“It becomes a profoundly difficult thing to scale that infrastructure in a way that allows you to scale growth in the retail sector,” he says. “So can it work? I think it could, but it would be a very difficult and painful process to get established and to grow.”

One of the Federated Co-ops, Red River Co-op, ceased grocery operations in 1983 - it wasn’t until the Sobeys/Safeway merger in 2014 that they were able to pick up four of the Winnipeg locations that the new megacorp were forced to sell, and re-enter the market. They now have nine grocery locations in and around the city.

It’s hard to take a lesson from that, since you can’t count on those circumstances to repeat every often, but inheriting existing infrastructure certainly seems to help.

Well I’m happy for her - it sounds like it’s a good thing that she reconsidered her life goals, and found something more fulfilling.

I really think you’re putting words in her mouth.

“It felt impossible to go back to that kind of a life and I didn’t want to sacrifice my time with my family” has absolutely nothing to do with the process of transferring credentials to Canada, and everything to do with the job itself. “I feel that I can be a better nurse than a physician" speaks for itself.

There are plenty of stories about the challenges of transferring credentials. This, by her own account, as quoted in this article, is not one of them.

If the process were easier she wouldn’t have been “led” to reassess those priorities.

How does an easier process change her conclusion of, “I would be happier as a nurse?”

Not exactly.

When Tretiak first arrived in Canada in December 2022, she looked into obtaining a license to practice medicine, but the complexity of the process and volume of paperwork led her to reassess her priorities.

That doesn’t say she thought it was “too much.” It says she decided it wasn’t what she wanted to do.

You can argue that the process is too much - and it probably is, at least in places - but she pretty directly states that it led to her deciding that she didn’t actually want to be a doctor, and would rather be a nurse.

She says she sees nursing as an opportunity to engage more deeply with patients through communication and empathy. “I feel that I can be a better nurse than a physician,” says Tretiak, who currently works in a retirement home for Ukrainian-speaking older adults.

“I had lost a lot of people already – including many of my friends – and I no longer connected my happiness to my professional goals. It felt impossible to go back to that kind of a life and I didn’t want to sacrifice my time with my family.”

I’m going to suggest we shouldn’t force her to do something she doesn’t want to do.

I’m going to try something different this time and type out my thoughts in real time. That’s sure to make them more coherent and less disjointed…right?

The effect of materializing the TARDIS around Rose is cool.

It’s interesting that the Doctor talks about the Time War in somewhat abstract terms - it’s his people that destroyed the Daleks - but the Dalek Emperor seems to lay the blame more squarely on the Doctor.

This is the first “Oncoming Storm” nickname. I’d honestly forgotten where it came from.

A little convenient that the Emperor’s ship just happened to be the one that survived the end of the war.

The whole “we’ve been hiding on Earth for centuries” thing really makes no sense, and has no emotional resonance for me at all. We probably needed to see some of the humans they speak of being converted.

That said, a Dalek cult is a fun idea.

The sound mix is terrible, and I can barely make out the dialogue.

My library-issued DVDs are scratched, so I missed the scene where the Doctor tricks Rose into going home. From what I remember, it’s pretty good.

The scene in the restaurant is great - I love Rose and Jackie’s debate over whether the battle is happening 200,000 years in the future, or right now. And good on Mickey for helping Rose, despite the things she’s saying about there being nothing for her in the present being incredibly hurtful. The scene where Rose tells Jackie she met Pete is also dynamite.

It’s a lot of fun watching the civilians getting picked off. Waht can I say - I like these sorts of stories. RTD’s bloodlust is in fine form here, and he gives each of them just enough characterization for you to give a damn, if only a little.

I wonder if there’s an alternate universe - maybe the one in which Eccleston had stayed on - where Rose doesn’t survive staring into the heart of the TARDIS, and regresses to an infant or something.

Billie Piper is decent as the Bad Wolf entity, but it’s interesting to see the contrast between this and her second time 'round in “The Day of the Doctor”.

Hey, who’s this new guy? He’ll never last.

This episode belongs to Christopher Eccleston, and he makes the most of it, running the full spectrum of the Ninth Doctor’s emotions. He turns on a dime from despondent, to aloof, to furious, and everything in between.

And that’s a wrap on series 1. I think it’s a pretty mixed bag overall - they’re definitely still figuring things out. But there are flashes of brilliance throughout. It’s definitely not my favourite series, but Eccleston will be missed.

I find it interesting that Capaldi seems quite determined to stay away from the role now that he’s out of it.

It’s absolutely his right…but it’s interesting.

From the sounds of it, what it is is “expensive”.

the implication is that the Daleks have been pushing things for a lot longer than just 100 years anyway.

Yeah, I’m not convinced that the Daleks’ Master Plan actually makes any sense, but I’m prepared to withhold judgment until I’ve rewatched the big finale.

“Society collapsing into a horrifying regime way more quickly than you’d expect” is actually a bit of an RTD running theme, and…I think history is on his side there, to be honest.

I kept putting this off all week, dreading The Reality Show Episode. On rewatch…it’s silly and dated, but I didn’t actually mind it.

Oddly prescient for them to feature game shows that are still around 20 years later.

The episode itself is pretty thin, though: the Doctor, Rose, and Jack get separated into different reality/game shows, discover that losers get killed, and find a way to esacape. The highlights are Eccleston and Piper’s performances - they both do terrific work here, selling the emotions that they go through quite well.

They probably could have done more with the fact that Rose had to play that entire “Weakest Link” episode, sending quite a few people to their deaths.

Jack is…present. He seems somewhat stilted again, much as he did in “The Empty Child.”

The guest cast all turn in good performances, which help elevate the overall episode.

I can’t decide if setting the episode on Satellite 5 100 years later was simply an excuse to reuse the sets (which I likely would not have recognized anyway), but confronting the Doctor with the revelation that he’s the cause of this divergence in history works pretty well.

And, of course, the whole thing is a setup for the full-on return of the Daleks in the big finale. The weight of their reveal is really felt, with the heavy lifting having been done back in “Dalek”.

I don’t know, this feels like a pretty scattered collection of thoughts, but…it’s that kind of episode.

They were saying, “next year” in 2024.

I think the answer is probably complicated - the overall tv landscape is in a tough place, and who knows what other factors are in play.

I personally think the RTD2 era has been fine, with the usual assortment of episodes ranging from outstanding to not-that-great, and some unfortunately disappointing finales that tend to leave an aftertaste.

Well, that’s disappointing…

Yeah, I wish I could say I was confident that they will be dismissed…

It sounds like the suspensions are for the duration of their investigation:

“Although I have been made aware that these events happened in 2023, these members remain subject to administrative and disciplinary action that may lead to their release.”

This should be an absolute humiliation for Hajdu and Carney, and I hope (but don’t expect) their responses will reflect that.

Indeed, the HQ on “Torchwood” is located directly beneath the water feature thingie.

Don’t worry, that will clear right up in…let’s say 16 or 17 seasons.

I got around to watching this last night. It’s fine - kind of like Star Trek’s old Ready Room companion show. It’s kind of nice to get an up-close view of props and things like that, but it’s hardly essential viewing.