The Cockroaches of the Neighbourhood

I got into an agreement with one of the major banks to semi-possess a small property, during the COVID-19 pandemic, 5 years ago. It was a good time to buy. There were many properties available, not many buyers and I did have a job. Now five years later I'm looking to move to a bigger place in a better neighbourhood. Not easy. Prices are very high. If you're looking for a nice place, and not in a major city, don't look at anything less than $500 K! It would not be so hard for couples, if they both make reasonably well. It's hard for single people like me. One source of income and I've already cut down on many costs, as much as I could. But why would I want to move to a different place? The answer is simple: If I can reach the age of retirement, I don't want to live in this small place. I, also, would not like to live with all these cockroaches around me! They're very annoying, particularly during the summer when you need to leave the windows open. The last reason, which is as important as the other two is the lack of privacy! The neighbours eyeball you all the time, particularly if you're a foreign single in a house. My plan is to buy a house with two doors, at each end, just like our old and good house in the old country so all my coming and goings are not spied on! Here's what I have in this little sad street:

1) Fat Slop and Skinny B-tch: Interesting couple in the neighbourhood. They used to sit on folding chairs in their driveway and talk sometime until midnight, last summer. One week they had some guests, lowlife drunkard animals, just like themselves, of course and they sat outside and talked until 04:00! The next day I confronted the slop and asked him to quiet down. He complained. There's barely a day that I get home or leave home and I don'y smell Marijuana. How much of this crap can you smoke? What percentage of your income is spent on this? One thing I like about this couple is the way they cough! It's almost non-stop and they respond to one another! It means when he coughs, she responds with a cough and when she coughs, he approves with his own! Despite all the above, I must say that these are not bad people. They're just idiots who, most likely, never had good directions in their lives and ended up like this. I think either of them has kids from their previous relationships, like many Canadians do. This summer they never showed outside. Not even once. The woman sometimes waters the lawn or the vases. The man can only be heard by his coughing, from time to time! Much better for me! These couple are so inconsiderate and stupid that sometime I can hear their TV on the street!

2) Grandpa and Grandma, the big losers. We all know that most of the elderly are forgotten by their children here in Canada. Most of them are put in home care and never are visited. When I lived in White Rock with my ex-wife, we lived in a tiny apartment in Fir St. Now that I think of that type of living, I'm more thankful of my current situation. Nevertheless, there was this old lady next to us whom we never met but we knew she lived there. Her son would visit her once a week. The poor woman was all alone by herself in the small apartment and one day she passed. The son gave us some of her belongings that he had no intention to take and we accepted: Bed, TV Stand and a few more things, I guess. I distinctly remember these two because we used both and the TV stand or table is used to this date by my own Mom! 

These couple here spend most of their times inside the house and if the weather permits they, mostly the man, spend their time in their little front yard and the back yard that I can't see: Mowing the lawn, building little things, cleaning, you name it. I only saw they were visited by a bunch of people and that was during COVID-19 when people would go to their relatives to say Happy Birthday or something. The woman comes out and starts yelling hellos and having conversations with different neighbours! Sometimes she stands in the middle of the street! The man is too old to do that. He walks, or perhaps I shall say, slags and tries to find someone to talk to! It's interesting that the woman, at times, smokes at that age. 

3) The South Indian family: There's a family of four. I can tell from the colour of their skins. They're usually well-behaved, unless most of (East) Indians but considering their origin, stupid things happens being done by them at time. One of them was at my door one day! I think the boy was playing with his friends and had to hide or something! I told him he couldn't do that. He left and never saw him doing it. When there's one of these Indian festivals, usually people gather in their house or they cook and go to the other people's house. One night they were very loud and I asked them to go back in front of their house and yell! There's usually not much of a problem with these people. 

CAF peacekeepers in former Yugoslavia. Photo courtesy of Government of Canada

4) The other Indian family: There's another family of four with much younger kids. These guys, obviously, are from a different part of India which has some hostility towards the above family! I've never seen these two even say hello to each other but considering the status of Indian society, I don't think it's odd! There's a huge gap within different ethnic groups and people of different backgrounds in India. Remember the Balkan War when Yugoslavia was torn apart? One of my trainers when I was in CFLRS told us that he had not seen so much brutality and hostility anywhere else. Indian people hate each other so much with this difference that they have no guts to get really violent! It's not that they don't attack each other or they don't burn other people's houses and businesses. It's just the fact that they haven't gone that violent except the Sikhs whose stories have been told a few times. 

This guy is a true asshole and a bully. He drives in fast and makes noises. His kids scream and yell on the street and cry! What can I expect? Lowlife rubes have been given the opportunity to live in Canada and they do everything to do so. 

There're other neighbours in this little community, of course, but they're mostly okay. I, nevertheless, am planning to move out and get a bigger place but first I have to see what happens to my mortgage. I'd like to move to a better and bigger place so I can stay there as long as I'm alive. At least that's the plan. Whether it can be materialized or not is another question. 
(Photo: No! This is not my neighbourhood but it'd nice. Would it not?)

Capitalism finally digs himself in (5): The Issue with Canola

There are a few undeniably good facts about the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. I am not for them and am aware of their crimes to the people of the country and the region but can't close my eyes to some of the good plans they had and unfortunately didn't materialize. 

I remember working for this company called Takestan Industrial Group as a Q. C. Supervisor, we had a sort of a little crazy boss (I hope he reads this) who once asked me to an office of the Ministry of Commerce. The company was using Pressure Gauges and since the Government had implemented the " Use the domestically made product in your Manufacturing " policy, he wanted to bribe(!) some officials to be able to import pressure gauges. Stupid idea. He handed me a paper, I think, and a small box of key chains with the company logo, as the bribe(!) and asked me to go see this specific person in the office and give him the purchase request. I was a young guy and new to the job in those days, not knowing that he probably had already paid the guy a considerable amount as no one is so cheap to do anything for a bunch of cheap and ugly key chains! Nevertheless, when I went there, and I don't remember what happened as it was nearly 30 years ago, I hesitated, at first and didn't give, at the end, the ridiculous key chains! Not to mention that at that young age I knew both purchasing foreign made products and bribery are not good deeds and I was proud of myself that I didn't do the stupid and unethical things he had asked me to do. The guy was a crook and had done many other evil things. I would like just to give an example to some people who blame the Government for everything in their lives. He once said, in response to a customer's complaint regarding the delay in receiving the products that he had ordered, that he had used all the money he had received from them on a trip to Malaysia! 

All in all what I wanted to say is that the " Use domestically made products in your Manufacturing " policy which was introduced by the Government of Islamic Republic of Iran nearly 30 years was a very good policy which intended to help and encourage people but I do not think it was successful considering all the crooks who had money and were in business. Now the same people complain about the same Government and want to topple it! The issue is mainly in you and you don't see it. The Government was going to boost manufacturing and increase employment, something that Trump, now after 30 years has decided to do by introducing the " Buy American " policy. 

Why am I telling this story? It's because the " Use domestically made products in your Manufacturing " policy is a great plan. An example of that in a capitalist society is that Canada has introduced 100% tariff on Chinese EVs, way before even any of those vehicles even come in. China in retaliation has introduced a 75% tariff on Canadian Canola right at the time that we had a great season here in Alberta and the crop is ready to be harvested and this is after, at least, two years of lack of enough moisture. Who suffers now? The poor farmer who finally sees a good year! Had the Canadian market's door not been open like a public toilet, to let every garbage in, in the first place, and for decades now, this issue would not have been considered at all and farmers could simply focus on their work rather than being stressed as how to deal with this crap now.

(Photo: A small Canola field and silos in front)

Washington Bullets and Trump

I used to follow a couple of professional sports: NBA and NHL. Not anymore. Don't have much time and interest. I remember that the basketball team in Washington D. C., used to be called Washington Bullets and then they decided to change the name and their reason was that it somehow shows the violence that the city has in. 

I was reminded of that just a couple of days ago when Trump decided to deploy the National Guard to the city to overcome homelessness, crime and gang violence. I personally don't think it's a bad idea although it has pissed off some officials in that District and some of the members of the public. I think Trump knows that if he really wants to clean the US, he needs to deploy the National Guard and the US Army to many major cities and towns in the country and with the stupid attitude that people and politicians have, mostly, he would face lots of criticism and attacks. As I wrote earlier, Western culture has sympathy and support for criminals, homeless and gang members! Is that because some have someone from the three named groups as members of their family, relatives and friends?! There're no doubt that the majority of the homeless people has had some entanglement with the law in their lives: assault, DUI, B&E, shoplifting, you name it. 

My vehicle was broken into twice when I used to live in Downtown Calgary. They took everything they could get their hands on: GPS, CDs, flashlight and some other things that I don't remember. This is okay to average Canadian and American public! Were these not the same people who poured into the streets and wanted the police to be defunded?! 

The very same people now are angry that someone is trying to put an end to the filth and grim that is about to devour the country! I don't know what's real intent it and it's not important. What's important is the level of the stupidity and arrogance that some, or perhaps I should say many, suffer from in West! 

(Photo: Washington's NBA team logo before it was changed to Wizards)

An Adventerous Purchase

This past weekend I decided to get some fresh Garlic. I had planned that since the spring of last year and never had the chance to do so. I found a farm near the town of Innisfail. I called them to make sure they're open. I wrote the address on a piece of paper and headed to the town. My experience with my old Garmin GPS has never been good and I don't have data on my phone! So either a paper map or notes! Everything is straightforward until Innisfail but when I got there I had several issues! 
First I was not able to find the road that leads to the farm. Then I went to a McDonald's and connected my phone to the web and got the address but the stupid Google Maps made me to do a loop, for absolutely no sane reason and then took me to someone else's property where I was told that the farm actually was at the other side of the river where we were talking near it! I turned around and went all the way back, looking at the notes and roads signs I was finally able to reach there. Now bear in mind that I drove an old sedan and many roads are not paved! It's possible in summer but next to impossible if there's rain or impossible totally in winter. 

This Highlander was gazing at me, wondering what the hell I was about to. I didn't get close as these animals are very sensitive to strangers. I've been to different parts Canada and this was the first time seeing this type of cow

The Garlic is really expensive and I haven't tried them yet but a few cloves which were given to me as samples. They didn't have that sharpness and heat. Since I got to bunches, I hope at least one of them has, if not both. The good thing is I was able to get Red Onions and Fingerling Potatoes, freshly taken out of the ground before my eyes! The potatoes were great! I made some Salad Olivier (It's called Russian Salad as well) and enjoyed it last night. I had left a little. The Garlic's price was shockingly very high: $12 per Pound(!) but I bought two bunches as I had driven all the way there for those! The good thing the other vegetable's prices were acceptable so I didn't mind much but next time I will probably negotiate before I go. I also need to give these ones a try to see how they taste. If they're not strong enough, I won't go there anymore. They also had a sort of cattle but nothing was ready to buy meaning nothing had been recently slaughtered. The cattle they grow is called Scottish Highlander. I didn't know Scotland even have cows! Nevertheless I will wait for the message from Garlic Goodness to go get some.

(Photo, top: The farm is located in a very lovely, quite and beautiful area. This was seen at the side of the road)

The Sloppy Fella

Do you remember I had a post about how Canadians might like you? If you don't, please refer to the link and read it. If you don't have time I give you a short version of that here: Canadians, most of them, the majority of them, don't like to see you driving a modern, shiny, new car, dressed nicely and well-groomed and in a nutshell, to look better than them. 
With that in mind I met this guy at my new job a few months ago and we talked about different things. You know how Canadians are. They like to chit chat while they don't really care. It's a gesture of being nice. I don't mind it. I go along. He, somehow saw my wristwatch one day and said that he liked it. I told him that I had purchased it in Tokyo and then when the conversation continued, he was told that I had been to different cities in Japan. He clearly didn't like it and he added that he had a watch collection. 
Another day we were talking and I told him my recent visit to a car dealership, as our usual casual conversation before we started the work. This time he jumped in and was clearly upset! He said: To buy a Rolls-Royce?! I ignored him and we went to work. 
He, in addition to disliking foreigners, whom he thought had done things that he had never been able to do or never possessed(!) he was a sloppy fella. What I mean by that is he was standing still and I had to point at the issues and then he would react very enthusiastically!  It was like this every time we worked together until finally one day, last week, I was told that he had been asked to leave by his employer and would be replaced by another guy. The guy whom is anticipated to replace him is short pretentious asshole whom I had to deal with twice and the last one was not so pleasant! He, despite the fact that I explained I was covering for someone else and the issue was originated by them, gave me a lecture! We'll see how I can handle this shorty! 

(Photo: Sloppy inspector is the nastiest creature ever. It reminds me of the dump[!] that I currently reside in. Yes it is a dump with lots of cockroaches around! I will have a post for that but the reason why I call it dump is the cheap material and poor workmanship used to build this house as well as the nasty city inspector and their stupid check-list that resulted in the acceptance of the place for habitation)  

Finally Someone is Doing Something!

I was sort of surprised and at the same time happy today when I heard that eventually someone in Canada and to be specifically in Alberta showing some gut fighting and pushing aggressive assholes back! This time its about telling the Tow Truck guys what it would mean, if they act aggressively and are total assholes! 

My only experience with tow trucks goes back at least 17 years ago when I worked as a Bylaw Enforcement Officer in a city in the Province of British Columbia. As an officer working for the municipality I was enforcing the bylaw regarding pets, household, parking, businesses, you name it. When we saw in violation of any parking bylaw with a certain number of outstanding citations (or tickets) we would call tow trucks. They would come and would take the car away and the owner would only be able to get the vehicle back when the related charges were paid. Stories about the vehicles that I have then towed during the 2-year period that I worked that job are interesting and a plenty but there's no place for them here. The interesting thing is my vehicles has been towed twice! Once in Calgary and years before I had that job and once in British Columbia, I think it was in Surrey, just a few months after I was out of that job! 

This story, here repeatedly happening in Calgary and probably in Toronto, as well is interesting. Apparently when there's an incidents the tow truck companies compete to get the fish! So they would rush to the scene and force the drivers to use their services! Now the new rule is that these pathetic losers cannot be within 200 m of the incident and if found intimidating the drivers to use their service, would be fined $1000! 

This is a great start for a society which by being soft and flexible on aggressive, belligerent and fraudulent individuals and businesses, had made the reputation of The Heaven for Criminals for itself! Imagine how nice of a society it would have been, had all the assholes been treated like this. Car dealerships who force you to get the products or services you do not need or ask, Supermarkets that sell you low quality fake food items for actual ones, restaurants that use cheap ingredients and over charge you, drivers who over speed during the morning commute and honk  at you, you name it! 

(Photo: Tow trucks are a necessity in any city especially in Calgary and the area where you be stuck at the side of a highway or city road because of a mechanical malfunction or storm. However, like every other business, there are always people who want to take advantage of a situation and win everything just for themselves)