Erica Hargreave

Bringing Stories to Life as a Speaker, & Digital & Immersive Media Strategist & Storyteller

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Snow Etiquette for Vancouverites

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Like a respectable Canadian gal, I love the snow!  It’s my version of winter magic. I love writing away and hearing the little girl next door as she steps out for the first time in the morning and exclaims in awe, ‘Oh look Daddy!!!  Isn’t it beautiful!!!’  I still feel like that little girl. So I am in a state of delight and awe this morning as I look outside and see the beautiful white stuff falling.

 

 

What I do not like about the snow, however, is Vancouverites in it and their incessant whining about it.  Vancouver – the rest of the country complains about our citizens being cold and about us being unneighbourly.  Well I have a theory on this.  My theory is that in Vancouver our climate is very mild and unlike the rest of the country, we rarely get snow.  As such we have missed out on the snow bonding experience that the rest of the country gets.  We’ve missed out on meeting our neighbours as we shovel the walks and teaching our young people to help out the elderly neighbour across the street.  Well nows our chance.  Rather than grumbling – lets embrace the true beauty of the snow – the beauty of being neighbourly and building community.

 

He Might be Ancient .. by you.

 

Snow Etiquette for Vancouverites (inspired by a snowy afternoon tweets on twitter and encouragement of @hummingbird604 to make this a blog post):

1) Buy a snow shovel and don’t leave home without it.

2) Dress for the weather! Honestly people, this isn’t your first snow day of the year, you think you would have learnt by now.

3) Dress your kids for the weather – boots, hats, coats & mitts.

4) If you live in a townhouse or condo and there is only one caretaker, would it kill you to help a little with the shoveling.

5) Just because they’re calling for rain doesn’t mean you shouldn’t shovel. If the temperature drops the snow or slush will turn to ice.

6) Courtesy of @yoyomama_van If your tires slip day 1 in the snow, they will slip on day 10 too. Get all weather tires or leave your car at home

7) Courtesy of @kulpreetsingh If you can’t get sand or gravel, keep a bag of cat litter in your trunk in case of ice.

8) Courtesy of @WinnieYeo If you don’t have salt, gravel or kitty litter and are stuck, you can use the car’s floor mats. Just be careful they don’t shoot out from under your tires and hit someone.

9) Courtesy of @petequily If your wheels are spinning on ice, flooring it = more ice.

10) Courtesy of @CrunchyCarpets Leave early, look around, slow down and chillax!!

11) Courtesy of @CrunchyCarpets Please pick up dog poop..snow or no snow. It doesn’t disappear under the snow. It just becomes a poohsicle and when the snow disappears, a smelly, slimy mess for someone to step in.

12) If you’re going to open schools on a snowy day, then plow the staff parking lot. First school day of 2009, I just spent an hour digging cars out of an unplowed, iced over school parking lot.

13) Parents: Your precious little deers can walk a few feet through the snow. They are children, not witches and will not melt from touching ice crystals. Don’t drive your car into an iced school lot where cars are already stuck.  Thinking this should be common sense, but based on the number of parents I’ve seen do this, I feel it is worth noting.

14) If you see someone in need of help and you can help, then do help. And teach your children to do the same.  Teens kept walking by their teachers digging and pushing cars in the aforementioned lot and not one stopped to help.  Huge failure on societies part in my mind.

15) One of the joys of the snow is in building a sense of community by helping others. Don’t deprive your kids of that joy. Take them out (yes – even the little ones) and get them helping you to shovel the walks. Have them help an elderly neighbour. The small ones don’t need to be all that useful, but this will build a sense of social responsibility in them.

 

img_0405 by you.

 

Off to help the caretaker at my place by doing a bit more shovelling today.  Loving the fresh air and exercise!

Dreaming of a White Christmas

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Frozen Tisle by erica.hargreave.

For the first time in my lifetime, it looks like Canada is being given the gift of a white Christmas across the entire country!!!!  Despite having to listen to masses of Vancouverites complain about this on twitter, I think it is a beautifully magical gift.  Thank you Merry Old Kris Kringle!  Snow slows us all down a little.  Rather than chasing about the countryside after that ‘perfect gift’, we stop running about and do what is really important, which is actually spending some quality time with the people we love.

The Golden Girls (and Guy) by erica.hargreave.

Snow pulls us together in another sense too – it causes strangers on the streets and subways to smile, laugh and talk with one another.  We remember to play and be young again as we are all taken in by the snows magic and have a snowball fight, make a snow angel or slide down a hill on a makeshift toboggan. We meet our neighbours as we dig our homes and our cars out of the snow.  We help our neighbours and for once the young actually remember to help the elderly.  And we pull together and share as we take on the hardships that snow poises on our lives.

Grunt by erica.hargreave.

I make fun of Vancouverites in snow, because they seem so overly dramatic about even the littlest bit of snow, but the reality is they live in a city thats unprepared for the snow – whether it is planes being able to take off from the airport or the many people that unlike myself don’t have a home or warm clothes and live on the streets in Vancouver.

Icy Seat by erica.hargreave.

Enjoy the snow this Christmas, but take a moment this holiday season and see if there is something you can do to help those less fortunate.  Whether it is donating warm clothes you no longer need, helping to bring safety and communication to others by donating old cell phones through campaigns like Fearless City, or spreading a bit of holiday joy with organizations like Beauty Nights.  And for those of you that are sitting in airports trying to get home to loved one, I do hope that you are indeed able to get to your destination.

Wishing you all a happy, safe holiday season filled with love, warmth and beauty!

Shoreline Decour by erica.hargreave.

Avoid Rachel’s Wedding

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I am not a ‘catty’ girl.  I don’t normally broadcast on my blog to avoid going to someones wedding, especially after I’ve been to it.  But I have to say after attending Rachel’s wedding at VIFF, the Vancouver International Film Festival, on Saturday, I am telling you all to stay away.

‘Rachel Getting Married’ got great reviews coming out of the Toronto International Film Festival.  Apparently it was a festival favourite and as such, it was the film of choice for VIFF’s Sponsor’s Gala.  These reviews boggle my mind, as a film that I was really excited about seeing, quickly reminded me of why I am so selective about what I will go see in a theater.  For a reason that I have yet to ascertain, the director, Jonathan Demme, decided to film the entire thing on a handheld camera in the style of ‘The Blair Witch Project‘ and ‘Open Water‘.  I was not a fan of this style for the aforementioned films, as it makes me motion sick and want to be violently ill.  It does, however, make sense using this format of filming in telling the stories of ‘The Blair Witch Project’ and ‘Open Water’, as we are getting the POV (Point of View) of one of the characters.  This was not the case for ‘Rachel Getting Married’.  Using a handheld, was not for a POV or to further along the story in anyway that I could discern.  It’s only purpose, as far as I could determine, was to make me want to puke, especially when they decided to use it for dance scene after dance scene causing me to close my eyes and hold my head in the theater as these scenes continued for an excruciatingly long period of time.  Had I not been sitting in the Sponsors Gala Screening with a friend and well known writer in town, I would have exited this film early.

In truth, the other reason that I stayed was that the writer in me was determined to see if there was something in the story that merited the reviews it received in Toronto.  By the end, I wondered whether I could just see no good as I was feeling so ill, so I consulted with those sitting around me, who voiced the same thoughts going through my head.  Where was the story?  As far as we could figure all that was there was a painfully depressing account of a dysfunctional family with none of the humour that accompanies family life and very few glimmers as to the beautiful humanity behind the characters.  For goodness sakes, the poor man playing the father was simply portrayed as this pathetically weak individual with little else to him.  I was just glad this was not a Canadian film.

DSC_0660 by Terry.L.

So why did it get such good reviews out of Toronto?  I’m guessing, because Anne Hathaway was in it and it portrayed her in a new role – that I’ve a broken child, who’d brought a great deal of pain to her family and herself through her affliction with drugs.  Trust me though, seeing Anne Hathaway in this role is not worth losing an hour and half of your life to this movie or still feeling sick for the following 4 hours (despite the post film beers to settle your stomach).

Apparently, I am not alone in my view of the movie:

Spirited Away by Ghost Town

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I love movies, I work in the movies, but I have always been a bit of a snob about what I will go see in the movie theater.  And this has been the case long before I knew what ‘green screening’ was or how to tell when it had been poorly done, or noticing continuity, poor acting or directing choices, or what’s happening with the background or set deck.  For me these things have actually made movie watching that much more interesting (especially once I learnt to turn them off and just enjoy the story). But when I can go see live theater in Vancouver for the same price as a movie, the movie had better be something special for me to watch it in the theater.

What does ‘pretty damn good’ translate to in my head?  Well – great cinematography, story and acting.  Other wise, I may still enjoy watching it, but from the comfort of my couch with the cat curled up with me.  Being a lover of children’s stories – this means all the children’s greats (even if the movies rarely do them justice, and yes I am insanely jealous of Walden Media – although I’d rather be creating new stories), I tend to give them priority in the theaters. Also I’m a sucker for British Films.  Love the fact that the people are real and can really act, not just pretty faces.  Also love that the British give us variety and not the same A listers over and over again (although there are a few A Listers that deserve to be there and are fabulous to watch – a future one to watch out for in my mind is one Miss Alexia Fast – the performance she brings to the camera always moves me).  British humor also really speaks to me – yes, I’ll admit it, I am all about the potty and naughty humor.  Calendar Girls and The Full Monty are two of my favorite all time movies.

 

http://www.iwatchstuff.com/2008/06/25/ghost-town-poster.jpg

 

So I was genuinely surprised and thrilled by what I saw when Ken MacIntrye, Account Manager of Paramount Pictures Western Canada, invited me to an advanced screening of ‘Ghost Town’.  I haven’t seen a picture in the theaters in months that I enjoyed more!  It was absolutely hilarious and I was thrilled to see that North American filmmakers had actually taken a page out of our British colleagues books.  We had finally created something with a solid story and solid acting, rather than just Hollywood gloss with whichever A Lister they could get their hands on. Ricky Gervais and his costars were an absolute hoot! And it’s not just because Ricky has a sexy British accent.  He truly brings this delightful story written by David Koepp and John Kamps to life and without the typically grotesquely large Hollywood budget.

Check it out!  It comes to theaters this Friday – September 19th.

There are moments in life ….

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There are moments in life where I really have to wonder at people – at the beauty within and at the total lack of respect and compassion for others.  Tonight I saw both – the beauty and the ugliness that makes up our species.

I was driving home from having spent a delightful evening with some of my oldest and dearest friends and there in the middle of the road lay a body.  Do you think anybody stopped?  Of course not.  It wasn’t their problem.  They hadn’t hit it. And whomever had hit it had high tailed it out of there.

Night road by Ben Shepherd.

Photo by Ben Shepherd

I pulled over.  Waited until it was save and walked out into the middle of the road to retrieve the body. As I bent down to pick up the poor soul, I was, of course, honked at.

The body belonged to the most beautiful and well fed midnight black gentleman. Obviously well cared for and loved. I could see someone not seeing him until it was too late, but there was no way they could not have realized that they’d hit him.

I carried him to the nearest house hoping to find his family and still holding out hope that he might be alive and that they could call the nearest emergency clinic.  No answer.  I tried the neighbours next door. As I stood there waiting, my eyes fell on his face.  His eyes bulged in an expression of terror, mouth frozen in a scream.  Although I still tried to tell myself that he was alive, his body was still warm after all, it was at this moment that I knew and felt the terror of his last few seconds.

Austin Cemetery Angel by Eric in SF.

Photo by Eric Hunt

A woman, my first angel of the evening, answered.  She didn’t know him.  But did get on the phone for me and tried to find out just what to do and who to call for help.  Enter angel #2, her daughter and a local vet’s assistant.  She confirmed for me what I feared, but was determined to find the beautiful fellow’s family.  In case, any of you ever end up in a similar situation, you want to get the cat to a local vet or the SPCA.  Look for a collar – anything that will tell you something about the cat’s family.  If the cat doesn’t have a collar, the vet will check for an ear tattoo.

As the lovely Miss Cato now snuggles into my lap, my heart goes out to a family nearby that is wondering why their beloved feline hasn’t come home.  I only hope that the vet is able to find out whom they are in the morning.

Pet owners make sure your pet has some form of ID so this doesn’t happen to your family.

And to the driver – you should be ashamed.  You might scoff at this, but our pets are a part of our families – a beloved part of our family.  When I lost dear little Blackberry last year, I cried more then then I have ever cried for any human, aside from my grandmother.  Accidents happen, but when they do you need to take responsibility for them, especially when they involve someone’s life.

My love to the dear midnight black cat and his family,

Erica

Free Health Care … just kindly pay up front

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I am very proud to be Canadian.  One of the things that makes me so proud to be a Canadian is that we look after our citizens, providing them both with basic health care and education.  Citizens can receive treatment with their provincial health card anywhere in this country.  If they are not near their family doctor or if they don’t have a family doctor, they can go to the hospital or a walk-in medical clinic  ……. or so I thought.

This afternoon – that image of what it meant to be Canadian – my Canadian identity – was shattered for me. I walked in to a “walk-in medical clinic” with a valid BC Health Card and was refused treatment.

This particular Ontario walk-in clinic was in the McMaster University Community of Westdale.  As a University Community, out-of-province health care cards should not be unusual to them.  When I went to University in BC and carried an Ontario Health Card and it was always accepted.  My BC Health Card was not accepted today in the Walk-in Clinic in Westdale (a community of Hamilton), Ontario.  I must say I was furious, shocked, appalled and disgusted.  As far as I am concerned this goes against what it means to be Canadian and coming from a family in health care, what it means to work in health care.

The woman behind the desk simply said “We don’t accept out-of-province health cards here”.

“I beg your pardon”, I said in disbelieve.

“It is clinic policy – we don’t accept out-of-province health care cards here”,  said the woman at front desk.

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,  “You’re a walk-in clinic. You’re here for people that don’t have a local doctor. What do you mean you don’t accept out-of-province health cards? You’re in a university community of all places.” I said flabbergasted.

“It is our policy.  I have nothing to do with it.  Our manager made it.”  She said.

“Well – it’s disgusting,” I said as I left.

I was still fuming when I walked in the door and called the local MP and MPP’s office to lodge a complaint and find out how best to follow up.  A physician friend of mine was the most helpful.  He informed me that it was against The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada to refuse a patient care.

I did call back the clinic to lodge a complaint.  After three phone calls, I finally managed to talk to a doctor from the clinic. I was informed that I “wasn’t refused care”, I simply had to pay for it upfront and apply to my Province to be reimbursed.

I said this was news to me, as I was simply told  “We don’t accept out-of-province health cards here.” Nothing about paying for care and my applying to have the BC government reimburse me was mentioned.

This neglect aside, it seems to me that there is a larger problem here.  I was basically told that they “wouldn’t refuse me health care, I just needed to be able to pay for it upfront”.  Not to worry – I wasn’t really paying for it – my Province would eventually reimburse me.  Well, not everybody can afford to pay for their basic health care upfront.  What then?  What do they do? I asked this and was told that they did see “homeless” people (if they had a valid Ontario Health Card, of course).

Do the paramedics ask you to pay for your ambulance ride before they attend to you and save you from death.  Thank goodness – no.  In the defense of the doctor on the phone, I was told that I must not have appeared to have a life threatening ailment, for if I did they would have, of course, seen me – out-of-province health card or not.  An interesting statement coming from a doctor that had not examined me.  In my humble experience, life threatening ailments are not always visible.  Having had a few over the years, I feel very thankful that I did not walk into this particular walk-in clinic when I had a near rupturing appendix, a serious concussion, the bends  ….  I am also thankful that this afternoon, I wasn’t walking into the walk-in clinic with terminal cancer (like my grandmother did), meningitis, internal bleeding or a variety of other not so obvious life threatening ailments that the secretary might not have noticed as she turned away my BC health card.

Caring for our sick has always been part of what defined Canadians from Americans to me and made me so proud to say that I am Canadian. Today’s experience suggested that we are not so different from our neighbors to the South ….. or at least some of our health care providers are not.

I will follow through with this issue both with our government and The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, because no Canadian should be required to pay before receiving health care in this country. That is disgusting! And a certain walk-in clinic in Westdale, Ontario should be ashamed that health care to them hinges on timely payment and not having to bother with out-of-province paperwork.