So if there was any day of this week in which jet lag had really caught up to me it was Thursday night / Friday morning. After the Jets game on Thursday I still didn’t get to bed until sometime around 1am but then, worst of all, I was up again at 430am Friday morning and the mind was turning. So, what does one do? Get up. The reason Thursday’s post was quite lengthy was no doubt in part due to the fact that I had gotten up so early.
Anyway, Friday was a day for visits. It was supposed to be a slower day with not much on the docket but then one thing led to another and, well, I got out and met some people.
I was able to spend some time with my nieces after they were done school. I got them a Lego BOOST kit, the building kit that you can then “program” with a tablet or smart phone. Though a touch on the pricey side, being an uncle overseas I figured I’d get them something that they would enjoy rather than some trinkets from overseas. One of them really took to building the thing and was able to flip through the instruction manual (which had to be downloaded through the APP) step by step and assembled the robot cat mostly on her own, but needed some help to get some pieces pulled apart. Once the robot was built, they had fun selecting the different functions it can perform, everything from twitching its whiskers to moving its tail, etc. The idea of the toy is to foster an interest in programming and working with robots, which I think is a good skill to develop as early as possible. After all, this is the generation that doesn’t know life before computers or the internet! (FYI, Lego sets used to have printed out instructions!)
Both before and after visiting my nieces, I was able to drive through the city and see what has changed throughout. Here are some of the things I noticed going on in the city:
- True North Square is half built. It’s supposed to be a new focal point of the downtown area. And given the other rejuvenation of the downtown area, I think the city is doing quite well in this regard.
- There is construction being done but there don’t seem to be many workers out. How are these things getting done?
- Driving a modern car in a city in which you hardly have to press the gas to accelerate makes driving at the speed limit (50 km/h in most places) a bit of a challenge. It just seems like the world is moving so slow.
- Things seem to be really spread out in Winnipeg but, if there isn’t much traffic, you can drive across the whole thing in half an hour. And that’s going through the city centre.
The biggest ordeal my Mother and I faced was when an ambulance was trying to get by. Apparently cars are supposed to pull over to the right in order to let the ambulance get passed. Some did, we couldn’t, and the ambulance behind us pulled into the lanes of traffic going in the opposite direction, which made sense because those people could actually see where it needed to go. Well, during all of this, the guy in the truck next to us took it upon himself to start screaming for us to pull over. Well, sir, it would be difficult for us to move and may cause further damages. Watching his little tirade I wondered if maybe there was a law or something about moving over, and not just a common courtesy.
Afterwards, I headed over to the St. Vital area of the city to visit a few friends. I do keep in touch with a few people from over the years but mostly through social media channels. It had been two years since I’d last seen them, it’s amazing how time flies. We reminisced and talked about what had changed since our last meeting (they had their first child) and learned about their experience as new parents. Though I can understand the idea of raising children, I’ve never done it myself and I know the role of the Uncle is quite a bit different than the role of parents. I get to leave if the kids get cranky! Anyway, it was interesting to here how they were dealing with things, everything from sleep deprivation to discipline and all the other things that make up being new parents.
Sadly, after only a couple of hours, at 11 pm (already late), we called it a night. If there is ever a sign that you’re getting older it’s the time you go to bed. Another sign of getting older is how often and how long you get to spend time with the people you know other than your workmates. Life simply gets busy so it’s important to make that effort.