Singing the Blues

Just finished reading the sale flyer for my local grocery store/fruit market and I’m feeling rather like an anachronism. There is barely anything on offer I’m interested in buying. I’m a cook-from-scratch kind of guy. I’ve been baking my own bread for forty years; I make my own salad dressings, mayonnaise, and mustard; and bake cakes, muffins, and pancakes from scratch. I can honestly say I’ve never owned a TV Dinner or cake mix. So what does my favourite store have on offer? Pages of ready-to-eat meals, frozen prepared foods, and snacks for something called the Superbowl—is there a recipe for that I’ve missed? Is it a soup or a salad?

Then there’s the organic food section. There may be something to the whole food movement but I’m more in favour of buying locally—have you ever tried to buy local strawberries in season? Some of the most polluted real estate around is in our own high-arctic and despite their low rate of precipitation the pollutants rain out of the sky. Although I’m all in favour of minimizing the use of pesticides and artificial fertilizers, the humane treatment of animals, and healthy feed practices I question whether transporting fruit and vegetables out of season half way round the world is ecologically sound. Somehow it just seems to be a scam to overcharge the consumer to me.

I realize that more and more people seem to eat out or buy in these days from fast-food restaurants and retailers feel forced to offer easy alternatives to keep the consumer coming back but in the process they force traditionalists such as myself to wade past aisles of ready-made food, frozen prepared meals, and empty snack foods. It is getting more and more difficult to find the basic building blocks of a well-cooked meal free from processed foods loaded with additives. The day I found frozen Kraft Dinner in a neighbourhood store I knew I wouldn’t be going back—it’s faster to cook that one from scratch.

Victor Davis 1964-1989

Victor Davis, CM died in 1989 at the age of 25 after being run over by an automobile outside a nightclub in Montreal. A few months earlier he had announced his retirement as an Olympic Athlete. Death at the hands of a hit-and-run driver seems a tawdry ending to a mercurial Olympic Career. It also serves to highlight the lack of counseling given elite athletes to prepare them for the eventuality that their careers will be washed up at such a young age. A few years ago I just happened to be listening to a CBC talk show on the subject of grief counseling when his Mother called in to talk about the heartbreaking task of cleaning up the pieces of the life of a young man who should have lived for decades to come and as a consequence had left so many loose ends behind. I remember the host being overwhelmed by the extent of the emotion expressed and expressing surprise that the Davises were not extended better resources to deal with their grief and wrap up his estate. More recently one of his swim mates, Mark Tewksbury, has been in the news after coming out of the closet as a gay. Although keeping such a circumstance under wraps in a male locker room would add extra tensions to any life his autobiography has also served to highlight the challenges of making a life for oneself after the cheering fades. Mark will be forty in just a couple weeks.

This morning in reading the online TV Guide I discovered that tonight CBC is airing a 2-hour movie tribute to the life of Victor Davis. For unknown reasons it is being released two months pre-maturely. To play the part of Victor Davis the producers were fortunate in finding a Canadian Actor who could also swim with a physique to do justice to the original in the person of Mark Lutz:

Apparently even the CBC finds it useful to publicize it’s movies on My Space:

http://www.myspace.com/victordavisfilm

For further information see the IMDB page:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0840024/

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

“….creeps in this petty pace from day to day.” No, I’m not MacBeth; but retirement is beginning to look very inviting these days. At least I hope to retire without having a MacDuff lop off my head and mount it on a pike. It’s a comment on my week that the high-point was probably the fact that I managed to get most of my laundry done on Sunday—the rest of the week was blah. I did manage to get out early last Sunday and get my shopping done and put over-priced gasoline in my car mind you.

Dropped into Swiss Chalet on my way home on Monday and on a whim tried out their ribs deciding they were rather fatty, grisly and a disappointment. Dropped by Future Shop on Tuesday and picked up 3:10 to Yuma which I’ve yet to watch and once again they didn’t have or couldn’t find items advertised prominently to sell me. The rest of the week is fairly routine. Spent a bit of time learning a new program Canada Post has set up to update routes—one problem, our present computers lack sufficient memory to run that program.

For others out there who share my love of the pipe organ here’s a site where it will be possible by the end of 2009 to download the complete works of J. S. Bach for free:

http://www.blockmrecords.org/bach/kibbie.htm

I’m not sure whether it’s a aspect of old age that one requires less sleep as a result of one’s body no longer rebuilding itself or the fact that one is kept awake by ruminations over past sins that have built up over the years but last night I woke for one of those nocturnal visits to the porcelain throne and just couldn’t get back to sleep afterward. I did eventually fall asleep mind you and slept in until after 7 AM. Well, that’s sleeping in for me.

I continue to feel neglected by my correspondents as my personal “IN BOX” continues to be a forlorn piece of real estate. At least I’m not over-burdened trying to keep up with answering E-mail—I don’t have any.

While I was at Future Shop on Tuesday picked up a single audio cable to connect my laptop’s headphone jack to my Logitech 6:1 sound system. After two months of listening to my laptop’s wimpy speakers it’s heaven to return to the authority of a 10-inch 500 watt sub-woofer with the power to rattle my windows. This is not to imply that I actually endanger the glass or my hearing by pumping it up that high, but pipe organs just lack authority without the occasional growl from a 32-foot Bombard Reed, the scream of a traverse trumpet or the rumbling authority of a 64 foot open-diapason stop. That’s assuming my present sound card can process such information.

Having just finished cleaning my under-the-counter coffeemaker I’m just about to test out the theory that clean equipment makes better coffee. Chopped up green pepper, sliced sweet onion and mushrooms along with grated 5-year-old cheddar to make a grand omelet so I’m about to take a break to enjoy. I don’t often use the keep-warm feature of my upper oven but I did this morning to keep my back bacon warm. Now if I’d taken the time to put up a loaf in my breadmaker I’d have toast to go with this repast. What are Saturday’s for but to give one an opportunity to be lazy?

When I begin traveling in an RV I’m going to have to adjust my cleanup habits when I’m dealing with a water tank with limited capacity. Must say until I started reading up on the lifestyle dealing with a kitchen that hurtles along at 60 mph, makes corners and stops, at times suddenly; hadn’t occurred to me. Guess I’ll be getting use from the Melmacware I bought almost 4 decades ago though I’ll need other dishes as Melmac does not go in the microwave.

Guess I’ll try one more coffee and see whether I can find something else to interest me while iTunes downloads some music.

Ushering in 2008

After a White New Years followed by an arctic chill the rains have begun and this morning my world is lost in the fog. Thursday I made hot cider to warm the troops at work when they got back with cold feet and hands. Spent an hour pulling locks from a slum apartment building which is replacing their mail panels and will be back Monday to reinstall them. Today is laundry day—I’ve reached the point that it’s that or go bare—and it’s too cold for that option. [Did I put soap in that last load?]

Drove up early this morning to do my shopping at Longo’s and discovered that they abandoned their community bulletin board. Accordingly here’s the notice I would have posted:

Trafalgar Community Policing Committee Next Meeting at 6:00 PM, February 5, 2008 Iroquois Ridge Community Centre Library Program Room 1051 Glenashton Drive, Oakville Officer Carla Draper will be making a presentation on Drugs; what you should know and what to look for. Join us for this informative talk and to share your concerns about the community in which you live. Our committee provides a unique opportunity to meet with the people who serve and protect and those who set policy on the municipal and school board level.

I also noted in passing that the bag of carrots I bought this morning was advertised as ‘fresh’ Ontario Carrots—how is this possible? In the same department washed salad greens with a Jan 04 freshness date were on offer at regular price and I’ll note for the record that this is January 6, 2008. I will say that I’m thankful for freshness dates; I do miss price stickers on the actual item though.

On the way home filled my gas tank and watching the sale price accelerate faster than the litres pumped is scary. There too I noted that my local Shell station no longer has We Serve Pumps. In a move that took them in the opposite direction I discovered a couple months ago that the local Beer Store has switched from being a self-serve outlet to return to having an employee grab your order from the back room. I was nonchalantly informed, “Oh, we did that about a year ago.” Shows you how often I indulge in a case of beer. Actually, I was returning someone else’s empties picked up in our parking lot.

I’m sad to have to report that someone sabotaged Canada Post’s Santa Letter program by adding nasty comments to Santa’s reply letters. We receive millions of letters yearly from as far away as Australia and Germany. Granted some of the little greedy guts who write those letters have shopping lists totaling up to $250,000.00 but it’s a volunteer activity; if you don’t like doing it, stay away.

So here we are almost one week into 2008 and it would seem that little has changed. In just over a month the Chinese New Year ushers in the year of the Rat. Somehow I have the feeling that little is going to change in the next twelve months. Not being Nostradamus I will pass on making any predictions as to who may win the next presidential election. I will go on record as stating that I will not be sad to see Bush return permanently to his ranch in Texas. I still like the Jewish pundit’s observation that the last time they took advice from a bush they ended up wandering forty years in the wilderness.

Wrapping up 2007

Pardon me if I nod off while I write this.  The absence of any personal mail in my “In Box” tells me that the few people who would normally write are busy doing Christmassy activities.  Having lived a solitary life for over 40 years I am accustomed to keeping my own company; but this is the first Christmas I have spent entirely by myself.  Today’s the last day of 2007 and as the last few hours count down I find myself in a fey mood.  Tomorrow marks the last year of my working life.  Two Hundred and Thirty-Nine Days to go and counting.  If I’m in the write mood I’ll do my letter of resignation tomorrow.  I’ve always made it a habit to apply for my annual leave at least a month in advance so applying for retirement in the next couple weeks seems about right.  Let the writer’s cramp begin. 

 

Started this tome over the weekend but sort of ran out of steam along the way.  I’ve been neglecting my personal journal as well.  As my Book Blog attests I’ve finally finished reading the Collected works of Derek Walcott and launched into Robert W. Service.  When I picked up his Collected Poetry a few years back I thought 700 pages was a lot of doggerel about the Arctic until I realized that there are two additional volumes one of nearly a thousand pages and another of nearly 500.  At least his verse is infinitely more accessible than some I’ve read of late. 

 

Years in which Christmas occurs mid-week make the holiday period strange.  Many businesses shut down between Christmas and New Years but the one I work for does its biggest business at this time of year.  By this point I’m really not sure what day of the week it is.  Dropped into East Side Mario’s for supper and made it in the door just before they closed it to prepare for their New Year’s Eve festivities.  It’s homey to get hugged by your waitress and feel like family.  We all need our support networks. 

 

There was a light snowfall overnight Sunday; and the promise of five to ten inches for New Years Day.  Today’s deposit was just sufficient to make walking miserable.  As usual we here in Southern Ontario panic over the kind of snow that in the Maritimes is taken in stride.  Mind you even Florida is fussing over a wind-chill forecast. 

 

I’ve made the rounds taking down my calendars and to date have only picked up one store-bought calendar for 2008.  Since I don’t plan to be around for at least half of 2008 I may just put pictures on the wall where I once had calendars.  These days I keep track of the day of the week by checking my medication minder.  Since I’m allowed to come and go as I please I don’t even set my alarm lately.  After over 35 years my internal clock gets me up and I’m lucky to be a morning person. 

 

My partying neighbours make me feel like Malvolio in Twelfth Night appearing in his night shirt in the middle of their revels.  They were probably out on the balcony smoking; at least the walls keep the racket from seeping into my apartment otherwise.  I’m for bed and it’s doubtful I’ll be awake to see the New Year in. 

 

PEACE AND JOY TO ALL IN 2008

You're a Mean One, Mister Grinch

Perhaps it’s because I have no family nearby and in particular I’m not around any children.  Or perhaps it’s because Christmas has become so commercialized and divorced from the event it celebrates.  It may be the fact that in my profession Christmas is the busiest time of year.  Even the soggy weather we’re having outside may have something to do with it.  In any case I’m feeling in a distinctly Grinchly mood this morning.  Even MS Word is in a disagreeable mood, it claims that Grinchly isn’t a word. 

 

Since my Mother died I’ve given up on flying back East for Christmas.  It seems a dreadful expense particularly when I have only two days off and I’m too played out to enjoy it.  To fly these days is to be treated like a criminal and flying at Christmas time has its own pitfalls.  I’ve had my share of landing on icy runways and wind-shear.  Given our mobile society most of the friends I would visit with this time of year are also far away and when one reaches nearly sixty one shares with Dickens’s Scrooge the ghosts of so many one formerly knew who are no longer with us. 

 

It is with interest that I read that sales are actually down this year because people are truly becoming tired of the sales hype associated with the season and switching to charitable donations and handmade gifts in lieu of lavish giving. 

 

After nearly 40 years at Canada Post I’m looking forward to the opportunity to enjoy next year without hearing about all those parcels that didn’t make it in time and looking at the addresses people use when they spend up to $50.00 to mail something—if they spent even a fraction of the time it took to earn that money to get it right our job would be so much easier.  Who taught those people to write anyway?

 

Outside this morning daylight has barely scratched the nimbus of night as we are deluged with steady rain and the promise of gale-force winds.  Never fear, today’s warm temperatures will give way to frigid, wind-driven flurries tomorrow.  There is a chance that we’ll get sunny weather by Boxing Day. 

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

The blizzard I wrote about last weekend blew in from the South-East and therefore from my vantage-point looking North-West the south side of our building took the brunt of the gale-force gusts that blew the snow into huge drifts.  By the time I left for work Monday morning the main roads had all been ploughed even if they were still sloppy; those unlucky enough to live on non-priority streets got to take another day off as even four-wheel drive vehicles found them impossible to navigate.  Unfortunately when people are held captive by the weather they find time to complain and our phones rang off the hook all day. 

 

On a positive note on Tuesday our boss took the office staff out for a Chinese Buffet and on Wednesday a continental breakfast for which I made coffee was laid in for Santa’s Helpers.  Dropped into East Side Marios on Wednesday after work for Caesar Salad and Chicken Cacciatore managing to find parking at Oakville Place—they owe me a mug as they’d run out.  Wednesday evening, after my late afternoon nap settled in and wrote 4 letters.  Thursday I made a house-call to do first aide on a friend’s computer.  By the time Friday rolls around I’m ready to kick back and relax in front of the TV or this laptop.  I’ve been listening to Pipedreams episodes from November—I need to catch up—and am presently auditing Music and the Spoken Word from Salt Lake City.  I have two sets of comics yet to read and the Austin City Chronicle and I should make something for brunch. 

 

Blue Christmas--Definitely White

The temperature drop has arrived; not quite the deep freeze originally predicted but  cold enough to turn toes into ice cubes nevertheless.  The snowfall predictions, on the other hand, just keep getting deeper and deeper.  Be warned, if you don't find your shovel; your mailman won't be finding you.  Having the worst storm in half a decade coincide with the heaviest mail of the year is going to be devastating; walking through heavy snow tires one quickly and there is always the next day and the day after that to be thought of.  

 

What can I say about the week that was?  I began it feeling fatigued and disaffected.  Dined out at East Side Mario’s on Monday and Swiss Chalet on Wednesday.  Being slow on the uptake I was slow to react when someone from the kitchen at Swiss Chalet came up to shake my hand—I’m also not totally comfortable with being called “Sir.”  Turns out it was one of my fellow workers moonlighting as a chef—too bad this happened to be the day my chicken was overdone and my fries soggy.  Tuesday is new release day for DVD’s and I picked up the latest Harry Potter and Bourne movies.  I figure when I combine a ten mile drive to the nearest movie theatre, a $15.00 ticket, $10.00 pop corn, and the aggravation of sitting through half an hour of advertising that buying the DVD is cheaper in the long run and I can watch it as often as I wish, when I wish, and put it on pause or finish it later as the whim takes me.  Unfortunately I’ll have to watch both movies a second time before I can truly evaluate them as I fear I may have napped through sections of both this week.  What can I say?  This was also Microsoft Patch release day and Redmond obliged by releasing its usual basket of updates—one wonders why they  even bother; at least this week I haven’t noticed any major problems with those updates. 

 

Visited my bank on Tuesday after Future Shop challenged my VISA Card and was nonplussed about being informed that I would get faster service if I placed a call to their call centre.  From there attempted to do some grocery shopping at Longos and was once more reminded how much I detest having the aisles in my favourite store rearranged so often.  So much of what one picks up weekly one grabs because one is familiar with where one has picked it up in the past.  When it isn’t there one tends to arrive home without key shopping needs and this is particularly true when one is dog tired in the first place. 

 

Got to go out and do a couple emergency lock changes this week; on Thursday I had the distinct pleasure of navigating back streets during a snow squall that turned them into skating rinks and coated every street sign with wet snow.  In those circumstances finding one’s way becomes a challenge.  On foot I’ve been known to brush the snow off to be sure I know where I was taking the mail but behind the wheel in traffic it’s another matter.  The joys of winter in Ontario—joys we could all have done without or at least have gladly delayed until after the Christmas rush was over. 

 

As well this week my body has been giving me irrefutable admonitions to inform me that my hours spent behind this keyboard have left me out of shape for tasks such as shovelling snow.  I need to get out and get active again to get back in shape—both in terms of my physical form and general fitness level.  Apparently use it or lose it is reality. 

 

 

 

Waiting for a Train Wreck

Before Modern Communications put the world at our fingertips 24/7 farmers predicted the weather by watching the sky, the birds, and their livestock and by listening to the aches and pains in their joints and sinuses.  Knowing that a blizzard is on the way is equivalent to being on a train headed for a wreck you are powerless to avoid.  Tonight the thermometer is headed for the basement with a clear, calm sky leading us to sub-zero Fahrenheit temperatures.  Tomorrow the temperature will rise and so will the winds as a winter storm that began life in Texas roars across the Great Lakes collecting moisture and dumping drifting snow over Southern Ontario—the meteorological equivalent of a train wreck.  Our fore-fathers would have made sure the wood-box was full; the cattle well-fed and watered; their oil lamps trimmed and full; and settled in for the inevitable.  If the drifts were too high to be shoveled they tunneled to the barn to care for their animals or the buildings were inter-connected.  In the days before million-dollar snow ploughs it could be weeks before the outside world became reachable.  Heading into the Christmas Season at the Post Office I have a similar feeling; however modern cities don’t normally shut down because of weather and when Christmas volumes coincide with heavy snow hardship ensues. 

 

 

The Winter of My Discontent?

So much for global warming; we have now had more snow and a longer period of cold than we had all last winter here in Southern Ontario.  Those forced to work out of doors are feeling the effects of this weather.  The dangers inherent in walking on icy, slippery surfaces and exposure to cold and frostbite are obvious but it is the less obvious effects that are more insidious and lasting.  Hands exposed to long periods of drying cold become chapped, crack, and bleed.  It becomes necessary to remember to use gloves when washing dishes to preserve the natural oils in one’s hands and to slather them with moisturizer on a regular basis. 

 

Long exposure to cold is fatiguing and the effects don’t become readily apparent until one returns to normal room temperatures.  Exposure to extreme cold can cause the body’s core temperature to drop and from personal experience I’ve learned to suspect this condition when I find myself making mistakes I would not normally commit and at that point getting inside to warm up becomes imperative.  I’ve been cold enough that the battery-operated watch on my wrist stopped working.  Other effects are no less significant but not normally discussed in polite society.  If you were to be on the work floor just before letter carriers are leaving to spend 3 to 4 hours walking up to 8 miles you would know that before departing the station a trip to the washroom is an essential last step.  Going, even if you don’t feel the need is an essential part of every letter carrier trainee’s education.  It’s something they probably don’t teach in “Posty School”.  What they also don’t teach is that exposure to cold can cause the bladder to spasm and force a search for the nearest rest room—it is at this point that being on good terms with one’s customers is important.  I have personally knocked on a few doors over the years. 

 

So far the Christmas rush is most apparent in the number of parcels we’ve had to process; the gang will work this weekend in an attempt to clear up the backlog.  In the previous week there was an enormous dump of admail—junk mail to those on the receiving end.  Thursday I made coffee for a United Way Sponsored Breakfast held at our station.  We have been most fortunate in that no one has been hurt despite the adverse walking conditions this week. 

 

On a more personal level this was a quiet week for the most part.  On Monday I patronized Swiss Chalet before going to Shoppers Drug to pick up medication.  I dined out at the Coach and Four, a decent local pub/restaurant in Bronte on Friday after work.  The rest of the week I managed to find something to eat at home.

 

Got brave on Tuesday and took my laptop along to take minutes during the Trafalgar Community Policing Committee Meeting.  We had a talk from Jackie Brennan on Identity Theft.  Among her recommendations:

 

1. Carry only one credit card and eliminate all unnecessary documents from you purse or wallet.

 

2. Photocopy the contents of your wallet.

 

3. Reduce your exposure by keeping your credit card limit at the lowest minimum practicable.

 

4. If you plan to travel call your credit card company and advise them to expect unusual purchases from unusual locations or you may have your credit frozen—for your own protection.

 

5. Change PIN Numbers regularly 

 

Most of us find it sufficient challenge just remembering Interact PIN’s and most never change them.  We are also advised to conceal our fingers while we enter that pin at the grocery checkout or at our auto-bank teller. 

 

Being the victim of Identity Theft is an alarming prospect.  Learning that once victimized the process of recovering will take a minimum of 1000 hours and leave one’s credit record forever problematic is nightmarish.  For more advice go here:

 

http://www.phonebusters.com/english/index.html

 

I will say that it was pleasant to leave that meeting with its minutes already complete.

 

On Wednesday I settled in here in front of my computer screen and watched an entire episode of the CBC series, The Tudors:

 

http://www.cbc.ca/tudors/fullEpisodesPlayer.html

 

I must say that seeing old ‘Enery the Eighth as a lustful, handsome, young stud is a novel idea.  This being CBC his bedroom exploits are tastefully handled. 

 

Thus, the week that was in my life.  Today I’m taking a relaxed approach to browsing, catching up on the world, and recuperating. 

 

 

What Happened to November?

Did anyone notice what happened to November?  Seems just yesterday I was wandering around my apartment changing all the calendars and now it’s time to do it again however this time they will be on their last pages.  One way or another it feels like November was lost in a haze of cloud, fog, and gloom.  Sounds like I was as well; doesn’t it?

 

The above was written Saturday Morning and at that time I had thoughts for its continuance that have since scattered to the wind—or got lost in a snow drift—somehow I lost steam.  Did I mention snow drifts?  Overnight the weatherman quit fooling around and decided to give us a full blast of winter.  There were at least 4 inches of drifted snow on the ground when I looked out this morning.  Well, at least it brightens up the joint somewhat.  I did, however, decide there weren’t any groceries I needed so badly that a trip on those unplowed roads was necessary.  Believe I’ll let the demotion derby that is attendant upon the first major snow-fall work itself out before I get on the road.  Hot mulled cider anyone?