Chocolate is the answer. Who cares what the question is?

Today was a busy day. Last night I slept instead of waking at 4 to ponder the meaning of life, so bounced out of bed at 7.30. Got so much done! Newspaper, breakfast, emails, FB, Twitter, an excursion to Shoppers and No Frills, all before 10.30 a.m. More excitement: the chocolate I ordered yesterday arrived from Stratford - 3 boxes of dark chocolate peanut butter cups and a large box of dark chocolate mint smoothies. This is how we survive winter. 

And then my new boots arrived. Annie showed me hers and raved, I looked online and found the last pair half price at Sporting Life. A tiny bit too big but I added insoles and - wow. What a difference. They're by Baffin and feature "High-Loft Insulation, Thermaplush lining and Hex-Designed LiteGrip compound." Are you impressed? I am. They're light, waterproof, and warm to minus 30. Bring it on, winter - I am ready!

Off in fresh snow in my new boots to the library to pick up a book I'd ordered: The Spell of the Sensuous, by David Abram. I am reading Patti Smith's memoir M Train that someone left in my Free Library. God, that woman can write. Unfair to have so many talents. 

Speaking of which, I spoke to a new editing client today. She's a nurse who has worked in fascinating third world countries, many stories to tell, today aboard a sailboat in the Caribbean with her new lover. She was tanned and wearing a tanktop. I was a tiny bit jealous. Especially as exactly one year ago I was in San Miguel Mexico, in the hot sun at the writers' festival, and hoping to return this year as a teacher. Not.

Instead, spent an hour today dealing with Ahmed at Rogers. A long complicated story, but he walked me through it, and I think it's fixed. I'd left my TV on mute while I finished chatting with him, and when I walked back into the living room, there was my son's face, enormous, on the screen. Cash Cab was on! Years ago, he and his two best friends got into a cab one night and won over $1000 on this TV show, and they were replaying it, as they do periodically. I must say, a handsome bunch of guys, one in particular. And the joy is, he got the winning answer, which was David Suzuki.

Let's hope Ted Cruz is toast. That utterly loathsome radio guy is gone. Is this the end of a hideous era? Biden continues to amaze. In ordinary times, he would be welcome, but now his basic decency is breathtaking. 

An enormous raccoon just peered through the window of my back door and lumbered off into the night. My Beatle-loving friend Alan in Zurich just sent me a film of Macca walking around his Liverpool high school, talking about his past. He shows us the music room and says, "I didn't learn a thing here. The teacher just played us records we didn't like and didn't tell us anything about music." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvCQcyxDM6w&feature=youtu.be I'm now going to sit by the fire and watch the fantastic Canadian St. Lawrence string quartet play Beethoven. Free. http://music-toronto.com/live-stream

How much more excitement can a person take in one day?