Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Today is the second day of being 'locked out' at work.  Monday all temporary employees were sent home - at the behest of Canada Post - not the union.  This means that mail is not being delivered all over Canada because Canada Post is playing 'games' - shame on them.  Yesterday spent the day grocery shopping - buying loads of cherries, grapes, pineapple, satsuma oranges, strawberries, lettuce, broccoli - do love this time of year when there is so much produce available - yummmm.  Then I realized I had 'misplaced' my driver's license - ARGH - went through all my 'purses' - one purse and my backpack plus the bag I carry to work - could not find it - drove myself nearly off the deep end - did not take a lot - stress levels are a tad on the high side right now - was having my shower prior to heading to bed and trying to recollect the last time I knew for sure that I had had the thing - remembered that I had shown it to a woman at work on my birthday - because she did not believe it was my birthday - it was one of our supervisor's birthday as well and they had bought her a birthday cake - said it was also my birthday - and this woman did not believe me - HARUMPH - despite what some people believed my birthday is June 2, not June 12 (dig at my favourite cuzzy) - so after my shower I went to my room and checked all my work shirt pockets and VOILA there it was - meant I was driving on Friday and Monday without my license on my person - good thing I did not get pulled over - and thank God that I found it.  WHEW!!!!!!!  Big sigh of relief.

Talked with Suzanne (my sister in law in Egypt) and the news about Ayman is less than stellar.  They had word that he was incarcerated in a jail in Tajura - which is a suburb of Tripoli - had been moved all around the place prior to this place - heard this from someone who was incarcerated with him but had been released - but the authorities are denying they have any Egyptians in jail - and my brother in law - Hatem - who lives in Tripoli went to the jail and was told they had no Egyptians - so it is anybody's guess as to where Ayman is and how he is.  He may well have been 'fine' the last time someone saw him - but that can change in an instant as he is being held by Ghadaffi's goons - who are not known for their kind caring spirits - they are better known for being torturers and murderers - so many people have 'disappeared'. Ayman was picked up with a group of Egyptians and jailed because he is Egyptian - nothing more than that.  Ghadaffi had decided that the Egyptians were to blame for the Libyan people revolting against his 'benevolent' regime - guy really lives in la la land.

So, this week has not been great - started with not so great news about Ayman (which translates into lousy sleep for me) - locked out of work - and I am so grateful that my living situation is what it is - my living expenses are minimal - do not HAVE to pay rent or a mortgage - do not HAVE to pay for utilities - I do pay a minimal amount for 'rent' and contribute groceries by paying for them - but nothing major.  Will be interesting to see how many temporary employees are still around after this 'strike' - most of them rely on their income to live - so they will likely be looking for other work - not looking forward to getting back - as the work will be piled high - I had just been given an indefinite route - the woman is off on maternity leave - so I was to cover it until they found a permanent employee to take it - would have to be out for bid - have a feeling when things resolve themselves - I will be on it for a fairly long time - as no permanent employees want it - you start at 8:30 a.m. - not 7:30 a.m. and you do not finish until 4:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. at THE earliest - with upwards to a 2.5 hour break from 11:30 to 2 - depending on how quickly the first part of the run is done.  It is not my favourite route - but it is all right - but the permanent people want to be done by 1:30 or so - which is when most of the walks are done by.  So I will be 'stuck' doing this - at least I know what I am doing for the foreseeable future - once we get back to work.  And then misplacing my driver's license - at least I found the thing so that is one less worry.

Still lots of smoke around here - the sunrise and sunset are spectacular - the sun is SO red from the smoke.  Guess we have the 'honour' of having the largest fire in 50 years - 415,000 hectares have burned so far - and it is still out of control - and awfully close to Fort McMurray - if the winds pick up and blow the 'wrong' way we may have to evacuate - and of course we have had NO rain to speak of - had a few showers the other day - along with thunder and lightning - which meant of course that more fires were sparked - thank goodness they got them put out in a hurry.  Last week the weather was VERY warm - in the high 20's - just about melted - driving around all day in a 'step van' - an oven on wheels - and of course no air conditioning - and then on Friday the high was set at 8 - we got to 4 - it was freak'n freezing - although I would rather have that than the heat - at least I can wear a sweater to keep warm and when I have to do the walk portion of the route I am not dripping all over the mail.

Not much else to report - my body is not really thrilled with this job - but then it never has been.  The new route I am on requires me to do a lot of heavy lifting - not a lot of walking - so my upper body is not happy - lots of lifting and twisting - have to be very careful so as not to injure my back or my knees.

And on that note I will sign off - keep thinking I should post pictures - but of what??? 

4 comments:

Lynn said...

Wow Maureen. No wonder you are having troubles sleeping. Talk about stress for sure. So many issues. I feel SO bad about what your place of work is doing to you. I told my kids I can only imagine what will be piled up there once this is over. Or "lost". ; S

Also feel SO bad about A. I can't even imagine what is going on over there. So grateful to live where we do right now. I shall not complain. No I shall not.

You talk about all those fires up there and here we are suffering again from too much rain. Even my flowers are dying from root rot. What a difference between weather conditions all in the same province. Crazy!

Hang in there Maureen! You are in my thoughts and prayers always.

Lynn said...

P.S. HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you!!!! ; D Sorry I am late saying that. Did not know.

Yosra said...

Asalamu Alaykom,

What struck me about this post is how the news of your husband being jailed in Libya is mish-mashed in between misplaced IDs and job troubles.

Are you keeping your mind busy with the little annoyances so you don't dwell on the very serious issue of your husband missing in Libya? Or are you a bit in shock?

I don't understand.

I wish both you and him the best. Allahu knows exactly where he is, what has happened and what will happen. It's all for the best (whatever it is).

May the year ahead be filled with less drama and more peace.

egianqueen said...

Lynn: Thanks for the belated birthday wishes and also for keeping me in your prayers - really needing it these days.
Yousra: You seem to take exception that my husband in jail is not the first and foremost part of my blog - I have known for over a month that he has been in jail - so have had time to 'accept' his cirucumstances - still very stressful as we have no idea where he is or how he is. And the other 'minor' irritations were not all that minor - no work means no pay - and working and making money is the reason I am over here - and no license means no work either as I drive a Canada Post vehicle.