Well, thank goodness I dipped into Al Jazeera to accidentally learn about importance news from the country of my birth – Canada. There we go, brace yourself, fasten your seat belt, not just lap belt but shoulder belt as well. This appeared on the Al Jazeera site on March 4, 2021. Now reading about this on Al Jazeera is weird beyond belief as the network is owned and operated by the Qatar government. As all may know, I have my Qatar connections, to the Royal Family of Qatar, although they are dormant at the present time.By the way dormant’s synonyms are: sleeping, slumbering, resting, reposing, drowsing, comatose, supine; inactive. , passive, inert, latent, fallow, quiescent, inoperative, stagnant, sluggish, lethargic, torpid, motionless, immobile; Antonyms are: awake, active So the relationship between Alexis and the Qatar Kids, as I affectionately call them is quiescent, torpid, and intern at the present time. My goodness, throw in sluggish and motionless. The two countries come together as I was born in Canada, There is nothing similar about the two as Qatar is tiny and Canada is super large and underpopulated with other problems which you will soon read about, all brought to you by Qatar. .
“The minimum share of milk fat that butter is required to have, according to Canada’s regulators. But something funny has been happening with Canadian butter recently: it isn’t softening at room temperature anymore. Amateur bakers trying their hand at quarantine cooking and professional chefs alike have noticed the phenomenon, dubbing it “Buttergate.”
“Several hypotheses have been put forward to explain the change in Canadian butter’s consistency, from whether the butter was overworked and thus got harder, to whether cold winter temperatures have anything to do with it,” writes Al Jazeera’s Jillian Kestler-D’Amours. “But one potential reason has received the most attention: the use of palmitic acid, a substance derived from palm oil that increases the level of saturated fat in dairy products, in feed given to Canadian dairy cows.” Cows are a big deal in Canada, which is not utter nonsense: “More than 10,000 dairy farms are licensed across Canada, according to government data, and the Canadian dairy industry says it contributes about 19.9 billion Canadian dollars ($15.7bn) to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) annually.”
Then more bad news – not only hard butter but the country is definitely behind the times with regard to the vaccine, according again to Al Jazeera. This state of affairs is making it more than a little uncomfortable for Prime Minister Trudeau. “The vaccine shortage is so acute in Canada that local governments are extending the interval between the two doses of Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines to four months rather than three to four weeks so they can quickly inoculate more people [File: Carlos Osorio/Reuters]” Al Jazeera provides us with more information: “Canadians 80 years old and above are only starting to get vaccinated this month and the National Advisory Committee on Immunization said this week that extending the dose interval to four months would allow as many as 80 percent of Canadians over the age of 16 to receive a single dose by the end of June simply with the expected supply of Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines.” What does that mean to me? A great deal – one of the main reasons I returned to the USA from Canada in 2019 was because of the lack of medical care in Vancouver, British Columbia. I was soundly criticized by former friends who suffer from forms of denial about medical care. The two week anniversary of my second jab with the celebrated on March 11,2021, my rather severe side effect to the second jab means that, in all probability, I shall be immune. If I lived in Canada there would be no end in sight as I am not 80 (as yet), so first shot not even on calendar and then it would be a four month wait after that. I rest my case, as lawyers are prone to say, we lawyers do love being proven right. My being a.lawyer had nothing to do with Canada – received my bachelor’s degree from University of Alberta when the rate of enrolment for women was 1 woman to 10 men. Now, of course, tables are turned, more women than men attend institutes of higher learning.
Then more bad news from Canada, again from Al Jazeera, the Qatar network. Trudeau imposed travel restrictions to the utter dismay of Air Canada. “Passenger traffic at airport checkpoints in January was just 13% of last year’s levels, versus 38% in the U.S., according to data from the countries’ transportation authorities.In the first week of February, it’s slipped below 9%. Air Canada has taken advantage of federal wage subsidies, for a net benefit of C$554 million last year, it said Friday. But unlike the U.S. and most other developed economies, there’s been no dedicated aid package to help airlines withstand the crisis.” Now Canada is not exactly known for its warm weather – flights to Mexico and the Caribbean were cancelled. ““Air Canada’s largest roadblock is now the Canadian government’s severe travel restrictions,” Helane Becker, an analyst at Cowen & Co., said in a note.“Once the government opens its borders, we believe there will be a rush to the exit. There is significant pent-up demand among Canada’s citizens, who have been locked down for almost a year,” Becker said.” Not only locked down, but locked down and shivering.
Back on track (somewhat), I promised a public ‘forgiveness” of my Canadian father, Alexander Baxter Cairns Dryburgh on the occasion of his 100th birthday. He received all of those names as he was the seventh son born to George and Janet Dryburgh. There is definite acknowledgement, on my part, that he had a difficult early life – suffering from maternal neglect and deprivation. His mother died when he was eleven and no one assumed a maternal role. There was only a rather taciturn father who was ruling the roost. Aki’s (as he was called) eldest brother Dave Dryburgh was married at the time but his wife did nothing to assume the role with the younger siblings left at home. Then, to make matters even worse his grandmother, Grace who lived next door, and by all reports was most maternal – died two years later. All of this learned while doing the research for my (unfinished) biography of my Uncle Dave Dryburgh. Then, inconveniently for my father, along came WWII. He was a volunteer, severing in the Canadian Army. So at the age of 21 – only completing grade nine, he was off in Europe killing Germans. Definitely not an easy life. I was perhaps four or five when he came home from war. – so he never experienced Alexis as a girl child growing up. This lack of familiarity often leads to abuse – which is why step-fathers appear as abusers in far greater numbers than natural fathers. Despite his limited education my father was a success – working for Ford Motor Company almost his entire life. My younger brothers and mother thus enjoyed a level of financial security. I vividly recall the more poverty stricken days. Being the eldest child can sometimes be a drag- my brothers were post war products.
As the prior paragraph attests psychological ‘forgiveness’ has, to a large measure, been achieved. I was able to overcome the abuse (to a great extent) because of inherited traits – there were four or five – intelligence, sense of humour, perseverance are the three that can be recalled. In later years Aki and Alexis sparred. I was present at his ninetieth birthday – gifting him with a card that said: Only The Good Die Young. I recall he laughed.
I have made the decision that my spiritual foreignness of him shall remain private – between Allah and Alexis. It is following the mandates of the faith – that has been confirmed by one raised in the Islamic faith.
Yesterday unexpectedly, very unexpectedly, found a photograph taken probably forty years ago. I sit at the head of the table – my father, clutching his cigarette, to my right. Wise Man viewed the old photo – saying: “You looked happy in the picture. When was it taken?” “Its a guess, but probably about forty years ago. I guess I was.” What is rather amusing is that he Aki has white hair, just as I do now. But here is a big secret – it was a toupee. My hair, all of it is real. A toupee “ is a small wig or artificial hairpiece worn to cover a bald spot.” My sense of humour prevails. The photograph is bound to be blurry but you get what you pay for. I did say over the years, that my father had every bad habit known to man – he smoked, drank to excess, did not exercise, probably did not eat vegetables – but he still is living at 100 (I think). PCP once said that I was going to live forever – perhaps he is right. It has to do with my cholesterol pattern, the lack of cancer in the family (as a whole with two exceptions) and the longevity of my parent’s lives. This poor world! Hahahah My PCP signed an affidavit which was posted on the blog to reassure the Qatar Kids that I would be around until I was a hundred. It is on this massive blog somewhere – needless to say amusing. I wonder if the Qatar kids care????
Photo is me – sent to Chris with the subject line: Was Not I cute??? Well I was, I can see it now but not then.
