There are times, in life, when a series of isolated events happen at the very same time (with no apparent connexion between them), then things start falling apart one after another (as in a domino effect) resulting in a mess… and your day goes utterly wrong! In French, we say «concours de circonstances»… You get up in the morning, ready to face the music! Then, for some unexplained reasons, innocuous events create chaos… One day I will sit down and write a post about «chaos theory» … Yet today I will only look at the outcome of such chaotic days.
Thursday January 15, 2009 was one of those days that affected the whole Ottawa population… None of us was spared with a series of events that more or less ruined our entire day. Some went through more pain than others yet we all suffered from this chaotic day.
For the past 40 days, bus drivers at the Public Transit Commission (OC Transpo) have been on strike… consequently, there are many more drivers on the roads and I would say that the regular public transit users are not the best drivers! Since they do not drive every day, especially in the winter, their driving skills and reflexes are not acute enough to face a herd of well trained, hardened, impatient and aggressive drivers (like me for instance!). Top that with bad weather conditions and you have the perfect mix to eventually end up in a messy situation.
The day before, we had had mild temperatures and a dust of fluffy snow (about two centimetres, nothing to worry about). In the evening though, very strong North East winds had lowered the temperatures to -39° Celsius in a matter of minutes… Here we call this phenomenon «flash deep freeze»! Whatever had been left on the roads instantly froze and whatever the amount of salt they spreaded all over the city, this measure did not have any effect on black ice. What looked like dry asphalt was indeed sheer ice!… And although our cars are equipped with snow tires, those are useless on ice! The only way we can avoid sliding, ending up in a ditch or crashing into another vehicle is to slow down!!! Also with such low temperatures, people who do not have regular maintenance done on their cars usually see the engine die the minute they stop at a red light.
I think you now have a real good picture of what Ottawa Thursday was like: an unusual number of stuck cars all over the place and more than 250 accidents! Most of them having occurred on highway access or exit ramps! To give you a more accurate image, it took me almost 2.5 hours to cover an 8 km distance that morning. I actually was on the verge of getting out of my car and scream at the top of my lungs!… I did not though!
Guess what?… James had an appointment to be assessed on his oral skills in French at 10 a.m. (originally it had been scheduled at 9:30, this change created some inconvenience but it was bearable) on that horrific day! Since his employer pays taxi fares only for departure from the office, he had to go there and then take a cab. Of course he was nervous and anxious… as anyone who is going to be tested. Therefore an ideal environment certainly contributes to relax a bit… But, Thursday morning, it was unthinkable!
To make sure he would get there on time, James took a cab at 8 o’clock (with the unusual number of cars on the roads, we never know how long a normal 10 minute ride will take). Of course, that particular chaotic morning, it took him one hour and 40 minutes! I can just imagine how he felt, sitting in the back of the car, wondering whether he would make it on time or not! Not a relaxing atmosphere indeed!…
This time he has been assessed by one of his own Department’s examiners… it was decided, some time in November 2008, that their employees would no longer go to the downtown central assessment location. When he finally got there and found the floor he had to go to, he had to ask around because it looked like any other regular office floors with no front desk to welcome candidates… He was then led to a cubicule with a laser printer and parked there until 10:30… How can someone concentrate and relax when a printer is continuously running beside you? And… when you think everyone has forgotten about you?
When his examiner finally came to get him, James could see how cranky he was! He had been stuck in the traffic for hours and he was in a real bad mood: this delay had caused a backlog in his testing schedule and he had to rush the process… because he probably did not want to work overtime! I have no idea how many candidates an assessor sees in one day but my guess is that quite a few were jerked around and bullied that day!
I was having a class with Seema when he finally returned to the office a little before noon… It did not take me long to realize he had done miserably during his interview… Who would not have?
Be objective at assessing someone’s oral skills is already a difficult task to achieve in an ideal environment… and impossible when you are upset or cranky! Consequently, under such extraordinary circumstances, all interviews should have been cancelled that day… I cannot imagine a neurosurgeon performing surgery under such stress (I do think the patient’s life would be seriously endangered!)…
As for the testing location… when decision was made to have all this Deparment’s employees tested in that building, a comfortable venue should have been arranged to accommodate the purpose and the candidates themselves… Why do I have the feeling that any new change does only aggravate the whole process? Unfortunately, failing at the test will always be put on the candidates’ account… Neither the PSC, the PPC or the Departments will be at fault!… It is truly pathetic… «lamentable» quoi!
Since living in the past is not an option, on Friday, the Club français went to a Chinese restaurant to have a great time and forget about any predicament we had been in the day before… We wanted to say goodbye and wish good luck to Seema who will be in full-time training at a boot camp until the end of September 2009. Life goes on… with its ups and downs… No one can rewind the tape and change anything that happened on that dark Thusday morning in the NCR…
La Dame dragon, Frédéric, Susan et Jessica
Seema in an optimistic mood! and... Frédéric amusing the gallery!
Fortune cookie time! Frédéric goofing around!
Frédéric! Un peu de sérieux pour la photo!!!
Voilà... c'est beaucoup mieux! Merci Frédéric!!!
Seema and James… I will miss you folks!!!
“En essayant continuellement on finit par réussir. Donc: plus ça rate, plus on a de chance que ça marche!”
Jacques Rouxel
It Could not have Been Worse!!!
There are times, in life, when a series of isolated events happen at the very same time (with no apparent connexion between them), then things start falling apart one after another (as in a domino effect) resulting in a mess… and your day goes utterly wrong! In French, we say «concours de circonstances»… You get up in the morning, ready to face the music! Then, for some unexplained reasons, innocuous events create chaos… One day I will sit down and write a post about «chaos theory» … Yet today I will only look at the outcome of such chaotic days.
Thursday January 15, 2009 was one of those days that affected the whole Ottawa population… None of us was spared with a series of events that more or less ruined our entire day. Some went through more pain than others yet we all suffered from this chaotic day.
For the past 40 days, bus drivers at the Public Transit Commission (OC Transpo) have been on strike… consequently, there are many more drivers on the roads and I would say that the regular public transit users are not the best drivers! Since they do not drive every day, especially in the winter, their driving skills and reflexes are not acute enough to face a herd of well trained, hardened, impatient and aggressive drivers (like me for instance!). Top that with bad weather conditions and you have the perfect mix to eventually end up in a messy situation.
The day before, we had had mild temperatures and a dust of fluffy snow (about two centimetres, nothing to worry about). In the evening though, very strong North East winds had lowered the temperatures to -39° Celsius in a matter of minutes… Here we call this phenomenon «flash deep freeze»! Whatever had been left on the roads instantly froze and whatever the amount of salt they spreaded all over the city, this measure did not have any effect on black ice. What looked like dry asphalt was indeed sheer ice!… And although our cars are equipped with snow tires, those are useless on ice! The only way we can avoid sliding, ending up in a ditch or crashing into another vehicle is to slow down!!! Also with such low temperatures, people who do not have regular maintenance done on their cars usually see the engine die the minute they stop at a red light.
I think you now have a real good picture of what Ottawa Thursday was like: an unusual number of stuck cars all over the place and more than 250 accidents! Most of them having occurred on highway access or exit ramps! To give you a more accurate image, it took me almost 2.5 hours to cover an 8 km distance that morning. I actually was on the verge of getting out of my car and scream at the top of my lungs!… I did not though!
Guess what?… James had an appointment to be assessed on his oral skills in French at 10 a.m. (originally it had been scheduled at 9:30, this change created some inconvenience but it was bearable) on that horrific day! Since his employer pays taxi fares only for departure from the office, he had to go there and then take a cab. Of course he was nervous and anxious… as anyone who is going to be tested. Therefore an ideal environment certainly contributes to relax a bit… But, Thursday morning, it was unthinkable!
To make sure he would get there on time, James took a cab at 8 o’clock (with the unusual number of cars on the roads, we never know how long a normal 10 minute ride will take). Of course, that particular chaotic morning, it took him one hour and 40 minutes! I can just imagine how he felt, sitting in the back of the car, wondering whether he would make it on time or not! Not a relaxing atmosphere indeed!…
This time he has been assessed by one of his own Department’s examiners… it was decided, some time in November 2008, that their employees would no longer go to the downtown central assessment location. When he finally got there and found the floor he had to go to, he had to ask around because it looked like any other regular office floors with no front desk to welcome candidates… He was then led to a cubicule with a laser printer and parked there until 10:30… How can someone concentrate and relax when a printer is continuously running beside you? And… when you think everyone has forgotten about you?
When his examiner finally came to get him, James could see how cranky he was! He had been stuck in the traffic for hours and he was in a real bad mood: this delay had caused a backlog in his testing schedule and he had to rush the process… because he probably did not want to work overtime! I have no idea how many candidates an assessor sees in one day but my guess is that quite a few were jerked around and bullied that day!
I was having a class with Seema when he finally returned to the office a little before noon… It did not take me long to realize he had done miserably during his interview… Who would not have?
Be objective at assessing someone’s oral skills is already a difficult task to achieve in an ideal environment… and impossible when you are upset or cranky! Consequently, under such extraordinary circumstances, all interviews should have been cancelled that day… I cannot imagine a neurosurgeon performing surgery under such stress (I do think the patient’s life would be seriously endangered!)…
As for the testing location… when decision was made to have all this Deparment’s employees tested in that building, a comfortable venue should have been arranged to accommodate the purpose and the candidates themselves… Why do I have the feeling that any new change does only aggravate the whole process? Unfortunately, failing at the test will always be put on the candidates’ account… Neither the PSC, the PPC or the Departments will be at fault!… It is truly pathetic… «lamentable» quoi!
Since living in the past is not an option, on Friday, the Club français went to a Chinese restaurant to have a great time and forget about any predicament we had been in the day before… We wanted to say goodbye and wish good luck to Seema who will be in full-time training at a boot camp until the end of September 2009. Life goes on… with its ups and downs… No one can rewind the tape and change anything that happened on that dark Thusday morning in the NCR…
La Dame dragon, Frédéric, Susan et Jessica
Seema in an optimistic mood! and... Frédéric amusing the gallery!
Fortune cookie time! Frédéric goofing around!
Frédéric! Un peu de sérieux pour la photo!!!
Voilà... c'est beaucoup mieux! Merci Frédéric!!!
Seema and James… I will miss you folks!!!
“En essayant continuellement on finit par réussir. Donc: plus ça rate, plus on a de chance que ça marche!”
Jacques Rouxel