Category Archives: General

Vehicular Euphoria

Lately I was asked by a dear friend in Toronto to send her photos of my new car. Frankly the request caused me to pause. To me it always sounds fatal to go on about a car. Almost childish – as in an amusement with a toy.  Though perhaps there is very little difference between the two – that “men and boys” quip comes to mind.  Nonetheless today – once again for the millionth time in my life – I found myself privately gushing about the marvel of the car as I headed northwestward along the Ottawa River towards Renfrew County and back home. I had just come from the Petro-Canada Glide car wash on Hazeldean Road in Stittsville.  The weather was ideally clear and cold, the roads were entirely dry. And for whatever reason on a Thursday afternoon in the Ottawa Valley at the end of February there wasn’t a lot of traffic. I had all the windows open.

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SiriusXM Canada

My partner and I have spent the entire afternoon fussy with SiriusXM Canada. I hold an introductory (or trial) plan of music and videos following the purchase of a new car from Reid Bros in Arnprior. I was attempting to locate and manage my account on-line and to facilitate the “streaming” of music to our separate devices (iPhone, iPad and MacBook Pro). Streaming (which is basically “transmitting or receiving video and audio material over a computer network as a steady, continuous flow”) is an added bonus to subscription to SiriusXM Canada including its availability to a limited number of family members. In the result however – after struggling to make it all work – I am feeling exceedingly strained and drained. Translation: I am kaput!

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Here comes the sun

There is a period of my life in 1969 about which  I seldom reminisce; and, less often share with others. I have the excuse that my recollection is clouded (both intentionally and statistically). Even after 56 years it is an era  – albeit narrow – which remains distant and unsteady. And yet provocative. No period more adequately cemented my inadequacy while enabling my capacity. While therefore definitely a time of personal growth, it is not a time of my life I prefer to revisit. There were painful learning curves. I recall on the evening of my 21st birthday (December 11th) being alone, staring quizzically into a mirror in the men’s residence at university where I then “dormed”, speculating who I was, who of my parents I most resembled. It was a marked period of introversion, controversy and discovery. And like any true learning it came at a cost.

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Afternoon coffee chat

Yesterday js (that’s his sobriquet) and I arranged to have coffee and a chat. The rendezvous today went exceedingly well in my opinion. Nothing of especial note  – unless you count the “interruption” of Donnie who, after removing his ski wear, plopped himself in a chair at table. Of lesser note was my perception that I was awakening to a side of js I hadn’t previously thought. Today just seeing ancient photos of his family (including him of course) and hearing tales of how and where they met, stuff like that, painted a lively image. The added detail left its mark, by which I mean I whittled a far different view of what I was now seeing.

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Brilliant Day

It is an accident of my early arising this morning – at eight o’clock to be precise – that, having completed my plodding meanderings by noon, the remainder of my worthwhile performance has necessitated squinting my eyes to overcome at least some of the radiance whilst seated at my desk looking upriver. Many times I have contemplated the usefulness of repositioning my desk so it is not directly facing the floor-to-ceiling windows; but always I readapt my original scheme in spite of the temporary exposure to brilliance.

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A mottled day

Increasingly it has become the norm to lay in bed until after nine o’clock in the morning – and often later. I find this disturbing for two reasons. One, I now routinely retire promptly at ten o’clock in the evening so it is not as though I am deprived of a reasonable sleep if I were to awaken at 7:00 am or 8:00 am at the outside. Two, the regularity of these prolonged sleeps (and frequent contemporaneous afternoon naps, slumped at my desk, head abandonly bowed to the carpet) appear to predict a common model for the elderly (which naturally punctuates an unflattering decomposition). Overall the effect of this somniferous template is one of universal drowsiness or lack of clarity.  In short, dull.  Or boring. Perhaps even flat.

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