Author Archives: Gillian

Midway Atoll

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Midway atoll is a beautiful patch of sand thousands of miles away from anything in the Pacific Ocean. After its life as a US military base was finished, it came under the protection of a Marine Sanctuary, one which encompasses most of the islands in the Hawaiian archipelago, making it one of the largest such protected areas in the world. It is home to around two million albatross, or it was in the spring of 2008 when the crew and trainees of the Pacific Grace stopped there on our north Pacific crossing.

That protection, however, does not and cannot extend past the shores of the islands and once the albatross have left the island where they reign supreme, they are in danger. It seems that albatross are feeding in what has come to be known The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area of the Pacific about twice the size of Texas completely covered in plastic trash. Some of it has been dumped off of ships, some is probably cargo that has come loose in storms, still more is blown out to sea from coastal areas on both sides of the Pacific.

We saw hints of this on Midway last year. The photo above shows the beach and a pile of garbage. When individuals walk the beaches on Midway, they collect some of the larger pieces and add them too these piles all along the beach. Some of it is probably washed up on shore. The rest of it comes from the albatross who, thinking it is food, have unwittingly swallowed it and brought it back to land.

There they feed it  to their young and, as Chris Jordan’s photos show (also, see the NY Times Book Review, h/t to Jen who sent me this article and started me off on this rant), it has devastating effects.

The following videos are [first] a short doc on the plastic and albatross on Midway (I recognize the opening scenes from our visit there, they are the old military houses) and [second] Chris’ photos set to music.

Damning? Yes. Enough to make us all reconsider our plastic consumption? I sure hope so.

Queue Jumping

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No one loves a queue jumper.

Queue jumping has reached a whole new level with the H1N1 outbreak/pandemic/hysteria. Yes, I’m going there, even after promising not to. With some provinces (ahem Alberta) promising not to prioritize and then running out and closing all vaccination clinics and other provinces having day-long waits at their clinics, it is a bit of chaos and mayhem. After health care workers have been trying to convince the public of the importance and safety of the shot, they are now having to tell their patients that they are not high risk and can wait a little longer.

That is why the outrage over queue jumping; professional athletes have been given H1N1 shots before high priority individuals. When there is a limited number of vaccinations to go around people are bound to be upset when a non-priority individual gets it ahead of someone else.

Which is why I’m reluctant to admit that I’ve been vaccinated. I’m not a child or a senior. I’m not pregnant and don’t have any respiratory problems. Yes, I work closely with the public in a health care-related setting, but it is an eye clinic not a medical clinic. I was not even sure if I wanted to get vaccinated: I don’t think that I am personally at high risk of the flu. I am careful about washing my hands and try to eat healthily and get enough sleep. However, each season a bug does circulate the office and takes out a number of people.

So why did I get it? I went to my travel doctor for a followup from our trip to Kenya and he, unprompted, asked me if I’d been vaccinated yet. I said I was not high priority. He gave me a vaccination.

I guess that makes me a queue-jumper. Sorry all of you high-priority people, but my doctor gave me an H1N1 vaccination ahead of you. How do I feel about it? I am glad not to have to be overly-cautious at work any more. I am happy I didn’t have to line up for hours to get vaccinated. I think I probably could have waited a few weeks until it was open season for vaccination. But now it is done and I have a sore arm to prove it.

Date with Royalty

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Charles and Camilla, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, have arrived in Victoria. I missed out on the welcome at the Legislature this afternoon, though it was raining so I’m not sure it was worth getting soaking wet to say hi: I’ll see them later.

When, you ask? I’ll see them at church on Sunday. That’s right, Charles and Camilla will be attending my church on Sunday. They (or their people) sent word weeks ago that they would be coming to town and coming to the Cathedral, but we haven’t been able to say anything until about a week and a half ago when everything was confirmed.

I haven’t been a part of the planning process but it seems to have been a royal hubbub… Our regular Sunday consists of an 8am spoken Eucharist, 915 contemporary Eucharist, 1100 traditional Eucharist, and 430 Evensong. With the Royal visit, we are closing the church down after the 8am service for a RCMP sweep with sniffer dogs and issuing (free) tickets for one service of Morning Prayer. I have a ticket. I’ll be sitting with the rest of the 915 choir, close to the front (I think) and hopefully with a good view of the Royals. I even have a quasi-hat selected to wear so Camilla won’t be the only one.

As a part of security, streets around the Cathedral are closed and we all have to be seated by a certain time. Once we sit down, there is no getting up, even to use the washroom. No coffee for me that morning! I can’t even bring in my camera or cell phone, so there won’t be any photos for you to look at afterwards. Oh well, it will be an experience to remember as it is not every day one is able to go to church with royalty.

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Still here.
Dunno where the last week has gone, it isn’t like I’ve been busy out of my mind or anything. I have been tired though, and so have been trying to be very good about getting enough sleep so that I don’t come down with the dreaded H1N1 or anything. (Promise, that will be the first, last, and only time you’ll find me talking about H1N1 on here. Unless it is a rant about government incompetence.)

Until I get my act together and make a proper posting, you can have this to look at. Its off the waterfront last Saturday, a gorgeous day. I love autumn in Victoria!