1958 Dodge Coronet

            On Saturday after midnight I did my usual search for bedbugs along the walls and baseboards near my bed and found none. That made it five days since I'd seen the last one and I was feeling optimistic. But then when I went to make my bed I found one crawling right in the middle. I picked it up and crushed it and the blood inside was fresh. This is depressing. I did another search, this time all around the mattress and the pillow but found no more. I can't figure out where they are coming from. I'm going to tape over the electrical outlet again and see if that helps.

            I started memorizing "Arthur, où t'as mis le corps" (Arthur, Where'd You Put The Corpse?) by Boris Vian. I got the first three lines but there are a lot and so this is going to take quite a while. 

            I posted my translation of “Cuti–réaction” (Skin Prick Reaction) by Serge Gainsbourg on Facebook and then I looked for the lyrics to his song “Le vieux rocker” (The Old Rocker). I found them on gainsbourg.net and transcribed them to my “1980 Gainsbourg” document. I'll start translating it tomorrow. 

            It's three degrees outside but the landlord still hasn't turned the heat on. I called him and asked if the heat was on in his home and he said , “No, why?” I said, “It's three degrees outside” and he responded, “So?” He's such an asshole! I assume the heat in his house is automatically on and he's not even aware of it or else he was just plain lying to be a prick. He said he would turn it on tonight and also told me pest control would be coming on November 5 and 19. Nothing ever gets done around here unless I initiate it. 

            I weighed 88.9 kilos before breakfast. 

            In the late morning I went to No Frills. The grapes were on sale but chances are it's because they're lousy. I bought three bags of red and two of green. I also got two half-pints of raspberries, a pack of chicken legs, a strawberry-rhubarb pie, three bags of milk, a can of dark coffee, Greek yogourt and skyr. 

            I talked to my neighbour Benji in the hall. He called the landlord about the heat this morning as well. I weighed 89.5 kilos before lunch. I had saltines with cream cheese and paprika and a glass of limeade. 

            I finished reading The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare. I think for certain key elements of the play, a parallel can be drawn with the story of Christ. A mysterious pregnancy, a baby born in adverse conditions, raised in a rustic environment by a substitute father, and a plot to kill the baby by a murderous king. But in this case it is the mother that dies and is resurrected. The three principal women in the story can be seen as the Mother, the daughter and then Paulina as the representative of the magical element or Holy Spirit. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride. On the Bloor bike lane there was a family on Ride Toronto bikes. The son in law was out front, the father behind, the mother and then the daughter. They were all wobbling along like they'd never been on bicycles in their lives. On Richmond there was a guy perhaps walking to a costume party. I don't know what superhero he was supposed to be but he had simulated gold armour, a red cape and he was carrying a motorcycle helmet. I weighed 88.5 kilos when I got home. 

            I read the first act of “All's Well That Ends Well.” Helen is in love with Bertram but he is far above her in class. His mother the countess has also been like a mother to Helen. The countess hears a rumour of Helen's affection and asks her if it's true. Helen beats around the bush but finally confesses. The countess approves. Helen is the daughter of a recently deceased physician and she has much of his knowledge. Meanwhile the King of France is very ill and his own physicians have given up hope. Helen thinks she can cure him. Parts of this play were added after Shakespeare's death by Thomas Middleton. There's a great argument against virginity as spoken by the character Paroles, that was apparently written by Middleton. 

            I made pizza on naan with Toscanese sauce and extra old cheddar. I had it with a beer while watching the first episode of the fifth season of “Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C.” 

            This wasn't much of a story. Sergeant Carter decides to sell his car because he's only getting five kilometres to the litre of gas. Sergeant Hacker planned on buying it but he is short the full $250. Gomer however has the money so Carter sells it to him. Hacker sneaks to the car every night and adds gas to the tank. This makes Gomer believe that he's getting 16 km per litre. So now Carter wants the car back and so Gomer sells it to him. But now Hacker comes every night and siphons gas from Carter's car, resulting in Carter thinking his mileage has dropped to worse than before. Carter finally sells the car to Hacker for $65. But when Hacker is carrying his gas cans to put them in the trunk of his car he spills gas along the way. Later he lights a cigar and throws the match. The spillage bursts into flames and travels to set the car on fire. Hacker ends off paying Gomer $20 to take the car off his hands. Gomer now plans on fixing it up. 

            The car was a 1958 Dodge Coronet convertible. My dad a had a 1958 Dodge Coronet but not a convertible. I thought it was like a space ship because the speedometer was a coloured horizontal line that ran from left to right. Up to 40 mph it was green, between 40 and 60 it was yellow and over 60 it turned red.