Summer's Almost Gone

Every now and then I date myself in unfavourable ways.  That last sentence proves I grew up at a time when Canadians had still not succumbed to the American usage which drops the “u” from words such as honour.  Then there are the myriad expressions that were in common usage during my formative years that are no longer considered politically correct or have gotten distinctly negative connotations.  Anyone who lives in the Southern US is well aware of songs that it is no longer cool to sing and words, in particular the “N word” that white Americans may not utter.  Among the expressions that use that word are “ ‘N’ in the woodpile” and the one I let slip yesterday in a moment of relaxed vigilance “free ‘N’” to express the fact that for the next month I’m on vacation.  I grew up in an age when mentally unstable people were still crazy, the mentally challenged were retarded and Afro-Americans were Negros.  This last term is no longer included in the MS Word dictionary and the ethnic group to which it refers seems to find whatever terminology white Americans become accustomed to using offensive to the point that I’ve lost touch with what the current politically correct expression might be.  Please, I’m not intending to cause anyone offense, I’m just the product of my upbringing and some habits are hard to repress. 

 

This morning dawned brilliantly sunny.  In fact I actually managed to sleep in long enough to see daylight when I got out of bed.  Finally, for the last long weekend of the summer season we are promised sunshine—you may remember that last weekend was an absolute washout.  It has also dawned on me that this is the first day of September; my calendars are in need of attention.  I made the mistake of listening to the news this morning on CBC at seven and learned that an American Senator has committed political suicide by getting caught in a gay sex sting operation and an arrest has been made in the letter bomb case in Toronto.  The latter story is, of course, of particular interest to one who handles mail for a living but except for his lack of discretion I believe the senator should be left alone.  His wife may have issues but the rest of the world should just butt—pun not intended—out and mind its own business. 

 

Wish I could point to a list of exciting things I plan to do during my time off work but to this point the plan was just to survive until.  It normally takes at least a week to unwind.  Certainly given the traffic on our highways this long weekend and the carnage that will inevitably ensue I find it meet to stay safely at home.  I’m down to the last 40 pages of the final Harry Potter and plan to finish it this weekend once I manage to stay alert long enough to read it.  I have at least a thousand books stacked up to keep me busy in its wake.  I’ve managed to get through 14 so far this year so I’m still adding to my shelves faster than I can actually read.  I’ve been dividing my TV watching between several DVD sets of TV series notably Supernatural, Picket Fences, Gunsmoke, and Buffy.  Recently Future Shop has offered irresistible deals on the latter and X-Files so I’ve a considerable shelf of unwatched DVD’s to keep me busy.  I have a stack of CD’s I have yet to audition but at the moment I’m listening to web radio.  And since I’ve entered the 21^st Century I also have iTunes Music I’ve yet to try out and 11 day’s worth of podcasts to catch up on.  Right now I should finish reading today’s comics before I go any further so I’ll post this and write later.