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The AIH Transcript for July 05, 2021

Hosts: Duncan McCue and Chris Howden

Prologue

DUNCAN MCCUE: Hello, I'm Duncan McCue, sitting in for Carol Off.

CHRIS HOWDEN: Good evening, I'm Chris Howden. This is “As It Happens”.

[music: theme]

CH: Tonight:

Vaccine Doc Exonerated

Guest: Hasan Gokal

CH: For months, Hasan Gokal has been fighting to clear his name. In December, the Houston-area doctor was working at a COVID-19 vaccination event. At the end of the day, Dr. Gokal had an open vial containing expiring doses. So, he made some calls and gave shots to higher-risk people in his community -- including his wife. Then, he was fired from his government job. And he was charged with stealing. The case ended up in court. Dr. Gokal has maintained he did what was right. And earlier this year, a judge dismissed the case against him. Now, a grand jury has sided with him too -- by declining to indict him. We reached Dr. Hasan Gokal in Sugar Land, Texas, just outside Houston.

DMC: Dr. Gokal, what was that moment like when you learned that you wouldn't be indicted?

HASAN GOKAL: Wow, you know, it was such a sense of liberating freedom, I can tell you. It's been going on for six months. And to go through for six straight months knowing that it was, for me, this could go either way. And then suddenly, for a moment to realize, OK, it is truly all over. It was an incredibly, incredibly liberating moment.

DMC: Take me back to that night of December 29th. What was happening, and tell us about the decision that you made that night?

HG: Well, that was the first day of the vaccine rollout for the county. Now, remember, this is Moderna vaccine, and that's important because Moderna, it comes with typically 11 doses. It's supposed to be ten, but it's usually one more. And we were done with all the doses and the people. And then, right before it closed, there was one more person who came through and one additional vial was opened, leaving us with ten doses left to contend with. It was dark. There was nobody else around. And the first thing that it was to check and see among the people that were left behind if anybody would like it? They had either already received it or were going to wait and see what the experience of everyone was. Remember, this is day one.

DMC: And because the problem is... is that it only lasts for so long once you open it, correct?

HG: Right. It's six hours. So, and that's exactly it. The default would have been to just let it go back to the main offices. It would have sat on somebody's desk till the morning and then thrown out. So what I did was I started... first, I touched base with one of the supervisors. I said, hey, I've got a bunch of doses left. I'm going to try and find someone. And the response is, OK. And I started calling people that I knew who might know somebody who is in the eligibility criteria. The direction that we had from the state Department of State Health Services said, look, if you have extra doses, you can't find anyone in that year to go to the next year. If you can't find anyone there to find anyone who will take it. But under any circumstances, don't waste the vaccine. And that's the principle under which I was working. So I started calling around. People said, yeah, well, I don't have anybody. But you know what? I have a neighbour who's older or may have cancer or has... is in a high-risk category for some reason or another. And I said, great, well, let's just do it.

DMC: Did you know the people that you were giving the vaccines to?

HG: No, I didn't. At least not most of them. They were more of acquaintances of acquaintances or neighbours of acquaintances, that kind... that that level of familiarity, except for the last dose. So at 12:00, when the last person who was supposed to come, an elderly gentleman called and said, hey, you know, it's too late, I don't feel comfortable driving out at this hour and so on and so forth. He said I'll find another way. I had one last dose left, about a half-hour at best, to give it away and completely exhausted. So I... I told my wife, I said, hey, look, I know I didn't intend to give this to you, but frankly, this is going to go in the garbage. She has been in and out of the hospital several times on account of pulmonary sarcoidosis and pretty significant. And was very much in the eligible criteria. So after some deliberating, we... she decided that, OK, she was going to go ahead and do that.

DMC: So the dose would have been wasted if you hadn't done that. The county says you should have returned unused doses to headquarters. What did you understand about the protocols? Why didn't you do that?

HG: Well, the thing is that this was day one. There were no protocols to deal with... with leftover doses at the time. So the direction I followed was, in fact, a combination of what the state had told us and my own sensibilities as a physician. I see an opportunity to save a life, and I'm not going to pass it up when the alternative is just to throw it out. It doesn't make sense.

DMC: So, why do you think you were fired then?

HG: [chuckling] When I was fired, they asked me, they said, hey... and this was when I got pulled into the office not knowing what this was... what this was about. And they said, well, you know, there was… we've heard that there's a vial of vaccine that you took and gave it to your friends and family. I said, no, look, I took a vial, and I've been very clear and transparent about it. I did all the paperwork. And these were people that I was told were high risk, but I didn't really know, with the exception of my wife. They said, oh, so you admit it. I'm sorry. You're fired. I said, would you rather I have thrown it away? They said, well, it was not yours to give away. This is theft.

DMC: Well, what... I mean, you did end up getting charged with stealing vaccine doses -- theft.

HG: Yes.

DMC: What went through your head when you found that out?

HG: A friend sent me a screenshot of a tweet from a reporter who said my name, Harris County physician charged with theft. You know, I've never had any legal issues any… any… anything on my record. I've worked hard all these years. And to watch this thing, [deep sigh] watch my... my entire life, everything I've worked for, disintegrate before my eyes was absolutely horrifying. And that's how I found out. And the next thing I knew, within minutes, the doorbell rings, and there's reporters outside with lights and cameras rolling. And my son says, Dad, there's people out... outside.

DMC: This did end up playing out in the media and being pursued by the district attorney for months. What was the impact on you and your family?

HG: Watching this have an impact as significant as it did on my kids and my wife was the hardest thing to watch. The kids, they're resilient, but they took a hit, and you could tell. They were not themselves; their grades, their personalities, the way they interacted with others, everything changed. My wife primarily had issues due to disrupted sleep, which led to a worsening of the sarcoidosis. And the uncertainty for six straight months was at one point paralyzing. It just doesn't let you make any plans for your life whatsoever. You have to just stay in a state of limbo that seems never to end.

DMC: Dr. Gokal, I mean, a grand jury sided with you. Before that, a judge sided with you. Can you give us a sense of why you think officials pursued this for six months?

HG: You know, I wish I could, but I don't. I can't. And the reason is I simply don't understand it, and neither does anyone else. Perhaps there were other reasons -- political. Perhaps it was because it came from another government agency, another Harris County agency, to the DA's office that there was obligation. I really don't know

DMC: If you could go back to that night, would you do the same thing?

HG: Absolutely. Look, I'm a physician first, and I will air on the side of human life whenever I get the opportunity. And I believe that's what I did.

DMC: Dr. Gokal, good to speak with you.

HG: It's a pleasure. Thank you.

CH: Dr. Hasan Gokal used to work for Harris County Public Health. We reached him in Sugar Land, Texas.

[music: ambient]

U.S.-Canada Border Open

Guest: Kadee Jensen

CH: It's been one year since Kadee and Jaxson Jensen got married on a farm right next to the US and Canada border. Both their families were there, under the blue prairie sky -- but they were separated by a barbed-wire fence. Kadee's family was in Montana; Jaxson's family was in Alberta. We spoke with Kadee last summer about how they got permission from border officials for the cross-border ceremony. Now, both families are vaccinated -- and as of today, the border has reopened to fully vaccinated travellers. So we called Kadee again -- in Cardston, Alberta.

DMC: Kadee, how does it feel to know you're going to finally visit your family again in Montana?

KADEE JENSEN: It's awesome. I'm really excited to be able to go down there and not be worried about what's going to happen when I come back. And... and same for them. They can come see me now, and see even where I'm living and my... my in-laws family. And so it's going to be awesome.

DMC: Sure. They haven't had a chance to see what life is like for you. Have you talked with your family and given them the news?

KJ: Yeah, I actually talked to my mom just before you guys called me this morning. And we were already discussing if I should come down and when. And discussing when we're going to have like a wedding reception/family dinner, to just get everybody together and spend time. So I'm really excited.

DMC: Have a reception for a real rather than a ceremony across a barbed-wire border. I mean, this is --

KJ: [chuckling] Yeah.

DMC: I mean, the border is reopening around the same time as your first anniversary with Jaxson. So looking back on the past year, what's it been like?

KJ: Um, very different. I always thought that, you know, if I married someone from really far away that, you know, I wouldn't spend a lot of time with my family maybe. But I was able to get married to Jaxson. And we live here in Cardston, which is just three hours away from my home I grew up in. And so it's kind of sad to see that I'm so close and could be there, you know, on weekends and things for special occasions. But we haven't been able to. So it has been hard knowing that I can't. But my sister-in-law is having a baby, and so I can... this weekend. And so I am thinking about going down just to be there for the baby. And so it's really exciting.

DMC: You are an American.

KJ: Yes.

DMC: You ended up relocating to be in Cardston. You had permission to go and visit Montana, but you've only been down once, I understand, for a business trip since your wedding. What stopped you from travelling?

KJ: I mean, just coming back and having to quarantine was a lot. Knowing that, like, if I go down for a week, then I have to take two weeks off. And so it is stressful to have to take a whole month off of work or of just life knowing that you have to come back in quarantine. So that has stopped me. And I did go down for a business trip, but I have been down a couple of times just for a personal... I went down to just stay there. I had to quit my job, actually, because I was missing home so much. So I... I did go down and see... but it's that also that they can't come here. So it's been sad to see that, you know, my life is changing and evolving, and they aren't a part of it right now.

DMC: You had to quit your job. You must have been really messing them?

KJ: Yeah, I did, I... it was just starting to be too much that I... you know, a year had passed, and I wanted to go down. So I did. And... and my employer was... was fine. We were... we're still good friends. And they're understanding of the situation. And so it was good. But I just wanted to go home.

DMC: Yeah. How... how difficult was it for you to... to... to stay connected to... to your family on the American side when you were making a new life in Alberta?

KJ: I'm very grateful for technology, for FaceTime, being able to just FaceTime family. And I have two nephews down there. One is just turning eight months, I believe, and I've pretty much missed the whole thing. So I'm seeing him stand up and crawl, and now he's moving. And so FaceTime is great to be able to... to see them and visit. But we... I talk to my mom every day, [chuckle], and we try to make the best of the situation.

DMC: So you are planning to go down to Montana with Jaxson. What are you most looking forward to, Kadee, when you got there?

KJ: Just spending time with my family and doing the things that I grew up doing. This past year, I've been able to do all the things that Jaxson grew up doing here in Cardston, which has been awesome. I've learned how to snowmobile and how to do all that hunting and do all these things. And now I get to go take him there, and we get to do the things that I grew up doing. And I'm really excited.

DMC: You had been working, as a wedding planner of all things. How did... how did business go? What was that like during COVID?

KJ: Business is actually awesome. So I had two jobs. I quit my job at a... at a local gas station in town. But I... I... my wedding planning and florist job has been awesome. It has kept us going through the summer or through school while Jaxson was in school. And I have been busier than I ever thought. So I'm doing weddings. I have pretty much one, at least every weekend. If not, I'm missing maybe once a month. And so I... I have the super lucky to have people interested in my work and book me as their florist, so.

DMC: And given how unusual your wedding was, your cross-border wedding during a pandemic, what have you and your mom got planned for the anniversary party?

KJ: Oh, everything! I… I got the photographer I wanted and the videographer. And I'm going to do the flowers. And we booked a venue here in Cardston -- this old antique building, Freddie's on Main. And we're going to have a big family dinner, and there's tons of decorations. And I don't know, will go anywhere for, you know, maybe a second honeymoon or we really didn't go on the first one. But at least I'll get to spend, you know, that... that day with my family. And we're actually going to get sealed in the temple here in Cardston. We're members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And I've waited to get sealed so that I could have my mother and father there with us. And so that has been hard as well because I've wanted to... to do that. And so now that they are going to be able to be here and we're going to have this party after and get the family photos that I've always wanted and be able to, you know, just have the time with my family. So it'll be... it'll be good.

DMC: Well, that sounds like a big old party. You enjoy yourself.

KJ: [chuckling] Yeah. Yes, thank you. [DMC chuckles] Bye-bye.

CH: Kadee Jensen is in Cardston, Alberta, which is about two hours south of Calgary.

[music: instrumental]

FOA X2: ABBA “Gold”

CH: Even after all this time, fans haven't changed their minds about ABBA. And non-fans? Well, they couldn't escape if they wanted to. The Swedish group's greatest hits compilation "ABBA Gold" has just become the first record ever to spend a thousand weeks in the U.K.'s album chart. That's just over 19 years in the Top-100. Which, as group member Benny Andersson put it, is, "Not bad for four old turnips." Now, personally, we'd prefer Benny to stop talking about our friends that way. And so would most Swedes we know. Which include a random Swede we got on the phone a few years back. He was part of a group of random Swedes answering calls to a hotline set up by the Swedish Tourism Association in 2016.

SOUNDCLIP

OPERATOR: Calling Sweden. You will soon be connected to a random Swede somewhere in Sweden. This call may be recorded.

[sound: a harsh phone beep]

PAUL: Hello?

CAROL OFF: Hello, hello.

PAUL: Hello. Where are you calling from?

CO: I'm calling from Canada. Are you a Swede?

PAUL: Canada?!

CO: Canada, yes!

PAUL: OK, excuse me. I'm on a big party... at a party. You know, ABBA in Sweden?

CO: You are... you are at an ABBA Party?

PAUL: Yeah [chuckling]. And I beg your pardon. My name is Paul. And your name is?

CO: I'm Carol. And I'm calling from Canada.

PAUL: Yeah, where in Canada?

CO: From Toronto.

PAUL: Toronto, yeah!

CO: You are our random Swede, are you?

PAUL: I am a random Swede. And I'm so sorry that you called me this night because I'm at the big party. And, well, I would like to help you if you have a question. I would just like to say if... if you're Canadian,

we've got a lot of good Swedish hockey players in Canada. And... but you have to visit Sweden.

CO: Ah, yes. OK, well, can we ask you some questions about Sweden then?

PAUL: Of course.

CO: OK, so, who are... who's the better hockey team, Canada or Sweden?

PAUL : You asking me that question?

CO: Yes, um-hm!

PAUL: Of course it's Sweden.

CO: Huh. And you're not biased at all?

PAUL: Well, I won't say that. But we love Canadian hockey on our telly. You know, I'm just provoking you a little bit, so to say.

CO: [laughing] Now, OK, do you have IKEA furniture?

PAUL: No, we buy... we buy Danish… Danish furniture. [CO laughs] But it's here in Sweden.

CO: I wanted to ask you if you have a BILLY bookshelf?

PAUL: [chuckling] I had it when I was very young. You know, it was cheap and easy to construct. So you have a BILLY at your home?

CO: We have... we... yes. And it was really hard to put together.

PAUL: It is! [chuckling] I'll come over and help you.

CO: Would you do that, Paul? I appreciate that. [Paul laughs] All right. Here's some other... I have some other questions for you.

PAUL: I beg your pardon. I have to make you stop here. Nice to talk to you.

CO: You have to go? Paul, are you still there?

CH: Paul was not still there. But the hotline was. And when Carol called back, another random Swede told her Paul was, quote, "probably a snob" for preferring Danish furniture. Oh, and that "ABBA Parties" don't really exist. Fortunately, the ABBA Museum does. It opened in May 2013. And at the time, Carol spoke with CEO Mattias Hansson about some of the installations that were really striking a chord.

SOUNDCLIP

MATTIAS HANSSON: Well, there... we have a live... you enter a stage. On that stage, the four ABBA members is in life-size hologram illusions. And there is one mic for you. And you grab the mic, and you can sing, and dance, and you become the fifth member of ABBA. They're in holograms. And you are you.

CO: Oh my! [chuckling]

MH So it's a highly interactive museum. So obviously, we have things behind glass also. You can see all the costumes, the gold records and so forth. And then again, there's a lot of interactive entertainment in there. So you can really spend quite a few hours having really, really fun to all those great songs in there.

CO: And let me guess, there's a soundtrack being played.

MH: Absolutely. You can enter the Polar Studio, where they recorded most of their hits and enter the song booth and sing along to ABBA songs as if you were in the studio and you were one of the singers.

CO: I'm sure lots of people listening know the significance of a red phone. But you... do you want to describe what it means in this... in this museum.

MH: So one of the ABBA hit singles is the song "Ring Ring". And when they did promotion for that single in the 70s, they... they often posed with the 70s telephone sets. And we have one of them in front of the... or in the "Ring Ring" part of the museum. There's one special thing with this specific phone, though. It is connected to an incoming line. And only four people in the world has the number to that incoming line. And that is Björn, Benny, Agnetha and Frida. [CO laughs] When the phone rings, as time goes on, a flash goes on, and the sign says, pick up the phone, ABBA is calling. And then it's one of them calling in just to say hello to fans.

CO: So it's... it's everything you got?

MH: That's... so that's... so that's... that's the kind of stuff you can do when you set up museums together with people who are still with you, right?

CO: Now, are you getting, I mean, that's... are you getting young people? Are you getting... what's the age range that you see?

MH: You know, it's a good question because it's a age kind of fall off you when you enter a place like

ABBA The Museum. And people are there for the songs and the music and the joy of the songs and the music. And that kind of doesn't matter if you're eight years old or if you're 80 years old.

CO: Were you an ABBA fan?

MH: Yeah, I was. I was. It's hard to not to be. When I first saw ABBA winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 on TV, and I saw Bjorn with that star-shaped guitar he used at that time, I was kind of hooked because I thought as a five-year-old that maybe someday I can have a star-shaped guitar like that.

CO: And instead, you're running the museum with the star-shaped guitar inside of it, right? You got the goods. You have the star-shaped guitar, I presume.

MH: We have… [chuckling] we have the guitar. And I just decided to... to produce it for the first time because it's handmade. We just took a decision to... to produce it in a limited edition. And it's going to be sold at the museum and signed by Bjorn and the guitar maker. So I'm really happy. And... and I think that the fans will be too.

CH: Mattias Hansson, speaking with Carol about the opening of Stockholm's ABBA Museum in 2013 -- and about the band's staying power. Today -- almost three decades after its release -- the greatest hits album, "ABBA Gold", is logging its one-thousandth week on the U.K.'s Top-100 Chart., proving fans cannot get enough.

[music: world music]

Part 2: Iceland 4 Day Work Week, Race Across America

Iceland 4 Day Work Week

Guest: Will Stronge

CH: Having a weekday off makes you ask yourself: shouldn't it always be this way? And, of course, it should. But your boss firmly insists you should stop making PowerPoint presentations on the subject -- the five-day workweek will never change. Well, next time, just play her this interview. About how researchers in Iceland have just wrapped up what they say is the world's largest trial exploring the idea -- working four days instead of five for a full-time wage. Now, the part that won't impress your boss: people are happier working a shorter week. The part that might: they're also more productive. Will Stronge is the co-director of the British think tank, Autonomy. His organization collaborated with Icelandic researchers on the analysis. We reached Mr. Stronge in London, England.

DMC: Will, I'm guessing that it wasn't very hard to find people to be part of your study? How happy were Icelanders to be taking part?

WILL STRONGE: Well, this is a remarkable study in many ways because it went on for four years, unbeknownst to many people internationally. But the results are hugely positive. And workers from all sorts of areas of the public sector, incredibly happy with their work/life balance, spending more time with their families, doing more kind of extracurricular activities, things like cycling, taking up new hobbies and so on. So it’s been an overwhelming success, as you might imagine, and from the workers perspective, but also one from the employers too.

DMC: This study went on for… for four years, making it one of the world's largest. I understand. Explain to me how... how it happened.

WS: Yeah, so... so the conversation around shorter working hours has been growing in Iceland for quite some time. This is what we found out when we started collaborating with our Icelandic partners there. For a few years, up to about a decade, people have been talking about this. Iceland... Icelandic workers work nearly the longest hours in the whole of Scandinavia and so on. And so elements within the... the public sector and trade unions thought, let's try shorter working hours. We've heard this is a good thing. It's good for productivity. It's good to well-being. And I started this trial, yeah. And as you say, it's the... the largest public sector trial ever recorded. So that’s over 2,000 people. And in Iceland, which is quite a small country, that's quite a lot of people. That’s nearly one percent of the whole population, the workforce.

DMC: And so they reduced their workweek from a five-day, 40 hour week to four days. But... but they're... not everyone was just taking three-day weekends, is that right?

WS: Yeah, so... so it was more about reducing hours, so shortening the working hours rather than going for a straight-up four-day week. And it wasn't quite, let's say... it depends on what you consider to be a four-day week. Is it 30 hours? Is it 32 hours? Many workplaces reduced hours by about four hours a week or three hours a week, which, you know, depending on where you are in the world. So in the UK, we reduced our working week by four hours. We'd been on around 32 to 33 hours per week. So that might be a four-day week. I'm not sure about Canada? But…. but, yes, certainly a significant reduction. But yeah, it depends on the kind of work, doesn't it? You can't... some kinds of work you can't really just take Friday off. You need to be present the whole five days, so you might just have a reduction each day.

DMC: So having a less long week or a short... shorter day, you say that people were a lot happier. Tell us what... what they reported?

WS: Well, yes, so the most remarkable thing from my perspective, the thing which I think is the most maybe heartwarming, is...is the amount of time that people have for their family, the way they could reconnect with their families, basically. Um, Iceland, like many places, you know, you have... working life can go on from early morning to late at night in many of these workplaces. And people were just reconnecting with... with their kids. There's lots of... if you look at... if you read the report, there's lots of quotes in there about people being able to take their kids to school because they started later, or pick their kids up because they finished earlier. And so there's lots of that. As well as just, you know, for those who don't have families, lots of, you know, hobbies. Reconnecting…. I mean, it's a beautiful place, Iceland. I don’t know if you been, but it's a fantastic country. So the big outdoor life, which was obviously helped by working less.

DMC: So no surprise, the workers are happy to be reconnecting with their family, having time for hobbies. What about managers? Did you talk with the bosses about productivity? Did everyone get their work done?

WS: Yes. So another thing that I think is interesting about the report is that we have a section where we record the kind of data collected from managers. Now, there were some issues at the start where managers were reticent to, you know, carry out the trial -- they were worried about this. But after some, you know, initial reticence, actually, they reported productivity going up in some cases, but overall, staying pretty much the same, even though working hours were reduced. And, you know, many... many were reporting very positive reactions. I think it kind of makes sense. You know, I think we can understand why managers would be worried about this and also why they might continue to be worried about this. It's their job to manage people and make sure that work gets done. But considering how widespread this was and considering the results, I think it's a pretty positive reaction even for the managers.

DMC: You said that productivity went up. So how do you explain that?

WS: So the thing about productivity you should remember, it's not just the simple equation… a simple equation where you say the more hours per day you put in and the more stuff you produce, the better results are or so on. Also, on the other end, you've got to think about in terms of, you know, who... who's doing this work and how... how much do they deteriorate, how much fatigue that they get? So as in many, you know, global... global north countries -- and global south -- In fact, it's a global phenomenon. Work-related stress, anxiety and depression is a huge issue. Burnout. Sick days. These aren't good for productivity. So what was reported in the kind of interviews and surveys as well as from the managers was that, actually, people were taking fewer sick days. They were kind of had a greater energy on the job, and actually, you know... actually enjoyed their work a bit more because then they knew and they felt more energized. And they knew that they had... they had a kind of a shorter working week coming. So they were more into their roles, which sounds... it sounds very rosy, but that's... that is what comes out of a lot of these trials is that people feel actually more attached to the job in a way that they... they feel rewarded by having more time.

DMC: It does sound very rosy. So what plans are there underway in Iceland to... to fully adopt this practice?

WS: So this is what's really interesting is that after the trial -- after 2015 to 2019 trial -- it went so well that the trade unions in the public sector and the private sector have agreed on new contracts for 86 per cent of the working population. So the working population is about 174,000 people. So it's not, you know, that... that many people. But considering how small Iceland is, a huge proportion of the population. And these new contracts either agree to have shortening of the working weeks or whether that's just one hour, to begin with, or two hours. And all they... they agree to have to give staff the capacity to negotiate more freely and easily about working time. It's really changed the conversation in Iceland.

DMC: And a last question, Will. An important one. Have you given your team shorter work hours?

WS: Absolutely. So all full-time staff we have at Autonomy are on shorter working hours. And we work 32 hours across the week. And we are also accredited, according to the U.K. Four-Day Week campaign, with a four-day week employer badge.

DMC: Sounds like a happy and productive place to work. Thanks for joining us.

WS: Cheers! Thank you.

CH: Will Stronge is the co-director of the British think tank, Autonomy. He was in London. For more on that story, visit our website at: www. cbc.ca/aih.

[music: country line dance?]

BC Bad Growing Season

CH: Ordinarily, Kelowna fruit farmer Sukhpal Bal would be kicking off cherry season right now. Instead, he's busy assessing the damage to his crop. And he's not alone. Orchard owners across the province say last week's brutally high temperatures are producing serious problems for produce. And Mr. Bal says those who suggest processing the fruit for juice and jam are cherry-picking.

SOUNDCLIP

SUKHPAL BAL: You know, it's unfortunate, we had such a nice crop, one of the best crops that, you know, I've ever seen in the... in the 20 or so years I've been growing cherries here with our family business. And it's just so discouraging to see that this heatwave came in and kind of literally cooked a lot of the cherries that were on the outside of the trees. And now, they're starting to turn a bit darker and kind of black spot type of thing. Like, the cherry will kind of dehydrate and shrivel up a bit as well. And so, yeah, it's... the highest and best use is for the... for the markets, for the fresh eating, that's kind of what it is... what we focus on. If it does go to processing it, it's kind of a few cents a pound. It doesn't... it doesn't put money into the growers market, really.

DOMINIKA LIRETTE: Well, what do you think this might mean for a temporary foreign workers who have been brought in to help with the harvest? Will this have any impact on them?

SB: Yeah, this was going to be a great season for... for... for pickers because of the sheer volume on the trees. So there was, you know, excellent money to be made by... by workers that are harvesting cherries. And... and likewise, for... for farmers too. It was a season we really needed. But now, there'll have to be a lot more attention when we're in the fields. So it'll... it'll be just a bit more challenging on the picking side. But, you know, it's... we're... it's sad, but we're... we're getting used to fighting through all this adversity. If you go back to 2019, we just had torrential rains that... just non-stop rains that kept on coming in 2019. In 2020, we got kind of frozen out by... by a cold-weather event that lasted in January of 2020. And we were fingers crossed in 2021. We were hoping... And it started off beautiful, heavy crop, lots of cherries out there. And sure enough, something came in and... and it wasn't even on our radar. I was... I was worrying about cold weather all of 2001 winter that we hopefully would survive that. We did. And then, this... this heatwave took a huge toll. So it's very, very discouraging when... when you have such a beautiful crop on the trees.

CH: Sukhpal Bal is a farmer in the Kelowna area and president of the BC Cherry Association. He spoke with the CBC's Dominika Lirette this morning.

[music: sombre piano]

Race Across America

Guest: Leah Goldstein

CH: Her Twitter handle is NoLimitsLeah. Pretty tough handle to live up to -- but Leah Goldstein did it. Late last month, the 52-year old Canadian cyclist became the first woman to win one of the most gruelling races in endurance cycling. It's called the Race Across America. And as the name suggests, it involved biking from Oceanside, California, to Annapolis, Maryland -- a journey of almost 5,000 kilometres in eleven days. We reached Leah Goldstein today near Spokane, Washington.

DMC: Leah, I know it's been a few days since you finished the race, but how is your body? Are you still feeling the effects?

LEAH GOLDSTEIN: Well, I'm actually like the inside is OK. It's more the outside because of the... the heat that I had to go through for not just the first three days, but basically right to the end. It basically burned all my skin and my lips. And, you know, I mean, I even got my back burnt through my jersey. The heat was that intense.

DMC: You were going through California desert, [LG sighs] Arizona. What was that like? I mean, it's been very hot!

LG: Oh, my God! Well, imagine going through a desert and then getting a warning of a heatwave going through [laughing] the desert, right? So there was excessive heat warnings like, you know, forecasted a week before the race. And I mean, I... it's undescribable, the kind of heat and how difficult it was. I mean, honestly, with all the races I've done -- and I've done a lot -- I've raced most of my life, that was by far the most difficult because it wasn't just through like, you know, Arizona and California. It consisted through Kansas, through Illinois, through Tucson. I mean, it cooled down to 40. I remember it got down to 30 one night, and I go, woohoo! This is nice and cool now, right?

DMC: Let's... let's take a step back. I mean, it took you 11 days to complete this ride from one coast to the other. How many hours a day were you on your bike?

LG: So I started the race the first 40 hours I ride consistently. I don't get off the bike. So I took my first sleep break after 40 hours of riding to three hours. And then we get three hours every 24 hours. And then we had to cut it to 90 minutes because, you know, I was going to win this race. We can't waste any more time.

DMC: You rode 40 hours without sleeping?

LG: Absolutely. Yeah, that's how you start a race across America. But that was the plan to ride the first night into the second night. Take your first sleep break, and then you start your pattern of your ride 20 to 24 hours. You go down for a couple of hours, and then you keep repeating that. And then you cut your sleep the last three days. And in my case, I had to cut it quite drastically to 90 minutes.

DMC: So you're only sleeping 90 minutes, and then you're riding for 23 hours a day?!

LG: Yeah, about 20 to 23 hours.

DMC: My goodness! What... what was that like, Leah?

LG: [laughing] Well, it's not easy. [chuckling] And your crew has to be very careful by watching you and monitoring you because, you know, you start to hallucinate after, you know, 30 hours of non-sleep and riding and pushing hard, you know, things start jumping out at you and objects become monsters. And, you know, it's crazy, right? So it's just a matter of to focus and know yourself and also to pull back, right? You know, I mean, with me, that was one of the attributes that I have that's, you know, kind of gifted me in this... in this sport is my ability to function on very little sleep.

DMC: Can you paint a picture of, I mean, what kind of mental strain you're under when there's monsters jumping out at you, when you have not been sleeping for, I mean, on day seven, day eight, day nine, how do you push through that?

LG: Well, see, if I start looking around, and I lift my head during those times. Like, at one point, for example, like a black panther had jumped at me. So I veered over to the other side of the road, right? That was in 2019. So for me to control my hallucinations, I just look at the road. I don't look around because if I look around, everything will turn into something, right? So I'll just see the hallucinations on the ground, [chuckling], and they're normally stable. They won't jump out at me. And that's how I personally control them.

DMC: And what about your body? I mean, how does your body respond under that extreme pressure?

LG: Well, you know... you know you're hallucinating. That's not the biggest issue. It's when you start to fall asleep on the bike, right? You get into these waves, you know. And like one point, I was riding, and I didn't know what I was doing. And so that becomes quite dangerous. I didn't know where I was, why I was on my bike. And then I remember seeing a crew member saying, you know, what the heck are you doing here? Then they'll pull you for a little bit, right, you know? Because your brain is out of whack.

DMC: What got you into this? I mean, it really sounds excruciating. Why did you want to get into endurance cycling?

LG: Well, for one, I remember watching it when I was a little girl. I used to be televised. I think it was NBC many, many years ago. And I thought it was like that was super cool. So when I started, I was a pro racer with the Canadian national team for about 10 years. And during that time in my career, I always excelled in the longer races, right? You know, like the races like the Tour de France, the two... two-week kind of stage races. So I thought, you know what, I was more cut out for ultra-endurance racing because of that. My ability to recover really fast, push myself, ignore your pain and my ability to function on very little sleep. And I think that made me more to be more gifted for ultra-endurance racing.

DMC: How long have you been training for this particular race?

LG: For this particular race, I put in about two years of specific training, not only into myself, but my crew as well, because, you know, it's not just me. It's a we thing. Without an awesome crew, you're not going anywhere. So together, we all work to really nail... nail down how we're going to do this to be strategic.

DMC: What was the most difficult moment of the ride for you, Leah?

LG: Oh, to be honest, I think a lot of people don't know this, but a thousand metres before the finish, I actually collapsed. I mean, everything just went numb. I fell onto the grass. There was a patch of grass, and I couldn't move my legs, my arms. I think just because my electrolytes were down, I was overheated, and I wasn't really focussing on my nutrition. And I had to start walking my bike. And you can see that the true finish, I've got like pink running shoes on my crew members. They took my cycling shoes off, put on my running shoes, and I had to start walking the bike. And then I only jumped on the bike because there was like a descend into the finish. And then I roller-coaster down, and you can see two of my crew members running on either side of me just in case I want to fall over. Honestly, that last 1,000 metres -- the last kilometre -- was the most difficult part for me.

DMC: Incredible! And... but you made it that last kilometre.

LG: I did. I did. [laughing] And it was tough, but I said I don't care about the crawl across the line, right? The only problem is the bike has to come with me, you know? So that was an effort for sure.

DMC: Well, not only did you make it across the line, but you are the first woman to win the Race Across America. What's that like?

LG: It's incredible. I mean, obviously not expected. I mean, it's just there's no words to describe it. I'm just... yeah, it's... it's... it's the most amazing feeling in the world for sure.

DMC: How do you top this? Do you have any other races planned?

LG: I don't have any other races planned. But we're actually working on to complete a documentary that they started two years ago. So this is kind of the final cut, [laughing] I think, for us. Yeah, I mean, I haven't... I haven't... I'm not going to retire any time soon. But for now, I'll just kind of take in what I've done and plan for the next few years and see what we can come up with.

DMC: Well, congratulations. And I hope you get a bit of a rest.

LG: Thank you. Yeah, thank you so much. I appreciate it. And I will. I will. Thank you.

DMC: Bye.

LG: Bye.

CH: Leah Goldstein is the winner of the bicycle Race Across America. We reached her near Spokane, Washington. And if you want to see some pictures of Leah's incredible ride, go to our website: www.cbc.ca/aih.

[music: electronic]

Joey Chestnut Record

CH: Watching great athletes is inspiring. And seeing them run, jump, or swim, does not make you never want to run, jump, or swim again. But there is one annual contest where athletes routinely push themselves beyond what seems humanly possible. And witnessing their feats of excellence makes you absolutely never want to do what they're doing, ever again. Which is a problem, because they're eating. Once again yesterday, a man who dominates his sport like no other athlete in any sport on Earth crushed the competition. While crushing sopping-wet buns around tubes of meat emulsion, and cramming them into his face. Joey Chestnut won the Nathan's Famous Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest for the 14th time in 15 years. And he set a new world record in the process -- eating 76 hot dogs (including buns) in 10 minutes. To witness the terrible majesty of his achievement is to feel your own insignificance. Also to feel really queasy, because professional hot-dog eating is very disgusting. In fact, yesterday's event even overpowered ESPN's technology -- which apparently couldn't stomach Joey Chestnut's performance.

SOUNDCLIP

HOST: If this holds for Joey Chestnut... this park is shouting “Joey”. And Jeffrey Bezos, I'm only going to ask once, bring Joey to the moon with you, man. He's earned it. Chestnut is a true American treasure.

ANNOUNCER: Thirty seconds now. Thirty seconds now.

HOST TWO: Under 30 seconds remaining, 72 hot dogs in buns, unofficially. He is eyeing his own record.

HOST: Look at that crowd!

[a breakdown of the feed]

CH: That's ESPN's live feed breaking down yesterday, as Joey Chestnut approached his world record. So: another triumph. And to the champion, and all who struggle through watching him eat food at a horrifying pace, we say: keep it up. And please: keep it down.

[music: folk]

Felix Auger-Aliassime

CH: It's an upset that Canadian tennis fans aren't at all upset about. Today, 20-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime pulled off what he's calling the win of his life at Wimbledon. In a four-hour match, the Canadian beat the fourth-seeded German player to advance to his first Grand Slam quarter-final. It was a spectacular personal win, and it also made Canadian history. For the first time, there will be two Canadian men in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon. Denis Shapovalov advanced earlier today. After his own win, Felix Auger-Aliassime gave an interview in front of the cheering crowd. of the cheering crowd. Well, the crowd loved that performance. Felix, after just over

SOUNDCLIP

[sound: clapping and cheering]

HOST: Well, the crowd loved that performance. Felix, after just four hours, five sets, epic match, how are you feeling?

FELIX AUGER-ALIASSIME: It's... it's a... it's a dream come true. You know, it's unbelievable. You dream of moments like this as a kid. You know, I'm a... I'm a normal guy from... from Montreal, Canada. And... and, you know, here I am. [crowd cheers and claps] Cour One, packed, Wimbledon. I mean, surely to the best victory of my life so far, so it was extra special in front of you, you know, with the closed roof, the sun was... was crazy, like nothing I've ever experienced before. So thank you. Thank you so much for living this moment with me.

HOST: The last thing I want to ask you, how do the words how are you looking forward to your first quarter final Grand Slam appearance sound? [audience cheers]

FAA: No, it sounds great. It sounds great. I get to play another match, so that's always good, you know? Ao against a good friend of mine, Matteo.

HOST: Berrettini.

FAA: You know, he's…. he’s one of the best players in the world at the moment. So I'm really looking forward to it. I think it's going to be exciting and we're both going to play our best tennis. So, you know, it's going to be good. Thank you.

HOST:I think the crowd love you, Felix. Congratulations.

FAA: Thank you.

[sound: cheering and clapping]

CH: That was 20-year-old Canadian tennis player Felix Auger-Aliassime speaking at Wimbledon, just after advancing to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal.

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July 05, 2021 Episode Transcript

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