- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 1958
I was skeptical of the first few reports. Not skeptical that they found and killed him, I suspect that's the inadvertent result of accidentally promoting someone of competence to a position of power within the government, no, I was skeptical of the purported circumstances of his murder, the using his wife as a human shield and other unsavory details promoted in the media.
The burial at sea I understood, leave no place for followers to congregate, a long way from the sea Abbotabad but worth the flight I'm sure, the rest seemed odd....
Like why kill him? Wouldn't you want him alive? They didn't want him alive, it was an execution. He's already been convicted in absentia by a vengeful and misled American public. And as luck would have it the day after the killing the details begin to change, he didn't have a human shield, he was unarmed, and one would think at this point - that - like it or not they have an obligation to take him alive, offer him a fair trial.
But it was an execution and because we take it for granted he was the enemy we are too happy to waive his rights. We're supposed to be better than that but we'll just let it slide this once.
Dangerous ground this, but the Americans have beat the path with Guantanamo Bay and other precedents in Iraq.
Then there's the timing. Who's up for election and sliding in the polls? Funny they should find him now, almost like a publicity stunt...
Now they've attacked and killed a symptom of the problem, not evil incarnate (as is too often quoted in an inane media), the evil, however, survives all about corporate America, in the US foreign policy that allows them to kill anyone without trial, especially a foreign national, a policy that allows them to kill countless women and children in pursuit of vague and commercial ends, they've killed Osama Bin Laden, that's sure, but I'm really thinking, I'm seriously convinced that they've got the wrong guy.
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 2061
Now there have been a few, very few, you'd see them driving around the city, signs posted 4 or 5 miles apart, but really, garage sale season began this weekend.
Friday there was a teaser - a senior's sale at the 50+ center in Killarney. Nothing really, a few passes around the work before I settled on a couple of blood pressure test kits for one of the customers at work who seems a little preoccupied with his health lately. When I get to work they prove to be the highlight, as all the staff line up to check their blood pressure.
Saturday, though, Saturday is where it's at.
It's the Good Samaritan Rummage Sale at the Hillhurst community center.
And I'm there, faithful as an old dog, about 7:30. There are the usual suspects, perhaps 30 people in line ahead of me, dealers, the usual suspects, I know them all. I've picked myself up a coffee and a spare, just in case, and I offer up a random act of kindness and give it to the book fairy. I could use the connection and stand beside him, pretend I was joining him in line, but that's just tacky.
I feel I should have dressed up for this, and the line slowly builds up behind me. I've brought a book and a plastic chair to sit in and while away the time, chat to my neighbors, the atmosphere is convivial, jovial, but I don't kid myself, it will be competitive as hell once I get through the doors.
I do my stretches.
The lady in front of me, she comments on how the line fills, when we arrived there were perhaps 30 people ahead of us, now there are almost a hundred, and she's spoken too soon. She's joined by her grand daughter, her husband, her friends, ..... I'd be annoyed, but I'm focused on the sale.
At 9:00 we finally enter. And it's a mad dash to the collectables cabinet, nothing of interest today, then the jewelry in the main gym, again nothing of interest. I expand my search, in the end pick up some neckties, baubles for people at work, nothing, really, of merit. Nothing to justify the wait.
From here I'm off to the Knights of Columbus, which started at 8:00 but I couldn't, still can't be in 2 places at the same time. And this looks OK, a Crucifix that opens to reveal candles & holy water, for giving the last rites (perfect, again, for one of the older Italian ladies at work), a vintage alarm clock that some moron over wound and then decided he didn't want (and so they marked it down for me...), other trifles that I have to talk myself out of buying.
I look for the St. Lukes garage sale on Northmount drive, miss my turn, turn back but can't seem to find it, a couple of passes and that's it, time is passing and I'll have to search further.
I go to St. Michael's - a school in the South West, meet a dealer I know carting out an antique pine chest, otherwise there's nothing.
We chat. I've played it wrong, this Saturday, there were 22 church sales on this morning but I put all my eggs in the Samaritan basket, and while it's been good in the past, was good this year, there was nothing exceptional. I should have traded my first on the scene there for first on the scene at any number of other sales, the finds would have, could only have been better.
***
When I get home there's a call from someone replying to a Kijiji ad I had posted, originally contacted me in October, now in town to pick up his piece, while here he picks up a few other bits and bobs and overall, by the end I've covered the morning's excesses.
Out with the old, in with the new.
***
Sunday, coffee with a friend, on the way home a garage sale sign, pop in, some used electronics, a better mini stereo for a song, some questionable electronics and computer stuff that needs to be tested, all in all not a bad weekend, not exceptional, but it's only week one...
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 1938
Sunday morning, the only day off this week, in the morning sipping coffee outside, a large, well fed coyote with bush tail and a glossy pelt walks across the ridge behind the condo. Working his way east, towards the golf course, indifferent to any spectators. The cats will stay in today.
And all throughout the day there are rabbits in fields, on the sides of the road, lawns, it looks to be their year. Hawks sit on fenceposts looking for the smaller game or just hanging in the air.
The sky's an unblemished blue, perfect, gem like, it's as if it's never snowed, certainly not just a few days before, now, almost indisputably, it's spring.
Almost.
Later there are the crowds walking along the river, a cool evening, and in the night there are shimmering curtains of phosphorescence in northern sky, iridescent and changing colors, they play for an hour or two before fading to a dull glow.
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 2176
Morning, on what may be, what could be a day off. Finally.
And the weather the past week has been beautiful, getting ever better, the moss grows green on the paving stones outside the restaurant, tulips can be seen to bud, the sky is a clear blue, occasionally dotted with cumulus clouds, temperature reaches highs of +10, +15, and I'm looking forward to garage sales, planning my costume, lists of things to do and I sit about planning my first step.
It could be a day off.
Outside, unusually, it's getting bitterly cold - the sky a slate grey, and I rearrange my priorities - I was going to go to the garden center but maybe not today...and the Restore, to pick up some hardwood (long overdue), but ...
And as I debate these countless trivial things it begins to snow. I thought that it was done for the year, but before I have even finished the thought it's turned into a full scale blizzard. Blizzard. The Good Samaritan Rummage sale is looking a lot less appealing, 2 hours standing in bitterly cold weather, lined up in the snow and the ice....but, persevere and you may be richly rewarded...
So the restore is out today - will not be making trips to and fro with a car packed with Lumber. Nix that. But I could still hit a few thrift shops, line up some curtains and call it a day. Which might have to be it.
- Details
- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 2164
Killing time on the break between shifts and I think to pick up the Calgary Herald and read it, ostensibly to perhaps tear a hard copy of the classified ads and plan my garage sale route for Saturday.
And lo-and-behold there are a mere 2 pages. 2 pages to cover the real estate, cars, and every other classified market in the city.
Such is the internet that all things are now posted online, no one even thinks to run a classified ad anymore, why pay when you can get so much better exposure for free?