Dateline: Friday, December 10, 2010.  Time to go home.  I’ve done all the damage I can do for now.  And I’ve taken all the chaos, mayhem, assault and burden I can handle for the time being.  Yesterday, I was stopped dead (didn’t move a foot) in a traffic jam on the Easy West connector for an hour an a half.  I believe it was the worst congestion I have ever experienced anywhere and that includes LA, New York, Bangkok and London.

I can’t live like this anymore.

To be fair, it did teach me something.  To all those to whom I write and get no response, to all those to whom I write and who don’t read the blog or return the e-mails, to all those who ‘just can’t be bothered’, I get it.  I fully get it.  At the end of every day I had no energy for my own bloody blog.  I was simply too tired and too ‘boggled’.  I can’t imagine how any of you can manage to read and respond to mine.  To all those who do not show the love, I feel your pain and still love you anyway.  This madness that is city living seems much harder to do than it did before.  I am now very sympathetic and totally uncritical. 

Or at least I will be until I forget this experience.

It was a productive time.  I got a lot done.  My friend is happy if not ecstatic.  We managed to save him at the very least $50,000 (a $5M suit settlement at $50K.  No lawyers!) with another 100K (better solution to a mechanical problem) likely.  Plus his relations with the city are now repaired (it helps if you speak English well and crack jokes).  But fragile.  And things are moving on all fronts (where before they were stalled).  He’ll be ecstatic if I can get the next two problems resolved but, frankly, I don’t think there are any more rabbits in the hat.  The next two obstacles are just hard slogging and time.  We’ll see.

Made a few new friends along the way (a city sewer guy, a plumber and a metal salvage guy).  I like that.  Makes it fun.    

Sally was a peach!  Poor sweetie.  She was there every day to help and support me but, face it, being my assistant, busing, sky-training and shopping are hardly ‘fun’ times and her dogs were missing to boot.  Sal is ready to go home – with or without me. 

Politically, I am in touch with the BC First party.  Don’t know enough yet but they have some aspects of sanity about them.  We’ve talked.  We’ll see.

Financially, I encountered some real opportunities down here but chose not to pursue them.  I don’t think ‘success’ has much Read Island time in it and so – given the choice between the two – I choose Read.  Still, I find myself ‘number crunching’ in my head and thinking about it.  I have a few ideas that just won’t go away.  One, actually, does include Read.  The metal salvage guy would ‘kill’ to access all the abandoned heavy machinery up and around the islands.  We just have to figure out a way to do that inexpensively.  Could be a shot in the arm for the hermit community.

More in a lighter vein when I get home.  And get lighter.