Well first things first, I must apologize for my minimal blog postings. I sat up last night pondering why I haven’t been blogging and I think the main reason is the weather. Because mother nature has been so good to us lately, I’ve been really taking advantage of her kindness. Over the past week, while enjoying the sun I have enjoyed partaking in the following:
- street hockey on a random tennis court behind westway
- basketball with the very talented Ted Ballantyne
- some ghetto water slide park in Tsawwassen
- hiked the Chief (2nd peak)
- jammed a little guitar with my boys Trav and Corey
And I think that concludes my activity list of the 5 previous days. It’s not much, but not bad for a guy who goes to bed at 8pm every night.
Something political has been on my mind. It’s all about the Second Narrows closing down for the afternoon during the long weekend. The minister of transport or whatever he is was complaining that the highway was shut down for a few hours while the police tried to save a life. GIVE ME A BREAK minister. You have got to be kidding me. The police are paid to save lives, that is their job and they are going to do it no matter what sort of inconvenience you are placed in. What if that was your family member wanting to jump off the bridge, wouldn’t you want the police to do everything in their power?…GOSH
ok now that I got that off my chest, much love for the whole weekend. My bonus word today consists of a name. It’s the first name of the 3rd person my blog…goodluck and have a kick ass weekend. Here is a pic for you
I know I’m setting myself for being labeled an asshole here, but I’m gonna have to (partly) disagree on the bridge incident.
First of all, it’s easy to say “whats the big deal” when you’re not one of the people who spend an extra hour or more getting home (one of the many, many thousands of people). Even if it’s just an extra hour, and just 2000 people are affected (lions gate runs 60-70,000 cars a day, and 2nd narrows is busier, so that’s likely a conservative estimate) that is equal to 1 full year of work for a person. That doesnt consider the stress and inconvenience for each person (some may miss appointments etc).
Secondly, is it necessary to shut down a whole bridge? why can’t a lane or 2 be closed? Worst case, they can close down one whole side of the bridge and run bidirectional traffic on the other site (a la lions gate)?
There are other obvious points but I won’t go into them because while valid, they are a little heartless.
Here’s my core problem with situations like this, and of course we’re very familiar with highway closures what with most readers living on the 99: closures seem to take much longer than necessary. I’m sure I don’t have to remind anyone of the questions raised by council this past winter about frequent length 99 closures. I think we’re in a situation of over-caution in the unquestionable and apparently infinite name of safety running rampant. Granted my point of view is an outside one, but it seems to me (and everyone i’ve discussed this with) that those in charge of emergency situations are completely disregarding any consideration due to the public _other_ than the individuals they are working hard to help. There is no reason emergency workers can’t continue to provide excellent help to those who need it, while minimizing the impact on passers-by.
*frEEk don’s asbestos suit in preparation for the flames*
- frEEkHey frEEk,
- rob.michaelsThanks for the response to a very controversial topic. I agree with some points, however I heard that they couldn’t open part of the bridge because of the noise hindering their ability to communicate with the suicidal jumper. I think the whole reason the minister of transportation said anything was because he was stuck in the closure. It’s a lose lose situation here and it sucks for the delayed drivers and it sucks for the family who have to read about a large portion of upset long weekenders who have little patience to save a life.
Thanks again for the comment and I encourage everyone to comment and let me know how you feel about the whole situation