Someone gave this city a handbasket...

and it totally went to hell. My, oh my, is this city ever a drama queen. First, we set a record for rain this week:

Vancouver broke an all-time wet-weather record for July yesterday with seven
consecutive days of rain.

We're not talking an occasional shower, or a light sprinkling here; it rained buckets for 7 days straight. It's July for Christ's sake, and we're wearing sweaters. This morning we got up, went outside and huddled in fear as we gazed upon the strange yellow orb in the sky. And then someone reminded us that it's called the sun, and we've seen it before, and we should be ok.

And then, like, the whole city went on strike.

Household garbage is piling up in alleys and along curbs across Vancouver after outside municipal workers walked off the job in a surprise move on Friday.

That means no trash collection, no road workers, no outdoor maintenance, no nothing. It got really interesting when the inside workers joined the outside workers in the strike.

Members of CUPE Local 15, which represents 3,500 inside workers, set up picket lines at City Hall at 8 a.m., after they were in a legal position to take job action.

Interestingly enough, they are still writing parking tickets, but there aren't enough parking enforcement officers available to show up in court if you contest your ticket, so if you've ever dreaming of parking illegally in downtown Van, now's your chance!

More interesting (to me, at least) is that a city which is running on essential staff only has found a way to keep parking tickets coming, but has had to shut down all city-run daycare centers. Thousands of families are without childcare in a city where you need 4 3/7 full-time incomes to afford a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk and a stick'a butta. But don't you dare park on Robson past three.

I am happy to report that I do not technically live in Vancouver the city and therefore still have trash collection, access to outdoor public pools and the library, and we still have outdoor construction workers plugging away. Though maybe one company ought to have gone on strike, or at least a long coffee break, this morning.

A major oil spill in a residential neighbourhood in Burnaby, B.C., is now spreading to nearby Burrard Inlet, as homes are evacuated and officials scramble
to contain the crude.

(Whadaya mean, Vancouver's going on strike? They're going to screw up the Olympic construction timetable? Well, we can totally out-do them. Let's bust this oil line that everyone knows is right here and fill the inlet with a ton of oil, kill off a few species of birds and fish, and then we'll be the biggest bad-asses in British Columbia!)


This little oopsie is right down the street from me. Good thing I ran my errands yesterday, 'cause that street's not gonna be open for a while.

Comments

[Leslie Dillinger]

I'm with you on the rain factor. It was miserable here all this past weekend. I wanted to die. It really fed my depression. Let's hope it's over for a while.

[Diane]

Ever notice these strikes always seem to happen during the summer?

[Alison]

In France it's always the truck drivers. What are they up to in Van Land?