We may have to re-think things.  The COVID-19 pandemic is turning into a scourge. It’s popular classification has gone from a viral infection to a contagious disease. Not only is international travel out of the question; even crossing provincial interior boundaries to get to the Atlantic Ocean is forbidden. The entire model of vacation reward and wintering has altered. And because of its worldwide affect there is literally no escaping it. Nor does it help that social isolation is a restriction applicable to almost every possible vernacular – effectively creating a world of glass imprisonment barely overcome by the software application Zoom and related internet communicators.

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Within the next four weeks I have five medical appointments starting today at the cardiac device unit of the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. I am already imagining the prodding and analysis to follow.  My more immediate concern however is negotiating a parking space there and the following week at the orthodontist. I abhor penetrating tangled urban centres for any reason. It reminds me of the kerfuffle we had to endure years ago in downtown Montréal when the hotel where we were going was consumed by secret police for a high-ranking political congress. I couldn’t wait to get out of there and back home to rural Almonte.

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The sun rose this morning at 5:35 am.  It will set at 8:25 pm this evening.  The chance of rain is 10% which is to say zero; the high will be 20°C.  Hardly “just another day”. I mean to say, what’s not to like! Indeed so motivated were we by the advent of this certain summertime weather – which by the way is forecast only to improve over the coming week – that within moments of awakening we proceeded to exhaust our predilection for healthful living by bicycling throughout the neighbourhood amid the early morning strollers, the runners and the dog walkers to all of whom we waved a cheery though naturally distant hello. Then routine ablutions. Followed by breakfast also shamefully routine but I adore it ceaselessly.

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The thing I like about the magazine Country Life is that each issue dwells predominantly upon people, places and affairs having a rural theme. Certainly many of those are decidedly polished – royalty, castles and prestigious equestrian events – but for the most part it strives to expand upon everyday country living and the often amusing and capable denizens therein. Whenever I drive about casually in my motor vehicle there is only one direction for me – and that’s a country drive!

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When we look back upon what people were wearing a century ago it is probable that things look a bit “dated”.  Even our musical preferences sometimes suffer the identical abrasion. When exactly did we decide that everything began and ended with the Baroque period? Recently for example I’ve discovered Ludovico Einaudi and Alexis Ffrench.  They’re both classically trained but their style is decidedly new. Already its appeal has insinuated my tastes and penchants.

Alexis Ffrench (born 1970) is a British classical soul musician, composer, producer, and pianist. Not only is Ffrench the UK’s biggest selling pianist of 2020, he has headlined London’s Royal Albert Hall, collaborated with fashion houses Miyake and Hugo Boss, played Latitude Festival, worked with Paloma Faith, composed several film scores and shares the same management team as Little Mix and Niall Horan.

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It is remarkable how suddenly one can become swallowed up in things, silly every day things really. Things like X-rays and ultra sound, annual physical exam, eye exam and new glasses, tooth extraction and implant, merchandise deliveries, oil change for the car, cardiac device check, family and friends’ birthdays and gifts, scheduled contract and service renewals, sister’s wedding anniversary, vaccinations, income tax and the recurring expectations that I am certain everyone has. Not to mention in this lingering lock-down the mounting need for a sensible haircut!

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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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