Reminders

It's still 2026. Early February. Just in case anyone else wondered how many years long January was.

Yep, it's hanging over the wire

I've had occasion to learn a couple of things recently, and I'm sharing them in case they're also new to you.

First. In Ontario at this moment in this Premier's administration, your license and health card expire on your birthday--not every year; every five years. Unless you're nearing 80 (this is not my personal learning, but adjacent learning), in which case, go to Service Ontario.

Yes! They expire! And yet! You no longer receive mail or email reminders that your identification is expiring. Or at least you didn't in the autumn of 2025, which is when my IDs expired. I learned all this from a friendly (he really was) Ontario Provincial Police constable whose plate-reader told him that the owner of my car, which I was driving safely, (roughly) under the speed limit on snowy roads, was an unlicensed driver. 

Anyway, the friendly workers at Service Ontario hear this from a lot of people, and there was no "expiration shaming" happening as I renewed both forms of ID. I have seen my new photo and still look like I'm at death's door, which will be handy when I need to use my health card.

Check your identification, folks. Because of other events happening, you really don't want to learn the hard way that your passports and other forms of ID have expired. Even though all you were doing was trying to buy groceries and go to work and keep the flame alive for yourself and your family, which the relentless accumulation of said events also makes harder. (I'm not saying it's right. It's just convenient to do it, and NO REMINDERS.) 

Second. When your electricity goes out with a popping sound (or basically any sound), you're not being over-cautious to go out to see whether there's a tree down on the line and if so, where it might be. Even before (or as) you phone in the service outage. 

I learned this Sunday, when I threw on a coat and wandered down the driveway while trying to report a power outage to HydroOne. I looked up and saw a tree across the line AND THE TREE WAS ALSO ON FIRE. 

Luckily (how often do I get to say this?) it was snowing. The sifting-flour kind. And the trunk, not the top, was on fire, fairly far away from other trees. It was a damp day in general. So the fire went out within a few (10? 20?) minutes, leaving a scorched two-foot-tall ring around the trunk. 

The black marks on the leaning tree are burned bark

Meanwhile, I'd reached the HydroOne reporting phone number, and the person wasn't especially helpful but anyway, the local crew guy called me back (so I guess she was helpful after all). The local guy said he'd be over. (I'd told him the fire was out.) About 90 minutes later, he showed up.

And here's what you don't need to worry about (although I did)--the crews carry snowshoes and giant chainsaws with them. They're prepared. They've seen it all.  

That said (or because of that, possibly), they're also a little less careful with trees hanging over the line than I would be. He managed eventually to shove the tall trunk in the proper direction, though, and ten minutes later, our power was back. Yay! 

Is there anything more reassuring than people with skills doing their jobs well? 

Both situations could have been worse. I think of Iran, Gaza, Ukraine without power. I think of poets and ICU nurses having run-ins with law enforcement. I'm grateful. I don't know what else to say.