081 DELIVERIES

My, how time flies.  It’s been almost a year now since I moved here and the time has flashed by so quickly.  I love it out here, as I’m sure I have mentioned a time or two before.  I’ve got my first summer under my belt, the first Halloween, the first Christmas, the first New Year and the first winter and all the snow, ice and cold temperatures that has entailed.

I really don’t miss the old place, not really, but I will admit to having the odd pang or two.  This was brought home by a series of events in the past week.  First off, I discovered quite by accident that the old house is back up for sale again.  This is surprising because the young couple that bought it were so enthusiastic about the location.

They had all these plans of buying the location, tearing down the house and building the first “passive” home in Vancouver.  I’m not quite sure what that is, but I assume it’s to do with the “green movement”.  In any case, for some reason, it gave me a funny feeling, but they are not having a great deal of success in selling so far.  It’s apparently been on the market for 90 days, for $1.78 million.  A substantial increase over what they bought it for.  When I sold, it had 18 offers the first day and was sold that evening.

One thing I do miss from the old place is that when I ordered something from Amazon, I had the option in a lot of cases of “same day delivery”.  That would be order in the morning and have it by evening.  That isn’t the case out here.  The best I can order is one day delivery, but that sometimes stretches out to two days.

The other day, I had three different deliveries scheduled to arrive, all from different sources.  One from Best Buy, one from Amazon and one from Epson.  So, the Epson one, which was printer ink cartridges was scheduled to arrive Friday by Purolator.  At 10:00 AM, I took Toby out for his walk and discovered a tag on my front door saying Purolator had missed me.

I was home and nobody knocked on the door or rang the doorbell.  I know this because, I didn’t hear it and when Toby hears someone knock or the doorbell ring, he goes mental.  He didn’t.  The tag said I would have to pick up the package on Monday at their holding center in Langley.  That’s a 40-minute drive and a toll bridge away, both ways.  So, I phoned Purolator to complain and they rescheduled the delivery for Monday.

Usually, the package gets left on the front porch, so I don’t know what was the problem this time.  In any case, they arrived on Monday, rang the doorbell and left the package on the porch.  By the time, I went down one flight of stairs, there was no sign of the driver or his truck.  Wow, talk about speedy delivery.

My Amazon delivery, scheduled for a guaranteed Friday delivery was sent by Canada Post but when I checked the Super box, it wasn’t there.  I waited until after 8:00 PM to complain to Amazon, which would have meant a refund of shipping charges, when the doorbell rang.  There was my neighbour.  The package had been put in their mail slot by mistake.

The only one that made it on time was the order from Best Buy, but this one has me confused.  They normally have their own trucks to make the delivery and yet, I found the package in my mail slot in the Super box.  They must have mailed it because only Canada Post has access to those boxes.

On the plus side, I eventually got all three packages, but I never had these problems in Vancouver.  Well, except for the printer ink from Epson.  Every time I got a delivery from them by Purolator I ended up having to pick it up from their drop off center, but that one was only 5 minutes away.

One thing that has been as dependable as clockwork has been my newspaper delivery.  In Vancouver, I was lucky to get the paper by 9:00 AM every day.  Here the guy arrives at 4:30 AM every day.  It included the snowiest, iciest or rainiest days, it has arrived on time.  The only day that was missed was when the production plant was shut down by technical difficulties and no papers got out anywhere.

The only other difficulties I have had with deliveries is that if it is a new driver for a regular delivery, like my groceries from Save-On and they can’t figure out how to get into the complex.  The address says one street, but the only entrance is on another street around the corner.  Once the complex is finished, there will be a main entrance on the correct street.

080 LIFE IS SHORT

Life is short and I had that brought home to me with a vengeance at hockey on Sunday morning.  Now before I get into the details of what brought me to this conclusion, I’d like to fill in a little bit of background, to bring everything into context.

RUSS CARRYING THE PUCK

I have been playing hockey since I was a kid and in 1971, I was 16, when 4 Rinks opened, I have been playing hockey every Sunday morning since.  4 Rinks has since become 8 Rinks, but now only 6 of the rinks are dedicated to hockey.  There is one rink for Skate Canada figure skating and one is an indoor soccer arena.  So, this year marks my 45^th season of Sunday hockey.

It is pickup hockey, but for the first 42 years or so, we had set teams.  One wearing white jerseys and one wearing dark.  Teams would get changed around occasionally in the off-season or at Christmas break.  Now, the teams are re-arranged each week, to defray the natural competitiveness that builds up between hockey players.  This way you are playing with different guys each week.

We are also a “superstitious” lot and each of us have our own rituals.  One thing is that there is a group that changes in one dressing room and a different group in the other.  The regulars are the ones that do this, the only change is when new guys or spares join us and then they go to the room with the most space.

You become close friends in the dressing room, swapping stories, talking about TV games, the news or off-color jokes.  Yet, with all the closeness that builds, sometimes you don’t even know the last name of the guy who has sat across from you, or next to you for 20 years.  Other rituals in the dressing room are that certain players sit in “their” spot.  For instance, I always sit on the end of the bench closest to the door.  My son sits next to me, next to him is Russ, and the goalie across the room from us.

I always put on my left shin pad and sock first, then the left skate, then I do the right side.  After my skates are on, I defog my helmet visor and tape my stick.  I tape the stick every single game with white tape.  The on go the shoulder pads, left elbow pad which gets taped down because the Velcro doesn’t work anymore.  Finally, the jersey and then the helmet and I’m ready to go.  The whole time, I’m yacking it up with my dressing room brothers.  It isn’t just one team either, there is a mix of white and dark jerseys.

Having said that though, the only time we see the other guys on our rink is when they are in full gear with helmets and visors and in most cases, it’s hard to recognize guys after the game in street clothes.  Despite all this closeness and bonding and true friendship, most of us know little about the other guys we play with.  Only a few hang out together as friends when not at the rink.  Lately there has been quite a bit of family involved.  Karl and I were the first father/son combo, now there are several and even a father/daughter/son trio.

EVERY RINK HAS THEM
LOOK FOR A SIGN SIMILAR

Sunday morning January 8, 2017 was our first game back from Christmas break.  All the usual banter took place and the game started.  Russ, who is 56 and is one of the better skaters out there was playing on a line with my son, against my line to start.  Karl skates like the wind as well and I don’t, so keeping up with those two is a chore.  Then again, speed has never been a part of my game.

Karl set Russ up for a nice goal and later Russ returned the favour and set Karl up with a very similar pass.  Both our lines were on the bench, but they went out first.  Later Russ told me he was confused on the bench and his winger had to ask him if he was coming on the ice.  He went out and back into his own zone and then started out.  Nothing looked out of place.

Russ crossed his blue line and was sort of angling towards the bench.  I was looking right at him, when he suddenly dropped to the ice like he’d been shot.  I thought he was screwing around and I was about to call him out for “taking a dive”.  That was when I realized something was very wrong, because he didn’t move.  He was so close to the bench that I could see he was having trouble breathing.  I yelled and then everyone sprang into action.

One goalie is trained in Industrial First Aid and another player up to date on CPR.  By this time, Russ was turning purple and had stopped breathing and his heart had also stopped.  For all intents and purposes, he was dead.  They peeled his gear off and someone ran onto the ice with an AED (Defibrillator).  9-1-1 had been called and they were instructing us how to use the AED.

NOT RUSS.  DEMO TO SHOW AED IN USE

Russ was shocked one time and his heart restarted and he took a deep breath.  By the time the paramedics got there, Russ was conscious and lucid.  He knew his name and where he was, but not why he was lying on the ice.  He wanted to get up and resume playing, even though at this point the only thing he was wearing was hockey pants.  He was loaded on a stretcher and wheeled off the ice.  What seemed like forever was 15 minutes from the time Russ hit the ice to the time he left on a stretcher.

None of us could think about resuming the game at that point and as I looked around there had to be 100—150 people gathered behind the glass.  All from other rinks who came to watch the unfolding drama.

I had brought up the point of not really knowing each other earlier, because in this case none of us knew who to call, except my son Karl.  Russ is the uncle of my son’s best buddy in the whole world.  They have been friends since pre-school, so Karl called Mat and managed to relay the information to all of Russ family members.

Updates throughout the day kept us informed on Russ progress and early Monday afternoon I took a drive to the hospital for a visit.  Russ was not only looking great, but able to walk around the room.  It turned out he had suffered a heart attack which stopped his heart.  As soon as he arrived at the hospital he was taken in, assessed and then given an angioplasty where 2 stents were put in.  He expects to be released from hospital Tuesday, but, he cannot play hockey anymore because it would be too much of a risk of killing him.

So, we can be thankful that Russ survived and that we all played a part in saving him.  We will be sad to lose him from our hockey brotherhood, but he gets to continue and enjoy life in ways away from the rink.  You just never know, so enjoy it while you can, because it can all be over in that proverbial heartbeat.  Good luck to you Russ, glad you are feeling better and we will miss you at the rink.

****Update from Russ himself:

hey guys at home now just resting up,,,,,,,,,,

really hard to sleep in a hospital,,,,,,,,

a big thanks to everyone one the ice that s/morning,,,,,,,,

all you guys acted in a professional way and saved my life

high 5's to everybody,,,,,

dont think i'll play for the rest of the year,,we'll see who knows

i'll see how i feel come sept,,,,,,,,will probably feel great

and ready to go but mind yu at a slower pace

once again guys thanks a whole lot for doing what yu did

and the amount of emails that followed that,,,,,,,,,,,

glad to see Bruce F, & Tom G, who dropped bye for a visit,,,

Funny thing was that when i was revived I felt great

and ready to go,LIKE NOTHING HAPPENED,,,,,,,,,

Saw the cat scan of my heart,it was blockage in the artery

which caused the breakdown,,,,,,,,,,

I feel good rite now just sum good shuteye and would probably go/out

but i think i need the heart to rest a little bit,now,,

KEEP ME IN MIND COME SEPT/17

THANKS

079 HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017

As we start a brand-new year, 2017, I must look back on the year that has just passed.  It was a sad year and a happy year, but more sadness than is usual.  There were an awful lot of celebrities who left us far too soon, but other than a few, I have no personal connection to.  They are celebrities and nothing more.  They have no direct impact in my life other than to entertain.

DAWNING ON A NEW YEAR

I am sadder for the numerous law enforcement officers that were lost across North America last year.  The trend across the United States especially is the targeted murder of those officers.  The hatred towards them perpetuated by those misguided individuals who blame the police for their own faults and mistakes.

I am more saddened again by the list of former colleagues that have passed on.  They are the ones who had a direct impact on my life and that I feel the connection to.  They are the ones who will be missed the most and remembered most fondly.  All we can do is hope that we lose far less in 2017.

We spent a very quiet evening at home and got a chance to get to know a couple of our new neighbours.  The evening allowed us to get to know each other better and to advance our growing friendships.  It was even better because at the end of the evening it was just a short walk across the street to get home.

We closed the old year with a huge dump of snow that started very gently yesterday morning and was off and on until about 1:30 PM when it began in earnest and did not let up all night, in fact at 5:00 AM, as I write this, it is still snowing.  It is probably the largest accumulation of snow we have gotten, of the number of snowfalls we have had.  There looks to be 3-4 inches of snow out there.

Normally, we spend New Year’s Eve with friends in Vancouver, with a group of friends in Vancouver, where we get together for a feast of crab.  This year it has been postponed until next weekend due to conflicting work schedules.  As it turns out, with the snowfall, it was probably a good thing.  The less people on the road, the better.

Our neighbour Geri arrived first.  She is retired like me, but still works part time at a local big box retailer.  She just does it for fun and to keep busy.  Marie came over as well.  She is employed in the television sports industry and works for a major network, although she is in the process of branching out into her own production company.  Her partner Sarah, who is a serving RCMP officer was out on the street, protecting us all and could not make it this time.

SANTA STILL HERE

That could change though as we learned she has been promoted and will be moving into a position that won’t require her to work shifts now.  Everyone had such amazing stories and life experiences to share and it was a very entertaining and pleasant evening.  I look forward to the next time we can get together.

So here we are, into a brand-new year.  It has all the hopes and dreams of previous years, but hopefully will produce a greater percentage of good memories this time, than all the bad ones that we had last year.  Wishing all my readers, family and friends a Happy, Prosperous and Safe 2017.

I will close with a partial listing of those we lost far too soon.  I was originally going to list the names of all law enforcement officers killed in 2016, but just in the United States alone there were 135.  More than half of those were by gunfire.  It was a tragic year in that respect.

There were 60 celebrities as well, the most notable of whom, for me, were Gordie Howe, Muhammed Ali, Arnold Palmer, Carrie Fisher, Debbie Reynolds and John Glenn.  Yes, there are other big names who are now gone, but these are the ones who had the biggest impact on me personally.

The list of mostly retired and serving members of the Vancouver Police who died in 2016 is as follows.  Most of these members, I served with and will remember fondly:  Ed Leask, Bill Warwick, Rudi Sturm, Tommy Lloyd, Art Chinn, Art Fairbank, Dicky Pugh, Malcolm Fish, Bill Smith, Ray MacNeny, Randy Peterson, Simon Tanner, Cliff Weeks, Ward Rowan, Al Ens, Beth Martlew, John Leary, Ian Young, Don Bullough, John Keen and Al Huff.