Today was a paradoxically brilliant though magnificently foggy day with dry roads. As a photo hobbyist and friend of ours later observed, a close examination of the trees revealed remarkable frozen crystals. During the afternoon (as is my wont) I leisurely sailed about in my car – across to Stittsville (for the mandatory wash) then up to Arnprior to the Campbell Road exit, back along Hwy#417 then along Hwy#416 to Oxford Station and finally home on Trans-Canada Hwy#7 to the Appleton Side Road nearby Carleton Place. The drive was somewhat longer than normal because I deliberately wanted to exhaust the electric charge a) to test how far it would go on 80 per cent (400 Km) charge (I drove about 300 Km with about 50 Km remaining – so 400 Km was a fairly accurate assessment of range given my occasional spurts of violent acceleration); and, b) so I could afterwards instruct the car to charge to 100 per cent (though 80 per cent charge is recommended for “daily driving” – a characterization which I feel I exceeded today and may do again tomorrow as balmy weather is forecast). I hardly think an estimated monthly range of 5,000 Km is “daily driving”.

When I arrived home and stationed the car in its spot (upon which – serendipitously – the car issued a warning on the screen that I was approaching a 50 Km charge), I had no trouble locating and commanding the Charge Management on both the car and the App to 100 per cent. At a Level 2 – 240V charge, the car is expected to reach 100 per cent by tomorrow at 5:45 AM (the charging began at 4:12 PM when the battery level was at 12 per cent). The spin therefore is: charge to 100 per cent in about 12 hours, not ideal for everyone though certainly good enough for someone like me who is just puttering around then doing nothing overnight until the next day.

Should you care to know, the reason I said my drive today was about 300 Km is that – again serendipitously – last evening upon my arrival home and parking the car, the odometer read 20,002 Km; this afternoon, it had climbed to 20,291Km.

As I drove, I played with “Hey Siri” and “Hey Google”, the only result of which that is relevant is that – reportedly through Bluetooth – I am able to access Apple Music (which is significant because Cadillac advertises  that the car does not have Apple Car Play, a distinction frankly that escapes me at least for the purpose of music even if sometimes the sound is blemished by a poor connection). Unexpectedly I use “Hey Google” to dictate a message while driving. The function always works.

Listening to Vangelis of a foggy day is pretty much assured to quell any ruling anxiety, though I do not recommend it for parlour listening with guests.

Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis, was a Greek musician, composer, and producer of electronic, progressive, ambient, and classical orchestral music. He composed the Academy Award-winning score to Chariots of Fire (1981), as well as scores for the films Blade Runner (1982), Missing (1982), Antarctica(1983), The Bounty (1984), 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), and Alexander (2004), and the 1980 PBS documentary series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage by Carl Sagan.

I subsequently sought out music from Symphony Hall SiriusXM Ch 78 where coincidentally I heightened my musical education by listening – admittedly briefly – to Max Bruch’s “Scottish Fantasy” for violin and orchestra.

This item of my daily agenda (driving) was my reward for having previously burned 142 Active Calories in “Outdoor Cycle” on my tricycle in the subterranean basement of our apartment building. The Workout Details denominated on my Fitness App were “Moderate” Effort, Avg. Heart Rate 90 BPM, Workout Time 0:34:18, Avg. Speed 0.0KM/H. While there is always room for improvement I am content on the basis of the data to assuage any guilt with its accomplishment.

As a matter of record – late this afternoon I received a succinct telephone call from Dr. Sibley who advised of two further editions of melanoma.  Having already had one such infection surgically removed, it does not surprise me that the trouble has resurfaced (as I frankly suspect it will continue to do until it consumes me entirely). One can never predict the unforeseen future but I have to confess that – reading the almost daily obituaries of former friends and acquaintances – the inevitability of a similar peril is not ambitiously discounted. Meanwhile we have yet another convenient reason to avoid international travel – as I await both medical and dental fruitions. Driving shall continue to divert my attention – but perhaps finally there will be some believable stock in assertion, “This is the last car I shall buy!”