I can’t believe January is already gone. It seems that time has both dragged and flown at light speed in the last twelve months. Come March, it’ll be a year since I set up the basement gym so I could keep on exercising after the city shut down the recreation centres where I’ve done my cardio and weights since retiring to become a full-time writer. Strange to say, I miss being around people when I do my sessions. The TV just isn’t an adequate replacement for being around other fitness-minded retirees. Besides, it suffers from the 999 channels and nothing watchable syndrome. I do enjoy watching cooking shows on the Food Network, but there’s not much of interest until later in the day.
With the onset of February, winter has truly settled in around here, even if the sun is shining brightly. It was minus 22 degrees Centigrade when I went out to put the garbage bins on the curb earlier this morning. Looking at the forecast, it appears that our usual late January, early February thaw will be a dud this year. Instead of 4-5 days of above freezing temperatures, we’ll get one day, this Friday, before plunging into the deep freeze again. Mind you, the cold doesn’t keep us from taking 20-30 minute walks around the neighbourhood, for fresh air and to avoid going stir crazy. And yes, I wear a puffy, knee-length parka and Yukon hat with the earflaps down when we go out. It’s not elegant, but it is warm.
On the writing front, Ashes of Empire: Imperial Echoes is just about at the three-quarters completion mark, and wonder of wonders, the seventh Siobhan Dunmoore story is slowly fermenting the back of my mind. Since it’s fermenting faster than the third Ghost Squadron and Constabulary Casefiles installments, I might even give it a try once Imperial Echoes is off to my editor, hopefully at the beginning of March.
