Pearl Harbour

            On Friday morning I worked out a couple more chords for “J’suis snob” by Boris Vian.

            I’ve almost memorized half of “Puisque je te le dis” by Serge Gainsbourg.

            I washed an eight board wide section of my living room floor in front of my desk. I’d cleaned that area a few weeks before but not with oil soap and a brush. In two more sessions I’ll extend that strip east to the tall bookshelf on the east side of the room. After that I’m going to pull the bookshelf out and raise the shelves so I can fit my left speaker on the bottom shelf.

            My neighbour Benji informed me that the Coffeetime downstairs is moving out on December 31. I wonder if whomever moves in will also have wifi that I can use. I suggested that a Starbucks might rent the space but Benji argued that Starbucks always finds the cheapest spaces they can and renovates them and the rent downstairs is $10,000 a month. He said they were going to open a Starbucks near Jameson and Queen but changed their minds. There’s a Starbucks inside the Metro supermarket building at Dufferin and Queen but it’s not a relaxed street side café.

            I had a chicken wing for lunch and some yogourt with honey.

            I did some exercises and then took a bike ride to College and Ossington, south to Queen and then home.

            I worked a bit on my review of David Jure’s “The Patient English”.

            I fiddled with editing my Bed Bug Diary. Maybe I should put it all in the present tense.

            I had my last six tiny potatoes, a chicken breast and some gravy for dinner while watching parts 2 and 3 of the documentary series “Victory at Sea”. Part two was about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. The reason for the attack was that the US base there stood in the way of Japan’s access to the oil of Southeast Asia. The attack was planned precisely and practiced on a dummy version before taking place. 360 planes were taken by carrier to within range of Hawaii. The attack destroyed several planes and a few ships. About 3000 people died. Most of the ships were re-floated.

            Part three was about the convoys that carried supplies of oil from the Gulf of Mexico to New York. They were attacked by U-boats just off the US coast. In New York the merchant fleet loaded other important supplies and headed with navy escorts across to England, having to suffer from submarine attacks all the way, which sank many. They had protection from the Canadian Air Force off Newfoundland but once far out to sea it was a perilous journey and many didn’t make it.

            These two were not as interesting or well paced as the very first part of the series.