Last evening was the second consecutive in which my younger brother arrived home before 8:30 p.m. from wherever it was that he had been drinking. He must have shown up around 8:20 p.m.
And since he was to sustain consciousness for the rest of the evening, I felt obliged to sit up with him in the operation of our Android TV Box to locate episodes of a few of the T.V. series we currently follow in common. Thus, my bedtime was well into the midnight hour.
I had refrained from having a can of beer on the possibility that it might affect my state overnight, for I wanted to be in shape to head away early in the morning to do some shopping at the nearest Save-On-Foods outlet (Google map) as soon after its 7 a.m. opening as I was able to hike the 1¼ or so miles to the store. (I do not drive.)
After getting to sleep, I eventually became awake enough to be curious on the time just ahead of 4:15 a.m., so after making that time check, I soon rose to put some further work into the extremely lengthy post that I am constructing at one of my six hosted websites. Tomorrow, I fully do expect to finally be publishing the post ─ an enterprise of more than a month's making without having ever missed even a single day of working on it. I would venture that the post might exceed 50,000 words ─ by far the longest post I have ever laboured upon.
I felt rather well after rising. The bonus genius that I wrote of yesterday that had visited and remained with me by the end of that afternoon had banished the malus genius that had possessed me since even before daybreak.
I would that my life knew none other than the former buoying spirit, but this is not the way of life, alas.
Anyway, I was not to find myself embarked upon my quest until 6:53 a.m. beneath an overcast sky, but I doubt that it was later than 7:20 a.m. by the time I had arrived at the store.
My two previous visits there coincided with the re-stocking of the bread section, so I did not purchase any on those occasions ─ I tend to seek to avoid interaction with store personnel as a general rule. But this morning, the area was vacant.
As I was studying the brands, I saw that some of the quality brands were selling their loaves 'two-for-one' ─ in other words, pay the regular price, and get a second loaf for free.
My inclination would have been to avail myself of a very good brand called Dave's Killer Bread, but there were only two varieties in stock: "Good Seed" and some thin-sliced variety. I prefer not to bother myself with thin-sliced breads.
"Good Seed" was perfectly acceptable, and is the variety that we coincidentally had a partial loaf of at home. However, there was only one loaf on the shelf ─ if I bought it, I would be paying full price for just a single loaf, and not the promised two!
As I pondered this dilemma and nearly resorted to another brand of bread, the employee who had occupied the bread area the previous two times I had shopped at Save-On-Foods emerged from the bowels of the employees-only portion of the store.
Deep into his middle years and sporting a short greying beard, he genially solicited if there was anything that he cold help me find?
So I pointed at the solitary loaf and said, "It would be nice if there was a second loaf!"
At that, he countered robustly that there indeed was! And he then resorted to the mobile racks of bread that were stationed there and which are used to shuttle loaves from the storage area of the store to replenish the shelves. I expect that he had wheeled out the mobile racks earlier.
And sure enough, he found some. He even insisted that I not take the load on the shelf because it was older than those in his mobile racks, and he then thrust two of the loaves toward me.
The entire experience was most pleasurable; and as I walked away with the two loaves of bread in my basket, he called forth that he was glad I had spoken up concerning my need; whereat I returned that I was glad that he had asked me what need it was that I might have had!
The gent did not have on a face mask, and he clearly had no compunctions about handling and then handing the two loaves of bread to me ─ this was most heartwarming.
I exclusively do my grocery shopping at Save-On-Foods now because they are the only reasonably near market that I know of which opens at 7 a.m. and which has not mandated that all of their customers wear face masks.
I will not be a customer of a store that thinks they have the right to order me to wear a farcical face mask. So ─ bravo Save-On-Foods!
The gal serving as the sole cashier on duty was also most genial, and she was not wearing a nonsensical face mask either.
Thank you. I felt most welcome and wholly 'at home' with my visit this morning. And I appreciate that deeply.
I want to mention a fairly young woman I passed during my hike when I was still a couple or so blocks from the store before I had yet arrived there. She was red-headed, and dressed in quite tight denim jeans that she seemed to fill out rather well.
When I came upon her, she was basically loitering along Old Yale Road by Surrey Place (Central City), and specifically right around the mouth of an access to the covered parking area outside of where T & T Supermarket is presently located.
I figured her to be a hooker and / or a drug addict, and I expected that we would have some communication once I reached her. However, she kept her back to me even as I passed her by, and no verbal exchange was made.
I saw her again when I was on my way home from shopping, and this time she was slowly walking along the side of King George Boulevard nearest to the main parking lot of Surrey Place (Central City). I cut through that parking lot before she and I had intersected one another, however, but I rather suspect that she recognized me from earlier.
In all the while since our first encounter, she had traversed but a mere block or so, whereas I had travelled at least three blocks and also taken the time it required to do my shopping. Clearly, she was deliberately hanging about the area ─ and by my estimation, seeking to be noticed.
She appeared to be quite attractive, from what I could see of her face that second time, so this reinforces my notion that she was likely a streetwalker perhaps hoping to be addressed by a potential client.
If I had lived alone, I might well have at least conversed with her.
Anyway, no one was yet up when I got back home. I continued working on that website post to achieve the targetted amount of content I wanted to put into the post for today; my brother was finally up by the time I had finished.
I had flagged by this time, so I think that it may have been just after 10 a.m. that I at last returned to bed for some more sleep. I never managed to sleep for long, so I was back up well before noon ─ probably even before 11:30 a.m.
The day was to have some weak sunshine that grew stronger as the afternoon advanced. And as he usually does, my brother headed away before mid-afternoon to eventually resume his drinking somewhere. He had been watching football games and never did seek a nap, so I have no idea what to expect this evening.
Will he be home for a third consecutive evening ahead of his unspoken 8:30 p.m. deadline, thereby compelling me to sit up and operate our Android TV Box? We shall have to wait and see.
I absolutely must post a photo that appeared in both yesterday morning's Vancouver Sun and this morning's The Province newspapers.
Both newspapers had the following gorgeous image of a 26-year-old Canadian pole-vaulter named Robin Bone:
I downloaded that specific copy of her photo from an identical article at TorontoSun.com that was titled Pole-vaulter Robin Bone has her head in the game.
What a magnificent young woman!
Such a joyous creature!
I cannot claim to have before heard of her, but I do not believe that I will have any difficulty retaining a memory of her name hereafter.
It is presently 4:28 p.m., and earlier following the day's scheduled backyard toolshed exercising session around the mid-afternoon, I finally had my day's first small meal. And now I feel myself in need of a possible second nap, so I am going to break here.
The afternoon became remarkably sunny (it is presently 5:49 p.m.). If I lived somewhere in which it was possible for me to enjoy long walks far from the presence of my fellow man, I would eagerly have been out there soaking up the day.
But my reality is different ─ I am surrounded for miles on end with but nothing but busy streets, buildings of all description, and many, many other people. The stress of being out there would far outstrip anything that could possibly be described as beneficial.
And since saying that, I got enmeshed with the annoyance of ineffectually trying to deal with my sellers.json file, and now an hour has passed. I am going to call it quits with the blogging for today.
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