Home Grown Rubble

Last night for the second in a row we wearied ourselves until late in the evening hoping for an immediate determination of Joe Biden’s presidential bid. Again this morning as soon as I arose I pored over my iPhone in search of news from CNN, BBC, FOX NEWS, MSNBC and CBC. As might be expected there was nothing of material consequence anywhere to be found. Instead the networks have lapsed into the identical tarsome refrain as apparently has the rest of the world. The trenchant test of this otherwise paralytic state however is that my routine today unraveled pretty much as it always does – breakfast, cycling and a road drive. But when I launched myself onto the ribbon of highway which chronicles my circular route to Renfrew County and back, there was a decided wintry backdrop to the expansive barren fields.

The grey, hazy skies reflected my wistful mood.  Gradually my melancholy descended into more personal issues. After much private debate surrounding the need and source of a new silk square I reluctantly directed myself to Bayshore Shopping Centre in the west end of Ottawa. My hesitation surrounded two features. One, I was uncertain whether I even needed a new silk square.  Two, after trolling the internet in search of silk squares I was alive to the discrepancy between silk and silky – basically the contest between pure silk and polyester (or some blend of it with cotton).

My hesitancy was not unfounded. The first clue was the sparsity of shoppers. The common areas of the mall had an overwhelming emptiness. More acute was the starkness of each store. The singular conduct of the salespersons – namely, gushing to be of service – only heightened the underlying dismay arising from the isolating pandemic.

Trumping these concerns was the growing realization that silk is an unpopular ingredient in this particular commercial vernacular. It emphasized for example the disparity which exists in the marketplace. In short I succeeded to surmount my yearning for a new product. It required rational determination above greedy appetite. On balance I was able to bear the deprivation.