Who is the Timeless Child?

            On Friday morning when I got up the membranes of my eyes felt like they were made of aluminium foil and I could almost hear them crinkle.

The old guy with the silver-grey car whom I usually see on Saturday or Sunday mornings was out cruising past the donut shop, making his u-turn, heading west again and repeating the move over and over more than I’ve seen him do it before. He’s either looking for someone or practicing u-turns.

In the late morning I decided that it was about time to take at least half of the beer cans I’ve accumulated over the last year up to the Beer Store at Dundas and Dovercourt. I’d been avoiding it since the Beer Store closed that was only three blocks away. As I put my bike in the hall to get ready to go I ran into my next-door neighbour Benji. I’d wondered if he’d gone away fro the holidays because I haven’t seen him for about a week but he said he’d been home all along. I told him about our rent increase notice being invalid. He thanked me for letting him know but I’d bet that he’ll just pay the increase. I remember when raja first bought this building and tried to evict us all about 18 or 19 years ago. Cesar and I fought the eviction in court and saved us all but Benji didn’t seem to want to make waves.

            Outside the building, Cesar was waiting for the mail carrier. For the last month Canada Post hasn’t been able to get in to access our mailboxes because there’s something wrong with the lock for which mail deliverers have a universal key. We have to either meet the mailman outside or go to the post office to get our mail.
            I told Cesar about the rent increase notice being invalid but he already knew. I think he’s been in continuous litigation with the landlord for twenty years over one thing or another.

            I carried two garbage bags full of cans in my left hand while riding my bike. It was awkward with my winter gloves on and on Brock Avenue about halfway between the railroad bridge and Dundas I realized it was warm enough to not wear any gloves at all, so I stuffed them in my backpack and continued on.

            I would imagine that the Beer Store in Little Portugal has seen a considerable increase in business since the Parkdale Beer Store closed down. It took me at least fifteen minutes to put all my cans into cardboard trays. I had 117 cans, two beer bottles and a wine bottle. I got about $12. I asked the guy who paid me if there’s a return on those five litre kegs and he said it’s twenty cents. A spastic young guy with light brown hair was standing nearby and he asked me why someone would use one of those kegs when they could buy bottles. I said because it’s draft. He said, “It doesn’t make sense to me! But if that’s what you want …”

            I rode down to Freshco. Inside the building but just outside the entrance to the supermarket was tied a medium sized dog that I think was a Basenji. It barked at the guy that entered the store after me but I think the dog’s caregiver thought that it had barked at me and so she came up to apologize. She was a tall woman in her thirties with dark hair and perhaps a Hungarian accent. I said, “He’s waiting for you” and she responded with a laugh, “Yes, he’s always waiting for me!”

            I bought black grapes, blueberries, raspberries, a loaf of Bavarian sandwich bread, some yogourt and a jar of honey.

            When I got home Cesar was still standing outside and waiting for the mail carrier. It’s a good thing it was a fairly warm day for late December.

            I got caught up on my journal.

            My weight is 93.1 kg today, so I guess I’ve gained 200 grams since yesterday if the scale is right.

            I’m getting the hang of my new saucepan. I didn’t have to refill it while boiling a potato this time because I put more water inside in the first place and because I don’t have to cook the potato as long as with the old pot. I’m eating a bit of the turkey every day but I’ve hardly dented the dinde (turkey in French).

            I watched the last episode of this season of Doctor Who, but there will be a New Years Day special, which I’ll probably be able to watch on January 2.

            Spoiler alert!

            In this story the Doctor and her friends go to the planet Ranskoor in answer to nine distress signals. They have to wear neural balancers because the planet generates waves that disrupt the brain. They see the effect from the first person they encounter, who is pointing a gun at them and doesn’t remember who he is. Two minutes after asking who they are he forgets what they told him but the Doctor has an extra neural balancer for him and Paltraki recovers. The crew of his ship have been captured by the Ux. There are only two Ux, Andinio and Delph but they have the power to shape or shrink worlds. They live only by faith and serve their creator whom they think manifested himself to them over 3000 years ago. Their “creator” turns out to be the Stenza warrior Tim Shaw whom the Doctor teleported away from Earth 3000 years before. Tim Shaw deceived and manipulated the Ux, compelling them to make him as a god. For 3000 years he has worked towards the goal of revenge. He uses Stenza technology amplified by the Ux and he’s developed a weapon to destroy the Earth. The weapon is powered by five planets that have been miniaturized and held in stasis inside of crystals.

            When Graham finds out that their enemy is Tim Shaw, the creature that killed his wife, he is determined to kill him. When he confesses his intention to the Doctor she forbids it and warns him that if he purposely kills someone he would no longer be able to travel with her. He says that he understands that.

            The Doctor and her friends help Paltraki rescue his crew from the stasis crystals.

            Tim Shaw commands the Ux to power his weapon. They are sort of in a trance as they open up a dimensional portal and the beam begins to fire at the Earth. The Doctor places neural balancers on Andinio and Delph, breaking their connection to the weapon. She convinces them that they have been tricked by Tim Shaw and they agree to help to return the captured planets to their proper positions. The Doctor connects Delph to the telepathic circuits of the Tardis so that he will be able to know the exact positions in which to send the planets.

            Tim Shaw goes to try to stop the interruption of his plan and is confronted by Graham, who is holding a blaster rifle. He powers the rifle and aims it but he can’t bring himself to kill Tim Shaw in cold blood. Tim Shaw calls him weak and comes forward to attack but Ryan comes from behind with another rifle. Tim Shaw turns to attack Ryan but Graham shoots him in the foot. They imprison Tim Shaw in one of his own stasis crystals. The Ux seal the building so he can't be freed.

            Andinio was played by Scottish actor Phyllis Logan, who played the housekeeper on Downton Abbey.

            My assessment of this season of Doctor Who is that Jodie Whitaker may be the best Doctor of all and the best actor for the role. Her companions this season leave something to be desired. A Doctor’s companion has to have something quirky about them and charming at the same time. These companions are all very ordinary. Yasmin’s background is a little more interesting but her career is unconvincing as she is nothing like any cop I’ve ever met in my life. The character of Gwen Cooper on the Doctor Who spin-off Torchwood would have been a more convincing female police officer turned Doctor’s companion.

            My friend Nick Cushing has complained that the new show is too “woke” but I think that’s just his generational prejudices talking. Doctor Who has always been a socially conscious show. Even the Daleks way back at the beginning were based on the Nazis desire to exterminate non-Aryans, except in this case the master race were machines. Look at the way the Daleks constantly have their arm extended like a Nazi salute.
            Any story that depicts the future will tend to be more socially conscious than those depicting our time or history. Star Trek is more socially conscious than Star Wars but keep in mind that Star Wars takes place in the past and it depicts really a very conservative reality in which there is dark and light and no grey areas.

            The problem with the stories in the latest season of Doctor Who is not political correctness but rather a lack of an overall story arc that haunts most of the stories and that comes to the surface at the end of the season. There was mention of “The Timeless Child” in the second episode but they didn't offer any more hints about it for the entire season. It was a mistake to not tease every story with something about this mysterious child and to bring it forward in a story in the season finale.