Tyria

We went to our first BwB meetup in 2007 in Edinburgh after we got married in Glasgow. The group freaked out at Canadian cig packages and the super graphic images. They've gotten worse since then, and now they are amping up. Won't deter the hardcore smokers, but hopefully it will click for some an further encourage people not to start.

I don't have much to add other than Alberta sucks. No, I don't mean every single thing about it. The whole Texishness of it is just so creepy. I think it was featured, if briefly, in The Family doc on Netflix about how religion seeped into conservative politics and why we are where we are now. Seriously watched Hail Satan! after as a palate cleanser. No, I am not a member of the Satanic Temple. I more closely align with their beliefs, but I think all the rituals are just as stupid as any other religion (I know most em do it to make that exact point, but some are really into it). It's hard to give a shit about a province so far away. I'm in Canada, but I can fly to Iceland in four hours or back to Scotland in five. Takes seven hours to Alberta, if you're lucky enough to get non-stop. Plus, chunks of my little province are on fire right now. Like serious wildfires. All believed to be human caused. A friend's parents were evacuated and lost their house. They were fortunate to have been home, because when the evacuations started in nearby communities, they packed as much as they could in their car. An hour later, evac. I feel really bad for those people, and especially the people who weren't home at the time of evac (it was a super fast moving fire on a hot day) and couldn't get their pets out. There were a whole bunch of horses that bolted, but luckily all of them are safe. One woman was turned away at a checkpoint, so she backed up, got out of her car and ran 3kms through the woods to get to her dogs. They are all safe now. Tons of animal charities are out in force working with the Department of Natural Resources trying to get as many pets as they can. They have been pretty successful, so that's promising. There is a Facebook page where people can post their address and pics of pets giving permission to break in and get them, if they can't get a key to them. This video is bananas.

I used to clean religiously once a week when I lived alone. Even when I had roomates, it was always once a week. My roommates were almost always guys, so I had to keep them on it. Most were good, but there was always one I had to berate. It's not my pee all over the toilet and floor ffs. Kept that up moving in with Mr. Tyr until about mid pandemic. Being in denial for months and spiralling into depression and being too stubborn to go back on meds led to me just not giving a fuck. Mr Tyr kept up with his half and did most of mine. Now that I'm much better (thank you Pfizer! for the jabs and the meds), some things we still do every week/day, and some things we wait till one of us just can't take it anymore! We split things fairly evenly. I do kitchen, upstairs bathroom, dusting, pick up dog poop. He does floors, downstairs bog, garbage, litter box and the downstairs hang out room (because he spends more time down there). Most of the gross, heavy, or high up cleaning stuff goes to him, the former just because I can get away with it, and the latter because I'm wee and he isn't. eta: I would looove to hire a cleaner, but I am wary. Are they doing it right? Are they using my unscented skin friendly products? Really don't want to go pee and end up with eczema on my arse.

I read the title of this thread as Tom Arya screaming "On and on, Harry and Meghaaan!". If you know, you know.

May not apply to Spain, or the length of your trip, but your lady friend may want to pack extra hygiene products. I only mention this, because as an undergrad I had to attend a study abroad seminar (despite being an immigrant who had travelled abroad numerous times) because I got some funding from the university and that was one of things they mentioned. I guess you may not always have access to products with ingredients you are used to, which may cause...irritation. As someone with eczema, I'm always stocked up on everything I may need that won't irritate my skin when I travel, so I wouldn't have thought of that.

Hahahahaha, yeah. I live in Nova Scotia. Again, foggy brain doesn't word good.

Forgot to address this part, but yeah, Canada is huuuuge. Saskatchewan is prolly bigger than all of the Atlantic Provinces combined. Area wise, not sure about population and too lazy to look it up. Also cold af in the winter. Like prairie dry cold -40C, etc. Can't blame him for leaving. Alberta at least has Calgary and Edmonton, but still Canada's Texas. We get a few cold days here, but being right on the ocean -any C hurts to the bone. Forgot about GPs being on call. I've mostly lived in the city, and I don't think that happens here? Could be wrong though. I do know that when I lived in a small town for a bit that the GPs had on call shifts at the local hospital. My GP is also an OB/GYN, so she does on call at the children's/maternity hospital, but she adjusts her GP hours for that. So, yeah, GPs that are also specialists do on call shifts as do specialists themselves.

Disease. Post menopause foggy brain doesn't word good no more sometimes.

That is a good question. I don't know if it was the pharmacist that gave the jabs or if they had a nurse in. I was in a horrible anxiety downward spiral at the time, so I just wanted to get out of there. I'll find out. Here most vaccines are free. I think the only ones that aren't are ones for travel to certain countries. Blanking on naming one!

Ah, ok. It is different here. Pharmacies don't typically receive funding as medications aren't covered by the government accept for Pharmacare for lower income and seniors, and for First Nations people. For the latter, if you have insurance through employment, that is billed first. Mr. Tyr is Mi'kmaw, so he doesn't have to pay for meds, glasses or dental. Mine is mostly covered through my work plan, then there is something called RxOne (I think) that also lowers the price of meds and/or the co-pay. Pharmacies will now receive funding for providing services (and did for giving vaccines) where I imagine it will be a similar billing system to what doctors/nurse practitioners have. I may have misread the linked quote, but our pharmacies are like franchises. There are some family owned ones, but most of them are just like running a McDonalds.

Yes, they are getting the training for it here. The doctors never would have allowed it otherwise. Also, the pharmacist can and will send someone to a doctor, if they are unsure of the diagnosis, and they send all info to your doctor, if you are lucky enough to have one. The government is recruiting hard and setting up another medical program at a university in another part of the province aimed at getting doctors into rural areas (there was only one medical school in the city, but it's a pretty well known one). Problem is finding people to teach, residencies, etc. Same with adding more seats to nursing programs in both universities and colleges. I know they've upped incentives too such as adding support for spouses/partners finding work, support for those who moved away to move back home, etc. Reducing or eliminating the insane cost for tests and such that doctors from some countries are required to do to make sure their training is up to standard is helping. Although it is essential, it is just another barrier for people that moved their family half way across the world only to end up driving a taxi. eta: yes, cuts in funding over the years is what got us into this mess too. The Federal government funds it, but the provinces decide how to spend it. As you would expect, it was always worse with an Conservative Prime Minister, and Harper was the worst. Fuck that guy. The Cons are in power in my province now, and I'm shocked that they are doing so much to fix it. They are crazy Cons like the Federal ones though.

I dunno, maybe our pharmacists are trained differently in Canada, but they've been giving vaccines for a long time. It started with the flu vaccine, I believe, then expanded to others. We got our covid boosters at the pharmacy. The province has also expanded some services where pharmacists can diagnose minor ailments like UTIs, sore throats, etc. It was done to relieve pressure on overworked doctors (our population exploded during covid, because a ton of people, mostly from Ontario, sold their multi-million dollar shit boxes and bought up pretty much everything in the Atlantic Provinces causing housing and rents to skyrocket. Sure, our house would sell for over twice what we paid for it in 2016, but there would be no where to go!). We've also kept online doc appointments, which is awesome. It was a pain in the arse to have to go to the office, because parking by mine sucks, I hate elevators, and she's always running late. I've lost count of how many times all I needed was just a prescription renewal, but I had to go in because regulations. It saves everybody time now keeping this option. She calls me on time or a little earlier now, and I don't have to sit in a waiting room with sick people. Anyway, all of this was done in consultation with doctors, nurse practitioners, and pharmacists. I don't think I've heard of or read about any complaints. Everyone just came together to deal with the shortage of nurses and doctors. Recruitment is ongoing, but something had to be done in the meantime.

Why mass shooting inquiry said Canada should look to Finland for its policing model "Parjanan said Finland had a shorter training program for police about 50 years ago, but she could never see the country going back to that model. The commission report quoted Kimmo Himberg, former rector of the Finnish police college, who said modern policing requires a complicated mix of skills and knowledge. As well, a thorough vetting of candidates is needed. "We definitely do not want, as an example, Rambos, Rockys," he said. "We want young people who are able to take initiative, make independent decisions, who have the characteristics for this so that we can build the education on those characteristics." Doubt anything will come of it, but there's always hope, I guess.

Think that rain is what came our way. Torrential downpour all day, and more lighter rain through to Wednesday. I wouldn't mind it, but it's soooo cold. At least it's above zero so it's not snow!

I don't know how gerrymandering can be legal. In my province, for the provincial elections, the districts go by county, and then the cities have districts by population count that chunks areas together. Essentially by neighbourhood, so West End, South End, etc. Federal is similar, but fewer districts as some get grouped together. Also similar for municipal elections. It always cracked me up that we live in District 9.