"Zen....

...and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance."  Ever heard of it?  In my thirties, when I thought I was extremely sophisticated, I bought that book and tried to read it.  Written by Robert M. Pirsig, it was an impossible read of 406 pages, but believe me, I tried to get through it about three times.

It made no sense and I eventually gave up.  

But this isn't what I want to talk about today.  I mention it because it was referenced in a column I read today and I wondered who else struggled to read it?

I want to talk about an encounter I had this week with a deaf man at the bar of a 'Milestones' near here.  Waiting for B to buy a bathing suit, I happened to be sitting beside a guy who was ordering via gesture and pointing.  When he left to go to the washroom, I asked the bar server if he was deaf?  Yes.  

When he returned, he and I started "chatting" using his cell phone and texting back and forth. It was fascinating and I quickly found myself using my hands and face much more trying to communicate.  I learned he had been deaf since birth, that he had a 20-year-old son and 18-year-old twin daughters.  "But no wife anymore, thank God," he texted.  We both started laughing.  

He is a massage therapist, a perfect trade for someone who is deaf.  But can you imagine a life lived never hearing music?  Never hearing the roar of a crowd at a hockey match?  "But," he texted, "I don't have to hear all the bullshit people spout," he wrote.  Very true!  

Tyler and B.

So, that was my first conversation with a deaf person and I have to say it was a very rich and nuanced one.

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On another note, I am sure you have read about the major watermain break in Calgary.  Naturally, Mayor Gondek is already hard at work all over the airwaves blaming the province.  No, Jyothi, it's entirely a city responsibility.  It's a city main and it's supposed to be maintained by the city -- not the province.

And it's not just a wee leak.  No, it's a break in the 11K line that serves the entire city.  It also serves Chestermere, Strathmore and Airdrie, so they're effed too.  "We don't know what caused the break, we don't know where the break is and we don't know how long it will take to repair.  It will take as long as it takes," Gondek had the nerve to say with her face hanging out.

Hey, you have huge staff who are supposed to know these things!  What have they been doing?!  "We're providing $223 million to Calgary for infrastructure funding, no strings attached," shot back Premier Danielle Smith.  "I urge the mayor to use it to immediately assess all water-supply issues."

Gondek's attitude is why she has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in living memory.  

To boot, the break is in the same area that was just "repaired" in April -- fewer than two months ago!  What's even more ludicrous is that it's local charities who are handing out water to nearby residents.  Not the city!  That's the city's job, no one else's.  Great contingency planning, Ms. Gondek!  Not.

Why are we surprised?  Just the same old same old.  Thank heaven in Cochrane, we have our own water system, so are not affected.  But I wouldn't be surprised if we are asked to supply water to Calgary in the very near future.