WolseleyGirl.com: reflections on life in the granola belt

My neighbourhood is beset by a bully. This person seems reasonable, appears normal, is even well liked by a large number of neighbours. The rest of us, however, know the truth. We know about the threats, the unfounded complaints to city officials, the years of harrassment. We know about the nice people who have been driven away from the area because of this person's actions. We know the truth, and we've had more than enough.

This evening I stopped in at a local office supply store (one of the major chains) to make some photocopies. Having spent 20 years teaching, I am well versed in the use of copying machines -- from Gestetners to modern computerized whizbangs, so I opted for the self serve copiers.

There are many things one would never expect to find in this neighbourhood. Certainly a common bawdy house has to be near the top of that list. Strangely, though, one has been found. Found, raided, closed down, and reported upon in the media.

You'd think that if there were a brothel on your block, or across the back lane, you'd notice a few things. Things like strange men coming and going at all hours of the night, unusual traffic, unsavoury characters -- you know, all the things that are supposed to go along with whore houses.

Update, Sept. 5/09: It seems that gmail.com is a safe haven for spammers and other internet scum. I have therefore banned gmail. Users with gmail email addresses will not be allowed to register for WolseleyGirl.com user accounts.

If this affects any of our current members, they need only contact us via email to have their account access reset. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Over the past while some rotten ne'erdowells have registered for WolseleyGirl.com user accounts and attempted to post links to material that is strictly against our terms of service. Because of this user registration has been changed to require admin approval before new users may login to their accounts.

The nasty no-goodnicks have been banned and blocked. I hope this ends the problem.

This morning, as I was driving down Wolseley, I was accosted by a bicycle path vigilante. This person was making a point of walking down the middle of the road, disrupting motorists who HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO USE THE ROAD ON SUNDAYS. There are, in fact, signs with statements to this effect posted all the way along Wolseley.

In today's mail I received a postcard from a local real estate agent. The card encouraged me to visit a brand new website that would tell me about the history of Wolseley and all about shops and businesses located in this neighbourhood. Cool, I thought.

Yesterday, the Winnipeg Humane Society made changes to one of its programs. Now, this happens all the time. Programs are updated, made more accessible, improved, or dropped, depending on the situation. Yesterday was different, however. Yesterday marked what may be the stupidest change that any animal welfare group has ever made to any supposed animal welfare program.

I am beginning to understand why it is that contractors are usually behind schedule on renovations. As I go through this site, trying to prepare it for the rest of the world to see, I keep finding more work that needs to be done. I had hoped to be completely finished by now, but things keep dragging on.

I suppose it would be much easier to get done if silly things, like work, didn’t keep getting in the way. Ah well, I can honestly say that when I get done with this site, it will be well worth the wait. Just like those contractors keep saying about renovations. . . .

Originally published Apr. 1, 2008

On Saturday I happened to call Health Links to ask a couple of questions. I had had a really strange sore throat for a few days, and was debating whether to go to Urgent Care, or wait for Monday when my family doctor would be in his office. The nurse was very polite and professional. She asked a bunch of questions, listened to the answers, and told me that I needed to hang up, call 911 and get to either HSC or St Boniface hospital. It seems she thought I was having a heart attack.