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And The Winners Are.... (01.03.06)
Now that’s how you start a year. First you wake up with a fuzzy head. That’s good because you don’t want to be thinking clearly on the day you’ve committed to a wintry jump in the ocean. Last year, the first ‘un-official’ polar bear swim, was freezing cold yet dry, this year it was raining Squamish style. But you can’t be part of a tradition and not keep it up so away I went. As I peddled with child in tow, soaking wet from the rain and freezing cold from the ocean, I found time to think and reflect. Think how fantastic hot shower’s are, and reflect on the year that was, while musing about well deserved awards....
Worst kept secret award:
Nancy Campbell, Squamish principle. Word spread
like wildfire that the premier’s wife was just hired. Immediately
hundreds imagined just how challenging it would be to work surrounded
by people who consider your life partner to be largely responsible for
their horrific working conditions.
Kill em’ all, keep the cash award:
Call it a resolution, call it a prediction, call
it an inevitability. CN is going to kill someone. Sadly, it’s probably
the only way we’ll see the political will to do more than slap their
wrists. The countless derailments are equal parts horrific, funny peculiar,
and embarrassing. When they’re not de-railing, the mighty CN logo
can be seen blockading downtown access (i.e. If you have a heart attack
downtown during the day “good luck”) Not to mention the potential
for First Nations to be trapped if / when there’s a derailment.
What’s it going to take to set things right? Do we have to start
picketing the tracks? Those would have to be brave, brave people. But
the cherry on this cake is that through it all, CN has the gall to demand
Squamish people pay for crossing maintenance. Bad! Bad CN!
Love thy neighbor award:
Whistler, for the flakey drama surrounding the Sledge
hockey arena. What hurt most of all was how Whistler’s indecisive
waffling brutally highlighted how insignificant Squamish is in the VANOC
world. Just how squeaky does our wheel need to be to get some Olympic™
grease?
Right sign, wrong place award:
I like the sign that said “now hiring - add
ribs for $1”. But the biggest sign silliness was the gigantic billboard
that threatened north bound tourists to visit our downtown but “Don’t
Meth Around!” Vital message, horrifically wrong location. More appropriate
would be the Schools or even 2nd ave.
Enough is enough award:
Real-estate highway signs. Frankly it flew past
the point of unsightly, zipped right past unsafe and has now become simply
un-acceptable. Sure political signs are annoying, but they go away (for
a while). You do have to admire some of the honesty in advertising as
there’s one called ‘Spectacle’. How appropriate.
This blows award:
Woodfiber gets the coffin ready and wind energy
just may save the day. Squamish translates to "Mother wind",
and for so many reasons that energy is needed now more than ever.
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