Crime wave sweeps Calgary!

The Imaginary Prisons (Le Carceri d'Invenzione)
etching by Giovanni Battista Piranesi 1720-1778

Gonzo Alert!

I broke the law yesterday, in fact, I have been breaking the law for several days -- so have most of my neighbours. Tens of thousands of Calgarians have been breaking the law lately.

With wild abandon, we have been jaywalking and not keeping our sidewalks free of ice. Many of us are imprisoned already, but because the prisons are so full, we are mainly under house arrest -- kept inside by dangerously icy sidewalks. I am going to try to make another escape after I write this. I need some things at the store. If I don't make it back, it's been nice knowing you.

Some years ago, The city decided that ploughing side streets in residential areas was too expensive, now ice is blocking the drains and when the snow melts there is nowhere for it to go so it flows across crosswalks and pavements and then freezes again. Then melting snow from lawns adds to the layers of ice building up. The stores have run out of salt and other ice melting products.

Perhaps the city plans to charge us all for our crimes and then use the money to properly clear the residential streets next year. One can only speculate about such matters. Well, the rush hour is over, and I am about to walk down the middle of the street in a few places without, hopefully, being killed by a car or ticketed by a policeman. Wish me luck.

I'll leave you with this newspaper story about it all.