Although I rose around 1 a.m. overnight as a result of getting to bed early last evening, I returned to bed just after 4:30 a.m. upon setting my cellphone's alarm for 6:30 a.m.
Why?
I was determined to follow through with the venture I wrote of in yesterday's post ─ a four-mile round trip hike to the nearest government liquor store (Google Map) to buy two dozen cans of the strong (8% alcohol) beer that I prefer to have in stock.
I do not drive.
For most of this month only, these liquor stores open at 8 a.m. six days a week (I think they have a 9:30 a.m. opening for Sundays). Obviously they will be closed Christmas Day and Boxing Day, as far as I know.
Anyway, when my alarm came on, I so did not want to get up ─ I was craving more sleep, feeling myself in a definite deficit.
But I rose ─ after a few minutes. I went downstairs and boiled water for a cup of black instant coffee.
I am effective at getting later starts than I usually intend where leaving home is concerned. It was around 7:45 a.m. by the time I was underway.
It was frosty out. I was warm enough, but I ought to have brought gloves for the homeward trip ─ my hands suffered as each gripped a pack or tote bag that contained a dozen cans of beer apiece.
It may have been as late as 8:25 a.m. by the time I achieved the store, and I was its only customer despite there being at least three staff on duty ─ I am sure there had to have been at least one more person 'in back'.
I could have arrived earlier despite my late start, but I found that I had to often walk with great care ─ once I almost fell while crossing diagonally across an intersection where there was no traffic. The streets and sidewalks were frosted and often slick with black ice.
In fact, a very short distance after that incident, a small car was turning at the same intersection and must have hit the same ice ─ it could not negotiate the turn, and instead slid diagonally until it came up hard against the curb, its horn blaring temporarily.
Why did it have to become weather like this overnight, I fumed? The past few days had been damp and mild. But as soon as I make plans to get out early for an errand like this, I am subjected to a slick freeze.
The sky was clear and blue, and the Sun bright.
Once I was in the liquor store, I decided to also buy a 750-ml bottle of Red Rooster Merlot 2018 ─ the wine will be added to two other brands of merlot that I already have which shall collectively be my wife's Christmas gift.
As might be imagined, my walk back home was performed even more tentatively ─ I dared not slip bearing the load I was hauling. I'm 71 years old ─ I don't exactly 'bounce back' from falls anymore. And besides, I have already ripped off one of my quadriceps tendons from its kneecap (patella) attachment just over 10 years ago, requiring surgery five days later. I never want an experience like that again ─ I thus have a strong disinclination to be falling.
Normally I can make the walk home without stopping to put down my load. But this time I had to stop at the approximate halfway point to put down my baggage because my right hand was so cold that the skin of the palm felt like it was being abraded raw from the handle of the tote bag it was bearing.
Then at a park about four blocks from home, I had to stop for an extended time because the same hand was in excruciation ─ the edge of my hand featuring my little finger was afire with the agony of the cold. I had to put down my load and coddle the hand for several minutes, rubbing it and shaking it to get fresh blood flowing ─ despite the burning that resulted in.
Why do very cold fingers that are in pain from excessive cold feel even worse once they start warming up?
Normally this walk will take me an hour ─ or just over, if I am remembering aright. But I think that it must have been a half hour or more beyond that range by the time I was back. My brother was already reading the Saturday morning Vancouver Sun and enjoying coffee at the dining table.
We didn't interact ─ I came directly upstairs to unburden myself and dress down, and then I sat here at my computer which is also upstairs.
I managed to resist the urge to return to bed until around 11:30 a.m. And though I did nap, I was awake again and checking the time around an hour later. Nevertheless, it took me several minutes before I could force myself out of my warm and very comfortable bed.
A couple of days ago I had dealt remotely with an agent at the financial institution that handles my very modest RRSP. Now that I am 71 years old, Canadian law declares that my RRSP fund must be converted into an RRIF by year's end.
He had E-mailed me the various forms I needed to sign (and in some instances date). I was to print them out, sign what needed signing, and then scan and E-mail them back to him.
The most engaging young man (David) E-mailed me this morning to let me know that I had failed to send back a specific five-page form.
And sure enough, in reexamining his earlier message, I saw that I had only printed out three forms (for a total of seven pages). I had overlooked this fourth form with its five extra pages.
So I got around to getting that out of the way early this afternoon while my brother was resting up ere he headed away for the afternoon.
I had opted to start having my RRIF pay out quarterly, with the first payment coming mid-January ─ it will be most welcome by then following as it does both Christmas and New Year's Eve expenses!
Yesterday my brother wondered to me if I had heard anything about a new provincial cash handout called the BC Recovery Benefit related to the COVID-19 scamdemic world governments are stupidly in alarm over.
I had only heard it mentioned ─ I knew no details. But he had the impression that he might qualify for $500.
Well, he was right. Our older maternal half-sister Phyllis E-mail me that link to information about the benefit at 2:26 p.m. that very afternoon. However, my brother was not home at the time.
He asked me about it again early this afternoon, so I opened the link to the website so he could see the details for himself. Notwithstanding, no one can apply until December 18 arrives. But at least he now knows that he does qualify.
I am married, so my wife and I evidently qualify for a $1,000 benefit. I will let her know about it, and also promise to split the payment with her whenever we get it.
I want to wrap this post up early because I would like to tune in a Christmas movie via our Android TV Box. I already have the movie in mind that I will be seeking a functioning link for. Few things are as delightful for me than watching a lovely Christmas movie while having some drinks ─ I can get so darned emotional with the properly affecting movie.
My brother more often than not will stay with his girlfriend Bev after they get together on Saturdays, and spend the night at her home. However, he did not do so last Saturday, so I can never truly be confident that I will have the evening to myself.
Thus, it is best that I seek the movie early.
With that said, I still have some scheduled exercising to get out of the way. I would like to first have a final hot caffeinated beverage, but my eldest stepson has been farting around in the kitchen for at least a half hour and does not show any signs of vacating it.
I am not in the mood for a conversation, so I prefer not to become involved. And since my eyes are burning from inadequate sleep as well as overuse, perhaps I will lie down for a spell to try and revive enough to handle the exercising as soon as possible ─ 'time's a wasting'!
But I must say that I have had a pretty decent day by way of accomplishments.
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