Watched this interesting documentary on China from the Inside: women of the country. The suicide statistic amongst rural women is very alarming. One every four mins. China is the only country in the world where more women than men commit suicide.

Miracle of miracles I have found the drill chuck key! The “we don’t make that drill anymore” chuck key. The drill which has a working clutch!

It was having a chat with the sticking plasters, beside a packet of chewing gum, at the back of a most inappropriate cupboard.

“There are no discussions.”

The voice

Bhí an tráchtaire Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh ag ceiliúradh 80 bliain ar an saol ar 20 Lúnasa agus labhair sé leis An Saol ó Dheas ar Raidió na Gaeltachta ar an lá sin ó bharr Chnoc Bhréanainn, áit a raibh sé ag ceilúradh i dteannta 23 duine dá chairde agus dá ghaolta.

I might be confusing him with Mícheál O’Hehir. Beidh me ag eisteacht ar Sept 10, 2010.

And certainly with Roch Carrier.

Ding when are you going to start your broadcasting ??

Box ****

Today’s dilemma was the disappearence of the red mail box (post box). I had a letter to post and a hard time finding a mail box.

Then Ding Ding! I will look up and find a map of all the mail boxes in Vancouver so I can carry it with me. But no map. Just this message from Canada Post

Our red Street Letter Boxes are a standard feature of the Canadian urban landscape and are conveniently located in public areas such as street corners, shopping centers and public transit locations.

Canada Post boast there are 900,000 places across Canada to post a letter. Am I alone in thinking given the size of this country that’s not very many?! In fact I think that number in one place would keep the population of Kamloops happy because we all know it’s necessary to have 10 postboxes per person.

But I did learn some spectacular news — you can indeed print a stamp online, so I set about investigating clickety-click and

The Canada Post Ship-in-a-click tool you have chosen is not available at this time.

We are actively working towards a solution to resolve this issue.

We thank you for your patience, and apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Please try again later.

One of my literary cooking high moments ce soir (ie. do not disturb me reading…) massive steak (not cooked properly I fear v chewy & complete with self sustaining red swimming pool) 2 wildberry waffles (gluten free, yep rock n roll), one cherry tomato between cooker and sink.

Washed down with a gallon of tea for pudding.

Phew glad that’s over.

Back to Juan Butler’s The Garbageman!

Jane Rule’s novel becomes a great deal less interesting when everyone in it bundles off to live in Galiano Island.  Is it difficult to write about Island life without earnest reverence? Does everyone suddenly get made up once they hop off the ferry?

The book is drawing to a breezy & unfortunate end, that said what’s interesting about the book remains interesting. I continue to have exchanges on the questions that occurred to me and have discovered a few other folk equally curious. The novel (The Young in One Another’s Arms) has prompted me to consider the intersection between fiction and social history and also the intersection of housing, urban landscape (and its development) and literature.  One communication I had with a writer about the book described the prose as “informative” not “evocative” and I found this distinction/description dead on.

I’ve long been curious about this sense of Vancouver as a city being constantly “surrounded by”, dwarfed by mountains, the city as a city being looked at in the reflection of what’s around it rather than what’s in it. We do not live up trees, we do not live in the mountains. We live in the streets and bus seats and libraries and corner shops, laundry rooms, and queues for bureaucracy.

And so onward with the thinking. I will visit the archives and query my wonderings further there.

I have a kind supplier of recent copies of The Northern Miner newspaper. One included a free colour map of current exploration in Newfoundland which would have to compete with a life sized Roberto Luongo for display in our teeny abode! It’s interesting to read said newspaper because firstly it’s very short, and secondly, you realize how extensive mining is in this country and it’s quite curious to see what’s being pulled out of the ground and where.

“Reading the weather preoccupied them all….”

(“The Young in One Another’s Arms”  Jane Rule P166 Arsenal Pulp Press)

My garden has had three visitors.
By visitors I mean people whose destination was actually my plot.
They said nice things about it and were impressed.
That was very uplifting.

My seedlings have been diagnosed by one who know about such things as “bolting” towards the light (or lack of). Apparently I have my seasons all confused.

The fragile arugula plant which made it tastes extraordinary, it’s literally like getting your entire mouth lit up. Very spicy and that’s just half a leaf.

Happy Days!