Daily updates – Page 105 – a sibilant intake of breath

oint(Musca domestica)ment

The 6:15am rumble of heavy trucks is one limitation of living three metres from a busy road. They are joined in cacophony by commuters in cars and on motorbikes, building into an intense parade by the time when I need to walk to work. The level of sound is more than sufficient to make attempts at sleep fruitless.

I am considering switching the placement of my bedroom and living room. It would make the flat somewhat awkward, but it would allow greater privacy (especially while I have no blinds) and hopefully sounder sleep. In any case, I need to pick up a box of industrial strength earplugs for myself and any guests who I have in the future.

Unconnected

I haved moved into the new place, and it is very nice. Scandalously, there is no internet. As such, updates will be infrequent until I can pay some Canadian telecom company way too much for broadband.

Life without high speed internet makes one feel fundamentally cut off from the world – like one is stranded in an obscure village on an unknown continent.

Flat pack furnishings

This has been a big day. When I woke up, I owned no furniture. Now, I own two wardrobes, a desk, two chairs, a sofa, a large bookcase, a bed, and a kitchen table. I also have pots and pans, flatware, glassware, a reading lamp, bedding, and the keys to my new flat. All told, I now have about ten times more weight and value in home furnishings than ever before. I still need to get some drapes or blinds, unless I want to leave everyone walking or driving up booth street with constant visual access to my bedroom.

Tomorrow evening, IKEA will be delivering the sofa, bed, and bookcase. A few hours with an Allen Key later, I will have myself a furnished apartment. Definite progress is being made, in relation to Maslow’s hierarchy.

Looking around the half-furnished flat, I am already half thinking that it would be a shame to leave when this contract expires in a year.

Sustainable transport required

Now that I have a flat leased and am starting to collect furniture, the next target for a search is a bicycle. I am open to either a new or a used bike of a reasonable price. A hybrid is probably the correct formfactor, since I am unlikely to always use it on the road, but will generally be doing so. Picking up a pannier or two is also probably a good idea, especially given that I plan to commute to and from work by bike – at least until the snows begin.

Local intel is always valuable in these situations. Anyone who can speak to one of the following is encouraged to let me know: the relative merits of local bike shops selling used bikes, the same information on places that sell used ones, any specific opportunities to buy a good bike from a private individual. Having sold my Oxford bike in desperation, shortly before my departure, I know that relocating individuals with a moderate lack of foresight can be an excellent source of such vehicles.

Ottawa River hydro

Right near the complex where I work, there is an unusual hydroelectric system on the Ottawa river. On either side of the main channel are large concrete canals with blocks of turbines. From those, high voltage power lines extend. In the middle of the river, there is a long arc of gates. These are to manage the degree to which water flows through the side channels, and the degree to which it flows over the uneven stone surfaces that were once natural cascades.

Since the water level in the river is high, there is pretty much always some degree of overflow venting through the gates. The little building you can see above them actually moves along the arc, raising and lowering gates. I am not sure if there are people inside or whether it is robotic, but everyone with an office on the south side of my building has a constant view of the whole installation. Those on the north side must content themselves with the fountain at a Gatineau casino.

Unbowlerized and hatless

Working in a complex of government buildings, I feel as though I should be part of a parade of men in dark pinstripe suits and bowler hats, walking in from a train platform every morning. There should be large steam-driven clocks around, and everyone should have a crisp newspaper under the arm.

Though thousands of people must work in the four towers, the place never actually seems like a flow of people is moving in or out. This is especially curious given how pretty much everyone can be expected to vanish within ten minutes before or after 5:00pm.

Perhaps there should be an annual ’emulate a scene from a film like Brazil‘ day.

New social networks

As the process of getting settled continues, it seems time to consider aspects aside from the simple physical realities of life. Specifically, I am thinking about finding some places aside from work where I can meet my fellow denizens of this most governmental city. Some sort of club may be ideal, whether photographic, literary, oriented towards the outdoors, or interesting in an entirely different way.

Can anyone more familiar with Ottawa think of any stand-out examples? Once fall arrives, there will probably be some prospects through Carleton and the University of Ottawa.

PS. Sorry for the dearth of posts with substantive content. Unsurprisingly, I have been busy with work, commuting, and the apartment hunt. I will have something non-narrative to say soon. In the interim, take a look at this fisheries blog that I found: Shifting Baselines, writen by Jennifer Jacquet, a member of the Sea Around Us project at UBC.

Housed

This evening, I signed the lease for the flat on Booth Street. The place is nice, I like the landlord, and it is very close to work. There is a huge basement, plants in the front, newly renovated floors and walls, and lots of light. Now, I just need some furniture (bed, dresser, desk, kitchen table, and a chair).

I may move in as early as Friday.

Britain inundated

For those who haven’t been keeping abreast of the flooding in the United Kingdom, it is apparently extremely severe. Brize Norton, the airbase near Oxford, recorded 127mm of rain on July 20th. Normally, soggy Oxfordshire gets that much in two months.

Thankfully, relatively few people have died, though the British firefighting services are apparently describing this as the largest peacetime rescue operation in their history. Hopefully, the waters will soon abate.

Persistently homeless

A third apartment (65 Robert St, in the Golden Triangle area) has gone to someone who submitted an application first. This time, it was especially galling. The landlord refused to give it to me until I paid the first and last month’s rent in the form of a cashier’s cheque. It took some scrambling to get that much money together at short notice. Still, I managed to get it together this morning, called the man, and learned that he rented the apartment yesterday to someone who paid in cash.

Perhaps it was for the best. The man was extremely irritable and aggressive and, as such, might not have been somebody who I wanted to deal with on a regular basis for a year or more. Still, it is a shame to lose such a well situated possibility.