Pony Optimism

Jill was grateful for the free bus from campus right downtown Toronto to the Agricultural Expo.  She also recounted how the lady in the tack shop booth at the Royal Winter Fair show asked her back (after she'd used her best line as a conversation starter)"Do you have horses?"

"Not right now" she had sighed. "I'm kinda here looking for someone else's horse to ride. And you know how THAT goes..."  The vendor stared back at Jill with a completely blank look on her face, so she moved on...

Meanwhile, after being without an income for a long time, Roomie had got at job at minimum wage, and then her pay jumped to $14/hr and then to $16hr in six short months. Progress? She never should have happily mentioned to the mechanic about getting her third raise in short order, because he went ahead and did the expensive work on her car without checking with her first. What about their agreed plan to put it up on the hoist and TELL HER WHAT THEY WERE DEALING WITH? And here the mechanic threw in an oil change she didn't need without ever finding out about a few of the other car trouble issues she'd wanted him to look at fixing. And while she on the phone with the mechanic getting this news, her boss walked off in front of her with her lunch, as well as his to eat.

But none of that was any excuse for forgetting to call her dad on his actual birthday! Or so Roomie lamented, terribly upset with herself. Jill could see how she would feel bad.

The conversation in kitchen as they each prepared their own meals was a constructive comfort they could offer each other. Jill recounted about her lunch date. She loved the Irish accent and ambition. Not to mention his Ramones t-shirt and tattoos, ha. But she'd been ranting.
"Dude, The Human Race is not going to last another 50 years. We are going extinct. That's why I think the most important social justice issue of our time right is the environmental issue."

"Really?" She was surprised he was surprised. He was political, not her.

"In my opinion, especially the water issue…"


Did it sound distinctly like Jill was going Green? Roomie said she had long understood the economics of vegetarianism. It was clear as a great big pie chart where the amount of wheat we have to produce to feed the beef (with a myriad of other environmental impacts) that we then eat, VERSUS the amount of wheat required to sustain the human race if they ate it directly. Jill added about the animal rights aspect and how there was more cruelty and inhumane activity in the egg and dairy industry and how one had to strive for more ethical, healthy decisions.

The next thing you knew she was ranting about the pasturized animals creating soil as they move in a sustainable system, and a return to habits of an earlier culture. Was she serious about finding a way to return to the pony and cart?