There was a time when getting out of bed beyond 7:00 am was an event I considered wholly scandalous! It was either a wilful disregard of obligation or an abuse of privilege. Nor did it matter whether the monstrous disgrace transpired on a weekend or a weekday. Indeed a weekend – especially if the weather were favourable – was all the more cause to get up and to get going! From those pastoral though Stoic days I have now thankfully broken free. In a word my descent to the nether ambitions has afforded me a smug complacency.
An uncommonly early rising this morning was engineered last evening by a tire pressure monitor system warning on the car dashboard and through my Lincoln Way App. This constituted an agitation of an Olympic degree – made all the worse by having occurred late on a Sunday evening, requiring me effectively to stew relentlessly overnight. Which I don’t mind telling you, I did! It is a small but well-known corruption of mine that I am hopelessly dedicated to the operation of my passenger vehicle. It matters not whether the device is new or antique; either extreme warrants the identical dedication to workability. Once for example I willingly jettisoned a Louis XIV enamel boudoir clock because the ancient pendulum could not be repaired after several attempts. It is appropriate that I reference a timepiece for this particular illustration because those devices capture a recognizable purity of ingenuity and precision.
The temperature lately dropped at least 10°C and now approaches the freezing mark. The car tyres were clearly showing the footprint! Initially snow was in the forecast but the threat has since been subdued by an exceedingly moderate rise in temperature to 3°C; the prognosis is for haze. Happily my ride along March Road to Lincoln Heights was largely free of snow but the precipitation was at times dangerously close to frozen crystals. Ambivalence at that level is always menacing. My apprehension was swiftly overcome by the assiduous care of a gentleman in the service bay at Lincoln Heights. After carefully adjusting and re-adjusting each of the tyres to the recommended pressure I was able to return home feeling renewed and enlivened generally.
Indeed so enthusiastic was I following this spirited victory on a sleeting and decidedly Monday re-entry to the week that I afterwards gleefully washed the car at Petro-Canada then pushed off as usual towards Arnprior to soothe my befuddled soul on the undulating ribbon of highway into the County of Renfrew. And – dare I say it – nearby the bakery at Antrim Truck Stop!
Years ago – after Antrim Truck Stop had settled is expropriation litigation connected with the widening of the highway and moved to White Lake Road from its original location – we occasionally breakfasted there. The real secret however is not its restaurant but its bakery – “Fresh baked daily“. My favourites are the peanut butter squares and the date squares. There are also more than passable prepared foods such as classic chilis and meat pies. Today – no doubt propelled by the morning’s incomparable success – I fell headlong into the display counter and took home an entire carrot cake smothered in thick white icing! Oh my! Say I haven’t a weakness!
I also purchased some date cookies for His Lordship and two blueberry scones lathered in a white sugar frosting. The latter made an agreeable late morning treat with a cup of chilled espresso coffee.
It is a moderate transgression to be able to avoid cycling today. The weather is just too incompatible! By contrast the reservation enables me to dwell unabashedly upon those other inconsequential gratifications which regularly motivate me; namely, listening to cable news, reading, writing, sipping coffee, watching TV, snoozing – and anticipating the carrot cake for dessert tonight!