HST Time Bomb

The time clock is running down to double Zero For Gordon Campbell, I have talked for some time about the HST anger, how it`s so thick you can cut it with a knife, in the last year my time in the real world has been limited, mainly due to the vast volumes of data I have been consuming, and also my circle is very small, I worry about letting anyone in.



I let you friends into my soul, besides this being a blog of the people it`s also a personal diary, in the physical world I am very guarded, having attended the school of hard knocks I`m afraid to leave myself vulnerable, as you know I mentioned a girl who was interested in me, we had dinner at her place the other night, and a few bubbly pops, I won`t hold you in suspense, it appears she had other motives than me, she dawned her hair in a cute pony tail and she had lovely eyes, I did notice the other parts but the eyes are the gateway to the soul, at first I thought maybe my intense gaze gave her pause, but after 6 hours together that drifted into the wee hours of the night, a night of pure conversation, but I don`t hold back, I opened my world to her as I compelled personal information from her, I need to know certain things before deciding to go forward.

I found it troubling that her ex boyfriend that she had moved here with from Alberta several years ago lived but 80 feet from her place, and he did know that I was there, I guess the giveaway was me knocking on his door earlier that day asking if he knew where Susie lived, I was very close but was one house away, he of course pointed me to Susie`s home, I worry not over violence I can handle myself, I was told one side of a story by Susie, how she detested her ex but loved their pet dog, (dog type was a jack russell), I saw the dog inside the window of her ex when I had knocked on his door earlier that day, Susie had mentioned that he was holding the dog hostage and wouldn`t allow her to see the dog, I responded "that`s crazy, it`s a dog" meanwhile the night went on and on, I told her to get her own dog if it was that upsetting, but I also told her much later that night that I believed she was using the dog and her ex as a crutch, possibly a safety net, she vehemently denied my assertion, 4:00 am I left, gave her a friendly formal hug and left.

Back to the HST, I gathered up signatures at the bingo hall on Thursday night, there was about 60 ladies there and almost everyone one of them signed the petition, the older gals couldn`t wait to sign, so one stop Thursday night and I had 50 signatures, I didn`t do any more canvassing on thursday as I was a little weary from the long night on Wednesday, but one pattern started to emerge with people who signed the petition, well two actually, the first pattern was, where have you been, we have been waiting to sign, they were impatient, the other pattern was pure anger, anger towards what they called, without any prompting from me was, a lying SOB named Gordon Campbell, I nodded in agreement.

Friday I painted a table and made up some stop HST posters, these items I would need for my planned stops, but as you know, a watched pot won`t boil and I don`t like watching paint dry so Friday I did no canvassing, but that`s okay, I still had a girl on my mind, I had promised her a prawn and white rice dinner, so I called Susie in the early afternoon, she wasn`t home so I left her a message, she called me later that afternoon and informed that she was out with her sister, I asked her about the dinner I owed her, she informed me that she wasn`t so sure, she talked about friendship only, she also informed me that her ex had a change of heart about the dog and she was playing and babysitting the Jack Russell dog Friday night.

Meanwhile I had daily HST reports to email out as to how many signatures I have collected, Bill Vanderzalm will be releasing a big set of numbers on Sunday, so we are required to send in our daily tallies, that doesn`t take any time, I have over a hundred signatures lined up to sign, but I can chase those down easy, it`s the signatures I haven`t got lined up that I need to concentrate on.

Meanwhile I was musing to myself, I was replaying each and every word of the long converstation Susie and I had Wensday night, maybe I was too forward, maybe my gaze was too intense, maybe I was too emotional, or perhaps Susie had other motives, I had suggested to her that night that she was using the dog as a crutch, I also suggested that her ex was using the dog as leverage and maybe neither of you have actually moved on, I also said at this stage of my life that I wasn`t into games, Wensday night was a very intense,very adult conversation, no raised voices, no curse words nothing but The Straight Goods, I said to Susie you can run and run and you can keep on running or you can throw your crutch away, this as I gazed into her soul.

So today, Saturday I went with my table, my petition forms, my canvassing ID and headed to our local IGA, I set up a spot out of the rain, posted my little advertisements, laid out my pens, and it was like magic, the people came, they lined up, they left and came back with friends, and just like the bingo hall the same pattern emerged, they expressed pure outrage, there were NDP voters there, but it shocked me with how many Liberal voters signed that felt utterly betrayed and dirty over what Gordon Campbell had done, no prompting was required, the other pattern that emerged was, they were complaining that they had called Nicholas Simons(our MLA) and had complained about when someone was going to come around with the petitions, almost everyone asked where and when I would be back, they talked about their brothers and sisters and wives and neighbors all wanting to sign, I gave them my itinerary and told them I would be back to this spot next Saturday, so anyway, from noon to 5:00 pm I collected over 150 signatures, I canvassed a little on Thursday night and 5 hours on Saturday and I have well over 200 signatures, I still haven`t collected my "in the bank signatures" ....I am but one canvasser, there are over 5000 of us, if everyone collects even 200 signatures in 90 days is one million signatures, we only need 300,000 signatures, we are going to collect a million signatures!

Meanwhile the night before(Friday night) I told Susie that I still owed her a return dinner, she talked about next week perhaps, so the phone call ended, now what, I had just finished making some perfect white rice, premium white sticky rice and I had prawns ready to go, well never one to back down from a challenge, I did the prawns in a sweet butter sauce, I have plenty of plastic containers as I recycle almost everything, I loaded one container with steaming white rice the other with the butter prawns, put on my Sunday best including my best tie, I must admit, with a sharp shave, wearing my Sunday best I could charm my way through any locked gate, but I had no intention of attempting to unlock a guarded gate, my motive was more subtle, I drove to her place(2 minutes away) ...She was outside playing with the jack Russell dog, she saw me park and approach, she warned that the dog isn`t always friendly, I told her the dog will like me, especially with two hot containers of food in my hand, I said," Susie, I owe you dinner, here`s my prawn special, I don`t need the containers back, make sure to recycle them when your done", and so I hand her the containers along with one last gaze, I say goodbye, turn around and walk away.

"And you can run and run and keep on running or you can throw your crutch away"

The Straight Goods

Cheers-Eyes Wide Open