March, March, March!

Twitter: Dr. Simon Goddek

Last evening it took me two cans of strong (8% alcohol) malt drank within the course of an episode of Cybill to overcome my trepidation about setting off on the 5.625-mile round trip hike to Real Canadian Superstore for what was to be the second consecutive evening. I finally left shortly after 9 p.m.

That Titan baton / flashlight / stun gun is making me feel dependent for protection on these after-dark forays, despite the dagger I wear on my hip. But I correctly suspected that the alcohol imbibed in such short order would dispel my unease and give me the courage to venture out without the Titan (which is not a feasible accompaniment for entering a business like the Superstore).

Despite having to pause along the way to urinate in some woods, after I was in the store I had to cut my visit short because the need for further release was becoming overpowering ─ I had been browsing baked goods, trying to decide what I might buy as a result of not having eaten since midday.

I bought nothing ─ I dared waste no further time browsing, and needed to be on my way to have that relief. I was able to do so maybe a block at most from the store after checking out at a cashier where I had virtually no wait for my turn.

Then maybe 1¼ miles from home, I stopped for a third time on that outing to answer Nature's call.

Three such stops seem common when I make these evening long hikes, particularly when I have been drinking coffee or alcohol.

I was back home shortly before 11:30 p.m., yet my younger brother had still not shown up from his daily socializing. Had he been home and watching T.V., I likely would have had a third can of beer and watched some T.V. with him.

Not desiring to be so involved, I rounded up a quick suppertime snack and retreated to my bedroom where I keep this computer. And when I heard him finally arrive ─ maybe something like 11:44 p.m. ─ I shut my bedroom door and remained here.

I was still up when I correctly believed that I heard my wife arrive home following her full day working at the Thai restaurant where she is employed part-time. Just before I was ready to get to bed, I cautiously opened my bedroom door to see if I would be able to bid her a goodnight in case she had anything she wanted to tell me, but she was just then closing the bathroom door behind her and my opportunity was lost. My brother would see me from downstairs if I set foot into the hallway, unless he had already passed out ─ I didn't bother to risk a look.

Well, today was the much touted 1 Million March 4 Children, but I have not heard a thing about any of the marches across Canada ─ not even here in Surrey where I live. Even that website presently reveals nothing as to how the marches went. I expect tomorrow morning I will be exposed to videos celebrating a few of the various events.

I was distinctly disappointed to learn yesterday that Tanya Gaw's Action4Canada distanced themselves from involvement in the march.

We have had quite a sunny but very cool day. My wife never had to work, and only went out late into the morning to probably grocery-shop. She also deposited her pay cheque, and transferred $900 to me that she owed ─ tomorrow is one of our bi-weekly mortgage days, and we only had about two-thirds of the mortgage amount in the account due to a loan I had made to her on Monday to pay a legal debt.

Her work time is about to be drastically reduced, unfortunately. If I understood her correctly, her sole working day is going to be Thursday of each week.

I wish that she did not have to work at all.

My brother and I watched some good morning videos on T.V. via our Android TV Box. I put it to work just after 9:10 a.m. and tuned in an episode from Rumble's America's Untold Stories channel ─ the video exceeded an hour (1:08:40), and had been uploaded back on January 4, 2022: The Legend of David Steeves.

In 1957, David Steeves was 23, handsome, strong, talented and one of the best damn jet pilots in the U.S. Air Force. He was also a rebel, a maverick and a show off. He was the original “Top Gun” pilot just as jets were coming online. He loved jazz, Las Vegas, fast cars and beautiful women. But mostly he loved to fly - above the clouds - and at 33,000 feet. So when his T-33 Shooting Star crashed into the the snow covered High Sierra mountains just 30 minutes into a routine flight to Mobile, Alabama out of San Francisco, the Air Force presumed he was dead.
Steeves would not comply. This is the amazing true story of Lt. David Steeves and his fight for survival among some of the most unforgiving and deadly terrain on the continent. Strap yourselves in, there’s gonna be some turbulence: physical, sexual, spiritual and political.

Then it was to YouTube's ENDEVR channel for a 46-minute documentary uploaded on June 11 (2023): Growing Up Poor: Breadline Kids | ENDEVR Documentary.

In 'Growing Up Poor: Breadline Kids', three articulate and engaging kids tell their own stories and wryly observe the impact poverty and homelessness are having on their families, including the toll it is taking on their parent’s mental health. Warm, funny at times, but above all moving, this film looks at the realities of life on the breadline in Britain through the eyes of three amazing children.

Amid the gowned scholars of Cambridge, Courtney and her family struggle to stay afloat. Fleeing from violence they became trapped in a vicious circle of poverty, made worse by delays in Universal Credit payments. Despite all this, Courtney remains optimistic and resilient – relishing the chance to choose treats at her local foodbank, looking forward to getting her phone back from the pawnbroker, and encouraging her mum to get a boyfriend so she and her little brother “can have a dad.”

But as the biting north winds sweep across the fens in winter, even Courtney’s sunny outlook is challenged when there is not enough money left on the meter to boil a kettle for a hot water bottle. Shivering, she starts counting the pennies in her piggy bank. When her mum tells her the family has been turned down for an emergency fuel bank top-up, Courtney says simply, “That’s crazy, what do they expect us to do?”

In rural Suffolk, 15-year-old Danielle’s life was turned upside down following a breakdown in her parents’ relationship and subsequent loss of their jobs. They had to move out of the family home into temporary accommodation, and she now has to live and study in a cramped temporary one-room bedsit. With her GCSEs coming up, Danielle is struggling to cope with her anxiety in her family’s current situation.

And in the idyllic coastal town of Morecambe Bay, 10-year-old Rose’s family is part of the growing number of working poor. Only able to work 16 hours a week, Rose’s mum struggles to keep her head above water and despite her job, the family was forced into debt when they had to cover the funeral costs of Rose’s older sister, who died of cancer. As a result of the expenses around her death, they are now part of the New Poor who are having to do things they never before considered, like using a local food club that distributes food waste to families in their community.

I now realize that I tuned in the wrong video. The one I meant for us to watch was on a different YouTube channel and had been uploaded back in 2016, so we will be watching that one very, very soon.

The final video I tuned in was one I had recorded onto a flash or thumb drive, but it was around 1½ hours, and after maybe 40 minutes of it ─ i.e., around 12:10 p.m. ─ my brother asked that we suspend it for today. All I will say of it until we have watched the entire video is that it was most interesting.

In closing today's post, I only wish to explain that I will be back to my usual wee a.m. walks as of tonight, so I shall not be sitting up late. In fact, if my wife was not busy vacuuming in the living room right now, I would be going downstairs to watch some T.V. and have at least one can of malt.