Back to Work Blues

Suddenly I’m feeling old. I’ve had a month’s vacation to unwind—or try to; practice the fine art of doing nothing; watch movies—job accomplished; read books—if only I could stay awake when I curl up with one; clean the apartment—headway made but still a work in progress; and clean out my larder. I’ve spent a month attempting to cocoon and live without my watch, alarm clock, and the calendar.

Today I finally had to go shopping to replenish my fridge. I did manage to get it cleaned out mind you. Went to my local green grocer—Longos. The first thing that hit me when I walked in was the loud obnoxious background music they were playing—it’s supposed to be background I’d have thought and I’d never paid it any attention before; I was told it was the oldies of the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s—somehow it missed me. The other jarring notes were the price tags—everything seems to have increased in price by 50¢ to a dollar. I’m going to have to make a trip up-country to find some fresh corn. I suppose grocers feel the need to supply the public what they want but the public who feel the need to get their corn pre-shucked in a plastic wrapped tray are woefully ignorant of the science of plant biology.

Not everything has increased in price mind you. The price of gasoline has gone from the high of 109.9¢ a litre to 79.9—don’t pretend to understand that one but I’m not fighting it.

There’s got to be a sadistic side to some of my acquaintances. No less than three people have felt it necessary in the last few days to remind me that I have to go back to work tomorrow. What is this fascination with my return to servitude? When I retire they’ll have to find something else to write about. Let’s get rid of the other major conversation topic—the weather. September has been a cold, thunderstorm prone, overcast, rainy month. To mark my return to work the sun is scheduled to put in an appearance tomorrow, though rain will arrive by evening. Mind you at the hour I start it will be dark when I arrive at work.

Re-assembled my year 2000-vintage Netvista IBM computer and wiped the hard disc to see if installing Windows 98 SE would work better than the Me OS that came installed on it. Sadly during the install process the registry became corrupted—I was unable to open Windows Explorer. Something definitely rotten in the State of Denmark there, that computer was definitely a lemon destined for the scrap pile of history. My friend Ernie Caron is shaking his finger at me from Heaven—having coached me through my early days of computer literacy he’ll be reminding me that computers are definitely a great means to waste time. Given the money I’d invested in that machine I just had to make one more attempt to see if it was good for anything. Remarkably the IBM website still has the drivers available online for that computer but given its performance I have no trouble understanding why IBM is no longer in the PC Business.

Made the politically incorrect purchase of some Schneider’s Bacon when I was out shopping so now it’s time I had my bacon, eggs, toast and coffee brunch. At least I won't be toasting my bread in bacon fat as I once watched a Scotish friend do. Hope you have a good day as well.