Ours was today a formidable syllabus! It is now 3:59 pm and we have only just returned to the apartment for our 4:00 o’clock tea/coffee rendezvous with our neighbours.  The locally made chocolate is at hand; the chilled coffee is made; the Crown Derby tea cups, saucers and side plates are laid out; the tea basket, tea pot and tea leaves are at the ready. The Jane Austen Companion (various artists, The Philharmonia, Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra) is connected.  The grandfather clock has just rung four times.

The morning began with a buzz in preparation for our removal from the apartment in deference to our housekeeper. It was a picturesque fall morning. We steadied the sting of the ejection by opting to go to Antrim Truck Stop in Arnprior for breakfast. The place was packed!  We stood in line for at least an half hour. The unendurable wait paid off. Perhaps the delay was spirited by an increased appetite. My breakfast was superb!

I omitted to mention that before leaving Almonte we visited the Post Office by a circuitous route along Farm Street to Bay Hill then up Mill Street. The main drag is still under construction. But once again we were rewarded for our wretchedness.  In the post were the two new driver’s licences with our updated municipal address. Much turns upon the accuracy of one’s residence not the least of which is the cooperation of federal and provincial governments with federal and state governments below the border.

On the heels of this cheery and enabling news we sped to the local pharmacy where we collected our latest drug supply. The fortuity of it all was approaching the unbearable! What followed was the glorious wending through the Village of Blakeney (which I  prefer to think of as its original name the Village of Rosebank) to the County of Renfrew.

From there we proposed visiting a CAA office to obtain an International Driver’s Permit.  This too (I hesitate to say for fear of sounding smug) we accomplished without a minute’s obstruction.

Once again I have jumped the gun.  There was a further interruption between Antrim Truck Stop and the CAA; that is (and this will shamefully come as no surprise to anyone who knows me at all) the car wash. Normally I would not have the vulgarity to mention a car wash in the same breath as anything as aspirational as an IDP. The peculiarity here derives from the fact that my car wash card had expired.  Rather than pay for another card (which will be of no use in the upcoming southern sojourn) I thought to profit from my collection of Petro-Canada points earned upon almost daily gasoline purchases (my car has 10,619 MI following its purchase on April 20th last). Having lately subscribed to the Petro-Canada app I was anxious to invoke whatever technical facility possible for the processing of this redemption of points for a car wash. I will not labour the narrative except to say I sent a note to the Chairman of Petro-Canada complaining about the lack of facility of the app.  We did however manage to print a copy of the bar code for the car wash.  As well I took a photo of it.  It was nonetheless not until I parked beside the car wash module and undertook the enterprise of applying the photo to the QR code reader that I was to know my fortune. Surprise! It worked! Once again the unpredicted elevation of chance and change! I should however interject that I had taken the precaution of purchasing another car wash ticket with the latest fill-up just in case I were unable to apply the on-line credentials.  That ticket will remain undisturbed for another several days or more depending upon the weather and whatever normally predicts the need for a car wash.

On our way home we ventured into the Almonte Butcher for a supply of today’s homemade chilli. While there I succumbed to the burgeoning need to arrange a haircut at the adjacent salon. It is scheduled for tomorrow morning.

Is it any wonder therefore that the ensuing klatch at four o’clock this afternoon in our apartment with our neighbours proved so favourable?  We’d have no one but ourselves to blame if it were otherwise.  In the result our social gathering proved enormously fruitful.