Work

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Waiting for a Clearing

It feels like years have passed since my last post. That’s how it feels, sometimes, when the internet is down a for a few days!

I learned at 8 o’clock Sunday morning that my duties at the resort ended at 11PM Friday night. At least, I was eventually informed of this…. My last ‘discussion’ with management really got my butt in gear in terms of departure preparations. I’m not hanging out here a day longer than I need to. I’m waiting for a clearing in the weather (or, at least, ‘less worse’ weather) and confirmation from the park I’m going to that it will be okay to pull in on December 31st or January 1st. What irritates me the most is how hard I worked at a job for which I will not be getting a reference. I so badly needed this reference in order to update my resumé in the areas of hospitality and bookkeeping. But if one place was willing to hire me based on outdated qualifications, surely there will be another.

The park I’m going to sounds like paradise. The difference in cost between parks located near Vancouver isn’t very much, so I picked one with an indoor pool, hot tub, and sauna!  I will be walking distance to the United States and about forty minutes from downtown Vancouver. Fewer than 400km separate me from this park, but the terrain between here and there is mountainous. Poor weather here could mean very bad weather on the road; I am expecting the drive to take a full day and my backup plan is to break up the trip with an overnight stay at the Walmart in Chilliwack.

Miranda is just about ready to go. I would have liked to pull out at first light tomorrow, but we had tons of snow again today so I must go back up on the roof and clear some of it off, plus I’m pretty sure that my sewer hose is frozen solid (author pauses for a moment to laugh at the absurdity of her life). So, tomorrow will be a ‘apply heaters to all external fixtures that need to be removed and packed away’ kind of day.

There was a thaw on Sunday that allowed me to begin assessing the damages. My air conditioner cover cracked from the weight of the snow, but the fault line is on the side, not on top, so I do not think this is something I should worry about. A hose melted in the basement compartment I was heating, but I’m not sure what melted it, or even what the purpose of the hose was; I need to do some research on that. Within Miranda, there is evidence of water damage, but it is too early to tell yet if the damage is from condensation or infiltration. I hope it is the former! Only a test drive will tell if she is mechanically sound. After recharging the engine battery, I was able to start and run the engine without any effort, so I think Miranda is as ready to leave as I am. I have faith in her. “She’s tore up plenty, but she’ll fly true.” Another quote from the movie that gave Miranda her name. 🙂

I am melancholy. I remember how enthusiastic and naïve I was when I arrived in Oliver in October. I feel so much older now, worn out and wrung out. The past eleven weeks have sometimes felt like eleven years and there is not much of them I will wish to remember when I look back on my first year on the road. But I do not regret this time, or, more truthfully, I am happier to have been malcontent here than I was back in my old life.

Because the winter thus far has been exactly like I planned, my spring will not be. Unless something extraordinary happens, I will be in British Columbia until May. I have but one goal when I get to Surrey, one that makes me laugh: stability. I need to find work and rebuild my coffers and keep one thought in mind: summer will bring me to the Yukon.

Even though the past weeks have not been good, they do not diminish the quality of a life that allows me to leave when I have had my fill, a life that makes it easy to find fresh beginnings when endings taste like ash.

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If Not the Weather, the… Cats

I had water at 6:30 this morning, but not at 8:30. I got the heat gun, set it up, opened the tap in the bathroom sink, and went out to open the guest facilities. I wound up getting tied up there and didn’t get back home for twenty minutes.

That was just long enough for:

  • the heat gun to work its magic;
  • water to start gushing out of the bathroom tap;
  • one of the cats (probably Neelix) to leap up onto the counter to get at all that fresh, yummy water, and;
  • knock a washcloth into the basin where it stopped the drain.

*sighs*

I suppose that’s one way to wash the floors. I used a heater to dry out everything and the room looks okay. I hope that the water didn’t have time to infiltrate.

In other dismal news, I believe that my loft is now leaking. I’ve got a nice chunk of ice in one corner. Inside. I’m going to get the heater up there next, but I’m sure the damage is done. Caulking will have to wait until the weather warms up.

In happier news, it was SUNNY today!!! I went out to do the cleaning this afternoon and switched to a light sweater and a kerchief, instead of the sweater, coat, and tuque I’ve been living in. Sure, it was a tad ‘brisk’ (-11) walking around the park like that, but it felt sooooo nice to be unencumbered by a million layers of clothing. Of course, the sun is already setting (can’t believe it’s four, where does the day go?!), but I definitely got my vitamin D quota for the day.

This afternoon, I managed to run my errands in preparation for Thursday’s dinner with the guests. My contribution is mashed turnip (rutabaga for you purists) with brown sugar, which I will have the pleasure of serving in a bowl that belonged to my dad. I couldn’t tell you the number of times I served mashed root vegetables in that bowl over the past twenty years and I am very happy to bring a piece of my father with me to this traditional Christmas meal he would have enjoyed so much.

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A Single Battle Won, If Not the War

Last night was much better than the previous one.

I concluded that sleeping in the study would bring about the same issues as doing so in the upstairs bedroom because of how COLD it is by the big picture window. Since the bedroom is a much smaller space, I figured that it would be easier to insulate. I grabbed whatever I had; leftover pieces of styrofoam insulation, towels, extra bedding, and suitcases to create as much of a barrier as possible between the windows and myself. Also, before going to bed I set a cookie sheet on the mattress to create a flat and fireproof surface and then stuck the heater up there for about forty minutes. Finally, I didn’t skimp on clothes, doubling up on all layers. I was still feeling pretty cozy when I got up at 6:30 to open the park gates, but when I went back to bed after, cold had seeped in.

Another thing I did overnight was leave the water running in the bathroom sink. I hate doing this as it is so wasteful, but environmentalists have obviously never fought this climate. Leaving the tap on meant that I had water this morning and no burst pipes.

When I showered just before bed at eleven last night, the pipes were just starting to freeze. I had water, but the temperature and pressure were uneven. I had to let the shower run for about five minutes before I could even think of getting into it, but the water finally reached optimum pressure and temperature.

This morning, it is -12C (10F), but it feels like -20C (-4F) with the windchill. And what a wind it is. Miranda is thankfully buffered between a house and a huge class A, but she is still being tossed about 35kph (22mph) winds.

Getting up this morning to face the weather wasn’t as tough as some people might think. I’m used to this weather, grew up in it, worked in it, camped in it, lived in it. Which all means that I’ve earned the right to be sick of it.

That said, if it wasn’t windy, these would be the best kinds of days. Bracing, sunny, with an air so fresh and crisp that it wipes the soul clean; the kind of day that beats a ‘feels like 40 with humidity’ summer day.

I suppose I have a love/hate relationship with winter.

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Endings and Beginnings

I was laid off from the nursery job today. I can’t believe that I made it all the way to the end of this contract!!! It was a brutally hard time there, sometimes demeaning, always exhausting, but there was laughter and camaraderie, too. It reminded me that I’m not as soft or undisciplined as I think I am. I couldn’t make a career of that particular job, but I think I could do manual labour for the long term, provided it’s a position that’s a better fit for me. I gained 10lbs of solid muscle and lost 5 inches on my waistline doing this job. It sure beat riding a desk for eight hours and then squeezing in an hour at the gym!

It seems that I won’t be working the rest of December (EEP), but I’ll keep looking for work until the 20th.

My options for January are:

1) Remain in Oliver if I find a good job and stay on at the resort as a guest;

2) Remain in the Okanagan… if I find a good job. I am waiting to hear from a ski resort near Vernon that advertised an appealing position;

3) Move the Vancouver area. I’ve found a park in Fort Langley (about 40 minutes from downtown Vancouver) with reasonable rates for January and February. I told them that I will confirm a reservation next week. So, I’m giving myself that long to find a job here. So… I think I’m going to Fort Langley next. 🙂