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♪♪♪ I’ve found a strange place to dwell… …down the end of Loony Street at the Lunatic Hotel ♪♪ …

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The inside of my head can be a pretty strange place to dwell these days. Not to deny that my head space has always occupied a slightly different space-time continuum. Currently compounding my somewhat different view of reality these days is a weird and wonderful, remarkable strangeness.

I had a week or two of mental stress and upset leavened with frustration. Using tools from my mental wellness toolbox I worked my way through this period and into a more positive state of mind. The biggest annoyance was that for the final few days of this grey period for my grey matter, I had the Sleepies. Anytime I stopped moving and tried to read or write I could not stay awake – even after 12 – 16 hours of sleep.

It transpired that this following week I was at a tele-seminar for WRAP (wellness recovery action plan). The seminar reached the part of the Plan on early warning signs and when things start to go bad (downhill). As the seminar was covering these areas I was mentally reviewing those portions of my personal WRAP.

As I was doing this mental review it dawned on me that considering my WRAP’s early warning signs and when things start to go bad – I was depressed the previous week or two. At the end of that very busy day I had to sit down meditate, reflect and examine this enlightenment.

Yes, I was depressed and used the tools I have gained to work through this minor bout of depression – without consciously noticing I was depressed. Knowledge and having taken personal responsibility for my mental health had allowed me to deal with this period of depression without getting despondent, but merely annoyed at the inconvenience it was causing.

How strange is my mental landscape these days that I could pass through a period of depression that would have, just a few years ago, had me panicked and incapacitated with my major reaction having been annoyance over the interference with my writing and plans. Having invested time and effort in my mental health recovery and continuing to invest time and effort in my recovery has given a certain mental serenity – and a certain mental strangeness.

These days I am comfortable having a headspace a little weird and offbeat and gladly embrace that little bit of madness we should all strive to never lose A weird and wonderful playground for my thoughts.

Municipal

Customer service? Get real; we are talking about Abbotsford BC’s City Hall.

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Patrons of ARC (the Abbotsford Recreation Centre) have had to sacrifice and adjust their exercise schedules to accommodate the Abbotsford Whalers; displaced from Centennial Pool its its failure to open at the beginning of May due to the lack common sense at City Hall. Beginning in June patrons have also had to run the gauntlet thrown up by the start of construction for ARC’s new, superfluous basketball courts.

On July first, in a show of total distain and disregard for patrons, the mere hour granted to patrons was reduced by half. With the need to leave the pool before 10PM if you want to shower and the delay in getting the Whalers from the pool and the patrons into the pool you have enough time to warm up and cool down – leaving no time to actually exercise.

To add insult to the injury they have dealt to patrons exercise programs: on July 1, 2007 the cost to use ARC went up – two months ahead of the normal September 1st date. On the day they all but eliminate the opportunity for those who must exercise in the evenings to swim they increased the fees.

My first thought was: “Only in the oxygen starved atmosphere of Abbotsford City Hall, with its total disconnection from what goes on in the real world, would reducing services and raising fees on the same day be considered an acceptable way to conduct the City’s business”.

I should not have been surprised as this year citizens have been handed enormous tax hikes while department budgets and services are cut back. Now they hike fees and cut access for ARC. Are they adopting a new city motto: “Abbotsford BC, where we tax you for deluxe services but deliver mediocre services”?

My second thought was to wonder how many other fees and charges will go up as services decrease, will go up earlier than usual and just how many inventive new fees and charges citizens will be taxed with. After all, they just announced the need for an extra million $$$ for Plan A’s steadily increasing cost.

Municipal

Recreation not about encouraging Exercise?

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I always thought that the purpose of the recreation department was to encourage, not discourage, people to exercise. Apparently I was mistaken about this with respect to the Abbotsford recreation department.

I am speaking of the new schedule for ARC that begins July 1st and runs until Centennial Pool opens or the Whalers competition season ends – whichever comes first. In keeping with the operating behaviour of the City of Abbotsford the decision about this schedule was made behind closed doors and without consultation with or consideration of patrons.

I accept that some inconvenience must result from the need to accommodate the Whalers due to the failure of Centennial Pool to be opened in time for the Whalers to begin training for competition. I made the necessary, though personally inconvenient, changes to my exercise (swimming) schedule to get my needed exercise in around the Whalers schedule.

This was possible because for May and June the Whalers finished by 9PM leaving the 1 hour adult swim available to those displaced swimmers and water-cisesrs. However in the proposed new (indefinite) schedule this time has been reduce to a ½ hour – inadequate time for a proper exercise regimen.

I think it only reasonable that the proposed schedule be amended to ensure at least one hour as the minimum time for an exercise workout. If it is not possible to reschedule the Whalers so that they continue to finish by 9PM, then the pool should be kept open until 10:30PM until the Whalers are able to move to Centennial Pool.

Should it be suggested that this extra expense is to onerous I suggest that the money should come from the salaries of those in City management who, lacking the common sense to hire someone who had experience in pool construction, are responsible for the need to accommodate the Whalers.

Not only would this be an equitable sharing of the pain the Whalers and patrons of ARC have had to endure for no justifiable reason, but it would hopefully serve to encourage common sense and good business practices as future behaviour from senior management.

Federal, Homeless, Municipal, Provincial

A letter to the residents of the Clearbrook neighbourhood of Abbotsford BC:

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While I cannot say I share exactly your frustration over recovery houses, homelessness and crime problems, I can say I too am intensely frustrated over recovery houses, homelessness and the crime fallout from the way people and politicians continue to fail to exercise basic common sense in responding to the situation.

I concur that we need a recovery house policy, not to appease citizens but to protect the addict(s) in recovery who are seeking safe and supportive housing to continue their journey of recovery. Having witnessed the damage and pain that results for those who have the misfortune to end up in one of the houses that has nothing to do with recovery, I whole heartedly agree that we as a community owe it to those seeking recovery to ensure that is what they will find at a recovery house in our City.

What I find so frustrating is the continued failure of people and politicians to exercise common sense by asking some basic and obvious questions, then proceeding to address the issues raised by these questions. So here are some questions for the residents of Clearbrook to think about – and to demand the City answer.

Where are the displaced residents from houses that close going to go? Why would those who find themselves “released to homelessness” do anything other than join the ranks of the homeless who currently call the Clearbrook area home? There are no services, resources or housing to draw them away from the Clearbrook area, an area they are familiar with.

Have you considered the effect that dumping between 100 and 200 newly made homeless onto the streets of Clearbrook will have on the area? If you think you have problems with crime, homeless and addicts in the area now, what do you think is going to be the result of tossing large numbers of additional people onto the streets?

Are you prepared for the newly made homeless to take up residence in sheds, yards, parks, doorways, under trees and bushes, on the sidewalks etc? These people are homeless why would you expect them to just disappear? Where else do the homeless have to go?

Why is it that when these points were raised with the City over a year ago, when they first began to work on recovery house regulations, they have failed to address the most basic and pressing question of what/where are you going to do with those released to homelessness?

What kind of neighbour, what kind of citizen are you? Are you about solving these problems or are you about chasing them to some other part of the City, into someone else’s backyard as the homeless were harassed out of the downtown and into Clearbrook?

What is the point of the City chasing the homeless, the poor from residential neighbourhood to residential neighbourhood when they have no other place to go but around in circles, from spot to spot within the City? Would it not be common sense to provide leadership, support and political will to provide viable alternatives for housing, support and recovery?

Do you want to continue to act thoughtlessly or to act with purpose in pursuing long term, solution focused policies? Do you want these problems and issues to continue endlessly into the future, worsening year by year, or do you want to achieve the goal of the issues and ending these problems?

Think about it, then demands the city, provincial and federal governments begin to act with thoughtful common sense…

Homeless

Big Blue Bus rolls into Abbotsford BC

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I read in the Abbotsford News on Saturday June 23, 2007 about Mr. David Poulette and his big blue bus and would like to extend both thanks and a welcome to Abbotsford. With the growing number of homeless on the streets of Abbotsford there is plenty of need for more compassion and for action based leadership.
Since anyone who has not had their head buried in the sand was and is aware that part of the growing numbers of homeless on Abbotsford streets is due to migration from Vancouver it was not a surprise that Mr. Poulette was aware of this flow. What was a surprise, a most pleasant surprise, is Mr. Poulette’s response to this knowledge. He acquired a second bus, followed the homeless and provided leadership to get a few local churches involved with his program.

In a City that prides itself on being one of the most affluent in Canada; that prides itself on the number of churches within its borders; that prides itself on being a “Christian” community; that prides, nay boasts about, being the most giving (donations) city in Canada; the need for the big blue bus demonstrates exactly how hollow this pride, this false pride is.

A Vancouver resident sees the increase of homeless in Abbotsford, from downtown Vancouver and heads out to Abbotsford to provide caring, compassion and food. And a badly needed example and lesson for the citizens of Abbotsford on caring, compassion and simple Christian charity.