Isn't It a Shame?

I've been getting letters in the mail for the past few months telling me I need to switch from the good ol' red and white OHIP card to their fancy new high tech cards. The letters have gotten increasingly insistent, even going as far as to tell me that I may no longer qualify for coverage if I don't upgrade.

According to the letters, you need to call and book and appointment, you can't just show up in person. So I called a few weeks ago, and got an appointment for first thing in the morning, 8:30 yesterday.

I got there right at 8:30, but there were already a dozen or so people there ahead of me (keeners!). I got a little number and sat to wait my turn....and waited...and waited...

There were only 3 people working, and by 8:45 there were 20+ people waiting. They use a convoluted system of letters and numbers (I was B9) so that you can't really tell who actually showed up before you and who didn't, making it hard to know if people were served in the order they arrived or not... so I waited.... J14, C3, D34, H2, B5, N87 ....I felt like I was at a bingo hall just waiting for them to call B9 so I could stand up and yell BINGO!!

I had to wait more than an hour and fifteen minutes - 9:45 before finally being served - and the whole process took < 2 minutes. What a friggin waste of time - what's the point of an appointment if you just have to wait and wait and wait anyways?

Grumble.

Anyways, I was talking to a coworker of mine the other day about books we read when we were kids. It made me think back to the good ol days when I'd go to the nepean public library to hear this one guy read stories out loud. I'd go see him at Centerpoint, Emerald Plaza, all over the place! I was like a reading roadie!

It also made me think back to my dad reading me night time stories - not the usual kid kinds, but things like Lord of the Rings, and this one short story "The Rocking Horse Winner" that I used to really love. I found it on the internet and read it yesterday...and remembered the punchline of the whole thing, my dad yelling "MALABAR!" in this trance-like voice. Ah, rock solid - if you haven't read it, give it a read, it'll only take 10 minutes and is pretty good.

Labels: Rants, Rocking Horse Winner