My left leg that I’d fallen on yesterday when I lost my balance while getting on my bike, was sore from the hip to the knee. I had particular difficulty during yoga when I did any forward bending over that leg.
I finished editing “Le régiment des mal aimés” (The Regiment of Broken Hearts) by Boris Vian in Christian’s Translations. He tended to not write the music for his songs and so I did a search and discovered that this time he also had a co-author for the lyrics. Christiane Auzepy collaborated with him on the words and Michele Auzepy wrote the music. I just have to find a YouTube video to accompany the post and then I’ll publish it on the blog tomorrow.
I worked out the chords for the first four verses of “Souviens-toi de m'oublier” (Remember to Forget Me) by Serge Gainsbourg. I’ll probably have the chords finished and upload the song to Christian’s Translations tomorrow.
I weighed 84.7 kilos before breakfast.
In the late morning, I rode to St Lawrence Market. My left leg didn’t bother me while I was pedaling.
At the market, I first went to the basement. In a gourmet food shop, I bought a couple of bags of maple sugar. I went to Domino Foods where I bought two bags of Covered Wagon barbecue flavoured potato chips; various chocolate-covered items like espresso beans and orange jellies; and lots of different kinds of sour gummies that my daughter Astrid has always liked.
I asked at a patisserie about some pretty little cookies they had of various flavours. I wanted to buy three but when I asked if they would ship well the counter person said, “No, they are very fragile!” So I didn’t get any.
Upstairs at St Urbain, I bought a dozen sesame seed bagels and two potato and onion knishes.
At a cheese place, I had an attack of decadence and bought some caribou-fig paté. I also got a pack of chocolate halvah.
I asked at a butcher shop how much a little Hereford steak from P.E.I. was and was shocked that it would be $38. I really don’t think that I would notice enough difference between the taste of a $15 steak and a $40 steak to justify spending that much money.
I stopped at Sausage King to get some hot pepperettes but the guy must have been on a break. I didn’t feel it was worth waiting and so I left.
On Queen near Spadina, I stopped at Lush where I bought a couple of bath bombs for Astrid.
Just west of Spadina is Bagels On Fire. I wonder if they got their name from The Brian Eno song “Baby’s On Fire.” I stopped to buy another dozen sesame seed Montreal-style bagels to compare with the ones from St Urbain. The ones from Bagels On Fire are bigger and slightly cheaper.
I stopped at Freshco where I bought seven bags of red grapes, a pint of strawberries, a tomato, a half-pint of blueberries, a can of peaches, and a jug of orange juice.
When I got home I sent a message to my daughter to find out if she is on the road or still in Montreal. I don’t know if it’s practical to send her a package if she’s not there to receive it.
I weighed 84.3 kilos before a late lunch after 15:30. I wouldn’t normally eat bread on a Thursday but I thought it would be a waste to not eat one of the bagels while it was fresh. I had a Bagels On Fire bagel with caribou paté, five-year-old cheddar, and tomato. The paté is pretty good but I couldn’t distinguish it from any other animal I’ve tasted in a paté.
I took a late siesta from 16:30 to 18:00.
I weighed 84.7 kilos at 18:10.
I coated an eye of round beef roast in olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme, paprika, and a roasted garlic and herb mixture, and put it in the oven.
I got caught up on my journal just before dinner. I had a slice of the roast with a potato and gravy while watching two episodes of Astro Boy.
In the first story, a superhighway is being built through the mountains by a company owned by Mr. Pinchpenny. He has bribed a corrupt government official to give him all the government’s contracts on the condition that this highway is finished in six weeks. Markham, the chief engineer says that’s impossible without sacrificing safety. Pinchpenny threatens to fire Markham but he quits.
Suddenly there are reports of a monster in the tunnel. It is a non-functional giant robot embedded in the rock. Dr. Elefun and Astro Boy are called and the robot is dug out. But while they are trying to hoist the robot away with helicopters and chains, some parts of the highway begin collapsing. A deer is caught under some debris and suddenly the robot comes to life. It gently frees the deer and then begins destroying the highway. Astro Boy tries to stop it but rays from its eyes send him far away. It approaches the gigantic bridge and, unlike the other parts of the highway, caresses the bridge and decides not to wreck it. He seems to have spared it because Markham had full control over its construction and it was built safely. Next, the robot attacks a casino on a cruise ship. Then it destroys a nuclear power plant but eats the reactor. Then it destroys more of Pinchpenny’s highway.
Astro Boy confronts the robot, who says his name is Zeo. Astro Boy warns he will hurt people if he continues his path of destruction and so Zeo picks up Astro Boy, puts him on his shoulder, and leaves the city. Markham follows them and outside the city, Zeo explains to both of them that he is a robot time capsule from a great civilization that existed a million years ago. Inside of his body are many inventions and books which he would share with a worthy civilization. But from what he has seen the current civilization does not merit the benefits that his creators programmed him to share.
Then Pinchpenny arrives with a giant robot called Destroyer. It splits into a larger top segment that Zeo fights and a smaller bottom section battled by Astro Boy. Eventually, Astro Boy throws the bottom half into the top half and destroys the whole robot. Then the robot army attacks with tanks and jets. Astro Boy begs Zeo to run away but he says there is no place to go. He is destroyed but the substance inside of him causes the land area around his destruction to be turned into a natural paradise.
The idea that in the ancient past there were high-tech civilizations is particularly prominent in India. I first encountered this when I began studying Hinduism in my late teens. In the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, there are accounts of troop-carrying flying machines powered by mercury and arrows that behave very much like modern missiles. The Ramayana was written only fourteen centuries ago but the claim is that the real events of the Ramayana took place 10,000 years ago. But there is no evidence that India had any kind of civilization that long ago.10,000 years ago it was probably made up of many pre-agricultural tribes. Agriculture wasn’t developed until about 8,500 years ago. These kinds of stories needed to arise out of urban cultures, which didn’t begin until about 4,000 years ago. Modern India is technologically advanced and has many great scientists who are embarrassed by the pseudoscientists who make absurd claims about India’s high-tech ancient history. If such advancements had been developed there would be some archaeological evidence.
The second story is a silly one about a civilization existing at the centre of the Earth. They are for the most part at the same technological level as our late 15th Century and dress in a similar way. An explorer named Columbo believes that there is another world far above them. With the financing of Queen Itchybella he has developed a vehicle with a drill that will tunnel upwards. The drill and four climbing arms are powered by the efforts of the crew continuously pulling on levers like oarsmen on a boat. After a hundred days of drilling and climbing, the crew is ready to rebel, but Columbo bribes them into continuing.
Finally, they reach the surface and the first person they see is Astro Boy’s brother Jetto, whom they think is a typical native. Columbo turns out to be not nice as his first impulse is to capture Jetto in order to take him back as proof of the world above. Jetto easily fights them off but then says he’s sorry and wants to be their friend. Columbo makes Jetto promise not to resist and then ties him up.
He takes him below where two rival societies exist. One is ruled by Itchybella and the other by the Green Queen. The Green Queen’s knight, Stormy Knight decides to steal Columbo’s drill and go to the surface to bring back his own powerful native to fight Jetto. But Stormy emerges above in the water, which floods down into his world. Jetto has to fight very hard to pump away the water and plug the hole. War breaks out between Itchybella and the Green Queen and Jetto tries to intervene by destroying the weapons of both sides. But in doing so he runs out of power.
Stormy returns with what he thinks will be his native champion, Astro Boy. But Astro Boy is there to find his brother. He finds him and gives him some of his power. Then Stormy sends his army of giant crickets to attack but they break the pillars that hold up the ceiling. Astro Boy and Jetto work together to repair the cave ceiling and build new pillars. Then they take the castles of Itchy Bella and the Green Queen and put them together into one. They make the two queens and Columbo and Stormy shake hands. Suddenly they are all friends and Astro Boy and Jetto leave for the surface.
Before bed, I poked a toothpick into a crack near the top of the old exit door at the head of my bed and killed a bedbug that was hiding there.
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