Famous people and places

In a week where the news has been a non-stop eulogy to Chappaquidick Ted I went to the home of another celebrity. I was doing some field scouting for a project I am working on and ended up driving through Rouleau, SK. Rouleau is just another non-descript prairie town with an elevator that obviously was once a Pool elevator but now has the Pool logo painted over. On the way through town I noticed that the elevator was tagged with Dog River but I didn't pay much heed to it. On the way back through town though I realized that the abandoned gas station that I had paid little heed to on the way through town the first time was actually the set for Corner Gas. I didn't look around town for Emma and Oscar's house but I assume it must be there somewhere. I think the surveillance tree must be a prop though. There's no trees there.

The day that Ted Kennedy died I listened carefully to the early eulogies waiting for somebody to stop lionizing him and at least mention Mary Jo Kopechne. I am led to believe that in his career as a Senator Ted Kennedy accomplished many things but I have to wonder if he wasn't driven by demons from his past. All of us have a few peccadilloes in our past but fortunately for most of us they don't involve running from the scene of a fatal accident that we undoubtedly caused by driving drunk. The man was a womanizer and a lush who evidently also did a lot of good work. Given the power and prestige of his family it seems to me that great things should have been expected of him and no matter what his achievements in adulthood they barely evened the score for his abuse of privilege in his youth. Luke 12:48 "For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much be expected." If his three older brothers hadn't died young I don't think we would even know who Chappaquidick Ted was today, let alone be eulogizing him across the continent.

Meanwhile father is actually improving. Improvement is by its very nature relative but we'll take anything we can get at this stage. Dove House is an abandoned convent that a couple of nurses have converted into a care home. The pictures make it look better than it is. It could use a coat of paint and there are some maintenance "issues" but the most important feature, human compassion and care is present in abundance. Natasha has demonstrated in a couple of weeks an understanding of father's condition and needs that previous homes haven't managed in months. He doesn't seem to have completely settled in yet but I think he is starting to regard this place as home. When we moved the two of them almost exactly a year ago now our intent was to spare him the trauma of a move after mother's death. That didn't work out and it is hindering his adjustment to his new home. It is really hard to figure out what is going on in his head these days. In some regards he has full possession of his faculties but in other respects he is almost witless.

If I was ever disposed to support an entirely public healthcare system the experiences of the last year would surely have cured me. The level of bureaucratic bungling, incompetence and outright stupdity is mind boggling at times. The system is hampered by layers of management with no regard to efficiency, client care or customer service. The current witless wonder spent 5 minutes lecturing me on the phone yesterday because I inadvertently referred to someone as an Occupational Therapist instead of a Physical Therapist. I had to bite my tongue and take it because the real purpose of my call was to make sure that she had actually done what she said she was going to do before she leaves on an extended trip to some foreign country during which time father will once again drift in limbo because there will be no permanent person appointed to replace her. That alone sums up the futility of the current system - her position is apparently crucial to father's future yet at the same time it is so unimportant to the system that she can go on an extended vacation with no formal replacement being appointed while she is away.