Liberated Desk

            On Sunday morning I worked out a few more chords for “J’suis snob" by Boris Vian.

            I finished memorizing “Puisque je te le dis" by Serge Gainsbourg and figured out the first chord. Memorizing is weird because it often jumps from looking like there’s still a lot of work left to do and then suddenly you’re surprised that you've nailed it.

            I washed another section of my living room floor. It’s a ninety centimetre long and eight boards wide strip running from the inside of the right pedestal of my desk to halfway to the tall bookshelf on the east side of the room. So now my desk is liberated from the dirt in front of it.

            I had a toasted, cheese, tomato and cucumber sandwich for lunch.

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

            I worked on my journal.

            I had the second burger I’d grilled the day before, on a toasted bagel with tomato, cucumber, ketchup, mustard and hot sauce with a beer and watched parts six and seven of Victory at Sea.

            Part six was about the battle of Guadalcanal, which was considered the turning point for the Allies in the Pacific theatre of WWII. While US troops are on their way from San Francisco to New Zealand a reconnaissance plane discovers that the Japanese are building an airbase on Guadalcanal. The mission is changed to the goal of taking Guadalcanal and so troops stationed in New Zealand and those on their way there head for Guadalcanal. An air attack provides cover for the landing force. Japanese air attacks send the landing force’s supply ships into retreat. The landing force takes over the airfield and the Japanese bomb it. Jungle savvy Japanese troops land to retake the island. They fight in the jungle and they fight the jungle itself as many die of malaria. They keep the island at great sacrifice but turn the tide. The campaign lasted from August 1942 until February 1943. There were three major land battles, seven large naval battles and almost daily aerial attacks until Japan gave up on reclaiming Guadalcanal.

Part seven covers the battles in the Pacific that follow Guadalcanal as the US, Australia and New Zealand surround the island of Rabaul in the Solomon Islands to try to remove the Japanese from their strongest fortress in the Pacific. Surrounding islands are captured and bases built. Rabaul is strangled and incessantly bombed from the surrounding bases. Although the Japanese were able to hold Rabaul its effectiveness as a naval base was smashed.