I can’t think of a more innocuous introduction to gossip than the idle query, “What’s the news?”  It was the faithful initial acquaintance of the late Raymond Algernon Jamieson, QC whom I fashion my “predecessor” though if the truth be known I only purchased the hardware and contents of his law practice at 74 Mill Street, Almonte where he had practiced law for 50 years or more.  I believe he retired in 1975 at 84 years of age after having been called to the Bar at Osgoode Hall in 1921. He sold his practice to Messrs. Galligan & Sheffield, Barristers &c. who hired me in 1976 to plug the hole.

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There may indeed be those who’d prefer to have done things differently.  No doubt it is a mark of my incurable arrogance that I have never once contemplated doing so. Naturally the entire scheme is absurd, wrought as it is with fancy and denial.  What however bothers me more than anything is not its piffling covetousness but rather the casual abandon of what matters. And just to be clear, the only thing that matters is what actually happens.  Everything else is unattainable and an unwitting obstruction of reality.

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May is a busy month for me.  An unscheduled visit with my dentist; a telephone chat with my family physician; an oil change; a cardiac device check at the Ottawa hospital; an eye exam with my optometrist; surgery with my dental specialist; domaine name renewal; web hosting renewal; residential insurance renewal; car insurance renewal; numerous birthdays; a wedding anniversary; and winding up income tax reporting for another season. Whew!

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“The exorbitant power of the baron had been gradually reduced. The condition of the peasant had been gradually elevated. Between the aristocracy and the working people had sprung up a middle class, agricultural and commercial.”

Excerpt From: Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1848
“The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 1”

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A society sunk in ignorance, and ruled by mere physical force, has great reason to rejoice when a class, of which the influence is intellectual and moral, rises to ascendancy. Such a class will doubtless abuse its power: but mental power, even when abused, is still a nobler and better power than that which consists merely in corporeal strength.

For even the mutual animosity of countries at war with each other is languid when compared with the animosity of nations which, morally separated, are yet locally intermingled. In no country has the enmity of race been carried farther than in England.

Thomas Babington Macaulay,
“The History of England, from the Accession of James II — Volume 1”

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The rain isn’t forecast to start until 10:00 am.  It’s now 4:51 am.  I’ve been up since two o’clock unable to sleep thanks to neuropathy and whatever other afflictions foster insomnia in old age. I reckon based upon the tweeting of the birds I already hear through the windows ajar in the drawing room, the sun will be up in time for me to undertake a purgative cycle before the rain starts. Meanwhile I have been spared the midnight paucity of creativity by having to download software updates for all my electronic devices – iPad, iPhone, MacBook Pro and Apple Watch. Those updates – like the “new generation” models of each of them – afford one a sense of novelty and accomplishment.  It is easy to become preoccupied with one’s devices with only the tiniest element of intellect. An accidental discovery of yet another feature on any one of them constitutes a minuscule but nonetheless tangible victory.

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To start with, there was no morning this morning. That was my dawn, a grey mournful dawn. With a much diminished gusto. And a Monday to boot! According to the unparalleled accuracy of my Apple watch – the perpetual modern accoutrement  – it was literally one minute before noon, 11:59 am when I assembled my rumpled carcass sufficiently from the virginal lair to clock my progress.  Humiliating that it was!  Well, at least it would be normally were it not for the fact that the atmosphere today – I nearly said “This morning!” – was decidedly damp, raw and uninviting, certainly not inspirational of a casual cycle about the neighbourhood as would regularly be my wont.  Instead I thought of peanut butter.

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That and getting on one’s horse and riding off in all directions are about the limits and entire account of my accomplishments today.  When there’s nothing to do it’s so very hard to get it done – especially with those inevitable complications! The quip acquires  moderate legitimacy only when spoken to those witnessing the officiating of a wedding.  Otherwise…

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Given the dearth of activity surrounding our daily agenda during the pandemic it constantly alarms me to succeed exhausted at the end of the day with a sense of having been occupied to the extreme. Nonetheless a glance back upon what has transpired affords some legitimacy to the consciousness. Though we’re already approaching 7:00 o’clock in the evening it was only moments ago I returned to the apartment; and I have just made myself a triple-strength “Izpirazione Napoli” Nespresso coffee to boost me before commencing our evening ritual. To this energetic precaution I have added 2 ml of THC laden with a majority of CBD for the dilution of my multiple “conditions” as yet unclassified but which perhaps universally relate only to what is called by the uninitiated “old age“. It is a sparsity of definition I am prepared to accept.

From the streets of Naples, the local deep-rooted coffee ritual inspired our dark roasting method in Ispirazione Napoli. The marriage of the coffee’s velvety texture and its delicious bitter aftertaste is a win to toast to with this classic Bitter Citrus Cool

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Why it is we’re so inevitably amused by snapshots from the past I shall never fully comprehend.  It’s as though after a prolonged evaporation we’re looking at something that occurred in someone else’s dream.  “How young we both were!  And the dark hair colour!  Oh my, I’d never get into that outfit now!” We may conclude we have not aged well but confidentially we know we’re here to talk about it.  Many are no longer whinnying among us!  Life has for some been a hastened passage! The spirited gems and tantalizing ingredients of an adventurous and dynamic life are for some irreverently compressed into a miniature legend. Meanwhile I fondle my own bijoux, my half-starved touch upon its carat weight, creation and burnish.

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