The Hunger Games!

I don't like to criticize anyone at public health, but they dropped the ball in the Fraser Health district.  They decided to start pop-up vaccine clinics in the high risk areas.  They were open to anyone 18 or older that lived in certain postal code locations that were deemed high risk.  You could also know your electoral district but apparently not everyone knows that so they went to postal codes.  People didn't listen and people who weren't eligible went anyway.  Fraser Health gave them all the vaccine.  

Yesterday they started lining up at 4 AM at the two locations in North Surrey.  Families split up and went to the two different areas, texting and holding spots in line for other family members and friends.  By 8 AM it became a police matter!  Fraser Health didn't open the clinics to avoid trouble and told everyone to go home.  One fellow said it was like The Hunger Games!   

None of the grocery clerks and many other front line workers haven't been vaccinated in Surrey!  They all work so they could never attend one of these clinics.  The Province has a clinic reservation system.  Why can't they use it for more clinics and give eligible people vaccines?  Apparently all the Astra Zeneca vaccine has been given out.  Why don't they give Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson to the pharmacies that have done such a good job of taking reservations and vaccinating eligible people with Astra Zeneca.  

If that news wasn't bad enough, I watched the 5PM Global TV news.  The news anchor, Sophie Lui, was trying to read the news.  A 46 year old Tsawwassen father of two passed away at home with COVID.  She couldn't contain herself and it was heart wrenching.  

Let's hope things improve soon!

Humour

 

Living in the danger zone!

 

We live in the BC Electoral District of Panorama one of the current high-transmission COVID districts in our Province.   Dr. Bonnie said she would direct vaccines to the high-transmission areas.  

I heard Vancouver Island ran out of Astra Zeneca last week.  Knowing people in Surrey that had reservations at pharmacies early this week for Astra Zeneca, I was worried.  One friend (46) had an appointment at London Drugs in Surrey on Tuesday and Monday afternoon got a phone call that said "come now".  She did and got her vaccine.  Another friend (mid 50's) had an appointment at Shoppers Drug Mart on Monday and they called to say they were out of vaccine.   Her appointment was cancelled and she would go back on the wait list.  She phoned the Province COVID registry to register for a clinic appointment and she was told, "go immediately to Langley Events Center".  She did and was vaccinated in an hour!

Yesterday at 1 PM, They opened an Astra Zeneca Pop Up Clinic at the Cloverdale Recreation Center for anyone 30 or older living in a high-transmission area!   My neighbour read it on Twitter and went immediately.  He didn't wait very long.  By 6 PM there was a three hour wait.  They were closing at 7 PM but I didn't hear if those in line were vaccinated.  

Our letter carrier told me her 54 year old friend in Panorama was already vaccinated at a clinic last week!   They are really addressing the problem in the bad areas.    It's good to hear so many people are getting vaccinated.   

Line up for Astra Zeneca vaccine at the Port Coquitlam pop up clinic!

Interesting Tweets:

From the Port Coquitlam pop up Clinic at 9:40 PM

HOLY CARP!! We just finished vaccinating 2445 people at Coquitlam Poirier Centre. We have never done this many in one day. The wait was long for those in line, but it was a pleasure to check them in for their shots! 

A Port Coquitlam man tells NEWS 1130 he waited more than four hours Tuesday to get the AstraZeneca vaccine at a Fraser Health drop-in clinic but was surrounded by people who don’t live in the neighbourhood that’s considered a COVID-19 hot zone.

Thank you Dr. Bonnie!   Hopefully the transmission will slow down in Surrey!

Clever signs

A sign in a shoe repair store in Vancouver : 

We  will heel you

We will save your sole

We will even dye for you.

 

A sign over a Gynaecologist's office:

"Dr. Jones, at your cervix."

 

In a Podiatrist's office:

"Time wounds all heels."

 

On a Septic Tank Truck:

Yesterday's Meals on Wheels.

 

At an Optometrist's office:

"If you don't see what you're looking for...you've come to the right place."

 

On a Plumber's truck:

"We repair what your husband fixed."

 

On another Plumber's truck:

"Don't sleep with a drip. Call your plumber."

 

At a Tire Shop in Milwaukee:

"Invite us to your next blowout."

 

On an Electrician's truck:

"Let us remove your shorts."

 

In a Non-smoking Area:

"If we see smoke, we will assume you are on fire and will take appropriate action."

 

On a Maternity Room door:

"Push. Push. Push."

 

At a Car  Dealership:

"The best way to get back on your feet...miss a carpayment."

 

Outside a Muffler Shop:

"No appointment necessary.  We hear you coming."

 

In a Veterinarian's waiting room:

"Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!"

 

At the Electric Company:

"We would be delighted if you send in your payment on time...However, if you don't, YOU will be de-lighted."

 

In a Restaurant window:

"Don't stand there and be hungry; come on in and get fed up."

 

In the front yard of a Funeral Home:

"Drive carefully. We'll wait."

 

At a Propane Filling Station:

"Thank Heaven for little grills."

 

In a Chicago Radiator Shop:

"Best place in town to take a leak."

We've come a long way, baby!

My toaster stopped working.  Normally, when I need an appliance I go to Consumer Reports and check out the ratings  But this is only a toaster.  Last time I purchased a toaster I knew the only thing important was to get one with an opening large enough for a bagel.  

This is the toaster we had when I was a child.  Worked great, just be careful you don't burn yourself and make sure you don't leave the bread in too long or it will be black and crunchy:

I purchased a Cuisinart because any Cuisinart products I have on hand are reliable.  I brought it home and found it comes with an instruction manual.  Why would they have a manual with a toaster?  When I took the toaster out of the box, I figured it out!

This toaster, defrosts, reheats and toasts.  There is a setting for:  Plain bread, bagel, English muffin, pastry and waffle!  You can toast a bagel on one side and two slices of bread on the other.  You dial it to the perfect shade you want.  

Now I can't wait for my blender to stop working!

Changing the subject, I don't like to say anything negative about Dr. Bonnie Henry our Provincial Health Officer, but as a friend told me tonight, she is giving us mixed messages.  It's hard to figure out what you can and can't do as things change rapidly.  I read this article in The Vancouver Sun and this journalist asked the same questions, I've been asking:

https://vancouversun.com/opinion/shelley-fralic-sending-out-an-sos-we-need-answers

Church ladies and their typewriters

 They're Back! Those wonderful Church Bulletins! Thank God for the church ladies with typewriters. These sentences actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced at church services:

The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals. 
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Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children.
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The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks on the Water. 'The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus.'
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Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
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Don't let worry kill you off - let the Church help. 
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Miss Charlene Mason sang 'I will not pass this way again,' giving obvious pleasure to the congregation. 
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For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs. 
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Next Thursday there will be try-outs for the choir. They need all the help they can get. 
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Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
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A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow.. 
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At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice.
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Eight new choir robes are currently needed due to the addition of several new members and to the deterioration of some older ones.
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Please place your donation in the envelope along with the deceased person you want remembered..
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The church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.
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Pot-luck supper Sunday at 5:00 PM - prayer and medication to follow.
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The ladies of the Church have cast off clothing of every kind. They may be seen in the basement on Friday afternoon.
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This evening at 7 PM there will be a hymn singing in the park across from the Church. Bring a blanket and come prepared to sin.
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The pastor would appreciate it if the ladies of the Congregation would lend him their electric girdles for the pancake breakfast next Sunday. 
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Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM . Please use the back door.
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The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare's Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM .. The congregation is invited to attend this tragedy.
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Weight Watchers will meet at 7 PM at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use large double door at the side entrance.
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And this one just about sums them all up

The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new campaign slogan last Sunday:

'I Upped My Pledge - Up Yours'.

An explanation of popular phrases......

 

 

COVID where I live....

We hear from our Health Minister how bad Fraser Health and Surrey is for COVID infections.  Yesterday, Fraser Health had 600 new cases.  Vancouver Coastal Health had 211 in comparison.  The rest of the province is much less!  I am happy they have finally vaccinated all the police, fire fighters, EMT, teachers, bus drivers and many other essential workers in Surrey.  Our vaccine centers are huge.  Appointments start at 9 AM and are available until 8:45 PM every day.  They are really doing their best to get everyone vaccinated at the clinics quickly.   Here's a list of our clinics:

• The former Best Buy store on King George Blvd. 
• Guildford Recreation Center
• Cloverdale Recreation Center
• South Surrey Recreation Center
• South Surrey Park and Ride drive thru
• Surrey 66 Avenue drive thru

Getting an appointment at a pharmacy doesn't seem to be a problem here, which is really good.  Appointments are available at Save On Foods next Tuesday and Wednesday!  In the really bad areas that have been identified by electoral districts, if you are 40 or above you can make an appointment at a government clinic now.  We live in one of the bad areas, oh what a surprise!

I go on the BC CDC website to see the businesses that are closed.  Brown's Social House, Wendy's and Cactus Club very close to us have all been closed!   Today I see the barber in the adjacent mall is also closed.  Here is the notice on the door:

We stay home unless it's necessary to go to a grocery store.  We chose our time when it's senior hours or not busy.  I look forward to the day when we return to some kind of normal, whatever that will be.  

Gardening

I have never had a green thumb.  In fact, I'm all thumbs and they don't work well.  We have new neighbours on either side of us.  They are both fabulous gardeners.  Last summer, with the guidance of our neighbour to the east, Kathy, we took out all the greenery in our front garden between the two residences and planted all new plants and shrubs.  Kathy picked out all the flowers and shrubs.  The beds looked great.  

Now it's time to replant.  It's still a little early as the signs in the nursery on many plants say, don't plant until it's warmer than 10C.  Kathy planted some nice yellow flowers in her barrel.  I have the same barrel and she came over and congratulated me on my beautiful flowers

The plant in the middle is from last year.  The colourful arrangement are flowers I purchased at the Dollar Store about six years ago!   I would say they are silk, but I paid so little, I have no idea what they are made of.  I couldn't believe after the first year of sunshine, they never faded.  Kathy didn't realize they were artificial and we had a good laugh.   We will remove them and plant some "real" flowers when we know the weather will continue to be warm.

Kathy is the Queen of www.amazon.ca.  The Amazon delivery driver stops most days.  She called me out the other night to show me her new solar lights.  They glow like torches!   I got some too so we have balance and I captured a very short video of them:

Grandchildren!

Our longtime friends, Dawn and Larry, have three sons.  The sons are married and have seven children.  Six girls and one boy.  Montana was their first grandchild.  If memory serves me right, she attended Emily Carr University of Art and Design and graduated with a Bachelor of Media Arts Design, specializing in computer animation.  

Her career started with Disney in Vancouver.  She is exceptionally talented.  Montana won an EMMY!   The parents and grandparents are very excited and so they should be.  Montana, WAY TO GO!!!!

A new day

Yesterday I didn't post my blog.  It was an usual day.  

The day started out with Rogers Wireless going down.  A relative has a couple of businesses and because in my working life I managed cellular accounts, he asked me to look after his cellular phones.  Rogers did a software update and it took the system down Canada wide.  It took hours for them to get things back working.  Without a cellular connection, you can't text or call.  Thankfully I have a landline, but most of the people who have cell phones don't have a land line!   Getting in touch with them made it difficult.  They are so attached to their phones!  The network came back on slowly and was in full operation by the early evening.

After the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, the cellular system in New York was overloaded with calls.  When it was repaired, the US Emergency Management Agency halted all cellular communications and turned the system into an emergency signal.  I believe it was a few days before users in the New York area could get a signal.  Warning to anyone who discontinues their land line.  Should we have a natural disaster, the same thing will happen in Canada.  Keep your land line!

I went into work at Maritime Travel early.  It's been so long since I've been in the office.  We are working on rebooking our South Africa safari from March 2021 to March 2022.  It was actually rebooked to September 2021, but we still think that's too early to travel.  We don't even know if March 2022 will be safe, but one can hope.

Great photography. Is the first picture Bora Bora? I want to go back!

  

Just the girls

 I don't know who painted this, but it's another great painting!

I love a pun

I have a few jokes about unemployed people, but none of them work

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How do you make holy water? You boil the hell out of it

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Will glass coffins be a success? Remains to be seen

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What’s the difference between a hippo and a zippo? One is really heavy and the other is a little lighter

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Two windmills are standing in a wind farm. One asks, “What’s your favorite kind of music?” The other says, “I’m a big metal fan.”

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Hear about the new restaurant called Karma? There’s no menu - you get what you deserve

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I went to buy some camouflage trousers yesterday but couldn't find any

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What do you call a bee that can’t make up its mind? A maybe

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I tried to sue the airline for losing my luggage. I lost my case

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When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane

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A cross-eyed teacher couldn’t control his pupils

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She had a photographic memory but never developed it

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Is it ignorance or apathy that's destroying the world today? I don't know and don't really care

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I wasn’t originally going to get a brain transplant, but then I changed my mind

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Which country’s capital has the fastest-growing population? Ireland. Every day it’s Dublin.

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My ex-wife still misses me. But her aim is starting to improve

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The guy who invented the door knocker got a no-bell prize

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I saw an ad for burial plots, and I thought: “That’s the last thing I need!”

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Need an ark? I Noah guy

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I used to be indecisive; now I'm not so sure

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Sleeping comes so naturally to me, I could do it with my eyes closed

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What did the grape say when it got stepped on? Nothing - but it let out a little whine

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What do you call a super articulate dinosaur? A Thesaurus

Bars in Scotland---I love their signs!

 

COVID!

On Monday, 86 schools in BC sent letters out to parents advising of an exposure in their school.  My niece got an email from her son's school before lunch.  At 1:15, the school called to tell her his entire class was going into quarantine.   The exposure was April 6th, and they were not notified until April 12!   

This family knows of three families who all caught the Brazilian variant.  It's spread through the entire family.  Thankfully none are in hospital!   All these cases are in Ocean Park and the cases have been traced to people who travelled to Whistler at Spring Break!

The son who is now quarantined turned 10 yesterday!  This was his second COVID Birthday.  Last year everything was closed and his mom organized a drive by birthday party.   What to do this year?   There is nothing she could do as all his friends are quarantined at home!  

A Krispie Kreme donut birthday cake!  He loved it.

It's a good thing they have a large backyard.  It's going to be a long quarantine!

What a wonderful seven day forecast!  Last week when I knew it was really going to warm up, so I organized two outside social distancing lunches!   Wednesday we would visit our friends in Maple Ridge.  We were taking lunch and looking forward to finally seeing them.  They live on a lovely large property. we would sit in their back yard have lunch and watch the horse and Emily the donkey.    On Friday, my good friend Donna was coming out from Vancouver to our back yard for lunch.  I was looking forward to a nice visit!

On Monday afternoon, Dr. Bonne Henry asked everyone to stay in their own community.   The variant is greatly increasing cases and it transmits much easier than the first wave.  Although we are all vaccinated, the thought of carrying the virus and giving it to a good friend, and listening to the advice of Dr Bonnie Henry, I made the difficult decision to cancel both lunches.  Best to be safe!

 

Prince Philip & Diana

 

What was your first mobile phone?

My first personal cell phone was a 7!  It was expensive and I used "Take Me Out To the Ball Game" as my ringtone.  My mom loved it when I visited her and it rang!

At work I had an 11 as my first work phone.  We had a Blackberry Enterprise Server to keep our data secure.  It was a great work phone, except you were always "available" 24/7!   I never had personal phone numbers or emails on my Blackberry.  I carried my "own" phone for personal stuff.  

When I left my full time job, my replacement was a single mother with two boys.  When I was training her, she got called into the manager's office.  I never thought anything about it until she came out very upset.  She was told "if you get an email, even at home, we are support, you must answer it within two hours".  The email came in on her drive home.  She made dinner, helped the two children with their homework and put them to bed.  She answered it around 9ish.  Her manager's boss was a mom too, and I told her to go and speak to her.  There is no way anyone should be told to answer an email in two hours, after working an eight hour day.  A directive came down and that "two hour rule" got thrown out with the trash!  

Email made mail a lot faster and mobile phones make everyone always available!   The times they changed in the 1990s!