Too cold to plunge
After careful consideration, I did not begin the year with a Polar Bear swim. Nor did I go for a long walk in the snow, although I did step outside long enough to put the garbage and recycling in their respective bins. I respect the cold.
Pity I’m unable to say the same thing for other, virtual immersions. After fifteen hours in the halls of Downton Abbey, seasons one and two are behind us. There are no secrets in a crowded house, even one with several dozen bedrooms. Someone is always just down the hall, or barging in without knocking. And if you missed a scandal, someone will notify you in beautiful cursive in the morning post.
Given the holiday, this was also a day free of retail. No new debt incurred. Time enough for that, starting with the next day on the calendar (which I haven’t received yet).
Among the neatest ways to announce your need for assistance, I’m impressed by a man in Saskatchewan that cut down four power line poles. He knew that (although nobody knew he was missing) once the lights were out, somebody would come to find out why. With a helicopter. And in a rare moment of social conscience, the utility company has decided not to prosecute. Probably won’t work for anyone else, ever again, but it shows that you can think outside the box and save your life…
And in another stranger tale, a couple in an infested apartment will be evicted. Their decision to chase their personal bedbug collection over to the neighbours, with several cans of Raid, was not seen as the correct solution to their problem.
