It's pretty standard that when you're dealing with the government, nothing is going to happen efficiently.

My mother has been in this seniors building for about 11 years now, in her own one bedroom apartment. And she is staying in the same building, but moving down to the floor where she no longer has to do any housekeeping or cooking. Everything is done for her.

But, her room is much smaller... more like a standard hotel room, with just a main living area, and a bathroom.

So we've been getting rid of the things that we don't think will fit. 

It sure is tough disposing of stuff though. Trying to sell items online is frustrating. People don't buy used furniture. It's even difficult to give it away unless you can deliver. And don't even start me on having to deal with flaky people who act like prospective buyers!

Like this response I received a couple of days ago...

Hi there, I'd love to pick this up tomorrow if possible. Let me know! Thanks.

I responded to her about five minutes later. Never heard from her again. She must have died. Anyhow, like I said... flaky people. And no common courtesy at all. 

We had a heavy rainstorm the other day.

It absolutely poured down for about a half an hour.

Yesterday, we wasted away almost four hours at the passport office. Our passports don't expire for another two years, but they are almost full. And my mother has no photo ID of any kind except for her last passport which expired in 2016! We almost ran into a problem at her bank the other day because she had a hard time proving who she was! So we decided that the best way was to get her passport renewed, even though she'll never use it. In Canada, you can renew a passport provided it has not been more than 15 years since the date of issue, in her case her last passport was issued in 2011, otherwise, you have to start from scratch. The renewal process is a bit more simplified.

We could have mailed the three renewals in, but it would have cost about $10 each for registered mail. And the (lack of) Service Canada office has free parking. And, they update the wait times online, and I had never seen it at more than an hour and a half. So, we went in person.

Arrived at 10:15am, and they told us it would be about an hour. They said that seating is limited, so we could go for a walk or a coffee and come back. We came back at 11:15am and waited. They have this board that says what number is being served, but it's very confusing with no logic that gives you any idea if your number might be next. 

At 12;15pm, I went back in the line and when I got to the front I asked if perhaps I had missed them calling my number (I knew I hadn't) and she said no, but it might be another hour because now they have staff going on lunch! Bah... if I knew it was going to be that long, we might have brought our own lunch!

It was 1:40pm when our number finally got called. We sat with a very pleasant girl who processed our renewals and sent us on our way. Took about 15 minutes. We had been there for three hours and forty minutes by the time we walked out the door.

I learned later that you can book an appointment. But nowhere does it say that on their website! You have to go to a totally different website... which is fine, but why do they not link to it from theirs???

Anyway, none of this was unexpected. It's pretty standard that when you're dealing with the government, nothing is going to happen efficiently.

Gotta get going... time to help with moving!

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