Oh, that IS frustrating, curlcoat.
Yesterday, when I was driving , an asshole aggressive driver tailgates me for half a block laying in his horn, then pull along side of me for an other half a block. I had flash backs of driving in Doha, Qatar where I was run off the road, pushed into another car , cut off etc. I was frigging going the speed limit , well a little over, 30 in a 25. WTF!
Driving in Calgary is very frustrating these days for reasons much like that; if I go the speed limit, I’m a road hazard. If I speed, I’ll get a ticket. If I come to a complete stop at a stop sign or red light before turning right, I’m going to get rear-ended. If I don’t stop, I’ll get a ticket. It’s very much “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” around here these days (not an excuse for road-ragers, but it sure isn’t helping).
Listen you whiny drivers.
25-30 years ago this city decide that its park drives were not exclusively used as an alternative to the Expressway and dropped the speed limit to 35mph and stopped the one-way during rush-hours nonsense. You whined back then but Fairmount Park is much better for it.
Of course things began to drift back into favor of the commuters - the Falls point bridge intersection is made hostile to joggers, walkers so you can turn onto the other drive and use it as…an alternative to the Expressway. Oh, and there were the speeders.
Oh man the speeders. The 35MPH speed limit basically became a joke, as did the double-yellow lines. Last year things were pretty bad as something like 4 cars drove into the river and more than a few smashed themselves onto trees or skidded out onto the multi-use trail.
So very recently they city tried a pilot program where sensors would detect a speeding car and activate a light down the road to turn red. The idea is to calm traffic down.
But OH GODS THE WHINING! you would think Nazi stormtroopers have taken over the parkway. “Wah! we like speeding!”(too bad) “Wah! Red light cameras cause accidents!” (its not a red light camera jerkass). “Wah! They’ll be telling us how to steer next!!!”(thinking not so much)( “Wah! How am I going to get to work on time???” (like going faster saves you more than a minute or two) “Wah! I’m an excellent driver and should be allowed to speed!” (Like the other 90% of drivers who rate themselves above average, right?) “Wah! This is Big Brother!” (yeah, Big Brother is a speed trip sensor, break out Room 101 already).
Sheesh.
I’m having trouble parsing what you are saying here. Are you implying that the US doesn’t have it’s own snowbirds or that we can turn back the Canadian snowbirds if we wished? If you are implying the former, I can tell you, we most certainly do have our own homegrown snowbirds.
Of course we have snowbirds. Northern Minnesota is filled (well, half the year anyway) with people who live in lake homes April to October, then move down to Arizona or Florida October to April.
I give up one of my free evenings a week to attend your choir for two hours. I have to pay a semester membership for the priviledge. Do I want to waste my time and money being told off publicly in front of the choir like a naughty schoolgirl? Nope.
And you wonder why you’re struggling to recruit (and keep) new members. It was a fun five weeks, it had been slowly retraining my voice and my confidence in my voice, but you just fucked that up, didn’t you.
Don’t you love it when people in the bus/subway eat greasy/salty food like chips or fries, and then lick their fingers, and then touch the bus/subway poles? :mad:
I was saying that the US doesn’t have to tolerate Canadian snowbirds if they don’t want to - we are guests in another country when we go south for winters, and it would behoove us to act accordingly. That was in response to a complaint about Canadian snowbirds complaining. 
Oops, really?
Now, do I be a good friend and tell her that could happen, or do I be a good taxpayer/consumer and let her learn on her own?
ARGH!
Curlie, I’d be pretty frustratedwith that as well. It seems as though some people seem to think that getting money from the system is free to everyone. They don’t understand that it costs everyone in the long run.
Way back in the day, I was USAF stationed in Okinawa. I used to get so pissed off at fellow service members who abusive to our hosts. We were in their country, of course they didn’t all speak english. WE were the ones who should learn how to speak their language, not the other way around.
IMHO, if you are in a country that doesn’t speak your native language, its on you…the visitor…to learn how to speak their language or just stay in the areas that people do speak your language in the hopes of getting your money.
Gasps, pants, catches breath. Sorry…that’s a major peeve of mine.
As it happens, I likes snowbirds. They come into the state with disposible income and are usually pretty patient and happy folks.
Spent a few hours being a client at the animal ER today, rather than an employee. My 18 year old kitty, Noodle, stopped eating and none of the tricks up my sleeve worked. I figured it was renal failure, since he’s been borderline for a couple of years. Of course I had an appointment for a full workup with his regular doctor in two more days. Of course, this was something that wouldn’t wait, plus it’s a specialty center, we were able to do more diagnostics and get immediate answers, plus when an abdominal ultrasound was suggested, no waiting.
It’s lymphoma. He’s 18. If steroids don’t get him feeling better and eating again, I’ll have to keep that Thursday appointment so I can let him go. Dammit.
I’m sorry, SeaDragonTattoo. I hope the steroids help. They made a huge difference for our Rhodium for about a month before she succumbed to the cancer.
I’d be happy too, if I was spending half of the year in a nice, warm place (where I could go for a walk without risking falling and breaking my ass every day).
SeaDragonTattoo, I hope your kitty rallies.
Spent about 50 hours (not all at once) de-cluttering an elderly man’s house. His adult daughter engaged me; she’s a semi-regular. Had to stop abruptly when he told daughter, who told me, that he didn’t think I had anything more to do. Now the daughter tells me that he’s getting more disoriented. Doesn’t remember things that happened the same day. Told her “There’s no KFC around here” when it’s on the same street and he’s there almost every day. I can’t help worrying that I contributed to this by putting him in an unfamiliar environment.
Dear Former High School Classmates On Facebook:
I do not give a shit where your Elf on the Shelf is. Let’s get through Thanksgiving first, shall we?
You moved a KFC? That’s impressive!
Dear soon-to-be-ex husband,
When the kids go outside and it’s below zero, they need hats and gloves. And worse, socks.
This isn’t rocket surgery.
Our almost/below zero isn’t supposed to happen for a couple more days. Just in time for the weekend.
Below zero Celcius? or Farenheit? I still remember my mother standing around watching me run around like an idiot playing, and then saying “Oh, it’s so cold!” and realizing years later that, hey, I was running around! Of course I was warmer than you!
Socks? Concur. 