2021
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Jul 1, 2021, 8:23 AM subject 87 – 56 – 0107
Dear Justin,
Happy KKKanada Day. What are you doing to commemorate this forever-tainted celebration? I watched a Pam Palmater where she basically ascribed cancelling Canada Day to cancelling a birthday party so family can attend a funeral instead. She wonders, are Indigenous Peoples considered part of Canada’s family? My views might be becoming even more extreme, in that without massive structural change Canada will remain a genocidal state towards BIPOC folk, and a safe space for sneaky white supremacists. The overt racists and white supremacists will still be condemned, especially if they shoot up a mosque or drive into a family, but the ones that quietly go about their privileged lives under the radar will continue to uphold the systems of power. These white supremacists are probably the entirety of the Conservative Party paying members, 80 or 90 percent of your Liberal Party members, and close to half (wild guess) of the NDP. Maybe all active or elected politicians? In my opinion, if you are just quietly doing your job as an MP, smiling and nodding a lot, clapping whenever your Leader speaks in the House, making tweaks and amendments to bills that adjust digits and wording to laws that are integral to the functioning of this apartheid state we call Canada, then yes, you are probably a white supremacist. If you are not spending all your available energy and resources dismantling these levers of power – namely, abolishing prisons, the RCMP, the police and investing massively in education and social programs – then you are a useless sack of pig shit. Especially Carolyn Bennett.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Jul 3, 2021, 11:35 PM subject 88 – 46 – 0307
Dear Justin,
Was very pleased to see statues of Captain Cook, Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth come down on KKKanada Day. It was great that Ryerson’s statue was beheaded. What are we waiting for? Why do you publicly condemn these actions but take no action yourself? All these glorifications to genocide and colonialism could be removed in an instant. Maybe you like seeing the spectacle of the bouncing husks of metal, limbs popping off, the slow bobbing and slipping below the waves with a burping gurgle. And yes, I’m still on that Bo Burnham train.
We drove out to Île Perrot to meet SRoberts and her girls to pick strawberries but hadn’t reserved a spot so we couldn’t. Enjoyed the Quinn Farm and tractor ride and seeing the animals – Jess less than thrilled to see animals in captivity. You know, the ethics of breeding animals.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Jul 8, 2021, 9:41 PM subject 89 – 25 – 0807
Dear Justin,
Sorry I haven’t written in awhile. Been working all week, démontage and cleaning up the gallery, taking down a wall, laying the groundwork for the big curved projection wall, making crates for Juan’s light boxes which I’ll be driving to Jonquière in September. The week went so fast! We also had the bbq at Stacy’s on Sunday and then it was Iliana’s birthday on Tuesday so we went to Park Mozart to celebrate. Two social gatherings in once week! And last night Jess and I had a beer on the patio of Dieu du Ciel. It was cold, I hadn’t brought a sweater, so we came home and watched the 21 Jump Street movie. Oh, my two-year lucky parking streak was broken yesterday too. I took the car to work, loading up plywood and 2x3s and masonite on the top, and left it in the hotel parking across the street, as per usual, and it was fine when I finished work but then I went to Best Buy to get a lighting to stereo jack adaptor and when I came back I had a ticket. I think I’ll still fight it, just to see what happens. Did some prep cooking tonight for our weekend at Jess’s dad’s cottage. We leave early tomorrow afternoon. First big family road trip!
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Jul 17, 2021, 3:08 PM subject 90 – 35 – 1707
Dear Justin,
Sorry for the lack of letters this past week. We had a great long weekend at Scottie’s cottage near Lake Muskoka. The kids really liked the lake, and worked on their diving skills a lot. We had one weird situation when Scottie and I were driving into Gravenhurst on Sunday to get gas for his boat and my left rear wheel came off. The car lurched about for a few seconds – luckily we were making a turn and going quite slow – and then I watched as the wheel rolled across the street and into some woods. So fucked up. I guess the bolts were not tight and came off. Can you imagine if that had happened on the highway? I’m still a little freaked out. Anyway we put the wheel back on to the 4 remaining bolts, then left it at the Canadian Tire and a neighbour came to pick us up. It needed a new rim and tire, it cost $730 and delayed our departure until 4:30. We rolled into Montreal around midnight. The rest of the week was work and day camp, and a BBQ for Stacy and Caroline on Thursday night. Now Jessica has bleached my hair upon my request, and will dye it a purple later this evening. I’m going to work on Ramsay for a couple hours. I took the car in to my local garage to re-torque the bolts and check on the slow leak I noticed from the front. He washed the engine and is trying to locate the source of the oil leak. I suspect the head gasket, which will be a pricy fix, and not sure if it can be done in time.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Jul 19, 2021, 9:08 PM subject 91 – 31 – 1907
Dear Justin,
Back to work, working hard, hardly working. But really, things moving ahead with the next exhibition, Sam and I finished the large curved wall, just waiting for plaster to dry, but I am worried that I made it too big. It is scaled to the dimensions of the video but I fear we will have throw-distance issues. Anyway, it’s not a big deal. Not like institutional racism or white supremacy or funding the fossil fuel industry. Those are big deals.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Jul 21, 2021, 9:45 PM subject 93 – 47 – 2107
Dear Justin,
Another day at Vox, another few bucks to pay for things, like my psychotherapy sessions. I had my last one on Monday until I get back from vacation. I’ll have to really start saving money if we are going to take a couple months to travel Ramsay to the west coast and back. First need to get the car fixed, it is still at the garage, my mechanic is trying to find the source of the oil leak. I need to get the car back so I can install the trailer hitch, a month ago I bought one impulsively but it does not have the right rise/drop to keep Ramsay level. Tonight after work I assembled our compost toilet, building the box to house the home depot bucket. We think it may be best to divert the urine directly through the floor and install a catch basin when needed. I’ll also need to drill a hole through the roof to pass the odour hose, and hook it up to the suction fan. Jess is almost finished the blackout curtains, we re-installed the bumper for our heads and Jess installed solar lights. We’re excited to try out pooping in Ramsay but we won’t have time realistically until we are in NB at my parents’ place. Our departure date is coming up fast.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Jul 22, 2021, 9:49 PM subject 94 – -101 – 2207
Dear Justin,
Why is the datawrapper data for today’s new covid numbers in montreal expressed in negative? There were -101 new cases today. What does that even mean.
In other news, I learned enough of that projection mapping software to get a test image up and to great relief it fits perfectly on the curved wall. I was worried the wall was too high, that the projectors wouldn’t have enough throw distance because I didn’t really measure, just went by feel. Glad to know my initial intuition was correct.
Worked a bit on Ramsay after work, drilled a 1 1/2″ hole in the roof for the exhaust tube and a 1″ hole in the floor for the pee tube. Jessica and I were going to go to Home Despot to get some supplies but we stopped at a patio and had a beer and snacks instead. Then I had a meeting with Anne and Laurent to discuss the mural I’ll be painting on their bedroom wall, and other little touchups. The corner bookshelf looks really good all filled up.
My car is still in the shop, my mechanic has finally accepted that the problem is the head gasket. He has a friend who can fix it for $1800. I said go for it!
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Jul 25, 2021, 10:46 PM subject 95 – 45 – 2507
Dear Justin,
Had quite the eventful weekend. I went to get Rose and Sol after work on Friday to hang with them a bit before they went to Stephen’s cottage. They had just come back from glamping with their mom and I wanted to have some time with them. We went to this Japanese sandwich restaurant near Cinema Beaubien, then cycled back to their neighbourhood for ice cream. I miss those kids again already, they are growing up so fast. Mohanad came over for a hangout and I took some MDMA for the first time since NYE 2020. Worked on Ramsay on Saturday, getting a first coat of white roof membrane painted on, and then Jessica and I went to St. Henri to meet her friends Joe and Fawn, who were celebrating belated birthdays on the occasion of Fawn visiting from Fredericton. We cabbed home late when it started to rain, and Jess dropped me off at the studio where Sarah and Pascal were throwing an all-night party, Vince was DJing, I took another hit and danced until 5 or so. I have a hard time distinguishing myself as flirting or leering when there are attractive women dancing, I hope I am not gross but I often don’t want to – or lack the confidence – to just talk to people. Or lack the capacity while high, and also get too touchy-feely, so hang back, and observe. I also observe that I am not the most rhythmic of dancers, lol. Waited for the rain to stop before walking home to sleep a few hours. Worked more on Ramsay today, getting the new fresh water tube hooked up and filled the reservoir and mixed some bleach into the water to help disinfect, and will flush the lines tomorrow. Added a second coat of white membrane to the roof, will probably add another coat tomorrow. Added a nice floral maktak print to the backsplash of the kitchen area. Hopefully my car will be fixed by tomorrow and I can get the right hitch arm installed, and make sure the trailer lights work, and everything is safe for the road. Safety first.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Jul 27, 2021, 9:57 AM subject 96 – – – 2707
Dear Justin,
hanging out at home for a few hours this morning as we are getting our tub and shower backing replaced. But I am making progress on Ramsay: finished painting the roof yesterday, third coat and looks great. Flushed the fresh water lines, still need to attach the tube to the underside of the trailer. Jess added drawer and cupboard liners and hung the curtains she made. I had made a reservation at Hôtel Universelle in RdL but changed it to a campsite in St. Jaques so we can stay in Ramsay, hooked up to power. We’re thinking of getting an all-in-one power unit, like a Jackery, but won’t really need it this summer, more for the potential cross-USA trip in December. I’m also learning about how to convert AC power to DC so we can power the extractor fan in Ramsay. At work this week I need to finish the book-hanging shelves for Artexte and at night at least start some of the painting projects at Anne’s before we leave. I have Friday off to really pack up, before getting the kids in the afternoon. Still need to get the trailer hitch attached and make it safe. The ball tongue is old and a little janky and worries me a bit.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Jul 27, 2021, 4:39 PM subject 97 – 31 – 2707
Dear Justin,
Weird, the Datawrapper site I use to see the daily covid counts in Montreal wasn’t reloading this morning, but now it is, and the days where the count was -101 and -55 have disappeared. I’m home from work early, we were having the bain magique replaced and the guy is just finishing up now. Jess is at the CEP and I just had my haircut with Miwa, and will probably go to Anne and Laurent’s shortly to start the wall mural in their bedroom. It is just four colours, five roundish shapes and a squiggly line running throughout, so shouldn’t take too long. I won’t get around to the touchups probably until our return in August, if at all. Everything is stretching the time. My car is ready but I can’t get it until tomorrow, it is with the other mechanic who actually did the gasket replacement.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Jul 29, 2021, 8:46 PM subject 98 – 46 – 2907
Dear Justin,
Just because I don’t harp on about it to you everyday doesn’t mean I still don’t absolutely loathe the TMX expansion, the fact you bought it, and the fact that TMX employees are continually terrorizing Tiny House Warriors. I get the Instagram posts, it’s horrifying. Anyway, I busted ass today on the shelves and pins for Artexte, the project is not finished but I can do the final sanding and threading the pins with twine and varnishing when I get back. Also stopped at Anne and Laurent’s and added a bit to the bedroom mural. Oh, I took the car to work and my magical hotel 15-minute parking spot worked, was there all day, no ticket. Tonight it is starting to pack and clean the house. Tomorrow have to get the ball hitch on, the trailer hitch is a bit rusted and too tight. Have to hook up the lights too. Getting the kids around 4.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° chris lloyd projects
DEAR PM 