While it sounds as though I were sulking or behaving with unpardonable ingratitude, the petty adventures of today have reaffirmed that the practical realities of life and the sorry hackneyed nature of all that we do is inescapable no matter what may be the competing circumstances. This is so even when one must suffer the ordeal of being on the beach of an Atlantic Ocean barrier island on a sunny warm day with normally nothing more pressing to concern oneself than the ambient temperature and what’s for dinner. Nonetheless in spite of the flightiness I managed to entangle myself in a series of frustrating events.

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Although we don’t push off until Thursday, we are now as good as done and ready to go! Our feet have at last caught up with our hearts! After months of counting the days, the moment of departure is nigh. We have nothing further on our diary. My four o’clock meeting this afternoon with a registered nurse at the Family Health Clinic completed my homebound ventures. The nurse removed the bandage from my recent surgery incision, examined it and pronounced the “approximation” of the tissue edges ideal. Healing quickly is the only physical attribute I have of any distinction, certainly not a highly marketable trait but nonetheless one worth having in the circumstances.  The surgery was precisely one week ago. Continue reading →

Sirius XM Radio announced today the addition of two new channels – Holiday Traditions (Ch. 18) and Holly (Ch. 13) – both of course for the upcoming Christmas season.  It is only November 2nd today but that date is right in line with what has become the norm for the institution of All Things Christmas in the commercial vernacular. Even though the temperature today climbed to an unusual 16ºC I couldn’t resist tuning in to hear Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme sing “Happy Holidays!”  I also caught a hint of Bing Crosy’s classic “White Christmas“.  It doesn’t require much to get me to soak it up and sing the well-known lyrics. Continue reading →

Sharply at eight o’clock this morning Don’s Taxi collected me in front of the lobby of our apartment residence and whisked me to the Almonte General Hospital for my scheduled inguinal hernia surgery with Dr. Eric Bigelow. There was unquestionably some of that pathetic fallacy business going on as the dismal grey weather and early morning drizzle mirrored my drab infirmary garb and shadowy mood. Last night I hadn’t slept well in spite of having gone to bed after midnight in an effort to reduce myself to slumber and to quell the torment of the upcoming surgery.  Although years ago I had endured two umbilical hernias I knew from what I was repeatedly told by medical professionals and others that the inguinal hernia was the more complicated of the two including of course the recovery. That intelligence did nothing to assuage my brooding. As well the surgery inconveniently collided with our planned winter departure only a week hence. The time constraints abounded on all fronts. It was a mere four weeks ago that my adventitious visit to the Emergency Department had pinpointed the cause of my discomfort. Synthesizing the abrupt diagnosis and orchestrating the ineluctable surgery within that condensed interval was incredible fortuity. Yet in spite of the serendipity I proved myself to be a thankless worrywart and succeeded to manufacture a long list of “What Ifs”. The surgical event contaminated everything on the horizon and aroused in me unimaginable complications as I profitlessly contemplated what was to come. My buoyancy for life had been temporarily revoked. Continue reading →

I have only lately regained my zest for shopping. This for me is a telling observation. Shopping has historically been a conspicuous feature of my existence. For example I prided myself on knowing where to purchase almost anything, especially along the lines of made-to-measure or what the British prefer to call bespoke (that is, strictly custom made). But for the past number of years I have either abandoned or neglected the  enterprise except of course for the necessities of life.  This of course hardly qualifies as “shopping”. Even if one were not considered an overkeen shopper, it scarcely pushes the point to remark that shopping  engenders the vision of an exploit far less tedious than snapping up household provisions. Shopping if it is to have any substance whatsoever must include a degree of superfluity.  That element was decidedly lacking in my recent behaviour.   I had become abstemious. Continue reading →

I am ebullient! My lightheartedness is unstoppable! The sensation – a combination of utter relief, unparalleled exhilaration and moderate confusion – is reminiscent of Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas morning.  I can still see Alastair Sim helplessly struggling to keep from grinning as he awoke from his unsettling dream, recognized his fortune and hopped about in his nightgown, gushing enthusiasm, embracing his unsuspecting char, throwing open the window of his cloistered bedchamber onto the much altered world and greeting the street urchin below with gleeful beneficence!  Life turned out to be pretty good after all! Continue reading →

Calling someone a “loser” is normally frowned upon. It tends to fly in the face of everything we’ve learned or been taught about sociability, tolerance and compassion. Not to mention that it’s viewed as a harsh albeit considered assessment. We are by contrast more inclined – at least publicly – to make excuses for people’s poor or diminished behaviour, caused by everything from untimely loss of a loved one, accidental injury, medical trauma, mental illness or financial ruin. Frequently however it is an unavoidable conclusion that, whether through any fault of their own or not, some people are indeed de facto losers and all the mollification in the world will not change it.  They have simply lost the battle with life.  They may have capitulated, they may have succumbed, they have been beaten down by degrees.  Perhaps they never even had a chance in the first place (or possibly they never even tried).  Whatever the circumstance, they are by any account a loser, someone who hasn’t managed to come up smelling roses. Continue reading →