Good thing to know

Listening to the radio this morning and a guy from a cell phone company called in response to folks saying they could not use their cell phone shortly after the quake.



Cell phone ( and apparently land lines) air is/was restricted to Government operations during an emergency. One would think this is a great idea, fire, police, rescue personal, emergency co-ordination get to use it in order to properly serve the populace. One question however, how the hell are they supposed to know where the emergency situations are if land lines and cell lines are restricted to those personal?



You are pretty much on your own folks in any kind of emergency, be ready to fend for yourself. Better figure out how you are going to get in touch with family across town that does not include the phone or your cell. This is a concern for me as the Grey Lady has a grey haired Mamma that will not leave her beloved city. I have kids that live n the city making a living. Better figure out how to disengage your own gas, take care of your own business....Back to the old drawing board.

The understated elegance of simple plan...

What you get when you cross MacGyver and  Stroud ?

After being stranded for days in an area just south of Wollaston Lake, he cut down four power poles in hopes of attracting attention. According to SaskPower's James Parker, he was spotted by a helicopter last Friday. "We fly the line to see what the issue is. So naturally our folks went down to rescue him. He was in a very distressed state when we got to him."

This has got to be a guy thing...right?

A message from Haiti, SHTF for real.....

I thought I would share an email I received from my friends that were in Haiti when the quake hit.


I have blanked out their names to protect their privacy.



This is the English translation:

Really, we could have died. Only 1 hour after we arrived in Haiti, we were about to sit down to eat at 4:45pm when the friend who had invited us to her home asked us to "make ourselves at home".

I go upstairs to remove my tie and my jacket. ****** goes to the bathroom. Five minutes later, I hear a noise like the house is collapsing. I yell to tell ****** "what is going on?". She tells me it is an earthquake. Immediately, we started living the most terrifying moment of my life. I went back to insist that ******* leave the house which was vibrating.

[side note, the house where they were having dinner is intact, but the 2 houses next door, to the right and to the left of them, are in ruins]

Since this moment, we become homeless. We slept in an open air park on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, along with thousands of others.

Today (Jan 15), we decided to pay the price to leave P-au-Prince. We are in St-Louis, in the South, in a chalet/cottage home owned by our original dinner host.

Now, we are trying to plan the return to Corail (%%%%%%%'s home town village), either with my car which is parked in Jeremie, or with another car rental.

Wednesday, when we were [walking]we were able to assess the damage. The National Palace is destroyed. The fire-stations, schools, universities, big houses, apartments are all gone.

One apartment building which was housing the MINUSTA (African soldiers) is now a collection of concrete pieces. Went down like a house of cards. This 8-story apartment building is located 2 steps away from the house where were we to have dinner.

Last night, I witnessed the transfer of the cadavers from the bulldozer to the big truck. There is a strong odor.....

I witnessed the unburrial of my neighbour (alive) and his wife was found 3 days later (dead).

We are in great shape.

We are in Aux Cayes and St-Louis. We are seeking to go to Corail.

I can't even imagine........................