There are so many oddities today that I wondered whether I may have inadvertently consumed some drug which – not unlike the romanticized addiction of Sherlock Holmes – had transferred me to another atmosphere of unqualified pleasure and comfort. Even, for example, a piece I happily listened to on CBC FM radio perfectly finalized the recording precisely as I was obliged to stop at a traffic light when adjoining March Road. Chance? Of course! But nonetheless a notable one, and a pleasing fortuity whatever you may say.

The rest of the day has been riddled with similar happy occurrences, ones that distinguish themselves from commonality. The traffic was oddly light – especially for a Friday the 13th and a Friday before the start of a long holiday weekend. Not to mention Valentine’s Day! Yet the number of cars was few; drivers were abnormally considerate and no one appeared in a hurry. Plus the roads were predominantly dry.

Perhaps the crown of the day was the weather: moderate, sunshine, a definite hint of spring. The unspeakable cold we’ve lately endured was patently more limiting than initially perceived. Freezing temperatures are a rigorous liability.

It bears repeating that I had a good night’s sleep last night. And I won’t embarrass myself by telling you how long I lingered beneath the duvet.  And the breakfast!  Yet another healthful element of my day! We added 2 spoonfuls of crunchy peanut butter to the steel cut oats et al.  Insignificant , so you may say, but for me – in my cocoon of ritual habit – the modification was perfection!

Curiously, if these events had similarly unfolded any other day, there is a good chance they may have transpired unnoticed. But to me – today – things were exceptional. Deep within the recesses of my mind I have also nurtured a more favourable recognition of the overall picture. I cannot deny that recently – with Russia at war with the world, Americans murdering their own citizens, threats of separation by the Province of Alberta, and worldwide caution against travel – it makes for a sorry backdrop. Nonetheless my insulation is not an unhappy one because I am so proud of the Town of Mississippi Mills and to have passed half a century here. Nothing beats the consequence! Being able to reap these advantages by effluxion of time is an added bonus.

The first apparent mention of his cocaine use was in The Sign of Four, which is only the second Holmes story. At its first mention, the very beginning of the novel, Watson was already upset at Holmes’s use:

“But consider!” I said, earnestly. “Count the cost! Your brain may, as you say, be roused and excited, but it is a pathological and morbid process, which involves increased tissue-change and may at last leave a permanent weakness. You know, too, what a black reaction comes upon you. Surely the game is hardly worth the candle. Why should you, for a mere passing pleasure, risk the loss of those great powers with which you have been endowed? Remember that I speak not only as one comrade to another, but as a medical man to one for whose constitution he is to some extent answerable.”