My Friday was supposed to be very quiet, no plans, just a little futzing around the house in preparation for the weekend. Then Dina e-mailed me to invite me to lunch at the world’s smallest Indian restaurant. So, okay, there’s a plan.
Then, on a whim, I did a quick check of all the CEGEP web-sites to see if there were ant changes to the job postings – there were. Vanier and Dawson have posted openings, and the deadline for applications for Dawson was, you guessed it, November 15th (for the calendrically challenged, that’s the same day).
So suddenly I find myself in a wild dash, printing CVs and cover letters, finding my transcript and student evaluations, using white-out to cover up the red wine that had been spilled on the transcript, getting dressed, etc. Rushed out the door, hopped on the Metro (see Aside, below), got off at Atwater, got big envelopes at the pharmacy, made photocopies of the relevant docs, stuffed these into the envelopes, ran across the street to Dawson and promptly got lost.
It would have been easier if not for all these teenagers just, like, hanging around.
Finally tracked down the HR department, dropped off my stuff, got back on the Metro and headed up to Ericssonville to do lunch. After lunch, I got a mini-tour of Dina’s workplace, and met a bunch of the people she works with, who all seem very nice and are still friendly with Dina, even after all these months 😉 Then Dina was extremely nice and drove me to Vanier, where I dropped off the second application. We made a quick stop at Costco (okay, truthfully it was a very long, loads of fun, stop, but quick in the sense that we managed to leave with a grand total of two items each) then spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around my place, drinking tea.
It’s been a while since we had any exclusively girl time, so it was very nice to be just the two of us for a few hours. Needless to say (which is why I’m saying it anyway), if one or both of these CEGEP opportunities bears fruit, the next lunch is on me, Dina.
Aside
I always feel a great sense of relief when I get to the Metro platform. No matter how late, early or punctual I am up to that point, once I get there, it’s out of my hands.
Traffic Rant, Part II
My first traffic rant was essentially oriented toward highway driving; today, I want to address the particular phenomena of rush hour traffic. I have no idea if these occur elsewhere, but in Montreal, these are ubiquitous, kind of like The Second Cup.
1. The Colour-blind
In my original rant, I chastised the blind (or assumed to be) for switching lanes without checking to make sure some one (in particular, me) was not already in the destination lane.
Now, driving in and around downtown Montreal during rush hour, lane slalom is really more of a sport, and I can overlook it. However, drivers who cannot differentiate between red and green traffic lights are a hazard to themselves and others.
Here’s a hint: if the light at the top is lit, it’s red, and you should stop. Also, it’s generally recommended that you obey the lights facing you, not those off to the side, which are more likely regulating the flow of traffic from another direction.
2. Side-liners
These are the people (for lack of a better term) who for some reason believe that the “extra” lane, the one just off to the side of the highway, beyond the solid yellow line, is God’s gift to them, personally. The rest of us recognize this lane as the emergency vehicle lane. I mean, let’s face it – if God cared about traffic, don’t you think he’d inflict some kind of poetic justice on idiots who decide they’re as important as, say, an ambulance?
3. Grid-lockers
There are a couple of places along the route to the industrial section of the West Island where all it takes is a couple of people (there’s that word again) to completely tie up traffic.
What happens is, there’s a four-way intersection governed by traffic lights (see above). If every one pays attention, then traffic can move relatively smoothly. But then one jerk decides to drive into the intersection, since the light is green, regardless of the fact that cars are backed up into the intersection. So our jerk ends up parking in the intersection, and has nowhere to go when the light turns.
Naturally, the people (!) behind this jerk have advanced as much as possible, so reversing is not an option. Meanwhile, the light at the next intersection hasn’t turned (or the scenario is being played out there, too), so the cars in front of the jerk can’t move forward. As a result, people coming to the intersection perpendicular to the jerk cannot move forward, despite the green light. This is why people in California carry guns.
Okay, I’m feeling better now. So, anyone else have traffic or pedestrian beefs?
More Hallowe’en Scariness
Remember Popeye Cigarettes? For some time now, these have been renamed Popeye “Candy Sticks” but we all knew better. But now, they’ve done away with the familiar blob of red at the end!
Is there no end to the PC madness?
On a happier note, thanks to my kids’ hard Hallowe’en work, I’m relaxing with a teeny tiny Crunchie bar. When they’re this small, the calories don’t count, right?