The small events of my day yesterday prevented me from having the time to make a post here. Prime in that context was that my wife was home, having spent the night.
Unfortunately for my good conscience that afternoon after I had eaten the day's first meal, the flushing from the 250-mgs of niacin that I had taken with the meal began to manifest excessively. The prickling was such that I felt needful to resort to my brother's bedroom in his absence, and seek a nap to best escape the discomfort.
Well, the flushing was so intense for my shaven head that I had chosen not to alert my wife to my intended retirement to my brother's room because, frankly, it is somewhat embarrassing for me for anyone to notice my intensely flushed appearance. Invariably, I would be queried on why, then, do I take so much of the B vitamin at a single dose?
I prefer not to have to bother trying to explain.
So I just quietly went on upstairs to my brother's bedroom and sequestered myself there. At the time, my wife was still in her housecoat even though it was around mid-afternoon.
I may not have even been atop my brother's bed for a full hour, but when I emerged from the room, my wife was gone. Only my youngest stepson was home ─ his older brother had probably driven their mother over to the Surrey Central Skytrain station area so that she could catch a train in to Vancouver where she normally spends her weekends.
I had not expected her to leave so early ─ I had figured that she would be home until into the evening. As a consequence, it made me feel uncivil or at least inconsiderate that I had not earlier informed her of my intention to seek a nap. I had denied her the opportunity for any final words to me that she might have wished to convey.
By the way, early that evening I enjoyed a can of strong (8% alcohol) beer and an episode of The Last Kingdom. I am only into the second season, but I absolutely love the series.
Since my adolescence I have been a romantic at heart, so a couple of romances between supporting or secondary characters thus far have deeply affected me. The first was that of a priest and the main character's sister who had been nearly mad (insane) after spending most of her life as a Dane captive.
The second (budding) romance is between one of two Dane brothers who are viking leaders, and a Saxon king's kidnapped daughter who had recently been married off to a young arrogant prick who ruled a neighbouring kingdom. This latter idiot was abusive to the young woman, but now she had found tenderness and sincere affection from a handsome pagan warrior chieftain, and she was no longer interested in being freed from her captivity to be returned to her scheming young husband.
She had found and experienced the true love that was missing from her young life.
I am deliberately not naming any of the characters because in order to do so, I would have to research that Wikipedia article on the series that I linked to. In so doing, I fear that I might discover that one or both of the latter two lovers may only be enjoying a short period of exposure in the series.
In other words, I dread that one or both of them will be killed off. And so I prefer to keep watching the series without any inkling that either or both of their roles will be ended any time soon.
Likewise, the middle-aged Father (priest) who fell in love with the main character's nearly mad young sister and found that she, too, loved him, is probably going to be a lasting character. But I would not put it past the series' developers that the troubled young woman that eagerly married him will yet be killed off.
I don't want to know nor even suspect that this will happen. At least, certainly not because of reading that her time in the series will soon be ending.
As a result, allow me to cease further discussion of the wonderful show.
I may have sought my latter evening nap thereafter by 9:30 p.m., and as yet my younger brother had still not returned home from wherever he was doing his drinking. For all I knew, perhaps he was going to be spending the night at the home of his girlfriend Bev.
I managed some sleep; and when eventually I was awake enough to be curious on the time, I saw it to be something like 12:28 a.m. The temptation was there to try and sleep a little more, but I had things to do for awhile here at my computer.
However, most coincidentally, it was just as I was considering getting up from bed that I recognized the sounds of my brother ─ who had clearly come home earlier ─ readying to come upstairs to his bedroom for the night. This was most conveniently timely for me.
I was to thereafter get much done of what I wanted to accomplish, but I had to cut my overnight time short because I had plans to do some very early grocery shopping at the nearest Real Canadian Superstore outlet (Google Map) that is something over 2¾ miles from here. To arrive there by its 7 a.m. opening, I would need to be leaving here on the hike as soon after 6 a.m. as I could manage.
But I would be doing none of that without some further bed rest. And thus it was that by maybe 3:20 a.m. at most I was back in bed with my cellphone alarm set for 5:15 a.m., for I would need some time to have a cup of hot, black instant coffee to help bestow some vigour for the venture.
I do not drive, so I have to hoof the 5.625-mile round trip.
All essentially went according to plan, for I left here around 6:06 a.m.; and at the destination, I saw that I was arriving around eight minutes early, so I had to drastically slow down my pace and then loiter for a bit before taking my place behind four others in a line-up. Originally, there had been but two people ahead of me.
I never needed to bring along my taser flashlight because the sky was already beginning to appear vaguely blue when I left home, and it was soon enough broad day with blue sky everywhere. It looked to be a sunny day ahead.
I wound up having to tote home a little more weight that I had anticipated, but at least I got my two litres of heavy (33% butterfat) cream ─ sometimes there is none on the shelves that early in the morning.
One day I would like to buy a four-litre pail of plain yogourt, but it would have to be a day when I was not buying anything else of much weight. For example, today my shopping included a three-litre container of honey.
It was a fair workout toting everything back in the two carrying bags I had brought with me.
I never checked the time once back home, but it was not too very long after 8 a.m. ─ so let's say 8:15 a.m. When I was unlocking the front door, it sounded like my eldest stepson was perhaps talking on his phone from bed ─ he sleeps on the ground floor at that side of the house, right near to the front door.
I came into the house and locked the door behind me, and was in the kitchen starting to put away my groceries when the lad made to come into the house, but had to unlock the door ─ he had apparently been sitting out in his car, but my brother's van had obscured him from my notice.
But why had he been out so early?
I was soon to figure out that he was probably going snowboarding with one or more friends, for a car smartly showed up to pick up the 26-year-old.
I was to resist returning to bed until after 9 p.m., by which time my youngest stepson was up. However, I got back to my own bed before my younger brother had yet risen from his.
I remained in bed for around two hours, and I was actually quite surprised to see that it was approximately 11:30 a.m. It had been my hope to watch some downloaded videos at the T.V. with my brother during the latter morning, but it was too late for that.
During the latter noon hour I actually went out onto the backyard sundeck with the idea in mind to sit in the sunshine, but it was still unpleasantly chilly; and not only that, there were huge clouds floating all about ─ I would never have constant Sun exposure.
So I scrapped that plan.
My brother gave me a $277.39 cheque in reconciliation of his share of some normal monthly expenses that we have in common, but it would have been handier to have gotten it yesterday ─ it will be a week before I leave home again to do any shopping that would take me past our banking institution's nearest ATM.
Today was actually the first time in two weeks that I have ventured from home ─ I was too broke to shop last weekend.
My brother could have waited longer to give me that cheque, however. On Tuesday, payment for our annual utilities billing is due, and it's for something like $1,855. My eldest stepson ─ on behalf of himself and his brother ─ early last evening made a $1,055 contribution that I am sure my brother was most relieved to learn of after he gave me that cheque earlier today. He and I now only have to pay around $400 each. But it means that he's going to have to write me out a second cheque for that $400 because I will be providing the full utilities payment cheque that my brother will be dropping off at the City of Surrey city hall in the next day or two.
He could have saved on writing out that $400 cheque by just combining the payment with the cheque he gave me today. I was in no rush of any sort.
My brother does not often rest up much before he heads away in the afternoon to begin his daily drinking somewhere. After he had left, I was in the bathroom around 2:05 p.m. when I noticed outside that the sky was overcast ─ and had begun raining. Soon, it was raining rather seriously; and with the air as chilly as it was, I expected to see the rain turn to hail.
If that actually happened, I never noticed it. And the rain was just a passing storm. By mid-afternoon, we were back to that Sun and cloud blend.
I came to accept that the morning's rigours were all the exercise my 71-year-old body would be enduring for today, so I had my day's first meal around mid-afternoon, and then another nap was in order.
At present my early evening has just arrived, and I have a few things that I would like to get out of the way while I am able ─ I don't know if my wife is going to be showing up this evening or not. She did make such an appearance last Sunday, so I had best be proactive just in case.
Perhaps I will even have time this evening for a beer and another episode of The Last Kingdom!
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