dreaming wide awake...

Yesterday was just cascades of fat, wet, bloppy snow; ice pellets alternating with freezing rain; and dangerously slippery surfaces everywhere. Naturally I had to (1) keep an appointment with my family doctor (lest it take me months to get another one), and (2) accompany the spouse to a root-canal appointment (reason ditto). Total of four to-and-from cab rides, one across town to Bloor and Christie, one just a few blocks to Cumberland and Bay. Needless to say I tipped both drivers an immense amount, since they were the ones doing the dangerously heavy lifting during the storm. In theory we could have walked to the endodontist, but the sidewalks were so messy and treacherous that I don't think the spouse could have pushed the walker through it all. Thank you, Beck Taxi, for being reliable and timely and keeping us safe.

( Cut for medical and hospital stuff )

I've been postponing buying a new phone because I jusdonwanna, but after the hospital experience with an ancient phone that doesn't hold a charge for more than an eyeblink I'll have to take care of that chore PDQ. I didn't have my charger with me, of course, and although I was allowed to use the charging station at the nurses' desk, I had to (guiltily, reluctantly, shamefacedly) ask someone to take it there since they wouldn't let me go out of the room until they were satisfied that I wasn't going to infect anyone with anything. So there'll be no more procrastinating on the phone front.

Today, while the spouse was at his physio rehab class, I ventured over to Valu-Mart for provisions because the prediction is for more precip of one awful kind or another over the next couple of days. The sidewalks were mostly clear, but OMG the ankle-deep piles of slush and pools of water at Every. Single. Curb. I guess the sewers are so plugged up that no public or private organization is willing or able to clear them. Having to drag my fully loaded shopping cart back home through the mess was not fun. I can't imagine how mobility-device users navigate this shit. Thank goodness the spouse has access to Wheel-Trans for trips that can be planned far enough in advance.

While eating lunch I saw two extremely large raptors stalking the giant cloud of pigeons that routinely circle back and forth near the corner of Yonge and Charles. They were too far away to identify, but I'm guessing they were eventually successful in getting a meal, if only by virtue of the sheer size of the pigeon buffet.