Icicles on my bicycles

This is definitely brass monkey weather. If you're new to this blog, there is a saying over here that it's cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. Brrr...my friends over the Pond will laugh at me, since it just about goes a couple of degrees above zero (Celsius)-but hey. Cold is cold.

'Tis the season to be maudlin. I see so many miserable people while I am out and about: bad tempered, grumpy, weepy, and all the rest of the seven dwarfs. It's most definitely Christmas.

I'm gearing up for the holiday by just keeping my head down-the best thing I can do over here, since Trump the imbecile seems determined to start a war with North Korea and another one in the Middle East. Americans are targets here anyway-but do I get a lot of abuse, or what? I'll have to say I'm Canadian. Better still, I'll just point to my throat and say I have laryngitis-for at least a year, or until that oaf in the oval office either leaves or dies. Isn't life becoming really, really interesting?

Another couple of weeks and Tai Chi finishes for this term; that same week I go to see my physiotherapist, and we will see how well I'm doing with my exercises. I've been really off balance since the surgery, and fighting hard to get back what I lost after all those complications-so we'll see how I do. You'll know when I know-unless it's bad news, in which case I will have to hide for awhile-possibly forever.

I had a long talk with my friend Jane, whom I've known for more than twenty years. I said that I really feel socially inept after eight years of being in battle mode. I haven't had time to even think about anything else but surviving, let alone making friends along the way. Her suggestion was to wait until January, when everyone is weeping over the overdraft, and the bills that will be coming in January-either that or they'll be seriously hung over. Then, she said, go find some classes. Go back to the museum and listen to some lectures. Go find something I like to do, or a skill I would like to learn. That's good advice. Of course, hang gliding is out of the question-so is anything that could cause me to smash myself up or keel over. I'll be thinking about that over the next few weeks. I'm close to making cleaning the kitchen and doing the laundry spectator sports-so I've got to get cracking and do some housework before my dust bunnies have litters. Oh, to live in a place where there's no dust (yeah, dream on).

We're pretty much up to date. I went to see my friend in Essex yesterday (ah, Essex-Braindead Central), and saw the results of a really bad crash: this car had the driver's side completely wiped out. I don't know if there were fatalities, but I did see two men fighting it out as I was walking past. You couldn't miss it-I had to step past it to get to my friend's place.

'Tis the season to be fighting. If I can stay out of trouble, I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile-I'm off to Starbucks. I heard on the news this morning that Starbucks is opening one store every nine days in China. Every nine days-how about that. Tempting, but no, Iceland seems to be a much better bet, don't you think?