metawidget: A platypus looking pensive. (Default)
2025-06-23 09:14 am

Hot Monday Morning

Going to the air-conditioned office and sending the kids to air-conditioned other place and the pool today for obvious reasons... stay cool out there if you're in this heat wave!

I did a flurry of picture-hanging and putting boxes a bit out of sight here. As we're settling in, my cousin is preparing to move north of Montreal, I brought the kids to a going-away street party by his place. It was fun to see some family, familiar faces and random strangers with the kids. Some knew about my separation and had supportive things to say, and some were just nice people to chat with. Found a union guy (now in LR) and talked shop, watched the younger ones sing their hearts out at the karaoke tent, and had a nice time.

Still feeling a mix of lightness and "what have I done?" on the separation front. Hoping the money actually works and the house I'm renting is good to us. Oscar asked if I was going to own a house again sometime and I didn't have a lot of answer — explained the benefits of renting and that we're living here for a year in any case. I didn't use the words "in this economy?" but they crossed my mind...

Have been booking things for Newfoundland with Ada — looks like we're going Economy on the train, all the berths were booked up. But we benefit from the Canada Strong pass! We'll sleep on soft beds in Halifax. I think it's going to be a blast of a trip.

Union-wise I am recently off 3.5 days of meetings — they were different levels of dense but we were meeting at the same time as basic training for 100 new stewards; we got to spend time with them in the evening and I got added to a few LinkedIns. In the meetings themselves we took a stronger stand on something than I was expecting. It's inside baseball and I should probably wait for the minutes to come out but it's stronger than I was expecting!
metawidget: A platypus looking pensive. (Default)
2025-06-16 10:32 am

A couple weeks in

Yesterday was Father's Day and also two weeks into me sleeping in the new place. It's shaping up — I keep chipping away at the move; there are still boxes and bags in the front room at the new place but all the rooms feel pretty homey. Father's Day included going to Ada's concert where she sang '22,' which involved more Communauto adventure than anticipated — Elizabeth couldn't unlock her booked car, then I grabbed one that turned out to have a flat, and walked to the replacement. Third time lucky! Also, the concert was running late so Ada got to sing despite our travails. Afterward, we hunted for a brunch place and found a spot at Alpina up in northern Aylmer. They were slammed but nice and the food was copious and tasty.

In the afternoon I found a couple of items from the dregs of garage sales to fill out the kitchen and back deck, and then Andrea and Morgen came over and we went to the nearby city pool all together and had supper. It was lovely to show them around and splash in the pool (I'm not a huge swimmer but it was mostly goofing around in the shallow end).

Things are still mostly cordial with Elizabeth — she got brunch for us, she's offering to help with stuff — but August scheduling is presenting some challenges — trips and plans and kid preferences on what to participate in. More discussion required, I guess.

Union-wise: it's likely real, I plan on handing over the presidency of the subgroup (the local committee) to a young, keen activist (votes permitting) as I've wanted to for a while. That gets me to the state I have wanted to be in for a while.

Lastly: car and ferry booked for adventure with Ada! Lots more to plan, but it's getting real!