So, That Was A Thing…
How is it possible I am already worried about how 2021 will go? It’s only January 8th.
Sorry. I’ve written and rewritten this section many times, trying to avoid sounding preachy. It’s hard. I apologize.
It turns out, though, that I was surprised by what a deluded group of idiots could manage to do when incited by an elected nitwit and initially ignored (and even encouraged) by the police who should have kept them under control. The desecration of the US capitol — I have no other word for it — is a disgrace. All involved need to go to jail, including the president. Sadly, I doubt that will happen.
I am similarly appalled by the people who think the requirement to wear a mask is a violation of their human rights. Or that vaccines cause autism. Or that their right to spread a disease is more important than the lives of those around them. Covid killed over 3,900 people yesterday in the US. That’s 1,000 more than died on 9/11 and 1,500 more than died in the attack on Pearl Harbour.
But, you know, masks are bad.
Sigh.
Yes, I have oversimplified. But much less so than the twitter-driven inanity that passes for discourse in America these days.
I could write a lot more, but I will stop with this: Humans are stupid, shortsighted creatures. Recent events make it abundantly clear that we all need to be better. It’s also clear we don’t know how to be better.
I really don’t know what else to write about that matters. There’s this bit of trivia:
One of our cars had the tire pressure light come on. I found the screw seen above and so took the tire to be repaired. Turns out there were two screws in it. No idea where we picked them up. That was fun.
Or there’s this, which feels gratuitously unimportant in light of recent events:
New toys for the shop/studio. I have them assembled and tested. In theory I can get to work on new projects with these, but the miter saw (which we spell “mitre saw” up here) basically requires its own cabinet stand, which I will need to create. That will delay other projects for a while.
Still, they are nice toys, and I look forward to the things they will enable.
In other news, it’s been raining rather a lot here. No, really… a lot. The topography around our home squeezes rain out of the air even when Vancouver itself is dry. Even our previous rental in North Vancouver was drier than our new place. Back near our old home in California there was a similar locale — the town of Ben Lomond — which was constantly wet in the same way. You get used to it, but it really is damp. And don’t sit still for too long or the moss and mould will start growing on you.
Anyway, all that rain combined with a bit of wind caused more water to drip down the fireplace chimney. The 60-year-old chimney cap is nowhere near large enough to prevent that. For the moment I have tarped it up to stop the issue, and I will work on a more permanent solution when there are a few dry days in a row in the forecast. There might be photos of that project when it happens.
Mostly, though, this week has been odd in that it was supposed to be a return to normal. Anne went back to work after two weeks off, and I am trying to get back to my house projects, but riots in the US capitol and exceptionally high infection and death rates from Covid have a way of distracting me.
Let’s hope next week is better. Somehow.