The week that was, nearly.

This has been a typical unusual March Break week. Snow dissappearing with temperatures up to 15 degrees, followed by a return of snow for an unknown period. Far too many activities for your aging author, particularly as they were changing rapidly as the week progressed. Challenging use of advanced technology leading to near disaster. Children and other descendants in various parts of the globe up to their miscellaneous preferences and various strange activities.

First to me. I had in a moment of aberration agreed to make a presentation on the subject of geocaching and orienteering to a mysterious organisation called. the Mature Pesons Network. Unfortunately in the move from our 4 bedroom house to a two bedroom apartment, all of the associated bits and pieces and history related to these two activities had been abandonned as being irrelevant to our present physlcal condition. Fortunately the internet came to the rescue and Mr Google directed me to the local organisation and a series of instructional videos on YouTube. I also from the same source tracked down some of the materials that are used for demonstration purposes. I had originally assumed that I would simply prepare a Power Point presentation on chip, but I realised that it made more sense to base my presentation on a overview illustrated by excerpts from the net, book marked on my computer. I had been told a screen with an HDMI connection would be available so I sallied forth to present. It was a very large and very pretty screen, but it was tending to disconnect itself quite frequently until the cable connecting it was tied down. When I tried to connect my computer to it, my computer appeared to be frozen. This meant of course that I had to search out each of the You Tube clips I wanted to use separatley . Fortunately about 20 minutes in someone got my computer unfrozen, so I did manage to get my book marks back, and audience thanked me very politely at the end.

To change the subject, wednesdays can be very busy. Alternate weeks I meet with a group at breakfast for what is largely a

political discussion at 8 am, this week my wife Sheila needed the car at 9:30 so that she could go for a run at the Rink before I met with my Wednesday lunch group, a little but not much less political than the breakfast group, it took an hour for my food to arrive and when I got home it was warm and sunny so we went out in the car to a spot from which I could bike and Sheila could run. In the evening it was my turn to pay for dinner so we went out again.

Thursday should have been quiet except for the fact that I had a blood test rescheduled to take place at 7am, just as the overnight ice rain turned to snow. The hospital parking lot was an ice sheet. On the plus side I was third in line waiting for the machine that issues tickets to become operational, and when it did the two younger men told me to go ahead of them, hence I had tickdet 01 and first place in the line up for vampires. Even better, when I left the parking lot the kiosk had not opened so I did not have to pay.

The week really started on the Friday of last week, when one of my middle daughter Robin’s acquired children’s wives gave birth to our fourth great grand child. She had been in labour for 24 hours before the acual birth, so we did not end up with a great grand son with a birthday only every four years. She had peviously arranged to take two of her other grandchildren winter camping at the week end, but wolves killed a deer near the planned camping location, so the had to move the event to a less rural environment. A good time was still had by all, judging from the pictures.

On the Sunday before youngest daughter was careering round Tokyo for the Tokyo Marathon, the climax of a two week visit, though she stayed an extra week afterwards so that he husband could go skiing and she could visit the snow monkeys. The picture is not of me, but one of the apes.

In the mean time, oldest daughter now recovered from two months with her husband in Laos and adjacent lands, was preparing herself for a weekend at a biking show in Toronto, but whether riding, showung or selling I am not clear.

Other people also have strange tastes. As I went out to the car at6:40 am in the snow on thursday morning, our building’s computerguru was having her first cigarette of the day by my car.