Off the Cliff

How lovely to be able to roll back to sleep in the morning and not get up until 11:30.

Saw my first snowdrops today. Woman down Manning was raking out her side garden and there they were. Of course my understanding is that you're supposed to leave all the rotted leaf detritus from autumn for the insects to breed come warmer weather, but certain yuppies and certain elderly Italians will have no part of this. They want tidy gardens and I assume don't want insects. Hence they use leaf blowers in the fall, if yuppie, or rakes if Italian. Signora down the street has cleaned her front yard already and left the mulch out to be picked up whenever the city starts picking up garden waste, which will certainly not be this week. Which is recycling and I have disposed of a number of Japanese novels in same. I suppose I should also trun that box of Zero Sums that I discovered hiding behind the door of the downstairs front room but sufficient unto the day etc. And anyway I have a bag of doujinshi to go out. If recycle comes late I may add it to the bin.

Finished this week were a couple of Priestleys, Death Sits on the Board aka The Revenger's Tragedy, and Harvest Murder which, if it weren't in the title, would leave you wondering if anyone was murdered, or was going to be murdered, at all. Finally got through The Silver Stallion, third in my Cabell reread. I suppose I might as well reread all of these in case of FOMO, but they're much much slower than Dr. Siri, my other marathon reread of this year. I'm now wondering do I want to send these latter to a recycle place, cause like if I'm still alive in ten years maybe I might want to read them again? But they're available in ebook from the library, while Cabell isn't. Mh-- Kobo has a few titles but not the whole by any means. Ah well, shall see. There's only so much of Cabell's southern gentlemanship that one can take, and life is short.

I will say, getting up when you wake up does make for longer days. What a difference an extra 2.5 hours can achieve. Not that I achieved anything yesterday which was rainy most of the day and peak couch potatodom the rest. But today, even though I lay in to 10, got me to the laundromat with towels and sheets and that pair of putative corduroy pants that are still too stiff to wear comfortably. Repeated washing and drying in hot has accomplished nothing. Where are the soft wide whale cords of my youth? (Yes, that really is whale as in cetacean. How odd.) And they need to be shortened as well.

In between whiles I took my tax stuff up to the courier outlet to be FedExed to outer Scarberia. Hope it arrives and yes, I know I should have made copies of the one form that can't be duplicated easily-- from the bank, actually-- and I now know to add the accountant's phone number, but it is out of my hands no use wibbling etc etc. *Maybe* next year I will trust to the tender mercies of Canada Post for delivery because dear lord FedEx charges what dinner at Le Paradis cost me last time I was there. Even without getting a signature which is another $12 plus tax. 

However if it's all to do again no bother because I'm sure to get some kind of refund. Which may not be true next year because if I shake the money tree too hard, as I did in '21, there are capital gains taxes to pay. Should have shaken it when the Dow was at 50,000 but who knew someone would have blundered into an undeclared war?

I stayed up past 3 finishing that mystery that did exactly what I thought it would do, sigh. Slept for six hours and then suffered complete defeat of the will about getting out of bed. Went back to sleep at some point and dreamed of my godmother coming to see me at not quite!Bedford on a dank March day like the one actually happening outside. My back bedroom had a deck and wooden steps going down to the ground, and one of my Birkenstocks fell down it as I was saying goodbye to her. By dint of some Escher-like configurations my room looked in on the house next door-- in reality a good 30+ feet/ 10 metres away-- and its new tenants. That I did not sleep into noon was only thanks to misreading my clock.

After which I phoned three tree services to arrange estimates on trimming the cherry tree. One guy is coming Tuesday between 10 and 12, moan, and the others will get back to me at some point. I don't in the least want to do this at all at all at all, but it must be done and will definitely cost. Am feeling apocalyptic about everything so hell, let's spend money I may not have once Don the Con's shenanigans tank my stocks.

Once it stopped raining I went up to the tony wine store and bought a pricey bottle to thank SNDs for shovelling all that snow during this very snowy winter. When I explained what it was for, the clerk opined that it was very nice of me, which well. Not really: it's just the law of equivalent exchange that five years in Japan dinned into me. Or maybe it was something in my anglo TO upbringing, which I wouldn't notice because, well, that was simply the way the world worked. So I was confused by American roommates who didn't have the reflex that if you get you have to give. One of them did get set straight by her Japanese acquaintance but it was clear that the idea was completely new to her.

Now I just have to wait for the SNDs to be home. Oliver was zooming about the yard today in his doggie snowsuit, but I haven't seen him at all this week.

My occasional trips to Sushi on Bloor usually happen on Thursdays because I generally have physio on Wednesday. But my appointments have been on Tuesday lately for reasons I forget-- probably because everyone wants mid-Wednesday slots-- so I decided to eat out today. On the days they open at noon ie Weds-Sunday, 3:30 will get you the down time and a half empty restaurant, though not on weekends. Whether it's because Wednesday or whether it's because March break, the place was as packed as Christmas and for the same reason: parties of six or eight people celebrating who knows what. And no, no kids that I could see. It was a brief wait in any case, and I got my bento in short order. But my usual Thursday server wasn't there and I had to manage the doors myself. OTOH the waiter looked to be at least in his 50s, meaning possibly my age in reality, so I can't complain. Rather like the server at Le Paradis who, for all her energetic bustling, looked to be in her 70s. 'Why is she still working?' my s-i-l wondered. Well, times are hard, maybe someone called in sick, maybe she just wants to. I'd still be working if I was able-bodied,  for sure.

Seems I finished nothing this week except a couple if Dr Priestleys and that Agatha Christie on the weekend. Watched a lot of Tiktok videos, I guess. Finally made some progress with The Shadow of the Wind, a dead tree for late evening reads when I must be off the tablet. I am always subconsciously prepared for male Spanish writers to be unsatisfactory in their attitudes to women, especially Latin American writers. We shall see if this applies to writers from the motherland. After all, Don Quixote has a female character who simply can't be having with all these men projecting their romantic desires onto her, which I think very enlightened of Cervantes.

The weather page could say it was 10C when I left the house today but that was the chilliest 10C I've ever experienced. Nothing like a grey day and wind to make things feel like below freezing. Wore my winter coat and a scarf but thought I'd be OK with half gloves and no, I definitely wasn't. Had to wrap hands in scarf to keep them warm. But had chicken and vermicelli at Pour Boy, plus cocktail, then walked back up to Dupont because you're supposed to have a brisk walk after such indulgence. Did get the return to nephew's invite mailed off, though noticed too late that I didn't put my return address on the prestamped envelope. Ah well. Must trust the post office to be reliable.

The downstairs beanbag is not only the wrong shape for use on the back, being cervical,  the insides have finally become too scorched for use. I was googling 'back heating wraps' last night and finding nothing but amazon and temu offerings. This because I could never remember the name of the super excellent moist heat wraps I use for my poor twinging elbows at night. So to have it here, they're Thermalon, and they're Canadian, and I have a third one now on order from them so I needn't keep lugging one downstairs and back up all the time. I should have ordered two, in fact, and used the second for warming my bed at night. It's true that the aged shouldn't shower every night because lord but it dries the skin out, and washing of pits and bits is sufficient for the lethargic retired. But showers are the only way my feet get warm enough when I go to bed since my circulation sucks. Magic bags don't do the trick being again the wrong shape. But a large flat Thermalon might heat enough area to keep me warm.

Meanwhile the temperatures have sunk and it's now snowing again. March is still too early to be saying How long, oh lord, how long, especially since this summer is supposed to be a scorcher. But-- how long, oh lord, how long?

High winds last night had the odd effect of making my upstairs for once much colder than downstairs. Was resigned to staying in but the sun melted snow from the roofs so I decided to try my luck. And was very lucky. The salter bobcats came through at some point last night, leaving their tell-tale salter tracks on the sidewalks, and I could have done the walk in shoes. Anyway, now have potatoes and cheese for omelettes.  And will stay in tomorrow because we're due for another bout of snow, sleet, possible freezing rain, and rain rain as the temps climb to 10C/50F on Monday. The spring equinox is known for wintry weather here, and this year is looking to be no exception, even if a tad early. But all hail the March sun, which is at least warm enough to melt whatever March throws at us.

DW is hanging like a hanging thing. The Graun loads OK though my solitaire page doesn't at all. Maybe my connection is wonky, maybe greenfelt.net is having one of its periodic outages.

Bright blowy November day out there with swift clouds and the occasional snow flake tumbling from a blue sky. Snow tomorrow and on the weekend, so I went out to return Strange Houses to the five people waiting for it, and had-- err, whatever you call a 3 pm meal, the oposite of brunch: linner? at Sushi on Bloor. My waiter there loves me.  But my stomach must be shrinking. The small size sushi selection is too big for me now, and I must go to the three piece + a roll sushi appetiser.

Checked out the former By the Way which is now Brasserie Côte, having a soft opening with a menu that does not inspire me to go in. Apparently it has a sibling out Ossington way, a much smaller place with a larger menu which one hopes they will bring here. Although Côte de Boeuf's menu seems to run heavily to the same escargots and sardines and charcuterie as the new place. Well, brasseries are brasseries, but I was hoping for something a little broader. Which I must still go to Le Paradis for, the bro-tachi's local, even if it's not local to any of us. But their boeuf bourguignon is amazing enough to make the trip worth it.

And since I'll be housebound until Monday at least, I walked up to Loblaws for milk and such, and to my physio's across the street to get my receipts for tax purposes, and thus racked up 7000+ steps.

I have always wanted a bidet-- more so when I was younger of course, but still think it would be nice. Especially after reading articles about how tp really doesn't cut it. My bathroom is far too small for a real one even if my knees would permit it-- which they wouldn't. Happy ads say you can add a douche to your toilet seat-- 'So easy you can install it yourself!' Uhh no, I doubt that very much. But googling around I discover something called a peri bottle, for postpartum women. Details of same make me glad I never had children: there's a lot about childbirth they don't tell you in sex ed. But peris sounded reasonable for hygiene so I bought one (from amazon.ca, mea maxima culpa, because neither Shoppers nor Starkman's has them even if they say they do)  and will see if they make any difference at all. But because this isn't in any way a Japanese toilet with blowdry function, one must still use toilet paper, so what do these countries with bidets or bum guns or whatever use instead of that?

Finished Strange Houses and then went to the internet to find out what I just read. Internet was mostly reddit, whose black-out spoiler redactions do not appear when highlighted. But a lot of people had the same suspicions as I about the architect jumping at once to 'murderous child killer cult' while other people noted that that's just the way Japanese horror rolls. Which, fair enough. And also noted that what's important is once again the things not said, sigh. But the general impression was that everyone but the narrator and the architect are lying and what's actually happening is a conspiracy, yes, but not the one we think. Although people did seem to think the weird cult thing was true, which to me is, ok, if you say so. Do not think I'll be reading more of his work.

I know better than to go for a blood draw on a Monday especially a Monday when I've just lost an hour of sleep, but it's going to rain all week and then snow. So out I went at 10 new time and came in to a posted 45 minute wait. But I waited, and then waited some more when they called my name because they said the room available was too narrow for me. Told them I could walk without the rollator but they were all No no just wait. And when they called me again I went without my walker just to show them. But the nurse got my vein first try,  no having to use the other arm as in December, which is either her being more skilled than the other or my veins being pumped up from my water drinking. Whichever, I am grateful.

Could have done without the two large guys who barged into the elevator before I could get off it as I was leaving. Men, said Jessica. And am now headachy and am going out to dinner with bro and s-i-l tonight, but again, nobody made me get my draw this morning.

I spent the day, or most of it, in sweaty domesticity, which is not how I prefer to spend my days. But it was raining and cleanliness helps the megrims, so I doped my back up and took the couch apart so as to add some more cushions as I've been meaning to for a while. Am still not able to get up out of it without them. But of course this involved vacuuming everything, all sides, including the amazing amount of dust on the nether side of the cushions and the amazing amount of crap between them. Then got at the corner by the wall which was festooned with cobwebs and thick with dust because it's very hard to reach. Emptied cannister, drank 500 ml of water, then vacuumed the rest of the living room and the hallway. Some day I may get the carpet up and the couch pulled out to remove the dust elephants there, but that's a bit more than I'm up for just now. Lemon polished the wooden tables instead so they glow. 

Am not totally satisfied because there's still too many miscellaneous boxes and bags here. A bag of unwearable back braces that still don't fit, the plastic hooked hanging thingies I use for laundry between the furnace turning off and the cherries falling, and a pile of calendars I can't throw out because they're where I tracked my weight gains and losses. Maybe if I noted the general trends in a notebook somehow? This would be easier if I had a computer of some description.

Currently have some basmati rice cooking so I can have omuraisu tomorrow. And maybe tomorrow will get to the kitchen floor.

I do not see me getting up at 6 ayem to see the Blood Moon. It will have to bleed without me. 

Another library book of long holding came in so I went out in sun and not-that-cold to get it. Then had indifferent grilled chicken at Pour Boy where I ate in lonely splendour. Odd. Their fried chicken sandwich is excellent, their chicken satay is excellent, but their grilled chicken is tendony and fat, like KFC in Japan.

I've been wanting an acrylic floor polish for the laminate kitchen tiles but no supermarket has it. Lotsa stuff for wood floors which tells you just how yuppie this 'hood has become. When I finally remember to google it, transpires that hardware stores sell it. And since I'm out on Bloor anyway, might as well trot over to Wieners and get my steps in. Noting along the way the many businesses that have closed: not just the vape stores and cannabis outlets, but two or three of the longtime Korean places. That odd health store with its cures for bladder problems (in men), one of the accessory hats'n'jewelry places that also changed watch batteries, another stationery store I think, Tom and Sara with its anime plushies... Anyone would think we were in a recession.

Got my floor polish and then walked the half block to Brunswick to see what had replaced By the Way. Answer is, nothing yet, though at least the sign is up for a French brasserie thingy. Presumably waiting for spring to open, which may also be the reason the high scale Japanese steak house in the old Second Cup and Presse Libre site is still at the Coming Soon! stage. That one has been in the works for close to a year IIRC and I have ceased to hold my breath.

And some day will get down the street for my quarterly blood draw, but who wants to get out of bed early these days? Only it will rain later this week and then it will be achiness rather than laziness that deters me. Not to mention grunge on the wheels, which was bad enough today with melt and rock salt applying a cm coating.

Now that the weather is on the turn, sort of more or less because March is seriously not to be trusted, I ventured out past Bathurst yesterday to Sushi on Bloor. Possibly the staff remember me even after two months, or possibly they rush to open the doors for all ancient walker-users, but I choose to believe the former and think it very nice of them. Had salmon teriyaki instead of sushi for the omega-whatevers,  even though salmon is always iffy for me. Of course I then had Bailey's and vodka after I came home and suffered heartburn all night, which will learn me. But the salmon skin didn't help, of course.

Glorious sun today and temps above freezing so I hacked my garbage bin out of its snowy bed and replaced it with the recycle. Thus I needn't get out to Shoppers for garbage tags as I'd feared I might have to. I still don't have that much garbage, even though I haven't put it out since the first week in January. My green bin is still firmly stuck in the snow and will doubtless stay that way for a few weeks yet, because I still can't get anywhere near it. Things will melt tomorrow and then flash freeze on Sunday. Must keep the salt handy and possibly buy more,  since All That Snow will melt onto the sidewalk--is melting already-- and then flash freeze into a skating rink.

To note in the current game of Recycle Bingo: recycle was picked up yesterday morning, so one must indeed put it out the night before and not bank on a late pickup. Except that the block south of me was still out at 4:30, on the western side, while the east had already been done. 

Am wondering about a point of wedding etiquette. Suppose I send my nephew and his fiancée a cheque in lieu of a wedding present. Who do I make the cheque out to? I don't know if they have a joint account, I don't want to send it to just my nephew-- whom I haven't seen in 30 years anyway-- and I don't know if my instinct to send separate but equal cheques to each is permissable. Shall consult the s-i-l, I suppose.

I have physio tomorrow so I figured there was no need to go up to Loblaws today. I could go out to lunch or something in the last day of sun before the snow starts tonight. But my insides took exception to the lentil mush I've been eating, or to something, so no, not going out for sushi any time soon. Might as well get my prescription. And a good thing too, because as it turns out an amazing number of people didn't touch Sunday's snow and it's all glare ice now. Walking over that when it's covered with the 2-4 cm/ 1.5 inches forecast between now and Wednesday afternoon would not be fun. So shall take the Christie route if I go out at all,  or just eat the cancellation fee. This winter, dear god, this winter.

But I do feel better for the walk and the sunshine. Had a cold brew coffee-- I can only drink coffee safely if it's cold, health benefits or not-- and watched my fellow golden agers trundle about, and read a Dr Priestley on the phone. Turned out to be a short story, not a novel, chiz chiz, but for a .99 purchase one mustn't complain. Somehow must get to the Art Gallery before next week when the show I want to see closes. But yanno, snow and the Spadina LRT not running till late Friday-- buses laid on but no thanks-- and rush hours. Maybe Saturday when temps soar to a sunny 5C if I can get up early enough.

Woke up at a reasonable hour, took meds, looked out the study window, saw snow, and decided to go bak to bed. Did, and dreamed of being back at Bedford with sibs and Aunt H trying to work out how we could live there and also sell to the Chuas. There was an official sort of man pressing the point, who was some sort of policeman, but who also at one point was dealing with a chubby baby. And Bedford was definitely Bedford except that parts of it were Bedford as renovated by the Chuas.  It was the sort of dream that leaves an all-day hangover: not unpleasant, just mildly disconcerting because, well, we sold the place almost forty years ago and my aunt died in 2000, and there I was at Bedford talking to her this morning.

Eventually got up around noon and breakfasted and all. Then by a judicious but generally unadvised combination of muscle relaxants and vodka, shut my back up enough so I could scrape the snow off the steps and path. And feeling almost like old days, lifted the compacted layer of ice and snow from the pavement in front of my house and SND's, who must be away this weekend, and then a stretch of NND's frontage. We were just at freezing today but tomorrow will see a fast plunge and the slush will turn to ice.

There was a video about making lentil pancakes: boil up a carrot, potato, onion, and red lentils, blend in blender, form into patties, cook in oil. I did the veg first and separate, then added the lentils and cooked till soft. Except that red lentils immediately turn into mush so that, when blended, I wind up with lentil soup. Am clearly missing a step. Maybe I should add the breadcrumbs I do not have, or cook some green lentils to add instead. Or just resign myself to lentil soup.

Rain all day which is supposed to turn into snow overnight and then continue for the next little while. I am so over this winter. There's a grocery delivery tomorrow which I hope won't be impeded by the weather. Maybe today's 5C and rain has reduced the snow berms somewhat? Obviously I haven't been out to see.

The library book I got last week is in Japanese, yes, but I hadn't registered that it's not merely a kid's book but a young kid's book ie it's all in hiragana ie it's unreadable by me. Yes I subvocalize but it's like reading phonetic English, a chore. Somehow I need to get it back to the library for those three other people who want it and I don't know when, or rather how, that will get accomplished. Am hoping the cold front due on Monday will firm up the snow enough that I can get the walker over it.

However, I would have sworn there were no Agatha Christies I hadn't read, and especially no Poirots, but here I am reading The Clocks for obviously the first time.  My thanks to whichever FFLer who mentioned it however long ago: it's been on hold for a while. My one niggle is that I'm reading on the downstairs tablet that has been heartbreaking since I updated it. Won't hold a charge for more than a few hours, when the upstairs tablet had its charges boosted when I updated it, as well as getting me predictive entering. If this tablet continues to be such a bummer I may well gather my courage and return it to factory settings.

It was heavy sleet when I got up and then it was heavy snow  but thankfully not really freezing rain. However heavy snow-- weight heavy, not just thick and fast-- is a pain to deal with. I scraped about four inches off the steps and shovelled the path in tiny increments because shovel was too heavy to lift. Salted same, came in and stretched, two hours later did it again, though it was only an inch or so by then. Have been hearing sirens all day, doubtless the aged like me not taking their shovelling easy. Meanwhile either a bobcat or a really public-minded and extremely strong snowblower had come along and flattened the sidewalk into walkability. Money is on bobcat because didn't see any blown snow. And if only my back wasn't such a diva I could have taken the snowpack up and cleared down to the concrete, because it lifts really nicely with the ice scraper now. Did a metre-long stretch to show it could be done, but my back really hates me.

Finished the Riddlemaster trilogy last week and went over vol.3 with the handy ebook 'search in book' function to shed some light on who and when. Am still slightly confused. Then in a bout of 'get it off the shelf' I started on James Branch Cabell's Jurgen. Cabell was probably my first experience of fandom: somehow in my 20s I stumbled on a group devoted to his works and subscribed to their newsletters and such. I haven't read him in 50 years and retained only an impression of extreme clever clogs-ishness. Which he is, and sniggering with it, though I was surprised to find that the beginning of Jurgen is actually sweetly melancholic about the compromises of maturity. Which was not something I'd register in my early 20s. Did go online to see what, if anything, people have to say about Cabell now, and was pleased to come across a reddit thread of the young'uns can't be having with him.

To take the taste of that out of my mouth I had recourse to a couple of Dr. Priestleys, only one of which was glaringly obvious. Then took a disintegrating Penguin Classic off the shelf, Poems of Heaven and Hell From Ancient Mesopotamia. Have been through the Babylonian Creation twice, with the introduction and the cast of characters, and am still confused as to who is who. It doesn't help that the pages are literally crumbling so that leafing back and forth is unadvised and difficult. Should probably move on to the next section.

Currently also reading a collaboration between John Dickson Carr and John Rhode, which reads very oddly indeed. Should also read that library book, which is in Japanese and I believe rather in demand. Since I'm certainly not going anywhere tomorrow, I may spend the day doing that.

Went out yesterday in the grey and slush and got my library book, then went to Pour Boy where the lovely waitress came out to hold the door for me and then helped me lift the walker onto the snowbank so it didn't block the doorway. Checked my paper diary and yes, it's been a month since I was out at a restaurant and six weeks since I was there. Seems like a mighty long time because it was. 

The melt has led to the usual ponds at street corners so today I put on my unsatisfactory new boots which are at least more waterproof than my ten year old pair. The left boot slopped around because that's evidently the shorter foot and inserts don't cut it. Had a bright idea and put my orthotic sole into it and it was fine.  So now I know.

Otherwise I need to get back to the bike machine but melt temperatures also conduce to achiness. And of course vodka and Bailey's don't help the couch potato reflexes.

The recycle got picked up. At 5:30 of course, but at least it was same day.  And because it's seven weeks post-solstice it was still light out so I could see the guys had left my bin lying on its side, blocking  the sidewalk. So I went out and rescued it and dragged it back up the path, and a nice guy walking his dog asked if I needed a hand. I thanked him and said I was OK, but if he hadn't had a curious energetic pup to handle I might have taken him up on his offer, and let him heave the thing back onto the snowbank.

I miss the city guys who always pushed the bins back to the edge of the yard.

However it seems-- fingers crossed-- that my bar fridge has come back to life. I treat it very gently just in case, but not having to tackle the stairs pre-meds is a great relief.

And Monday is a holiday, so I must get a shop in before then.

I wanted a Vietnamese coffee and I didn't want to go out to get it so I ordered in through Skip the Dishes, my old standby from lockdown. Skip has a peculiar web interface that lags when you try to login and then suddenly decides yeah ok we do know you after all. I think they want you to use their even buggier app which no I won't. But this time they were giving my address as 518 for some reason, so I corrected that to 543 and ordered my chicken and vermicelli and coffee. Of course I really  wanted a banh mi after reading all those Dr. Siri books where he sits eating his banh mi by the side of the Mekong looking over at Thailand. But you know, bread, so no. And I watched on the map as the little car icon come up Christie and turned and I went to the door to wait for the guy, and the guy didn't come and my phone said Your order has been delivered! with a photo of an unfamiliar porch. So I text the guy, I'm here at 543 waiting, and he texts back that of course he left it at 518. Thus I had to go out anyway and yes, wrestle the walker through the snow berms again, because 518 is south of me and on the other side. This isn't the first time Skip has altered my address off its own bat-- they had me at 552 for the longest time-- so I think that's it for me and Skip. I like that they give you tracking on your order, which Uber doesn't-- Uber comes when it comes and doesn'teven knock-- but I can't be having with their webpage's dementia.

Bloody Chrome bugs me to update it, and starts turning itself off to make me do it. And of course you should never update because who knows what crap they'll put on your machine. But I have limited patience with sudden! black screens so ok I update. And now all the fonts are bitsy little things which I can enlarge with zoom but then the line goes off the screen.  Other people can change fonts in Chrome but my version doesn't give me the option. My phone will let me turn everything sideways so I have a longer screen but not this tablet. Other people can get rid of the AI button but I can't unless I change my search engine. I can no longer turn on those time-wasting little Discover news stories on  the main page with one click: I need  to go through a couple of screens, to find it and then I can't turn it off. Which I suppose is fine, I don't need to read Twisted Sister and that ilk, but they do occasionally have legit news. So now I'll probably be on Facebook more because their fonts aren't changed, and be watching more tiktok vids. This is not the optimal outcome. Oh, and will be discovering for the next week all the places the update logged me out of. It was pure chance that I found a way to log me back onto LJ.

Feh. Also ptui. Must rethink gettig a Chromebook, but what else is there?

The carpet of salt the city put down kept the sidewalks clear even with the inch of snow we had last night. I was all prepared to head out to a restaurant but my phone was low on charge. And while it was charging I thought better of it and ordered in instead: chicken vermicelli with lots of veggies which I know will do me two meals. Because if I go out I will drink and I might at least try to make it through a whole month.  January wasn't a dry month because I had vodka coolers up until the middle. But I did at least succeed in getting the recycle bin free of its snow so I can put it out on Thursday. As ever there's no guarantee it will get picked up on Thursday but that's another problem for another day.

Clipper winds are bringing in another polar vortex so will not be going anywhere this weekend. Have turned basement taps back on for the duration.

The good news is that I got up the street with only a few patches of slush impeding the walker's wheels. Alleyways mostly, which are a pain because snow+slope makes for antsy footing. So I should be able to get to physio on Wednesday. I've been doing remarkably well given it's been nearly three weeks but will be glad of some work on the knees.

The bad news is that I knocked my water pic of the sink this morning and broke something off it. Thus the need to get to Loblaws to buy a new one.

The worst is that the bar fridge stopped working last night. The connection will no longer connect. So it's stairs again for me in the morning.

However, last Thursday as I was pushing my way through the almost impassable slush a bearded guy coming the other way stopped to commiserate. You're very brave, he said. Pure hubris, I said, and anyway I need potatoes. I ran across him again today up the street. Appears he was impressed by my using hubris, a word which he doesn't expect people in general to know. Ah, said I, comes of being a Classics major. Still impressive, he says. Which was nice.

I defrosted the bedroom bar fridge yesterday. Satisfying as it is to pull great sheets of ice out with the aid of a screwdriver, this will occasionally sever important connections. Was wondering why the fridge was so silent last night. Anyway, I fiddled with this and that and it started purring again this morning, so I'm hoping all is well and cold. I'll be more careful in future, and also not wait six months to defrost. Though if worst happens, it won't kill me to go back to limping downstairs to get my breakfast and limping back up to eat it. Did it when I was far more crippled than I am now ie four+ years ago.

My grocery order came promptly and a little before time, also with the same shopper as I had in December. Possibly luck of the draw, possibly he remembers that hefty tip I gave him. Poor lad gets the worst weather with me-- sleeting rain then, bitter bitter cold today.

It will warm up briefly next week but I'll probably wait till Monday to see if the sidewalks north of me have become passable. Physio on Wednesday if I can make it. I wonder if Diamond cabs would consent to ferry me two and a half blocks?

Didn't want to get up this morning. Bed so warm, world so cold. Checked my phone in bed and saw 47 has taken to wearing a glove on his left hand to hide the bruising,  like Cosmo Gilt. Yeah, could be because of aspirin use-- I used to get amazing bruises back in my aspirin and codeine days-- but someone cheerfully remarked that the Queen had a similar bruise on her hand when greeting Lettuce Liz, and two days later she was dead. Of course if he's taking aspirin he's less likely to have a stroke, which is unfortunate, but maybe the Big Macs will do for his heart.

Is still freezing out because wind chill. Went out and scraped packed snow off front walkway and a bit of the sidewalk, but there's ice underneath. It comes up if you hack at the right angle but that irritates my touchy neck vertebrae so I couldn't finish. Removed a bit of the snow mountain in front of the bins and the gas meter. Bins aren't going out any time soon and new company is making noises about not taking bagged recycling like the city used to, but the gas reader is coming next week. Mind, the gas co. should just do another estimate this month and cut their losses.

Reading is still Dr. Siri but I wanted a break and some easily understood classical English mystery,  so I got a .99 special (and why doesn't this keyboard have a cents sign? I can have £ and € and ¥, but cents, no.) It was very silly and I deleted it from my account so I don't even know what it was called. Then had recourse to a Dr. Priestley, but Rhode has a verbal tick that increasingly grates. Whenever a witness is asked about an event, the answer begins with either 'I'll tell you how it was' or 'It was like this.'  Ah well. Back to Dr. Siri.

Dead tree is Flora's Fury to get it off the shelf. I should read at least Flora's Dare to refresh the memory, but Libby doesn't have it and it's non-circulating at the library. Still, the world building is a lot of fun and I'm enjoying it.

No, sorry, that's no 7-10 cm out there. It's damn near the 30 cm/ 1 foot they said would happen with lake effect, if not in fact more. Can't tell with the wind blowing: my porch alone had 15 cm piled up on it. My good neighbour(s) (plural because both J and C have snowblowers-- saw them hobnobbing as they cleared their respective frontages) snowblew the front walkway and sidewalk some time this morning. I went out at noon and did the steps and the accumulation on the walkway. Four hours later I went out and removed a foot off the steps and six inches from the walkway. Came in and as I was taking off my boots good neighbour C came and cleaned my steps again. Yes it is snowing that hard. My icon is exactly what's happening. Am bitterly regretting that dry January I decided on.

My weather memory is off, which disturbs me. I keep thinking this amount of snow is unusual, but it's not. We had a lot last year, not just the big dump in February, a major snowstorm in 2022, and enough in 2023. It was only 2024 that was dry enough for shoes. And for that matter, we had a January thaw in the second week. It was 15 on my birthday.

I must assume it's the current political climate that has me all wibbly about the impending meteorological one. Polar vortices are nothing new in this town: we had one last year. But of course this year comes on top of snow dumps and is set to last till the end of January, not just a day or two and done.

It starts tonight so I went out in today's sunshine and relative warmth to stock up at Fiesta,  even though it meant threadinng my way between ice berms and garbage bins. A bobcat had come up the street and done its best with those houses that couldn't be arsed to shovel last week's accumulation, but of course it had turned to unmoving ice by today. So three houses in a row had ice ridges in front. One or two other places put down salt that had begun to break up the ice, but that will all freeze again tonight. I do so wish I was still able-bodied enough to take my ice chopper to it, because I could have cleared it all in fifteen minutes. At least my side of the Greek gardener's corner lot was clear, though the Follis stretch looked untouched. But insult to injury, the actual corner had a great puddle that I was forced to wade through in my ancient leaky boots.

However am now reasonably set for the next week if I have to stay indoors. But I really need to get a massage for my twinging back since that's what's making moving difficult now. I have money for luxuries because my physio is on vacation next week, I can't get out to restaurants, I'm not buying alcohol, and my dental cleaning cost me $13-- not because of insurance but because I paid for something last year that insurance reimbursed half of,  so I had a wodge of cash on account.

Made it to the dentist. Did not die, though I thought I might while waiting on College St for my cab. Wind tunnels at -10C will get you wind chills of -22, whatever that may be F, because 'forking freezing' is not a scientific measurement. Driver kept yawning since extreme cold also leads to somnolence. Am yawning now at quarter to six. Which may be fallout from the dentist or may be tiredness from getting up this morning when I first woke up. Seems I need the extra hours I get from sleeping in.

Cabs always come early so I had an hour to kill. Intended to get something from Tim's and then found I'd forgotten the toothbrush and paste I'd carefully put in a bag for this eventuality. Well, fine, shall mail that parcel I've had ready for weeks since there's a post office in the same building. Had the photo of my QR code for overseas customs declaration. But as ever the PO scanner couldn't read it and a 1 o'clock line was forming behind me. So I went to the side and filled out the form again on my phone-- and let me say, people who live on their phones must have different keyboards or smaller fingers than I, because writing anything on my android is a fiddly heartbreaking exercise. This goes double for Japanese addresses, but in the end my phone was completely readable. So this is what I'll do in future. Asked the clerk what people do who don't have smartphones and she said They just don't send parcels. I begin to lose sympathy for Canada Post. We won't mention sending anything to the US, with customs to be paid in advance via one app only. The customs thing is their current administration (quae delenda est) but I think the mandatory app is pure Canuck bureaucracy.