Jenn and I went to the Cowichan Exhibition again this year, and it was nuts from start to finish. The amount of traffic coming in, the parking situation, the kids running amok throughout, the lineups at every single food vendor, how many of the food vendors were out of food, the lack of space and how people kept physically bumping into us, etc. I’m happy for the Cow Ex because it has often struggled with attendance over the years, but for us, I was bummed because this year was simply not enjoyable. I felt guilty about how annoyed I was but didn’t want to piss and moan about it to Jenn and ruin our night (or make it worse, I guess), so when she said everything that I was thinking, I breathed a sigh of relief. We left the Cow Ex and went to Boston Pizza, which we like to do as a sad, funny, ironic thing — we went there for xmas eve dinner last year on a whim and it was so sad and funny, and this was along those lines so it felt right again. We got wings and bitched about how busy the south island has become, and how the the Cow Ex and Cobble Hill Fair are just a few more indicators of how many more people live here now.
Then this morning I read a blog by another local person I like, and what do you know, she complained about the exact same thing at this year’s Cobble Hill Fair. Well, she was mostly pissed about how poorly behaved many of the kids there were, running wild with parents not doing shit about it. Anyway, it was interesting to see someone else independently complain about similar stuff.
Oh that reminds me of a detail from the Cow Ex that I wanted to mention: as we were leaving the midway, we noticed a lot of drunk/high people sitting on the grass on the hill overlooking the midway. We stopped there to see what their view was like, and it really was awesome. The midway looked so fucking cool from there, what with all the lights and rides and loud music and screaming voices from the rides. I was happy for these people watching it from this great vantage point, and bet it was even cooler to see it stoned. While we were checking that out and Jenn took pictures, a family was walking up the path from the midway and the mom got pissed at her son. “IF YOU DON’T START WALKING NICELY, I AM GOING TO TAKE YOUR BIKE AWAY FOR A WEEK. DO YOU UNDERSTAND? TELL ME YOU UNDERSTAND AND START WALKING NICELY, OR THAT’S IT.” The little boy was defiant and wouldn’t answer her so she pressed him, and I couldn’t hear how the situation ended but regardless, I was happy to see at least one parent there being firm, telling their kid to behave, and threatening them with a real punishment that (it at least sounded like) she was going to stick to — she was so mad at the kid, I couldn’t imagine her not following through with it. Anyway, it was funny and I felt bad for the kid but good overall because that’s what kids need when they are dickheads. I think more parents need to realize that stopping bad behaviour is a necessary part of parenting, that if you allow your kid to be an asshole, you are by extension also being an asshole.
crimson highway 