2022
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Dec 2, 2022, 11:16 PM subject 150 – — – 0212
Dear Justin,
December already. I wear eyeglasses now. Picked them up on Wednesday. Had an RBC protest and letter delivery and Goalie at the the Bell
Centre. Went to Vox most mornings, tech stuff to do and shelves to
make, chairs to bring up and down. Rose was sick home from school today. Their mom came back from Mexico last night or this morning,
will pick the kids up tomorrow. Spent an hour on the phone with an Apple tech today to get my work computer running quicker. Did you hear our Mayor is planning on increasing the SPVM budget by $62-million this year? I’ve joined a Defund la police committee focused on decriminalizing all drugs. Apparently the city needs to ask the feds
for this allowance, which I think Vancouver and maybe Toronto already have. The SPVM is a strong lobby here and use the mainstream media to keep citizens and politicians alike scared to bits of crime and guns
and drugs and the homeless, so like anything else when fighting this so-called country that consists of oil, mining, telecom, grocers and
media monopolies in a trenchcoat, it is an uphill battle.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° Dear PM
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Dec 8, 2022, 11:26 PM subject 140- — – 0812
Dear Justin,
Wow, I’ve really been awol on this correspondence project. And bad at numbering them, too. This morning was the big banner hoisting with Greenpeace, I’ve been up since 4am or so. Adrenalin, I suppose it is.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° Dear PM
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Dec 14, 2022, 5:42 AM subject 141 – — – 1412
Dear Justin,
I can’t sleep, my mind is racing. I’m stressed about work, and
stressed about the other actions going on: the Montreal city budget
with a $60-million increase to the SPVM, the visit from Sleydo’ this Friday, another Habs Home Game No Logo protest / match, getting the kids tomorrow after school and then just all the little work things
but so much to do in so little time. A weird angled platform, another 14-foot long hanging screen, a 5.1 surround sound system, projection mapping, building a vestibule, all broken up by the holidays, and a
trip to NB. Anyway I woke up with my mind racing, new ideas for civil disobedience actions for the new year, unless RBC magically pulls out of the CGL pipeline before then, wouldn’t that be a nice Xmas gift?
Off now to finish a materials list of all the stuff I have to have
delivered to the gallery like yesterday.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° Dear PM
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Dec 15, 2022, 10:01 PM subject 142 – — – 1512
Dear Justin,
I’m feeling run ragged, and so behind the 8-ball. Had a Zoom meeting this morning with my Ex and the Neuropsychologist who will be examining Rose next week. She wanted to know a lot of things about Rose from her development in the womb, her birth, her early development, daycare, school, the whole nine yards. The meeting went longer than I expected and so I forgot that I had brought the car and parked it in the loading zone with the flashers on so of course
drained the battery. Called CAA, and then when they came for a boost I had to keep the car running at least a half hour. Good time to listen
to Sandy and Nora and some Canadaland but bad because I am so behind on work and it is getting me a bit down. Anyway, big gathering scheduled for tomorrow morning, I will have to slip away from work as
I am a police liaison, Myles can handle it, but everyone is impatient
that the whole damn show is not ready yet. Am I not good at my job? I think there was just too much to do and not enough time, and I didn’t articulate that at all in the weeks leading up to it. Also I didn’t do
enough prep work. Anyway I have the kids tonight, everyone seems good except Jessica, who has been suffering migraine symptoms all week. We did go to a potluck with a bunch of her writing friends last night but
we didn’t stay too long. I’m running on empty here. And as you know, I never re-read these letters. Just spit it out and turn the page.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° Dear PM
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Dec 17, 2022, 10:46 PM subject 143 – — – 1712
Dear Justin,
I forgot to put on my sports cup while donning my goalie gear and wouldn’t you know it but someone nailed me right in the nuts with a pretty good shot, I almost passed out from the pain. But I kept playing! It’s only an hour, and the pain subsided. Eventually.
Friday was crazy, there was a good gathering at Place Ville Marie despite the snowstorm. The speeches were inspiring, it felt a real
honour to be in the presence of such powerful women, Sleydo’ and Ellen Gabriel. I actually enjoy being a police liaison, it feels a good use
of my privileges of being a white man.
The snow was perfect for making snowballs today so Jess and I joined Sol outside this afternoon, making snowmen and snow forts and snow angels. Rose was invited to a friends house for a sleepover so I dropped her off before heading down to the Bell Centre. Ericka shot easily out of the snowbank with only a little shovelling. I parked her in the back after reducing the height of the snow from making all the snowballs. I did get a parking ticket but I will dispute it and see if
my activism can be used as a defence. I doubt any judge will see things that way but we’ll see next year.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° Dear PM
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Dec 20, 2022, 11:31 PM subject 144 – — – 2012
Dear Justin,
Another day, another fistful of dollars that I can spend on food and shelter and probably a Xmas gift or two. Work is intense, the sloped platform is taking form and today we got the projection screen up –
the artist wanted it sitting on the floor now, instead of suspended on poles. It’s much heavier now that we bulked it up with plywood and
1/4″ MDF, so no way it is hanging on poles now. I dropped my goalie gear and other protesting gear – poles and banners and support plates
– off at the Vox basement today while unloading materials. Had a zoom meeting tonight with a Defund the Police committee I’ve signed up for
a campaign to decriminalize all drugs and “incivilities” bylaws. I’m worried about Rose, she’s finding school very difficult, and she was going to have a couple consultations with a neuropsychologist this
week who had to cancel due to flu. I feel Rose is definitely ont he ADHD spectrum, and just want to help make the painful journey through high school as pleasant as possible for her. Finding the tools and
more importantly, how to communicate with her is key. Now I’ve got to go fix our toilet, the ballcock handle broke.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° Dear PM
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Dec 21, 2022, 11:23 PM subject 145 – — – 2112
Dear Justin,
I’m just trying to bang out at least another five letters to get me over 150 for the year.
Been hard at work, hardly working. Is that how the saying goes? When you love what you do you’ll never work a day in your life. Sometimes it feels like that when working on installs. Sometimes it feels like
that when I’m in the goalie gear protesting the RBC logo. Sometimes it feels like that when I’m just hanging with the kids, playing games or listening to them explain all the intricacies of their video game
lore. Sometimes it feels like that when I’m in the studio painting or in the streets throwing paint.
Happy Solstice. I made muffins with Sol tonight, and played another round of Isle des Chats as he is presenting it tomorrow in class. I’m halfway through a pile of dishes and decided to put some waterproofing spray on mine and Rose’s boots. I thought about trimming my beard but alas I am too tired. Jess is out tonight giving her presentation on
people who sleep on Twitch at a Sleazy Xmas party with some other standup comics and writers and burlesque performers.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° Dear PM
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Dec 25, 2022, 10:19 PM subject 146 – — – 2512
Dear Justin,
Today is Rose’s 13th birthday. She is officially a teen! We had a
pretty darn good Xmas eve and Xmas day today. I ran around for some last-minute purchases yesterday, my Ex dropped the kids off and we all mostly hung out together. I made Mademoiselle Dumplings (I steamed them) and we started to watch Muppets Christmas Carol but Jess started getting a headache, Rose fell asleep I was dozing off and Sol became bored, so we didn’t finish it. Today we opened gifts, the kids were super-happy with their presents – and keenly aware how lucky and privileged they are to get gifts, to have shelter, to have enough food
to eat. Had a few video calls with the family, played some video
games, some dice games, we all went outside for sledding in the snow,
I made a red lentil dhal for supper (not very special, but everyone
loves it). Oh, I did try to fix the toilet but the ballcock is too
long and I had to break the seat off to reach the underside of the
toilet, because our bathroom is so small. Anyway it’s still not fixed,
I’ll have to find another rod or shorten this one somehow. I’ll do it
next time I go into work, maybe a day this week before we go to NB.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° Dear PM
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Dec 27, 2022, 2:14 PM subject 147 – — – 2712
Dear Justin,
We’re dealing with a leaky toilet and a stingy landlord. A couple
weeks ago the floater arm broke and we’ve been shutting off the water valve after each flush or else the water runs constantly. I finally
had the time to replace the water intake and floater assembly the
other day, which was a very unpleasant job as the nut was very
difficult to get to in such a tight space. I had to remove the Tushy
and one of the nuts holding the toilet seat and Tushy on had rusted
and wouldn’t come off until I pulled it off with brute strength (which was very satisfying). All that to find out that the new float rod is
too long and the floater won’t even fit inside the tank. Yesterday we noticed that the bottom of the toilet was leaking, and now we are
dealing with a landlord who won’t pay the extra cost of sending a plumber during the holiday season. Did you know that plumbers charge double for any house call before the 9th of January? I empathize a bit with the landlord but at the same time we give him $750 every month so he can surely afford to just get us a working toilet . In other news apparently the SPVM beat a black teen to death in a holding cell on Christmas Day. Merry fucking racist murder Christmas. And CGL is still drilling under the Wedzin Kwa destroying salmon spawning grounds and RBC blocked me from their IG accounts.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° Dear PM
from chris lloyd to pm@pm.gc.ca
date Dec 28, 2022, 12:47 PM subject 148 – — – 2812
Dear Justin,
We had the toilet replaced yesterday, in the end after talking with
our landlord he paid the extra for a plumber to come and replace the whole toilet. I guess in the end that is the easiest option. Now we
have a toilet that actually flushes efficiently – the old one never
really did work well. This model uses less water as well. To celebrate Jess and I took a walk down St. Denis for sushi. When we came home we watched videos of people travelling on cargo ships. I woke up at 4:44 this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep, too much going on in my head. I read the graphic novel version of A wrinkle in time, and
finished Rehearsals for Living, and continued the Pink Floyd book Jessica gave me for Xmas. Now I’m on my way out for a much-needed haircut, then to Vox for a little bit, and then home to pack and get
ready for the road trip tomorrow. My Ex will drop the kids off later tonight.
—
- ° Chris Lloyd
- ° 514 295-3048
- ° Dear PM
DEAR PM 