All of the council members were in attendance,
no guests to complain or demand an action.
The call to order, approval of the meeting agenda
and the previous minutes (which some council members
immediately began to read for the first time,
I imagine, thinking about council meetings
I have attended myself in the past).
The financial overview with numbers that have no real meaning
to me, listed under savings, GICs, petty cash.
But are they good numbers?
Should I be filled with angst?
I sip some coffee and decide not to worry about the financials.
After all, there are no outstanding strata fees, no one is in arrears.
A reference to changes in financial technology
as more suppliers refuse to be paid by cheque,
insisting instead on e-transfers or credit card payments.
The fourth-floor dryer was replaced, but it operates
differently from the others in the building.
And the price of using the machines has doubled! Yikes!
Perhaps complaints will be discovered
in the suggestion box in the lobby.
I won’t complain myself, of course, it just isn’t my style.
I make a note to remind myself to get more loonies from the bank.
Uh oh, looks like the fire department failed us on the last fire drill.
Only a handful of owners and renters evacuated.
Nobody really believes the building is burning down,
there is no smoke in the hallway, so they don’t participate.
I see that someone broke the handle on the sliding door
to their balcony. Perhaps the warranty will cover it.
A new arm for the snow-removal tractor was purchased.
That will help our owner-volunteer, though we usually don’t get
standing snow for more than a few days in most years.
I have seen old pictures of our frozen lake to the north,
when people drove their cars on the ice to the next town.
But now, ice barely extends a few metres from shore, if at all,
making people joke about the ‘thin ice’ signs
still posted every year on the beach.
I take another sip of my coffee, scroll further down the minutes.
Hmm, interesting.
A resident has crashed his car into another owner’s car in the parking lot,
but will not accept responsibility for it, despite that it was captured
on our new, high-tech security cameras.
He’s the one who had so many losses in life,
now suffers from alcohol addiction, poor guy.
Oh, and the woman with the cat continues to smoke in her suite,
ruining her neighbour’s peaceful solitude. He has complained bitterly
many times, but the council is struggling to know
what they can actually do about it legally, what best action to take.
A holiday potluck is coming up again,
despite that only a handful showed up last year.
I decide that I will bring store-baked cookies,
just as I do every year. I certainly want to be steady
and predictable to my neighbours.
They can be startled by change.
After reading that the meeting was adjourned,
I close up my document, feel good that I have
done my duty as an owner, get back to my coffee,
my books, my poetry, my calming music,
back to my simplicity.
