Twenty Five Knots

Woken by a blast of wind from the west aimed straight at my windows at 2:30 a.m. I thought of A. who loves to be awake during major weather events. I looked out the windows to the north and the pine trees across the street were being stretched beyond belief. "Must be at least 25 or 35 knots," P. muttered before he dropped off back to sleep. I rushed down to check the hive and was relieved to see it was intact. Still, I worry. The bees must have had a hell of a night. Dreamt about ordering people to weave basket bottoms in bright colors. I woke again when hail pelted the windows. What the hell. Noticed the wind shifted to the northwest.

I started thinking about the controversial mural at one of the Vancouver fire halls. It features the Grim Reaper bandishing syringe in place of a scythe with the text: "He hasn't got me yet!" Ouch. It has a reference to the DTES as "skid row." Deemed offensive, the mural was covered over during the Olympics and there was an order to remove it but it has since been uncovered and not removed. I don't know. Those men and women probably use an even darker form of humour to cope with their gruesome and stressful jobs. If the image was in a different context, like a comic, it might be viewed as clever and arty. As a mural in a fire halls seen as a bad representation of the attitudes within the firestations. There's a point there too. If I fell and bumped my head, I'd feel like I'd get much better ER treatment in just about any other part of the city than in the DTES. (Just sayin'.) Murals are problematic aren't they? They often become outdated and hard on the eyes after awhile. Okay, as a rule, I pretty much hate them.

As for skid row, parts of the DTES certainly fit that description. Would those back alleys smell any sweeter by a different name? In fact, maybe we should start naming certain streets and alleys skid row 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and so on. Maybe then something would be done.

Back to sleep, then awake to an icy cold room because the pilot light has gone off. My beloved won't get out from under the warm comforter. Off to get the healer to work on my aching spine.