Upon some further reconsideration of the claim I made in yesterday's post about not shopping again at Real Canadian Superstore once they impose a mandatory face mask upon customers beginning this next Saturday, I may comply ─ but only out of utter necessity.
I had thought that I would just be having to accept that I would be paying around $1.50 or more for a litre of heavy liquid whipping cream at any other store (I use a litre or so a week), but it is worse than that.
They also sell the tall tins (475-gramme) of Nescafé Rich instant coffee that this household exclusively uses for our at-home coffee, at a price that is a few dollars cheaper than other stores.
And the honey that I buy for our coffee ─ in a 3-kg container ─ is only available there. The other stores I have access to only sell two-kg containers, and the cost per kilogramme is considerably more than is the case at Real Canadian Superstore.
Collectively here in this house, we probably go through one of those 3-kg containers in under three weeks ─ maybe more like two weeks.
I am a pensioner with no other income source ─ I have to pay attention to my expenditures.
There are no doubt other deals that are just not coming to mind at present.
And on top of all that, I need the weekend walks.
Sure, I walk to the store because I don't drive, and I would undoubtedly drive to the store if I did drive. But I never walk anywhere during the week, whereas the nearest Real Canadian Superstore outlet is at least a round trip of 5.625 miles ─ that is considerable activity for this 70-year-old, especially in view of the groceries being toted home after shopping.
I happen to possess a surgical face mask that my wife gave me a few months back, but I have never taken it out of its wrapper. I could easily bring it with me just for wearing in the store.
And if I have to keep wearing this same mask for years to come because of these mandatory face mask impositions ─ and to hell with the nonsense about needing a new one because a mask becomes contaminated after every use ─ then I will definitely wear it for years to come.
I will use the same mask for the remainder of my life if I must. These things are an unnecessary farce. And if grocery money was not of much consequence to me, I really would shop elsewhere.
So we shall see how this plays out come this next weekend.
Well, our Vancouver Canucks got badly whipped last evening in their first game against the Vegas Golden Knights (5 - 0). The two teams are playing for the right to see which of them goes on to play in the final series for the Stanley Cup.
I think that this is our worst loss over the course of the two series we've already been through. If we meet with defeat tomorrow evening, then we're in serious trouble indeed. We've never won the Stanley Cup in the team's 50 years of existence.
I intended to get to bed last evening if my younger brother was not home by 8:30 p.m. from wherever he had ended up drinking.
He was not home by then, but I kept watching the game. I figured to just hustle up to my bedroom when I noticed him arriving home at whatever time that proved to be.
Well, as misfortune would have it, I was outside in the open carport dealing with our wheelie bins because my two stepsons are slobs who have no compunction about putting what I deem to be naught but filthy 'garbage' into the recycling bin.
As I was doing some sorting, along came my brother.
So I watched the game with him until the second period ended, at which time the score was 4 - 0.
He was clearly drunk, and directed that I should switch the T.V. over to "something interesting" ─ that is, he wanted me to put our Android TV Box into operation and bring up an episode of one of the T.V. series we follow in common.
And so I did.
But about five minutes into the episode, I noticed his head falling to his chest, although he would quickly enough raise it. But he was keeping his eyes closed ─ he was no longer paying attention to the show.
Then when he began snoring, that was enough for me ─ I began backing out of the programme and finally switched the T.V. back over to the hockey game. My brother perked alert during that process, and tried to feign being aware by asking if I was just checking on the score.
I knew better, and I as much as said so.
And I left him with the game and his solitary drinking, and came upstairs here to my computer to make a final check of my E-mails. I was thereafter in bed by 9:44 p.m.
I cannot tolerate this feeble-brained state of my younger brother. If he wants so badly to drink himself unconscious, he can damned well do it all alone.
I was to sleep in fragmented fashion after finally getting asleep. Initially, I had to work at quelling some guilt about abandoning my drunken brother as I had done. After all, we are getting on in years and probably will not both be here for all that much longer.
Eventually I rose in the wee a.m. to put work into the post I am developing at one of my six hosted websites ─ possibly I was up ahead of 3 a.m. And I don't think that I returned to bed until just after 6 a.m.
Incidentally, it was raining very lightly over much of the night.
I remained in bed until nearly 9 a.m., and I was again here at my computer just ahead of my brother's emergence from his bedroom for the morning.
I am unsure, but I do not believe that he remembered that I had watched some of the game with him last evening, for he seemed to announce the final score as if I knew nothing at all of the progress of the game.
If that is the truth, then he would have entirely forgotten that I had forsaken him and left him alone with the T.V. ─ it is distinctly possible.
Anyway, as is usual on weekdays, I joined him at 10 a.m. and took over the T.V. to put our Android TV Box into operation ─ I had a movie in mind.
It was to prove far better than I was expecting, and even my brother seemed taken with it ─ 2016's Colossal.
I am aware of the existence of actress Anne Hathaway (she played the main character in the movie), but I would never have been able to name anything she's ever acted in, nor would I have been able to identify her because I had no idea what she looked like.
Her character in this movie was not anyone I much liked through the early part ─ or for most of the movie, in fact. She had serious character flaws.
But when her childhood friend (who always carried a fixation of sorts for her) began to turn into some malignant and possessive creep who would willingly have murdered untold numbers of Koreans every day of his life (in the guise of a giant robot) if she did not remain with him, I only then began to really like her.
She did her best to stand up to him ─ even engaging him in a fist fight to prevent what he intended to do. But she was no brawler ─ he gave her a pretty darned good beat-down.
The movie ends with her finally killing him ─ it was the only way to finally stop him from constant mass murder. And that was when she won me over entirely ─ she recognized that her friend was probably hopelessly insane, and there was no other way to make him stop.
One thing that boggled me and that was not explored was why this wretch's two best friends ─ who knew what he could do to the innocent citizens of Seoul, Korea ─ displayed no desire whatsoever to put a stop to him. They just left it up to our heroine to deal with the guy.
The final scene in the Korean bar is ambiguous. I like to think that maybe she and the female bartender got along exceptionally, and she was offered a job there ─ if such is possible for a visiting American in Korea.
We are left to guess and make up our own ending, apparently.
Yes, I enjoyed the movie.
My brother and I probably watched T.V. until 1:20 p.m. before he sought some bed rest, and I soon sought a nap. My brother was gone for the afternoon when I emerged from my bedroom.
I will not sit up if he is not home by 8:30 p.m. this evening ─ enough of this weak-brained display he presents.
Incidentally, it was only late this afternoon or early this evening that I noticed that my eldest stepson had phoned me twice just ahead of midnight yesterday, so I asked him about it. Did he perhaps find himself locked out of the house? He was not home that evening.
And so it was. He had taken his Harley-Davidson for a ride late that afternoon, and reportedly even visited his girlfriend at the Vancouver International Airport where she works. It was only when he was about to return here to where we live in Surrey that he realized he had better try and make some arrangements about getting into the house because he did not have his key.
Well, I do not normally have my cellphone with me when I go to bed ─ I prefer leaving it here by my computer in the small room next to my bedroom. I do not like having unknown callers ruining my sleep.
He phoned me twice to no avail, so he then tried my brother, all the while dreading that my brother was either passed out or else also in bed. However, the phone would not ring ─ it was likely powerless.
So he tried the house phone (landline), but got no response.
He ended up riding his bike in to Vancouver to wherever it is that his mother spends her weekends, and he got her house key.
According to him, he was back here around 1:30 a.m. this morning.
He claimed that it was rather enjoyable riding around as he did, although it was a little chilly.
He's 25 years old and quite a 'gym rat', so maybe he was rather enjoying himself to some degree.
I expect that from this time forth he will be more attentive about taking his house key with him, however.
His younger brother is in Calgary until Thursday, so he was of no help.
I have to wrap up this post, for it is already nearly 7:45 p.m. ─ I should have a bath, but I don't think I have the time now. I do not want to be caught up by my brother if he is not home by 8:30 p.m., after all.
Our overcast morning gave way to a fair amount of sunshine in the afternoon, but it was only in the latter afternoon that there was sufficient sunshine that I could have sunned. Unfortunately, I had too much else to do ─ my days have so little spare time, alas.
No comments:
Post a Comment