Would you like to take a survey? - Part 11

Well, as promised, I’m writing this post from the hotel business centre in Fort Erie. Things have been pretty quiet today. Spent most of the day either sleeping or just chilling out. Unlike many of my co-workers here (who seem to have more boundless, youthful energy than I could ever muster), I’ve always believed a day off should be exactly that: a day off, where you should just relax and do as close to absolutely nothing as possible :-) If that makes me a lazy bugger, then so be it! The most strenuous thing I did today was read a book. Too boring, you say? Those of you who know me well enough should understand that I have an exceptionally high boredom threshold; it takes a lot for me to be truly bored (i.e. to the point of agitation). I find that, at times, doing nothing is almost therapeutic – it gives me a chance to meditate, contemplate, reflect or just simply daydream. Stillness lets you filter out the usual background noise (both within your mind and on the outside) and better appreciate the so-called "little things" you might otherwise miss. Stuff like gazing out the window at a beautiful day, or having a random conversation with someone. I often think our society as a whole moves far too fast these days. We live in an age of the sound bite – fast access to everything imaginable and instantaneous gratification. While convenient in many ways, I find that it has had some negative ramifications too.

For instance, most of the younger generations (including my own) have lost an appreciation of the overall effort and hard work that has gone into creating this consumer’s paradise. In addition to having no sense of patience and/or restraint, there seems to be an underlying assumption that things like debit/credit cards, cell phones and the Internet are a given, necessities that have always existed and that we have an absolute right to them at all times. I, however, believe that they are merely convenient luxuries; it is a unique privilege to be able to use them, not a right. I know and accept the fact that I could easily live without them. There are less fortunate people in this world who get by with a fraction of what we take for granted in the West, or, indeed, with no such amenities at all! Our prosperity is a blessing, not a birthright.

But, anyway, I digress ;-) Getting to Fort Erie on Tuesday was a simple, easy affair – it’s a quick 20-minute drive from Niagara Falls. There was only a bit of a delay in leaving: the usual disorganization, people sleeping in and/or being hung over from partying the night before. While this used to really annoy me, now I just sigh mentally and discreetly roll my eyes. While I still don’t approve of it, I’ve gotten used to such inconveniences. I just keeping repeating that wonderfully apt Russian expression I’ve learned: Nichevo (it can’t be helped).

Fort Erie is a pretty decent town. On the small side, but far from remote. It’s large enough to have all the usual conveniences: shopping malls, good restaurants & bars, etc. I actually like it here – not too big, but not too small either. And there are several big cities a reasonably short distance away (Niagara Falls, St. Catharines, or even Hamilton), which you can easily get to in case there’s something you need or want that they don’t have here. In that sense, it kind of reminds me a bit of Carleton Place. Though Fort Erie has nearly three times the population of CP, my home town is in roughly the same geographical situation. Ottawa is about as far from CP as Niagara Falls is from FE. Toronto and Montreal are not all that far away either. So, in a way, Fort Erie feels oddly familiar…

Our hotel - the Fort Erie Holiday Inn - is very nice. Clean, excellent customer service, and it has all the amenities: in-house restaurant, arcade, bar, gym, spa, hair salon, heated indoor pool and jacuzzi, and my precious Weather Network on the TV!!! Quite luxurious, by my humble standards. Without exaggeration or hyperbole, I think that this is the best hotel we’ve stayed at so far! The staff are also super friendly and helpful. In fact, when we arrived, I had a good conversation with the head groundskeeper. His name is Anatoly – an ethnic Russian from the former Soviet republic of Moldova. An extremely nice man. In addition to teaching me how to properly pronounce the aforementioned expression (emphasis on the middle syllable), we chatted about the nature and costs of going to university in Canada. At his request, I gave him some advice and suggestions as to the best schools to consider for certain fields of study; his children were reaching the point of decision in that regard. I was only too glad to help him further his research.

The only downside to the hotel is unreliable Internet access. Apparently, I’ve been told that certain factors like Fort Erie’s relative distance from the central hub of the ISP, and the proximity of the town to both high-capacity power lines and the US border contribute to this problem. Whether or not that’s just a fancy excuse designed to placate unhappy guests, I don’t know. In any case, it worked well enough and often enough to suit me and my needs.

Our survey site this week was the Peace Bridge. It connects Fort Erie to Buffalo, New York. As usual, we covered the eastbound side heading into the USA from Canada. An excellent site. High traffic volume + lots of space for our survey lanes = more surveys done on average. We were really productive all week. As in Niagara Falls, the trucks were flagged into our survey lanes for us by an officer of the Niagara Regional Police. Again, all of them were quite nice, friendly and helpful.

Here are some other anecdotes:

Thursday (the 28th): It was an utterly miserable day. It rained for pretty much the whole shift; everything and everyone was frigidly damp. We also had to endure some bitterly cold winds blowing in from Lake Erie. I was especially uncomfortable since I was only wearing a rain slicker, which wasn’t very well insulated against the cold (more waterproof than warm!). During the shift, our measuring wheel broke down. We wound up having to use a backup wheel that only measured in US Standard units (i.e. feet and inches)! Having to figure out the conversions slowed us down a bit. Luckily, Danny came by later and fixed our broken wheel. He was the man of the hour, I must say. I owe him a drink or two! Needless to say, nerves were pretty frayed by shift’s end – we were all freezing cold and cranky. The first thing I did when I got back to my hotel room was take a nice, long, hot bath. It was glorious!

Friday (the 29th): It was a quieter day. We had another super nice cop – very friendly and affable. Chatted with us during breaks. He actually went out and picked us up some Wendy’s for our supper break! We bought this time, though ;-) It was awesome. Also, at around 11:15 p.m., we saw a fireworks display just across the river over Buffalo! No idea what the occasion was… Maybe they were just celebrating the simple fact that it was Friday! :-)

Saturday (the 30th): After work, a bunch of us went down and played bingo for a couple of hours! The name of place was Uncle Sam’s Bingo. I kept my dauber as a souvenir. More boring than fun for me – living in a smaller town like Carleton Place, I’ve seen my fair share of bingo halls. A refuge for antisocials, senior citizens and welfare recipients. As politically incorrect as it is to say, the joint just radiated white trashiness. Noticed lots of Americans there; I guess Fort Erie plays a better game of bingo than Buffalo! Still, it’s rather amusing, even fascinating, to observe the hard-core regular players go about their business. Their sitting area arrayed with armies of little funky-haired troll dolls and various other good luck charms, dabbing dozens of cards at lightning speeds, quietly mumbling to themselves, looks of fierce concentration in their eyes & faces… Kinda creepy, actually. And they get so emotional whenever a bingo is called out! Angry groans, mini temper tantrums, fits of the most profane cursing, vehemently throwing that game’s cards into the trash with disgust. Again, it all seemed a little over the top to me… However, to each his or her own, I suppose!

Today (Sunday, October 1st): Our day off, as I mentioned previously. I got up early (around 7:30) with Danny to go pick up the cargo van on site. Walking back from the vans afterwards, I was talking with Fahad and Michelle, who work the graveyard shift (midnight to 8:00 a.m.) They excitedly waved a pair of identical photographs in front of my face. They both got autographs from country music star LeAnn Rimes! Apparently her tour was returning from its Canadian leg, and they surveyed one of her equipment trucks. That must have been cool! And I think it was very kind and generous of Ms. Rimes to sign autographs, especially since her people were doing us the favour by taking the survey!

Well, that’s it from Fort Erie! Next stop: Sarnia, Ontario. Until then!