The exact time now escapes me, but I was to bed last evening before 10:00 p.m., feeling perhaps a tad sorry for myself that I have became so isolated socially that I had barely given the day any thought or regard despite it being Canada Day.
The day meant practically nothing to me ─ my life and existence are now so marginal. I have no friends near ─ no one with whom I can mark these special occasions. And since I do not drive and I am not the active younger man I once was, there is no inclination in me to gear up and hike away the mile or so to the nearest site of celebration that I was aware of.
My younger brother must have gotten involved in something wherever it was that he had ended up drinking, for he was not yet home.
My wife would have worked until the Thai restaurant's evening closure at 9:00 p.m., and then she would have socialized afterward ─ she was not home. Both of her sons were here, but I think the eldest had gone to bed before I did, for he had a new workday's early morning ahead of him.
Anyway, I think that it was only at the end of September 2013 that my wife and her sons were sworn in as Canadian citizens, so they have never really been immersed into the celebration of the founding of Canada.
It was uncomfortably warm in bed due to the heat buildup of a sunny day. I probably lapsed into sleep a couple of times before I was aware of my wife entering the bedroom ─ probably to get her housecoat.
I wear a makeshift blindfold, so she left the bedside lamp on when she left the bedroom and closed the door. I am unsure, but it may have been almost midnight.
I decided to have a bathroom break, and inconspicuously exited the bedroom and used the bathroom that is immediately next to my bedroom. I could see my brother downstairs watching T.V. in the darkened living room.
My wife came into the bedroom at least once more over the next hour, during which time my brother retired for the night.
It was nearing 1:00 a.m. when I decided to get up and get to work on the day's content assignment for the post I am nearing completion at one of my six hosted websites. I had been in bed for something over three hours and felt reasonably revived.
I keep my computer here upstairs in a small room that is also next to my bedroom ─ the side opposite from the bathroom. My youngest stepson was also still up, for I heard his mother talking in Thai.
Soon after, she came upstairs and realized that I was up, so she wondered to me if she had disturbed me when she most recently came into our bedroom, but I assured her that she had not.
Then she either took a call from or placed a call to her mother, who lives in a large village no more than about a 15-minute drive from Udon Thani. The bulk of that loud conversation was behind the closed bathroom door. I could not help but wonder if my brother was still awake and aware of the call, for his bedroom is also adjoining the bathroom.
My wife finished up in the bathroom, and then retired for the night.
My return to bed would not be until 5:23 a.m., but that was due to more occupation of my time than the website content assignment.
Today the annual property taxes had to be paid, and my brother would have dropped off my personal cheque at Surrey's city hall in Whalley yesterday. The day before he did that, he had given me a personal cheque for half of the due amount.
Well, I had yet to deposit his cheque into my chequing account, and without that addition to its balance there would not be sufficient funds in the account to cover the property taxes.
Of course, it would take a few days, I am sure, before my personal cheque for the taxes would have been negotiated ─ after all, there are many thousands of such cheques that would have been similarly dropped off.
But there was no sense in taking chances. The nearest ATM for my chequing account's banking institution is not quite a mile from here where I live.
I buckled down and worked on the website post. When I was approximately half done, I took a break in order to perform a plank downstairs in the living room ─ my youngest stepson had gone to bed by then, so no one was up but me.
Currently I am performing 5½-minute planks, but I generally exceed that duration just to be comfortably certain that I am meeting the time requirement.
This morning, the plank was for five minutes and 45 seconds. It was definitely a strain, but I knew that I could have lasted for six minutes ─ I just did not want to. I will be doing six-minute planks on a daily basis soon enough ─ there is no need to be rushing into that new target.
Completing the website content assignment took me a little longer than I had wanted, for I did not wish to leave on the hike to the ATM until I was done ─ but I also did not want to be leaving when the very early birds were beginning to begin their commutes to work.
As it happened, it was 4:39 a.m. when I was outside the locked front door and on my way. But the night was already fading.
As well, the Coast Capital Savings credit union building I was bound for is situated next to the King George SkyTrain Station ─ and that service begins operating a few minutes (less than 10) after 5:00 a.m., so there are already lots of people waiting and more on their way.
I prefer anonymity and solitude when I am out at that early time of day.
Nevertheless, I got the errand done; and I was back at the locked front door by 5:15 a.m.
Less than 10 minutes after that, I was finally back in bed. And almost immediately, because my earlier exertions had elevated my metabolism, in no time I was heating up and perspiring under the bedding.
But that was nothing new...and it was still no worse than my state the previous evening.
Of course I managed some sleep; and then just after 9:00 a.m., I rose to begin my morning anew. My brother was downstairs watching T.V., but I came here to my computer and waited until at least 9:50 a.m. before going downstairs to prepare my day's first hot caffeinated beverage and then join him in the living room.
My wife normally rises around 10:00 a.m. to begin readying for her new workday and her 11:00 a.m. start at the restaurant ─ and her drive to get there.
I heard her cellphone's alarm a couple of times prior to 10:00 a.m. before I had gone downstairs, but when she was not yet out of the bedroom and it was 10:11 a.m., I went upstairs to rouse her.
She was clearly dead tired. She spoke some words to me, but her sleepy speech was too garbled to understand.
I feigned a questioning understanding, and backed away, returning downstairs. I figured to allow her until 10:20 a.m., but she got up before that time and spared me the trouble.
She had to curtail her usual preparations in order to get away in sufficient time to drive to work without being late.
By the way, while I had been in bed earlier, it had rained. I had thought that it might continue periodically through the day, but that was not to be the case. Into the afternoon, the Sun predominated.
Anyway, from 10:00 a.m., my brother and I watched an episode each of three T.V. shows (Britain's Got Talent; The Path; and True Detective) that I summoned up with our T9 Android 8.1 TV Box; and then just after 1:00 p.m. he sought some bedrest.
I soon returned to my own bed. And when I had napped and risen, I found my brother to have gone for the afternoon.
I am going to take a break now at 4:41 p.m., for I have to tackle today's scheduled exercises out in the backyard toolshed. Also, I have eaten nothing today but two of my usual hot caffeinated beverages, so I will be remedying that after I have exercised.
My youngest stepson must have today off work.
oooooooooooooo
I rather surprised myself with those exercises ─ I was strong. Yet I had avoided them all day because I did not feel up to the task.
It is presently 5:40 p.m.
I am nursing the hope of finding it within me to get out early this evening and do some local grocery shopping, so I want to conclude today's post to allow myself some time to rest myself for the walk.
First, though, I want to share about a very recent piece of coffee research out of the U.K. that ought to help ease any concerns copious coffee drinkers may have concerning their habit's toll on their cardiovascular health.
These two articles tell of the study, although the first one is typically bombastic:
JacksDailyDose.com
SmithsonianMag.com
I now conclude my post with a few more photos that were taken early in June of last year during a visit my wife paid to a sister of hers who has made Italy her second home.
The location for these photos seems to me to be the Trevi Fountain in Rome.
The date setting of my wife's digital camera had not been adjusted for that holiday, so the June 7 (2018) date that displays in the metadata can only be a good approximation of when the photos were taken.
That is my wife in the first photo:
There are so many more photos that she took that day, but those will find inclusion in upcoming posts.
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