Happy 2012 to all! May it be a year of peace, good health and joy, not necessarily in that order, but I put peace ahead of the others because the first news I heard this morning was about the fact that the North Korean military had been told to become ‘human rifles and bombs’ in the defense of Kim Jong-un. As Jay is in South Korea, probably the first target for those human weapons, I have a powerful reason to hope for peace.
I had an easy drive to Victoria on Dec. 20. The car was loaded with Christmas baking and leftovers from the party; every water bottle I own was full of eggnog. I could have spent winter in a snow bank and been towed out in the spring without having lost a pound. As it was, we ate well over the holiday. Now I’m home again determined to have only healthy food and eager to get out skiing and back to working with Kiran and Mi-Sun. The latter sent me a Christmas card, so I now know how to spell her name.
Mom and dad are keeping up the struggle for independence, which I now know is just as strong when you’re old as it is when you’re young. The difference is that when you’re in your teens and early twenties, you’re desperate to get out of the house, and when you’re in your nineties, you’re fighting to stay in it. The similarities are that both would almost rather die than live without a car, dangerous as that may be for those who share the road with them and that both are absolutely unwilling to take advice from anyone who assumes that by virtue of their age they are qualified to give it. So I went for long walks by the ocean when I was in Victoria and had good conversations with Barbara and Terry over coffee and lunch. Wjhen I returned to my parents, they were rested, I had relieved my tensions and we were able to enjoy each other’s company. We had a good Christmas together, for which I am happy because I don’t know how many more there will be.
The drive home was not great, and I wasn’t as well provisioned as I had been going, but I made it in spite of snow and bad drivers. I’ve been in worse conditions but not driving alone. At the summit of the Coquihalla, the road was snow covered and visibility was limited by blowing snow. I stayed in the slow lane and watched a drama unfold between the Arrogant Worm and the Hell-Bent-For-Leathers, most of whom were in trucks and SUVs. AW slithered into the fast lane, which was smoother and more worn than the other, and carried on at a safe 60km/hr while an increasingly long line of HBLs collected behind him eager to push the limit, which at that point was 110km/hr. Some got behind me and tried to tailgate me into going faster than I dared. Although at times I was going faster than the worm and a few did get by that way, but the frustration was building. Finally, I slowed right down and the HBLs went around me and burned past the worm, who, like most of his kind, was probably blind to their fury. This bit of theatre took up most of the really bad part of the drive. By the time we got to Merritt, the conditions had improved. The rest of the drive was fine, and there was no snow on the road in the Okanagan.
I went to the Town cinema to watch ‘the Muppet Movie’ with Mo and John on New Years Eve and then back to their house for drinks and dinner. And now it’s 2012.
Mom and dad in their kitchen preparing Christmas breakfast
Mom and dad wearing the pyjamas Bill sent them for Christmas
A rhododendron blooming in Oak Bay
Terry's picture of me at the pub
My picture of Barbara and Terry at the pub
The soon-to-be-destroyed Blue Bridge taken from the pub
On the ferry, passing another, smaller ferry
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