More about my day today. Troubles with the bridge. Slice,of,life,in,Canada洪恩在线 -> 轻松英语 -> 外教专栏
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More about my day today. Troubles with the bridge.
来源：洪恩论坛 Canuck's Comments
日期：2006-6-9
作者：maryk
阅读：1499 次
Dear friends,
I readied myself and set out on time. A little way along the highway there was
a lot of stopped traffic. I had never before seen it lined up so far back from
the bridge. After some time a police van passed on the right in the bicycle lane. We weren't moving. I thought there must have been an accident on the bridge
. I couldn't make Ben's cell phone work and I knew my friend Sonia would
be waiting for me at the Greek Restaurant. We would move forward one car length
and stop for quite awhile, then move foreward another car length again. I shut
the motor off in between so as not to pollute, and also to save gas. It was hot in the car with the air conditioning off, but it was heavily cloudy.
At 11 AM the lift section of the bridge had been raised, as is the law. It must
be raised twice a day at 11 am and 4 pm, because this chain of lakes and rivers
is a federal waterway and must be passable. When the bridge was lowered again
it refused to properly settle into place. It was "out of commission." It is the only bridge we have to cross the lake. The hospital is on the other side. You can imagine how dangerous this could be if someone on the west side were to suddenly have a serious heart attack and need to be taken by ambulance to the hospital! Well, that's the way things are right now.
This bridge was once known as "the longest floating bridge in the world" but now
it has become old and apparently also unreliable. A big new bridge is being built beside it. The new bridge will rise so high that water traffic can easily pass beneath. No more having to wait for the bridge to come down. How lovely.
:-) We all look forward to the fine new bridge, even though it will steal some
of the lovely waterfront City Park and crowd up against "Hot Sands Beach."
This bridge business is much more difficult to build than usual because the lake
is very deep. At that point it is at its narrowest, but still 800 feet deep.
The present bridge floats on pontoons anchored to gigantic concrete anchors. To
build a bridge a mile and a half or so long, across a lake that deep is quite an engineering problem.
My car radio reported that the police asked anyone who didn't need to be on that
highway going toward the bridge from either side to please stay off the highway
. They reported that engineers had arrived and were trying to get the bridge to
close. They expected it to take some hours. So I'm thankful to say that while
I was over an hour late for a trip to that restaurant that should have taken me
five minutes. Maybe ten at most, it wasn't any longer than that.
The restaurant is good but the music is too loud and hectic. You certainly have
privacy for conversation under cover of that music! The woman who showed me in
asked if I was "Ben's wife." She thought Sonia and Ben were still there, (Ben
was coming only to pick up his cell phone from me,) but it turned out that Ben had need to leave to go to the "Elders' Luncheon" at the Indian Friendship Centre
. Sonia waited for an hour, and shortly before I arrived she left for home. I
had figured out how to use the cell phone with the help of the wait-person so I
left a message at Ben's office. Then the cell phone rang (Ben had given Sonia the number, and so it was she, hungry, and willing to come back for us to lunch together.
It was absolutely delicious Greek food. I don't really like standard Italian restaurant food, nor Japanese, nor Indian from India, but I like Greek and Chinese
when done well. There was Greek salad, of course, made with Feta cheese pieces (
goat cheese) and crisp toasted bread and a lot of green leaf lettuce, olives, small tomatoes, and so on. That's Ben's favourite salad of them all. There was Greek style bread cut into chunks, and two things to eat on it: a spicy shrimp dip
and a mashed potato with garlic dip. Beef cubes were speared on sticks and roasted. They were excellent. There was, of course, Souvlaki, a buttery crisp, thin, very flaky three cornered pastry enclosing spinach filling. Penne, short pieces of fat ridged and hollow noodles in a fragrant sauce. We chose the "buffet
" so we helped ourselves to whatever we fancied, and went back for more of what
we best enjoyed but the price didn't include dessert as it does at The Great Wall.
I would love to go to Greece. I find its ancient civilization, the brilliant philosophers of the past, the beautiful arts and stories, the wonderful setting with white domed buildings shining against a deep blue sea to be most enticing.
There is their wonderful music. Ancient olive orchards. Mmmm hm! I would like
to visit Greece.
I recognized the kinds of plates and bowls on display and shepherd's woolen woven bags, pictures. The service was excellent. We found that Ben had paid for our meals and even left the tip for the waitperson. What a lovely surprise. :-))
There was a heavy downpour of rain while we ate and we had to find our cars in the rain. Sonia and I went to Art Knapps. It is very large with many interesting things, but I only saw one thing I really liked. They were long black wrought
iron window baskets, holders for flowers in pots. They cost about a hundred dollars each and we would need quite a few for our house. They would look wonderful under our windows in summer when filled with flowers or in winter in silhouette against the warm coloured walls, but I doubt we will be able to buy them any
time soon! Maybe a couple a year might be manageable.
Too bad Ben was recently cheated out of his inheritance from his old aunt. Now
the thieves in Germany have it. And nothing can legally be done about it because it was done so slickly with the help of a crooked lawyer who probably got his
share. Well, we are content with what we have. We look at it as a case of "maybe yes. Maybe no." Meaning maybe it could have been good fortune to have inherited a considerable sum of that fortune, but maybe in some unforeseen way it wouldn't have been a good thing and would have brought us trouble.
Sonia and I always talk a lot together. She's my best friend. We had lots to say. Even talked for an hour in the parking lot at Art Knapps after we finished
looking at all the unusual things and gorgeous plants. Sonia went home at 5:30.
I phoned Ben and we arranged to eat supper together and then to go home after
the rush hour traffic was over.
Our VCR recently broke down and it is more sensible to replace it than to get the old one fixed. So, after a simple supper together Ben went to buy the VCR DVD
player he decided upon after discussing how with Harry how he likes his and getting his recommendation. I went home feelling very tired.
Now we're both here. Ben's setting up the new player and I'm writing to you. It's 9:30 pm. Since we watch almost no tv at all and enjoy movies we rent or own
, we're glad to have the new player.
It was a good day for Ben. He picked up some new clients and wrote quite a lot
of business, too. He'll still be very busy now until the 15th, working at home and the office, all day and all weekend, too. But then, "you have to make hay while the sun shines" and later when tax time is over the income will also drop.
That's the story of today. I hear music from the new VCR so I think I'll go and see what's going on. I hope this isn't too boring or too long for you.
Affectionately, Mary
