had attended four years ago.  Four years ago, there was an unusually high attendance of young, active, military people at this particular Remembrance Day ceremony because, in a couple of months, the Winter Olympics would be held in Vancouver,  and the Canadian Armed Forces was assisting with the preparation of facilities and advance security.  Many of the military personnel in Vancouver for the Olympics were staying at the Point Grey Barracks, just up the hill from this Legion, and this is where they commemorated Remembrance Day.  I knew four years ago that there was then an unusually high attendance of young, active, military people; but I didn’t know how unusually high until this year, when I observed virtually no such people.

Four years ago, fortuitously, with the exception of the relatively short ceremonial part of the proceedings that did stress honouring soldiers who had lost their lives in battle, I had participated in the kind of “Remembrance Day” that I think is befitting for Canada in years to come: a commemoration of national service, past and present, and a celebration of our national values.  This year, Remembrance Day at this Legion was a generally much more dour and, in the current age, dubious, affair.

It occurred to me in the course of this year’s ceremony that I haven’t personally known a single person who has lost their life fighting in a war, or in any other military action.   My closest relative who died in military action was the husband of my great-aunt, Dolly, who was shot down in the Battle of Britain in WW II (the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces), and who died before I was born.  My mother’s father fought in WW I, including in the Battle of the Somme; but, despite the heavy losses for the UK in this prolonged battle, he survived.  People in  the United Kingdom and Canada who participated in the first Remembrance Day held in 1919 almost inevitably personally knew people who had lost their lives in WW I: the UK lost 887,000 military personnel in this war, or 2.19% of its population; Canada lost 65,000, or .92% of its population.

A Reproduction of a Canadian Armed Forces Recruitment Poster from WW I

Although there were fewer casualties in WW II,  those from these two countries who participated in Remembrance Day ceremonies in the years immediately following WW II also were likely to have personally known soldiers who had died in this war: the UK had 383,800 military deaths in WW II, or .94% of its 1939 population, while Canada had approximately 45,000 military deaths, or .40% of its 1939 population.

But the likelihood of Canadians personally knowing someone who has died in battle has greatly decreased in recent decades.  Canada lost approximately 500 soldiers in the Korean War (that lasted from 1950 to 1953); 157 in Afghanistan; and 121 in the peacekeeping activities of recent decades.  (All the wartime mortality figures in this post are taken from the website canadaatwar.ca.)  To put these more recent figures in some perspective, according to WorkSafeBC, there already have been 47 workplace deaths just this year, in just the province of British Columbia.  (There have been no catastrophic workplace accidents in BC during this period that individually resulted in numerous casualties. This seems to be a normal number for this period, for just one Canadian province.)   I don’t wish to trivialize the more recent military mortalities; however, in terms of Canadians in general being personally acquainted with those who have died in military action, or even personally knowing someone else who lost someone close to them who died in this way, there has been a major drop in recent decades.

Many Canadians my age (late fifties) and younger who now attend Canadian Remembrance Day ceremonies are likely to do so largely to support their elders who served in World War II or the Korean War, and/or who lost people close to them in these wars.  (Besides serving herself in the WAAF, my mother lost a close male friend, Peter Moody, a member of Britain’s Royal Air Force, who died in, of all places, Medicine Hat, Alberta, on a training mission with the Canadian Air Force. )  But, when those elders are gone, even a very nice luncheon after the ceremony–even including a couple of free drinks–may not be enough to entice us to attend these ceremonies commemorating only the dead, whose contributions we may appreciate, but who we never personally knew.  Not even just once every four years.

Update: Coots and Critters

As I noted in my last post, I’ve recently been dealing with large portions of our Vancouver lawn being torn up at night by a critter of some kind, foraging for chafer beetle larvae.  I think I’ve finally found the culprit.

Shortly after 6 a.m. last Wednesday, as I was heading off to work, I espied through the darkness–barely–this skunk digging up a neighbour’s lawn.  I haven’t seen a skunk in our area for ages.  Lots of raccoons, yes, and various other critters.  But it seems it was a nocturnal skunk that was doing all the damage.