Completely unrelated to anything

I have a fear of single toilet handicap-accessible bathrooms. Like the ones at Subway and the Timmies "downtown" in Portage La Prairie. Yes, I know this is a departure from my regular complaining about everyone blaming the North End for everything and other such Winnipeg things but I needed to get it out there.

My office renovated a few months ago and now we have a nice big wheelchair friendly bathroom. Now, obviously I'm not actually against toilets being functional for those with mobility issues but why oh why must they be designed in such a way that if the door doesn't lock properly that someone could very easily catch you doing your business??? They are purposely designed to have the toilet far away from the door - there is no way to thrust your arm out and stop the door from opening!

I think it should be mandatory for these bathrooms to have a secondary lock system like one of those little slidey thingies, basically something that goes into a slot that I can visually verify that the door is indeed secure. Why don't I just double check when I go into these types of bathrooms you ask? Well, first of all, they all have the simple push button type lock rather than a twisty one (I hope I'm not losing you readers with all my technical terms like slidey and twisty...) and this is so that folks who don't have good dexterity can easily use them. Which means that if you try to check it, you are basically going to unlock it.

The other problem is, and the Timmies in Portage referenced earlier has this problem, is that if for some reason the door doesn't close completely (even though it seems like it's closed, I mean, I know how to use a door!) then "locking" the door by pushing in the little button doesn't do a lick of good because the catch isn't engaged properly. Thankfully, my paranoia caused me to discover this flaw before someone discovered me.

So, I therefore call for a secondary lock system, completely optional to use, for those who want that extra bit of security. Or if someone can at least put one in on my work bathroom that would be appreciated :)

**********

A quick note related to my usual rants...Today a Winnipeg family has lost their home in a fire. I'm not sure yet what they might need but I hope Winnipeggers reach out to them once we find out. The CBC, like most of the media outlets in town covered this story.  I appreciate that they left "North End" out of the headline, because for those that get their news by only reading the headlines I'm sure the reaction would have been a typical one along the lines of "must be arson", "it's the North End, it's always on fire anyway, who cares" and so on. Now, of course, it did technically happen in the North End, so I couldn't have faulted them even if they had chosen to use the neighbourhood name in the headline, but I truly believe little things like this make a difference to how the rest of Winnipeg perceives us.

Here I go again...

In a post that ties in with my last one about boundaries and how they relate to the perceptions of crime in this city, I have another example of how the media often gives a negative bias to the North End. In this article from the Free Press on Saturday, there were 6 fire incidents reported (well, 8, but two were 2-for-1 deals). The two fires that were OUTSIDE of the North End simply had their approximate address given, no neighbourhood. 3 were listed giving both the xxx-block of xxx AND pointed out that was in the North End, and one was listed as being in Shaugnessy Park (so, they do get points for not calling it the North End, since, y'know, it wasn't).

I've taken the liberty of tweaking this article for the Free Press.

THERE were two house fires and six garage fires in the city overnight Friday.
The first fire broke out in the 400 block of Boyd Avenue in the North End St. John's in a garage late Thursday, causing $8,000 in damage. This was followed by a fire at a home in the 1300 block of Raleigh Street in Munroe West at around 12:40 a.m. There was a total of $20,000 in damage to the home and contents.
Hours later, police were called to a garage and shed fires on Magnus Avenue in the Shaughnessy Park area at around 2 a.m.
An hour later, another fire broke out in a home in the 600 block of Selkirk Avenue in the North End William Whyte* (*could have been Dufferin, depends what side of the street it was), causing $80,000 in damage. Soon after, at around 3:30 a.m., there was another garage fire in the 100 block of Enfield Crescent in Norwood, causing a total of $35,000 in damage.
At around 6 a.m., firefighters were called to another two garage fires in the 200 block of Pritchard Avenue in the North End William Whyte. The total damage from the first fire was $10,000, while there was no damage estimate available for the second.
No one was injured.

Of course, it also could have been written in a more simple way that would force those hell bent on coming up with a negative attitude towards a particular area to do some research:

THERE were two house fires and six garage fires in the city overnight Friday.
The first fire broke out in the 400 block of Boyd Avenue in the North End in a garage late Thursday, causing $8,000 in damage. This was followed by a fire at a home in the 1300 block of Raleigh Street at around 12:40 a.m. There was a total of $20,000 in damage to the home and contents.
Hours later, police were called to a garage and shed fires on  in the XXX block(s) of Magnus Avenue in the Shaughnessy Park area at around 2 a.m.
An hour later, another fire broke out in a home in the 600 block of Selkirk Avenue in the North End, causing $80,000 in damage. Soon after, at around 3:30 a.m., there was another garage fire in the 100 block of Enfield Crescent, causing a total of $35,000 in damage.
At around 6 a.m., firefighters were called to another two garage fires in the 200 block of Pritchard Avenue in the North End. The total damage from the first fire was $10,000, while there was no damage estimate available for the second.
No one was injured.

 See how easy that was to stop shouting NORTH END?  I am no dummy, I know there is crime here, and I'm not against it being reported; the crimes are a fact, facts should be reported. All I ask is that in a city already so biased against a particular part of town is that the media don't fuel the fire. As you just read, we have enough of them here already.

New Year, same Girl

First and foremost - let me say that just because I don't have you in my blogroll, does not mean I don't like your blog. I just haven't had time to go through and update and it's been quite a while. Feel free to send me a scolding message.

New Years is the time of year that we all tend to make resolutions that we are unlikely to keep. I get it, it seems like a good idea, a perfect day to start fresh and be able to keep track of our successes (and failures). But I think that I read somewhere that most successful diets start on a Tuesday, less pressure that way or something. It seems the same could be said for any New Year's resolution, so I figure why bother today if it's doomed to fail anyway?

With the holidays I have been absent from the blogosphere, we could pretend that I was doing something super interesting, but I wasn't really. I tried to keep up with all the goings on city and world wide, but I think the story that stuck with me the most was one that probably struck a chord with many of those who keep up with Winnipeg related blogs. The fire that reduced a condo building on St. Paul Ave to rubble was that much more real because I know someone who was so close to the situation (Christian, still so glad it wasn't YOUR building). As well, being an animal lover, and cats in particular, I was overwhelmed with emotion when I heard that Wyatt the cat had been rescued. My heart gets tight when I think of the other cat, Fraidie, and the sad reality that if she hasn't been found yet (if you know that she has please let me know!) that being that wet and cold, it might be more of a recovery situation.

In the early hours of the reporting on the fire, all the usual suspects were trolling the comment sections of the FreeP, and when it was reported that Wyatt (at that point unidentified) had been found a couple of people alluded to the fact that they never would have left their animals behind, and admittedly I was curious as well; but I have never had to run for my life, so I can't pretend to say that I absolutely wouldn't leave without my animals. I like to think that I wouldn't of course, but I also don't think I could necessarily pass judgement on someone else for saving their own life. When it emerged that the couple who lived in that suite were away on holidays it reminded me how important it is that we build relationships with our neighbours.

I don't know if Fraidie's fate would have been any different in this particular situation, and for all I know, attempts to save the cats were made because of input from another resident, but we need to remember to talk to our neighbours. Recently I had a situation with one of my neighbours, and I could just hug my tenants next door for bringing it to my attention. Even though neither of them have been with me for long, they were concerned because something seemed amiss with the house on the other side. It turns out my neighbour was out of town, which if it wasn't winter I probably would have known from friendly chats in the yard. I will remind her when I see her next to please let me know next time so I can help keep an eye on her place.

Neighbours and a sense of community are your first line of defense when it comes to safety. I'm not sure where I developed the idea that this is so important - I don't think my parents really communicated with the neighbours. I suppose if you know who is around you it is harder to turn a blind eye to things, they are no longer nameless people, they move more into the circle of friends. Now, I'm not saying that you need to monitor every movement everyone on your street makes, that's just creepy, but take an interest. If your house caught fire wouldn't you hope that someone piped up and was able to alert the fire department that you have a cat inside? Or what if you could save the life of an elderly neighbour because you noticed that something was amiss, like the newspaper wasn't brought in for a few days and you were able to contact a family member so that they could check in?

So, lessons learned from the December fires of 2011:

1. Get tenant insurance - the residents of the apartments on  Beverly St. learned the hard way, it is extremely valuable to have, and many don't
2. And this isn't just because of fire, but let at least one neighbour (ideally who is around a lot) know a little about you and your schedule so that there is at least one person in the world knows if something is amiss or can recognize your pet if gets out or worse, trapped in the house.

Well, that's it, clearly I didn't make a resolution to become less long winded. I hope everyone had a pleasant end to 2011 and of course an even better 2012. See you around the 'hood - murder free so far this year, crossing my fingers it stays that way!
 -