Weekend after the Move

Another Weekend


With the move last weekend it was a long week. Beautiful full moon. No hot water in the new place and problems with heating solved by extra Army Navy store duvets. The cat likes the new digs. I’m enjoying getting work done again. I hope to have the boat ready for a fishing trip in December.
H1N1 flu took it’s toll. Lots of anxiety. Some down for a week. Heavy rains and a new longer ride into work. The Work Wear World rain pants are a godsend. My Harley jacket with liner is doing it’s job. In the move I’ve misplaced my motorcycle chaps among other things. Clean socks were an issue one day and I know I’ve dozens but where they went is a mystery. I’ve been stowing and stacking piles of gear and clothing and kitchen wear. I was grateful for the venison stew I’d made and had frozen in the freezer. Prepared food is a blessing at the end of a long day. I can see I’ve made a difference in putting stuff away but I do look forward to when all the counters are clear and I have a wonderful sense of order.
A&W has a 24 hour drive through which served well the night I got home from work and evening meetings near midnight. I had to use the shower at work and was thankful for that. I hooked up the tv to a rabbit ears antennae since I don’t have cable anymore. I really appreciated the single CBC channel much as I loved CBC radio up north. Very Canadian.
I’ve been reading The Magnificent Bastards by Keith William Nolan about he Joint Army-Marine Defense of Dong Ha,198. I also have Stankley Karnow’s Vietnam the companion to the PBS series. Something about the continued war in Afghanistan and Iraq had me wanting to understand better the war in Vietnam. I was a peacenik back then. I marched in peace rallies and changed “make love, not war. “ War didn’t make a whole lot of sense back then despite my patriotism and love of country. We did think the conflict would escalate and conscription would come to Canada. It made university and becoming a doctor more attractive in some way. I remember feeling afraid and yet worrying as well if I did go to war I’d change to liking it. I’d met guys back then who seemed really sociopathic after all that Vietnam killing. I’d also met draft dodgers and I couldn’t condemn them. None of us could. Given the choice of going to war and possibly being killed or mained or living in Canada we figured we’d choose living in Canada too. We talked a lot about not being able to go home. There was a lot of talking back then. I remember all night conversations. We weren’t drinking or doing drugs, just kids talking a lot about life and the war and life. I wonder today if kids talk about Afghanistan the same way. I don’t hear the discussions anymore. I’m old and mostly people don’t talk about things as precious as life. We talk more about sports and movies. Maybe people are afraid to talk anymore. Maybe they’re jaded. Maybe it’s just that as we’ve got older we figure it’s all above our pay level. These aren’t ‘idea’times but more ‘instrumental’ times.
The weekend has arrived and well I’d like to be hunting or fishing I’m looking forward to clearing a final storage locker. Moving is really tiring and demanding. I have moments though when I really appreciate the change and look forward to the new advantures that abound in this part of Vancouver. I’m getting more exercise and that’s certainly good. I’m going to be outside more here. So much cleaning and sorting to do. A lot of the broad strokes are accomplished but the fine tuning will take time. Must remember more cat litter. I like this Telus cellular phone USB internet stick.