Internet Access Should be Considered an Essential Public Utility

            Although on Friday morning I was connected to the network across the street, there was no internet. It came on however after 9:00.

            I memorized another four lines of “Le bras méchanique” (The Mechanical Arm) by Serge Gainsbourg and have sixteen lines to go.

I weighed 87.5 kilos before breakfast. 

I got caught up on my journal.

            I tried to call Fido several times but bounced off a full voice mailbox with every effort. In the early afternoon I rode downtown to their store. They did not let me in and I had to speak with someone through the intercom. The woman said that they are not offering any new services in the store right now and are merely staying open as an essential service by government orders. What could be more essential than trying to help people get connected so they can stay home? She suggested that I look into plans through their website. I asked how I could access their website if I couldn’t get online but she said she didn’t know. When I asked if they have a prepaid internet plan she said they don’t. I told her that they should be trying to help people get online so they can stay at home, since there are no cafés or libraries open now. She just kept on repeating that they are required to be open by law as an essential service. She didn’t say exactly what “essential” service they are performing. It seemed like she was getting paid to turn people away.

            I went home and tried to look into U of T libraries that might be open but it looks like every one is closed. I suppose if it isn’t raining on April 13^th I could maybe find a bench on campus and use the U of T wifi but then again since they are trying to keep everyone away from campus they might have shut down the hot spot.

            Finally I emailed my TA and told her my problem. She sent a copy of my email to White and told me he was looking into some possibilities for me.

            I had a cucumber, tomato, peanut and roasted seaweed salad with soy sauce, olive oil and garlic dressing for lunch. It was pretty good.

            I worked on studying for my exam and writing practice responses to some of the short answer questions.

            Yesterday I had spent all day cooking soybeans and had added some Chinese chilli paste to them. Today I chopped and sautéed two onions and the mushrooms that I’d bought last week. I added them to the soybean stew along with miso, tomato paste, cayenne and garlic. It turned out quite tasty and I had it with plantain chips while watching the last two episodes of the “Noggin and the Flying Machine”. An evil Arabian wizard has made off with Noggin's crown and escaped on a flying carpet. Noggin, Thor Nogson and Graculas go after them in the flying boat that Graculas and Olaf had invented. But when the Arab sees that he is being followed he blows magic snuff at his pursuers, which damages the ship's leather wings and forces them to land in the ocean. There is no wind and so they have nothing to do but wait. They go to sleep but while they are unconscious the wind blows their boat to a small island where giant Orps nest. Graculas has Noggin and Thor tie ropes to the tails of the Orps while they are sleeping. In the morning they make noise to cause them to fly away but the ropes pull their tail feathers off. Graculas collects feathers from the birds with which to repair the ship. He had argued with Olaf in the first place that feathers were better than leather for the flying ship’s wings and he is proven right once the ship is in the air again. After some time they land the boat in the pool of an oasis in the middle of the desert.  The oasis is the home of the kindly old Haroun Ibn Dowd who tells them that the man on the flying carpet is the servant of a false king that has imprisoned the rightful ruler. Haroun lends his genie to them and provides them with disguises. Noggin is dressed as a wealthy merchant while Thor is dressed in veiled drag. They ride into the city on camels where Graculas had flown ahead and discovered from talking with the vultures that there is a secret passage into the palace. From the top of the palace they see the crown thief arrive on his magic carpet. He presents Noggin’s crown to the ruler who in turn gives it to Noggin’s evil uncle Nogbad. Noggin and Thor are captured but Noggin calls forth Haroun’s genie to help them. But the evil king’s genie is bigger and more powerful and he scares Haroun’s genie back into his bottle. Noggin then bangs on the gong that had been given to him by the ice dragon Grolliffe. Grolliffe arrives and there ensues a battle between Grolliffe and the evil genie in which Grolliffe outmanoeuvres the genie and keeps freezing and slicing off bits until the genie is trapped in a tiny ice cube. The false king and Nogbad escape on the flying carpet but Grolliffe says he’ll catch them on his way home and make them count jewels in his cave. Noggin rescues the true king and restores him to his throne and then they head home on their flying machine.