A Series of Delays and Abortive Missions

I have had a very long day. So has my nearest neighbour who drove us everywhere since I couldn't see properly to drive.

We set out at 9:30 a.m. and got back here at 4:15 p.m.

First we drove to the Wakefield ER.

At 2:30 I was seen by a physician from Cameroun and told I had an infection in the eye for which he prescribed an antibiotic.

By 3:30 I had filled the prescription and we went and had lunch at Chez Eric.

Then we headed off to vote.

Neither of us was permitted to vote ... and we had plenty of company. Our road was not on their maps. Another woman was not on their list. I didn't hear the other complaints, but the second in command who spoke to us said that they had discovered 70,000 names had simply disappeared from this region's electoral lists last summer and had to be reinstated, Despite Tanya's valiant efforts we were not allowed to vote. I say valiant because she dealt with all this during the last provincial election and so prior to this election she spent at least 5 hours on the phone with petty bureaucrats who all give her a different story. And today she stood her ground without screeching about the amount of taxes she poured into the Quebec coffers ... as one woman who completely lost it did.

This sort of thing could certainly be construed as political finagling of the English vote, but honestly, I think it was simply incompetence, laziness, carelessness and a refusal to think beyond the rules. Everyone there agreed that there was screw up, and we had the right to vote, but no one would break the rules to allow us to exercise that right.

We headed home with one quick stop at the Wakefield General Store so I could pick up a copy of the Low Down to Hull. I paid my 75 cents and Linda, the clerk, said, "Your letter's in it."

You have to love living in these hills.