This article I'm writing always seems to require one last step, one last person who won't call me back, etc. (In fact there IS one last person and I am going to try again tomorrow morning to reach him.)
The good news is, I got positive feedback today which indicated that this will not be my final asssignment with this magazine. They are satisfied with my work and will have more for me to do. (Now I haven't heard this from the highest authority, mind you, but it was "an informed source.") We shall see.
We are probably living with a somewhat false impression of how nice the weather is in Alberta. The high temp today was around 5C (44F?) but ordinarily this time of year it's more like 0C (32F). Having said that, the fact that we are having sunny day after glorious sunny day is typical. This is the land of milk and honey, everybody, our days of wine and roses (an appropriate term here in Wild Rose Country).
Just got back from Walmart to pick up milk and other stuff because milk there's significantly less. Trouble was, when I got to the diary section, all the 1 per cent jugs were gone (and most other jugs). There's this labor shortage here that especially shows up when you go shopping. Latest unemployment numbers for Calgary (last week) were 2.8 per cent. No recession here. When they announce oil prices are up, we all arise in our boots and cowboy hats and do a happy line dance.
Speaking of cowboy hats, a long time resident (originally from Montreal) was telling Charity all about the Calgary Stampede. Apparently it really is something else. He said there is all sorts of free food--free meals--being given away, along with all the other hoopla in this greatest of all celebrations of western (as in cowboy western) culture. If you want to c'mon out and partake of some real downhome hospitality, check this out first, then give us a holler before coming.
The good news is, I got positive feedback today which indicated that this will not be my final asssignment with this magazine. They are satisfied with my work and will have more for me to do. (Now I haven't heard this from the highest authority, mind you, but it was "an informed source.") We shall see.
We are probably living with a somewhat false impression of how nice the weather is in Alberta. The high temp today was around 5C (44F?) but ordinarily this time of year it's more like 0C (32F). Having said that, the fact that we are having sunny day after glorious sunny day is typical. This is the land of milk and honey, everybody, our days of wine and roses (an appropriate term here in Wild Rose Country).
Just got back from Walmart to pick up milk and other stuff because milk there's significantly less. Trouble was, when I got to the diary section, all the 1 per cent jugs were gone (and most other jugs). There's this labor shortage here that especially shows up when you go shopping. Latest unemployment numbers for Calgary (last week) were 2.8 per cent. No recession here. When they announce oil prices are up, we all arise in our boots and cowboy hats and do a happy line dance.
Speaking of cowboy hats, a long time resident (originally from Montreal) was telling Charity all about the Calgary Stampede. Apparently it really is something else. He said there is all sorts of free food--free meals--being given away, along with all the other hoopla in this greatest of all celebrations of western (as in cowboy western) culture. If you want to c'mon out and partake of some real downhome hospitality, check this out first, then give us a holler before coming.
posted by Ted | 8:14 PM
2 Comments:
Man, I wish milk was cheaper at Wal-mart around here. I thought it would be, and it's more than the local grocery store! It's all about Safeway with the 2 for $7 deal.
BTW, I think the US should switch to "bagged" milk as well. Jeremy says there's a taste difference, but that probably has more to do with feed and production than the vessel in which it's contained. I imagine that the bags would cause so much less garbage and space in our landfills (yeah, recycling is kinda a pain... That and the trash men usually toss it all together anyways. Oh well.) /rant :)
Yeah, I've been checking out prices at the various supermarkets, feeling concerned after some people had told us, "Don't be surprised to see a head of lettuce for $6.00 out there." In the end, I've concluded it is a little more, but not THAT much more.
Regarding bagged milk, out here they don't have it. It's all jugs and cartons AND (as I may have mentioned before) Calgary doesn't even have a blue box recycling program (though one is finally coming next year). We just put those humongous plastic suckers in garbage bags and heave bag after bag into the special garbage enclosure built into our back fence for pick-up on Fridays.
It really is a very different place from politically correct Toronto. In the Alberta election last week, the Progressive Conservatives won 71 seats and the next party, the Liberals, got, I think 11! The last time another party was in power in Alberta was something like 1973.
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