Shortly after one o’clock this morning I accepted that I could no longer sleep.  I was never one for a deep or long slumber.  What I recall more precisely is going to bed late and getting up early.  The routine was normally bedtime after 1:00 am then arising sharply at 7:00 am, at least that was when the clock radio alarm went off and I conditioned myself to haul myself out of the sack onto the floor.  In the days when I had my little French bulldog Monroe we would lie on the floor in the television room, my head on a pillow, Monroe cuddled in my arm, as I flipped channels.  When at last it came time to go to bed I’d let Monroe out the front door to void his bladder, then we’d go back upstairs, each to his own bed.  In the morning the same ceremony was repeated and the day began.

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I went to bed last night shortly before or after 9:00 o’clock.  I awoke around 2:30 am, got up, took my usual collection of pills, then went back to bed.  But I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about bicycling. I knew the weather, though terribly cold, would be dry and sunny.  Overnight I had heard the wind howling about the building. My iPhone told me we could expect total sunshine today.  At 4:30 am I got out of bed, collected my clothes and headed to the living area to dress and prepare myself for an early morning drive. Until the sun rose it would be an ideal time for a drive. Or, as I prefer to envisage it, a flight in the Aviator!

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Listening to CBC radio this afternoon while driving to Stittsville for my daily car wash, the announcer reported that a snow squall was expected.

A snowsquall, or snow squall, is a sudden moderately heavy snow fall with blowing snow and strong, gusty surface winds. It is often referred to as a whiteout and is similar to a blizzard but is localized in time or in location and snow accumulations may or may not be significant…snowsqualls are very dangerous for motorists and airplanes or generally any traveler unfortunate enough to get stuck in one. The change in conditions is very sudden, and slippery conditions and abrupt loss of visibility due to whiteouts often cause multiple-vehicle collisions. In the case of lake-effect snow, heavy amounts of snow can accumulate in short periods of time, possibly causing road closures and paralyzing cities. For instance, on January 9, 2015, a localized, heavy snow squall caused a 193-vehicle pile-up on I-94 highway near Galesburg, Michigan.

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Somewhere last evening – on CNN or the radio – I read or heard there is foreseeable expectation that things will be back to normal by the summer. Today is the first day of March, almost exactly a year since the news broke of an international lockdown.  It caused a precipitous alteration of everything. Learning how to negotiate the simplest social interaction was an obstruction of Olympic degree. Most conventions were difficult; many were prohibited. Plans were abandoned as either treacherous or illegal.

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The much touted reappearance of Donald J. Trump as a golden idol and centre stage performance at this year’s CPAC Dog and Pony Show is notable for its predominantly laughable agenda. By the time the disgraced Trump gets through the looming civil litigation,  criminal charges, income tax reassessment, declining $2B asset evaluations, maturing $1B debt, diminishing “base” supporters and revitalization of the GOP with its erstwhile genuine conservatism, Americans as a whole will long ago have lost interest in Trump’s venal mendacity and the demeaning behaviour of his pyramid-based family and heirs. The attendance of the Proud Boys and QAnon at this year’s love fest is not at all helpful to any realistic recovery of the GOP.

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There was no doubt this morning from the moment of awakening – an elevation which by the way began for one of us not long after 2:00 am – that the paramount ambition today was completion of the puzzle, the 1000 piece obfuscation from England called “A Winter Stroll” by Steve Crisp sold by Gibsons “Proudly Entertaining Generations Since 1919”.  I confess the occupation is not my own. For my part it’s Bill Evans, “You Must Believe in Spring (1981)”. I excuse my reservation from the endurance of the puzzle by my preference instead for finding words. Both of us however were agreed that a cycle was in order.

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Certainly the removal of Donald J. Trump from political office has spurred considerable buzz worldwide. Mostly in a good way, I’m guessing, even for the GOP (at least if you were to listen to Mitch McConnell). I suspect the “Trump Base” – an unfortunate collision of noun and adjective, support and sordid – will in typical manner disacquaint themselves with Trump when they run to ground that he misled them for his venal purpose. The political hounds like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley may prove to be more penetratingly misguided but they’re already at peril in my opinion. Americans don’t like losers. Whatever the consequences of Trump’s electoral loss on November 3rd and the Capitol insurrection on January 6th last, people are I believe thankful to be relieved of the constant apprehension and embarrassment surrounding Trump’s circus performance in the public arena.  President Joseph Robinette Biden is a welcome catharsis of the national image and a digestible alternative to Trump’s unsettling diet. Biden’s redecoration of the Oval Office is but one refreshment.

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The moment I threw back the duvet this morning and projected myself from the virginal lair onto the precious Persian I peaked through the patio drapery to check the weather.  Although the forecast on my iPhone was 100‰ snow precipitation for the next hour, the driveway was clear and there was only an ominous bank of grey clouds in the distance. I speculated that before the snow showers overtook us there was yet time for a bicycle ride! But we hadn’t any time to lose – not even time to make the bed.  That could wait.  Just dress and begone!

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It isn’t every day that one feels an overwhelming sense of accomplishment and fulfilment. When one does, it is the Sacrament of Heaven! Friday affords a convenient occasion upon which to be cock-a-hoop, representing as it does a traditional day for unblemished merrymaking and the start of what may become a weekend of flawless frivolity. This is especially so today as temperatures have for the first time in weeks risen to the astronomic level of precisely 1° above freezing! What greater imperative can there be for a burgeoning springtime!

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When I began attending boarding school at St. Andrew’s College in Aurora, Ontario at 14 years of age in 1963 my address in the year-book school directory was c/o Canadian Embassy, Strandvagan 7-C, Stockholm, Sweden. I remember being dropped off at the school by a driver in front of MacDonald House on a grey, miserable day. The “new boys” to the school arrived earlier than the other boarders.  I suppose it was to give us time to acclimatize but it proved to be more lonely than anything else. The discomfort wasn’t long-lasting.  As soon as the regular régime of academic, athletic and cultural activity began there was no time for anything else.

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