This afternoon, while on a walk around the Dizzy Block with Olivia, I rented a curbside electric scooter from Epic Electric Scooters. It’s been years since electric scooters started to grace/pollute/block/enchant the streets of cities around the world; sometimes Charlottetown is early to adopt, sometimes late, and this was a case of the late.

Via the Epic app (downloaded from the App Store in advance), I located two scooters parked in front of the Holman Grand hotel:

Each had a “one size adjusts to fit all” helmet, which was a must-have for me, as who knew what might befall me, who’d had only a bad skateboard experience 45 years ago to base my abilities on.

Unlocking was as simple as scanning the QR code on the top of the scooter, waiting a second for it to be unlocked, and then taking off.

It seems dangerous folly to unleash untrained, unexperienced newbies like me on the naked streets of Charlottetown, but that’s what ensued: I rode around the block, figuring out balance and acceleration as I went.

My 3 minute and 42 second, 0.51 km ride cost me $2.15, which was, no argument, a worthwhile expenditure for experiencing what the to-do is about.

On the upside: the learning curve was very low, and I didn’t feel at all like I was going to fall off; it was more standup paddle board than windsurfer in this regard. The ride was smooth, and mildly thrilling, and I can imagine that owning a scooter and zipping around town would be lots of fun.

On the downside: it was challenging to make proper hand signals and maintain balance; the potholes of the Dizzy Block, while not epic in their depth, loomed a lot larger with the tiny scooter wheels under me; my credit card company flagged the rental charge as a possible fraud, and shut my card down until I acknowledged that the charge was indeed from me.

I’m not certain where or whether electric scooters fit into the responsible climate-friendly transportation network of the future, but I’m happy we now have the chance to find out in a low barrier-to-entry local way.

A return to sketching this morning, from the porch of the library. I haven’t picked up my sketchbook much this summer; it feels good to use these eyes again.

James A. Reeves writes about notebooks:

For years I believed the right notebook would solve all my problems. I explored blank pages, dots, and grids. I fooled with modular systems. I invested in artisanal, shade-grown leather journals.

He settled on these from MUJI.

I’m dating a blogger. She got trapped in her bathroom the other day:

I got trapped in my own bathroom the other day. The old glass knobs, as charming as they are, don’t work well. Try as I might, I could not get the door open.  After a moment of claustrophobic panic, I sat on the closed toilet seat to contemplate my options. 

Being an intimate part of the life of another writer is a new thing for me. It’s rather delightful.

A collection of hacks for patrons of the Charlottetown Library Learning Centre that I will add to over time.

Using the Computers

If you have a library card, you can self-serve login to any of the public computers with your library card number and your four-digit PIN: just follow the instructions on the screen.

One caveat: if you have changed your library password to something more secure than a four-digit PIN (which you can do using the online catalogue My Account > User PIN Change function), you will be unable to login to the library computers, as they require a four-digit PIN. Your in-library recourse is to ask a librarian to change your PIN for you (which you can change back later if you like).

Printing from the Computers

You can print things on the photocopier/printer located near the Maker Space from any of the public computers. Do do this you sign in to the computer, print from any application as you normally would, logout, then visit the printer, click on “Release Print Jobs” on the computer beside it, enter your library card number, and select the jobs to “release” (which means “print”). You then make payment in the box beside the printer and your pages will print. They come out in a drawer that’s not immediately visible: you need to look in the slot on the lefthand side of the printer.

One caveat: you will need to have bills or coins, as there is no provision for credit or debit payment, and there are no stored-value cards available. Copies and prints are 10 cents per page.

I oversaw the installation of new Bell FibreOp to Lisa‘s office on Queen Street yesterday. It’s a tricky old building, and she’s on the third floor, in an enclave reached through the building next door. So, in the pantheon of installs, not a walk in the park.

Mike, the Bell installer, proved more than up to the task. He was kind, patient, creative. A credit to the company.

Thank you, Mike.

In Failblog, Bethany writes:

You don’t see when I stay up late night after night trying to catch up and not making it. Or when I fail to be there for a friend, or let down my family. Or when I don’t exercise or take care of myself. I think there are lots more of those than the triumphant posts I put up.

So let’s normalize failing, and give each other a little grace when it happens, and remember to congratulate people all the more for the good posts they put up!

In this week’s The Quack, Dave writes:

One tiny programming note: a few times over the years, I’ve had people say they’re glad to hear everything is OK with my family literally all the time, because they read about our lives in the Quack. And while I will say we are absolutely lucky and happy in many ways, I hope you don’t think the Quack reflects absolutely everything in our lives… and that we don’t have, like, problems. That was never the point of this newsletter. This isn’t my whole life in a newsletter. This is the collection of (mostly) lovely mundane things that makes life worth living. This is the cup of tea on the deck in a stolen moment with Erin. This is the sink I figured out how to fix myself. This is the glimpse of the sunrise before a busy day. This is the good stuff.

So there’s owning-up-that-everything-isn’t-perfect in the air.

My summer has been dreamy, by times. I’ve swum in the ocean more times than I can count. Enjoyed wonderful meals with family and with friends. I’m in love. The world is grand.

My summer has been dreadful and hard and angry by times. Grief continues to raise its hand at inconvenient times. I’m discovering that I have so much to learn about how to thrive in a relationship. My daughter has meltdowns, and is worried and anxious a lot of the time, and supporting her, and finding supports for her, is a part-time job. The world sucks.

Both stories are true. 

My favourite installation at Art in the Open this year was Sandi Hartling’s NO THING. I took a vertical panorama of it:

Three things I need help from the lazyweb for:

Flat Light Switch

I have a light switch for a half-bath that a pantry door opens into. It is a low-profile “decorator” light switch, but the profile is still enough that 50% of the time the pantry is open the bathroom light comes on. I seek a completely low-profile “flat” light switch that won’t suffer from this problem. Lots of chatting to staff in the electrical sections of home goods shops, and lots of Googling, have resulted in no luck. Anyone?

Flat USB Charger

Lisa has a couch with an electrical outlet behind it into which a USB charger is plugged. The USB charger is a brick that sticks out about three inches, meaning it pokes into the couch. I’m looking for a low-profile USB charger, one that sticks “across” rather than “out.” I’m thinking of something that would have the profile of a deck of playing cards, with the plug part on the flat part. Like if Flat Stanley was a USB charger. Anyone?

Set And Forget Shower Temperature Control

In sensible Europe the shower controls have separate controls for “flow” and “temperature,” meaning that one can set the temperature to a comfortable level, and then avoid the daily “get the water temperature right” dance. This is convenient and, in our household, would be a huge help, as regulating the temperature is currently beyond Olivia, and so this remains the one impediment to 100% showering independence for her. I’ve raised this with local plumbing shops and responses have ranged from “huh?!” to “that will require ripping your walls apart.” I’d like to easily drop in a replacement for an existing “pull out to turn on, swivel right and left to control temperature” control. Anyone?

Until last week I’d never swum in the Victoria Park Pool, the public swimming pool operated by the City of Charlottetown that’s an easy cycle from my house (and an easier cycle still from Lisa’s).

I’d always imagined it to be a fetid facility, best avoided.

But it was a hot day, and Lisa was chuffed and encouraging. We swam. It was a delight: free (!), spotlessly clean, friendly staff, not at all crowded. The perfect antidote to the heat that ailed us.

We went back today. Same delight.

I love living in a city with a free public pool; I regret thinking it was anything less than amazing all these years.