Making It Up As I Go Along #570

Christmas Time
Sixteen days of Newfoundland.  It wasn't meant to be sixteen.  The original booking was for nine days at home.  That would include the flight.

But home has a way of grabbing hold.  My scheduled time there being relaxing and soothing with family and familiarity.  Usual wind brings with it unusual cold and comfort is eight hours of sleep each night followed by an hour of iPad time in bed.

It continues with lounging around my childhood home.  Little chats in the living room where the fire glows warmth.  Sunroom moments looking out at the distant form of Signal Hill... Cabot Tower perched atop it... I've peered out towards it all my days.

Movies with friends.  A lunch with a buddy.  Supper with another and his family.  In the darkness of the rolling blackouts.  Sitting in front of the fire.  Popping and hissing birch as we catch up.

And the day before I leave, the power runs out.  Distant fire knocks out a generator.  The cold bringing increased demand and we're left in darkness in the living room.  The fire keeping winter away.

With the coming blizzard I call the airline and, like that, I'm home another week.

The gearing up of departure flows away on the wind.  I ease back into the comfort of home like it was the most comfortable seat in front of the fire.

For several more days we're in darkness more than light.  The flashlight guides me to my basement bed. An extra layer of blanket keeping me warm through the night.  And waking hours are shared in the living room's heat.

A lunch in St. Phillips is highlighted by seal.  Not on the menu but in the nearby cove, lounging on a pan of ice.

There's a supper in a cottage restaurant.  An old style place blending history with modern times.  And with the meal done, we exit into the modern city's night only to watch it burn out.  One pop and the neighbouring houses go dark.  The surrounding hills silhouette against the purple black sky.

The drive home is in darkness.  A reminder of a distant time to complete the historic cottage meal.  And at the house, a pause before entering.  Standing on the front deck, all eyes skyward.  In the forty plus years of this place being home, no more stars have been seen from here than now.

I'm back again now.  Back in Ottawa.  No more childhood hills.  Winds replaced by stillness.  And family half a continent away.  Done with a trip twice as long as was planned but not nearly half as long as it should be.


SATURDAY/SUNDAY (Dec. 21/22)...

--- Alone at work. Fairly quiet weekend at work. Lots of snow Sunday. The drive in being tricky and most of the day spent watching the snow clearing in the parking lot. 

MONDAY (Dec. 23)...

--- Fairly busy night. Lots of shoe impressions to do. 

TUESDAY (Christmas Eve)...

--- Christmas Eve at work. Lots of food left over from day shift. So it's sandwiches and trays of cheese and veggies. 

WEDNESDAY (Christmas Day)...

--- When work ends I have time to shower and finish packing before calling the cab. Off to the airport and flying home on no sleep. To Halifax I'm alone in my row. The head bobs with sleep attempting to overtake me. We are stuck in Halifax for a couple of hours. Plane issues. Our flight gets cancelled actually but they rebook us on the last flight home. Four don't make it on, but I'm not among them. 

--- Get in at 6:30. Straight to Winst's for supper and some time and then home for a bit before bed. Went 34 hours with one hour sleep. And only about six hours over 68. 

THURSDAY (Boxing Day)...

--- Up after about eight or nine hours of sleep. Open gifts and hang around the house. The Riggs family and Wayne and Sylvia join us for supper. 

FRIDAY...

--- Out to the movies with Del. Run in to a friend I hadn't seen since moving to Ottawa while there. Dave Frew has not changed. The Hobbit is ok. Not an award winner but generally fun enough. Could be a half hour shorter and be all the better for it. 

SATURDAY...

--- Downtown with mom and dad. Check out the new outdoor skating loop at Bannerman Park. Go to the Geo Centre for a browse around the gift shop. Some shopping for cloths on Water Street. And grab a pizza for supper on the way home. 

--- Mom and I go to the Leonard Cohen tribute concert tonight. It was quite good. 

SUNDAY...

--- Around the house much of the day. Winst and Brenda pop by for a visit. Go to Wayne and Sylvia's for BBQ tonight. Eat too much. 

MONDAY...

--- In the house all day. Laziness. 

TUESDAY (New Years Eve)...

--- Chinese food for supper on New Years Eve. The Riggs' join us. Play some cards and ring in the new year. 

WEDNESDAY (New Years Day)...

--- Riggs family back for New Year's Day supper and Winst and family join us too. Cousin Rick pops by as well for a visit. 

THURSDAY...

--- Coldest day in St. John's in ten years. Do lunch with Craig. Fish and chips in St. Phillips. From there to town for Fred's Records. Then part ways with Craig and drive out to Jim's for supper. Rolling blackouts due to the cold and an over strained power system have us spend a few hours in the dark with a fire. 

FRIDAY...

--- Before the blizzard, mom and I do so shopping. Mom gets Downton Abbey, I get the Seinfeld set. And we hunker down for the night after we get back. Supper at Mallard Cottage cancelled. And an hour and a half phone call gets my flight back to Ottawa changed. Tomorrow's flight may be fine but weather is dicy and I've got extra leave available. So another week it will be. 

SATURDAY (Jan 4)...

--- Power out most of the day. So around the house hanging out in the living room. 

--- Flight would have been cancelled had I tried for it. So good thing I switched yesterday. 

--- Power comes back in the evening and we watch some TV together in the basement. 

SUNDAY...

--- Wake around 9:30. Power goes out again while I'm in bed, before 10:00. And that's about it for the day. We go to Mallard Cottage for supper in the light. It's a great place. As we leave, the island goes dark. So drive home like it's the 1800s and stare at the darkness from home, seeing more stars than ever before from the heart of the city. 

MONDAY...

--- Power comes back at 8:00. It's gone again by 8:10. By lunch we are getting stir crazy so drive to St. Philips for some seafood lunch. See a seal in the cove, while there and head to Winst's for a tea and cookies. 

--- Get home to power. And power stays on. Finally. 

TUESDAY...

--- Laziness. I'm up early as the freezer alarm goes off again, thanks to drained battery from the blackout. Back to bed once I turn that off and then around the tv watching the Canada Olympic hockey announcement. Silliness really. Something that can be announced by one guy in less than ten minutes is a bilingual schmorgisborg of speeches and announcements. Two hours of total tv time with the lead up and analysis.  Bah. 

WEDNESDAY...

--- Laziness continues. Up late. Hang around the house. Watch Republic of Doyle and Dragons Den. 

THURSDAY...

--- Lunch at Bidgoods. Out for a bite and drink with Dave and Del. 

FRIDAY...

--- Some shopping with mom downtown in the morning. Sealskin mitts and slippers now mine. Nice view of the harbour from the parking garage at Atlantic Place. 

--- Out for drinks with Jim in the afternoon. Some pints and snacks at the Duke. Good chat time. Not enough of these times. 

--- Greek for supper with mom and dad. Nice night to round out a good last full day in town.  

SATURDAY (Jan 11)...

--- Quiet morning. Pack. Hang around with the folks. Then off to the airport. 

--- Flight to Halifax is smooth sailing. Iffy weather there but, as we sit waiting for the next leg, they come on the speaker and tell us the Ottawa leg is cancelled. Ottawa weather they say. 

--- Porter is as good with it as they could be I guess. Voucher for a hotel they book me into themselves. So it's a night at the Quality Inn by the airport. Watch the Montreal vs Chicago hockey game and go to bed. I'll fly at 6 pm tomorrow... I hope. 

SUNDAY...

--- Sleep until 9:00. Lounge about the hotel room until checkout.
--- Five plus hours at Halifax airport is made easier by iPad.

MONDAY...
--- Tired.  Work on shovelling the driveway.  Do a walk. Get some groceries.

TUESDAY...
--- Finish the driveway.  Ice all gone.
--- Lee Valley and MEC for the end of the Christmas shopping.  Unbroken toad house.  Hiking/snowshoe poles.  Good hiking socks.
--- Get the PVR down to size.  Weeks in Newfoundland had me building up some shows to be watched.

Making It Up As I Go Along #569

What's in a Name

When I was young, I often thought about and pitied those people who shared names with celebrities. For instance, I always said that if my name was Michael Jackson, I'd for sure be telling people to call me Mike. Anything to separate from the embarrassment of the famous. 

And so it came to be... There appeared a singer with a temper. Why hello Chris Brown. 

I've had a few crank calls. Teenage girls giggling as they start and unable to get through their rehearsed speel without bursting into fits of laughter. 

I've even had a couple of work calls where detectives or airport workers pause and take a moment from the business at hand to ask me how Rihanna (the beaten girlfriend) is doing.

And I'm left remembering my youth... Wondering if I should follow my Michael Jackson advice. Should I be Christopher? Or borrow from the actor and become Topher? And then I think and realize that very few people actually even call me Chris. 

I think I can count a total of eight people in my life who actually address me as Chris. And one of those eight would be my mother... While six others would all come from the one family (my uncle Bert and his girls... One of their husbands). 

Not even my father calls me Chris. I'm... Son, or My Dear Boy or, when things get silly and mushy, Dad's Man. 

I think about as many people call me Christopher as do Chris. Mostly family friends who have known me since birth or a few other uncles and aunts. I believe Melissa would be my only Ottawa friend who calls me by the long version. And I've an uncle or two that will go by the Pooh Bear stories and call me Christopher Robin, from time to time. 

Being on sports teams, over the years, my last name gets quite a lot of play. And I have lived with the sports typical adding of an "er" to things. Browner has been a popular one and, possibly the most common name I've been called since day one. The sporting world has also given me Brownie, of course... But that isn't as common. And I sometimes gain the nickname of a more famous ball playing Brown. Having some softball teammates calling me Three Fingers (after the old time baseball pitcher, Mordecai Brown). 

There have been other variations on my last name as well. Browner Von Brownser, The Brown, Brun. I've gotten each of them over the years. 

Many people will also play off he who is perhaps the most famous Brown of them all. And they will call me either Charlie or, if feeling spunky... Chuck. 

From good friend, Del, I often get called Apu. He must, in turn be called Nelson by me (this all coming from an old softball team we played on where each member of the team got a Simpson's character name. He being Nelson for his sauciness. And I being Apu for my imitation of the convienience store clerk). 

I get quite a few friends who call me both names. As in "why hello there Chris Brown". And it's somewhat surprising to me that there are lots of people at work who call me Mr. Brown. Even those ten years my senior will call me this. It must come from my sophisticated air... I suppose. 

In the movie, Back to the Future, the actor, Christopher Lloyd (Lloyd being my middle name) plays Doc Brown. And now, because of this, I'm occasionally also addressed as Doc. Though that is more of a rare greeting I probably hear only two or three times through the year. 

My sister always called me Chrissy. Sometimes lengthening it out to Chrissy Brown in a tone that is more singing to me than addressing me in conversation. I've an aunt or two who have copied Edena in that. And my nieces always used to call me Chrissy when they were not far into talking ages. They later switched to Turkey... In keeping with the long time joking and teasing that we've had. Where I began calling the oldest, Fraser, Turkey. And she would laugh and tell me that she's not a turkey... "You're the turkey!"  

So, in the end, with me now sharing my name with a famous meat head, I guess I've never seriously considered switching things up because, over the years, I've been addressed by so many different names that the switching never seemed necessary. 

I guess I'll need to get it put in my will, as to what I'm to be called at the end of my days. Otherwise, the headstone may have to be enormous. 

FRIDAY...

--- Work alone. Pretty busy day. Left me pretty tired afterwards. 

SATURDAY...

--- Quiet day in the office. 

SUNDAY...

--- Lots of snow. I'm left with a pretty boring day. Up. Breakfast... Shovel for half an hour... Afternoon nap... Softball... Nightshift at work. Get a Shwarma on the way in. 

MONDAY...

--- Take the night off work. I only had about three hours sleep prior to shift and my stomach is touchy today. So hang around the house and catch up on tv. 

TUESDAY...

--- Almost in trouble sleep wise again. Awake at 5:50 and stay awake about a half hour. But get back to sleep until 10:00. So that helps. 

--- Too cold for a walk. -17 feeling like -25. Ugh. I stay in and lounge. 

WEDNESDAY...

--- Bit of a drive in the country. Do a walk also, expecting that the temp warming by a good ten degrees over yesterday would make it nice. But I cut things short as jeans aren't good enough on their own, I'm getting cold, and only last about a half hour. 

THURSDAY...

--- Out walking for almost an hour and a half. Brought the camera with me so it was a slow pace. Got some squirrels and a few small woodpeckers. 

--- Getting fed up with my neck. A week or two ago, the right side was tight and sore. Now tonight, the left side flares. I suppose it's all from poor posture on the sofa during tv watching but I know sleeping on my stomach doesn't help. 

FRIDAY...

--- On a day I planned to clean around the house, I'm spending most of the day with a hot pack on the side of my neck. Conserving things for the shovelling of the driveway... As the snow falls all day.