Today I had my third encounter with crime on my mail route. Not a personal encounter, no danger or anything like that but still rather unsettling stuff.
I crossed through to 92 A Ave and saw a portion of the block was taped off with yellow Police-Line-Do-Not-Cross tape. I don't think I've ever seen that tape in real life and not counting all the fake Halloween types. There was a cluster of people and a police car within the tape's boundaries but my loop took me in the other direction first. So I rubbernecked as I moved down the street and when I came back up I was on the side with the tape on it but still not close enough to ask any of the police what was going on.
A few houses up the block, the homeowner (whom I met the previous day as he told me stories of his 35 years delivering mail in Fiji) opened the door as I got to the top step so I asked him. He said the police knocked on his door that morning to ask if he had heard anything over night because a body was found in the lane. Yikes. A woman I work with also lives on this street and she said her husband had called to tell her about it so she confirmed that's what they heard as well.
The other two encounters weren't quite as full on. The first was a few months ago and I was on the last leg of my route when the house at the end of the street had 4 police cars/vans parked outside! 4! I saw they had a guy in the back of the cruiser but I didn't hear anything that would fill in the details. So, really I just saw a guy getting arrested - which I could see most days downtown if I wanted to.
The second brush with crime was just after Christmas. I had been on a walk near Surrey Memorial Hospital for a couple weeks and one day there was this van parked on a side of the street that has no parking signs all the way down. There was a big yellow ticket on the windscreen which made me realize that I never have to walk around vehicles on that side of the street because people usually obey the parking restrictions. Hmm. Parking ticket, right that's a big crime. The next morning at the depot another postie said there was a shooting on my route and told me the streets where it happened. When I googled it later, what had happened was a body was found in that van that was parked there! So I had walked by someone in pain without even knowing or being able to help. I can only assume that the injured person was still in there but figured that the person issuing the parking ticket had more reason to notice something abnormal than I would since I am moving by quickly. But the picture online was exactly that stretch of street, a couple hours after I had delivered there! So odd to see that.
Now two of these incidents were in Whalley but one was in more of the Chimney Heights area so not quite as suspect for being a bad neighbourhood. It really doesn't help Whalley's rep to tell these stories though. Now since I've been walking through these areas for the last 8 weeks or so, I've gotta say, the reputation is not completely valid. There are so many young families and older seniors living all through these areas and I've never really felt unsafe. Even down in Bridgeview.
In other news, I got to try out new hats today! After 3 months you get official uniforms and in my order I got this awesome blue straw hat and a toque (which actually was really quite necessary today even though it was stunningly sunny!) I have a brand new Goretex jacket too but since it's a sunny week I've only put it to test under the faucet. I really won't mind if I don't actually test it out in the rain though haha.
One thing we took away from the months we spent in Australia in '08 was Triple J's Hottest 100. It's a yearly countdown that they broadcast on this radio station called Triple J on Australia Day (January 26th) and most of the country seems to listen to it. I just went to the website to vote for the first time on it - very exciting. We've tried to listen to it live online the last few years but the timing never seems to work. Luckily they make it available with a streaming broadcast afterwards. We happened to be in Adelaide, South Australia on Australia Day and everyone heads to the beach and sets up a BBQ, stereo, some kind of tent/shelter and fills the esky for a day of listening to tunes and enjoying the sun. It's a lovely thing. This year, we won't be spending Australia day at any beach. Dustin will be chilling (literally) in Logan Lake (they woke up to -23 degrees Celsius today!) and I'll be walking the Whalley beat. But our minds will take a trip back to Glenelg beach and that glorious warm day.
I crossed through to 92 A Ave and saw a portion of the block was taped off with yellow Police-Line-Do-Not-Cross tape. I don't think I've ever seen that tape in real life and not counting all the fake Halloween types. There was a cluster of people and a police car within the tape's boundaries but my loop took me in the other direction first. So I rubbernecked as I moved down the street and when I came back up I was on the side with the tape on it but still not close enough to ask any of the police what was going on.
A few houses up the block, the homeowner (whom I met the previous day as he told me stories of his 35 years delivering mail in Fiji) opened the door as I got to the top step so I asked him. He said the police knocked on his door that morning to ask if he had heard anything over night because a body was found in the lane. Yikes. A woman I work with also lives on this street and she said her husband had called to tell her about it so she confirmed that's what they heard as well.
The other two encounters weren't quite as full on. The first was a few months ago and I was on the last leg of my route when the house at the end of the street had 4 police cars/vans parked outside! 4! I saw they had a guy in the back of the cruiser but I didn't hear anything that would fill in the details. So, really I just saw a guy getting arrested - which I could see most days downtown if I wanted to.
The second brush with crime was just after Christmas. I had been on a walk near Surrey Memorial Hospital for a couple weeks and one day there was this van parked on a side of the street that has no parking signs all the way down. There was a big yellow ticket on the windscreen which made me realize that I never have to walk around vehicles on that side of the street because people usually obey the parking restrictions. Hmm. Parking ticket, right that's a big crime. The next morning at the depot another postie said there was a shooting on my route and told me the streets where it happened. When I googled it later, what had happened was a body was found in that van that was parked there! So I had walked by someone in pain without even knowing or being able to help. I can only assume that the injured person was still in there but figured that the person issuing the parking ticket had more reason to notice something abnormal than I would since I am moving by quickly. But the picture online was exactly that stretch of street, a couple hours after I had delivered there! So odd to see that.
Now two of these incidents were in Whalley but one was in more of the Chimney Heights area so not quite as suspect for being a bad neighbourhood. It really doesn't help Whalley's rep to tell these stories though. Now since I've been walking through these areas for the last 8 weeks or so, I've gotta say, the reputation is not completely valid. There are so many young families and older seniors living all through these areas and I've never really felt unsafe. Even down in Bridgeview.
In other news, I got to try out new hats today! After 3 months you get official uniforms and in my order I got this awesome blue straw hat and a toque (which actually was really quite necessary today even though it was stunningly sunny!) I have a brand new Goretex jacket too but since it's a sunny week I've only put it to test under the faucet. I really won't mind if I don't actually test it out in the rain though haha.
One thing we took away from the months we spent in Australia in '08 was Triple J's Hottest 100. It's a yearly countdown that they broadcast on this radio station called Triple J on Australia Day (January 26th) and most of the country seems to listen to it. I just went to the website to vote for the first time on it - very exciting. We've tried to listen to it live online the last few years but the timing never seems to work. Luckily they make it available with a streaming broadcast afterwards. We happened to be in Adelaide, South Australia on Australia Day and everyone heads to the beach and sets up a BBQ, stereo, some kind of tent/shelter and fills the esky for a day of listening to tunes and enjoying the sun. It's a lovely thing. This year, we won't be spending Australia day at any beach. Dustin will be chilling (literally) in Logan Lake (they woke up to -23 degrees Celsius today!) and I'll be walking the Whalley beat. But our minds will take a trip back to Glenelg beach and that glorious warm day.
What surreal experiences - especially the one about the van and parking ticket. I'm just glad that nothing happened to you directly to warrant a "brush with crime."
ReplyDeleteIt's also so refreshing to hear your perspectives on the different neighborhoods of surrey. It drives me crazy when people can over-arching claims about an entire city, or even portions of a city. Thanks for reminding us of the diversity of the areas!
Urgh...I could totally go for warmer temperatures right now! I'll dream of palm trees tonight!