strike08a
Day 8 – This looks like it was in someone’s backyard for a bit and brought to the sidewalk overnight… tsk tsk.

5:30 am came really quickly this morning.
Last evening, I was in a bar, drinking and laughing with my mind far away for reality. Ouch.

When I arrived at Old City Hall this morning shortly before 7am, I wasn’t greeted by my fellow picketers, oh no, they might show up in 15 – 30 minutes, but this was my view as I sat on the steps:

strike08b
2 people sleeping on the sidewalks of Bay and Queen St W, with many early risers walking past not taking any notice of them. But regardless of all this, I knew today was going to be a very peaceful one. I had my coffee in hand, I would patiently wait until our Steward showed up and I was going to enjoy the semi-silence for as long as it would last.

And I was right, it was a very peaceful morning. I chatted with some interesting people I had not seen in the first week, one gentleman a retired tattoo artist who now works for Parks and Recreation was not only very engaging in his story-telling, but he also took 15 minutes to give us all a quick Tai Chi lesson, something he teaches it during his spare time.

Ah, the Tai Chi of Strike. Delicious. I might ask him to give us another lesson tomorrow.

The only sourly moment came when I walked to Eaton Centre to use the facilities. I had an empty Starbucks cup in my hand and threw it in one of the garbage cans right at the revolving doors. I was wearing my CUPE 79 lanyard with the big CUPE 79 button attached to it and this woman smoking by the doors saw me and lashed out:

Smoking Woman: You should throw your trash in your own garbage can. That’s what you want us all to do, right?
Me: (Eyes rolling loudly)
Smoking Woman: We pay taxes for you to do your job, stop acting like (bitches or babies, can’t be sure exactly what she said, but I’ll assume it was babies) and go back to work
Me: We all want to go back to work but it’s out of our hands
Smoking Woman: (noises under her breath)
Me: And I pay taxes too you know… and part of my taxes will go to that doctor who will treat your lung cancer one day.

I didn’t let this woman get to me, she’s an ignorant person who doesn’t know better. I can’t blame her either, she’s uninformed because no one is really talking about it….

On my way back, I saw this on Queen St W:
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I don’t know why a pair of handcuffs were on this grill, or maybe it’s a new type of bike lock, but I know it didn’t deter this pizza eater from throwing his garbage around the tree anyway.

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