2013/04/28

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  Rue Sherbrooke – 2013.04.18
  Scènes de Montréal – Montreal Scenes
  

  Above

  I noticed that new public art sculpture walking on Sherbrooke after that day’s physiotherapy treatments. I’m sure it wasn’t there before (I mean in my other life, before I entered hospital last September ). The base is tell-tale, the lawn around it not being repaired yet. I didn’t notice at first that the lower part was a reflection of the upper one. I had my mind elsewhere I guess. I was heading to the Quartier des Spectacles to see the swings… and the swingers.

  W… again

  George W. Bush now has his own Presidential library. Isn’t ‘Bush’ and ‘library’ some kind of oxymoron?

  
  «That will teach him… He was late returning his books.»
  Cartoon © Garnotte, Le Devoir

  

  Dreaming of summer

  We’re finally getting milder temperatures, especially in the daytime (around 20 °C). So far so good. Time to clean the balcony for outside living.

  

  Stupid deaths

  Friday, in the Lac St-Jean region (a hell of a lot more northerly than Montreal), a middle-aged man drowned in a local river while gone fishing with his late-twenties son. He had bought a canoe the day before and they were eager to try it and inaugurate their fishing season. The father made a bad move, the canoe capsized. This time of year, the water is so cold that you lose your strength in a matter of 10 to 15 seconds. The son managed to reach the shore, not the elderly. Neither were wearing a life vest. You know, that thing “real men” don’t need to bother with, that thing “made for sissies”.

  This week, a girl was waiting for the metro at Monk station. She was glued to her cellphone, her mind totally absorbed by what she was doing (texting, whatever…). The train came in, doors opened, then closed, and left as usual. Some stations later, some bystanders noticed blood in the tracks area. It was found out that the girl was stuck under one wagon and had been dragged a few stations. They immediately thought it was another one of those suicides in the metro. However, it was later discovered that the girl was anything but suicidal. It was eventually found out that when the train came at the Monk station and the doors opened, the girl, not leaving her attention from her phone, walked right in. Except it was not a door, it was the space between two wagons and nobody saw her fall on the tracks and the train left.

  Tragedies? Sure. Especially for those remaining. But both were highly avoidable if the victims had acted responsibly. They rather acted stupidly, and that’s why I call them stupid deaths. Unfortunately, these kinds of deaths are a dime a dozen.

  

  Bangladesh

  The situation of textile workers in Bangladesh, brought about by that building crumbling and killing over 300 of them, appears like an unsolvable catch-22. If we continue buying those clothes, sold by large chains like Costco and many others, we simply let the situation perpetuate. If we stop buying them, those workers will simply not have a job anymore, however underpaying and dangerous they are. It’s quite frustating. Of course, the root causes are well known. People in richer countries want to pay less and less. A cheap shirt comes with a cheap and exploited labor force.

  

  Miscellaneous

  I had other stuff to post about but I lack time. Right now I have to go post my two income tax returns, which I only finished this afternoon. The ultimate date is April 30. Later this afternoon I went for errands and it got me next to Marché Jean-Talon. It’s one of the first times I can go there and back without having to stop and sit somewhere to catch my breath. I guess that’s what they call progress. Unless it was the sun and warm weather (I went there wearing a summer shirt) which acted like a shot of EPO or whatever is called that stuff Lance Armstrong was so fond of…

  

  • 20:22
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