Dean made it safely back to Calgary last Wednesday, with no one infected at either end. It’s too bad we never made it out to any restaurants while he was here, with the second lockdown being invoked shortly after his arrival, but we at least ordered pizza a couple of times.

As I’ve said before, it’s getting scary out there, with record new infections back and forth across the country, Manitoba experiencing its first major breakout. Ottawa is down in its daily new infections, but Toronto and Peel are on red alert with large if not total lockdown, but the schools remain open.

Been a busy week news-wise. Joe Biden is President-Elect after a close race, with Trump refusing to concede defeat; no surprise there. I’ll be glad when that man’s gone; Lord of Delusions.

Hockey lost announcer and former player Howie Meeker, at 97 years old, a good long life. I had completely forgotten about that guy, but as soon as I saw his picture, it immediately brought back memories of watching Hockey Night in Canada with the family, while living on Rainbow Crescent in the 1970s.

We also lost Alex Trebek, after a determined effort to fight Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer. He’s 80 years old, and passed on the 8th. What’s interesting is that while Dean was here, I let he and Jason have the living room most of the time. With cable finally working properly, I set my PVR to record all upcoming Jeopardy episodes, ending up with about 24 shows. I’ve since been slowly witling them down through small amounts of binge watching. That and a few other favorite shows, like Paranormal Caught on Tape, Skinwalker Ranch, Alaska Triangle, along with a host of travel and history shows. Multiple episodes of 60 Minutes. Jimi Hendrix and Duran Duran concerts.

In the past, Dawn would have come over to help me watch some of this stuff, but…

Getting back to Trebek, although I have no inside information, gut instinct and wishful thinking tells me that Ken Jennings will take over as host. He’s already an associate producer, and is making occasional appearances to introduce certain categories. Question is, can he make the jump from software engineer to game show host? He seems to have the right personality to do so. Dean suggested Morgan Freeman. I laughed at first, but then began to easily imagine him with his calm reassuring manner and cinnamon voice reading out clues to the contestants. Question is, being a big-name actor, would he be willing and capable of making that jump to game show host? He’s not a young man either, compared to Jennings, considering the decades Alex Trebek carried the show.

Today is Remembrance Day, with a scaled down ceremony this year at the War Memorial, downtown. It also happens to be one of my old boss’ birthday. Gaetan and I worked together, off and on, factoring in out-of-office assignments, for some 30 years. He along with a Ghanian lady named Elizabeth formed the core group of our records office, with various other characters, some good, some bad, coming and going over the years. Gaetan and Elizabeth eventually retired in the early to mid-2000s. By then, I had moved up to management, until my own retirement in 2013.

I often teased Gaetan how lucky he was to be born on Remembrance Day, as it’s almost forever been a holiday for the federal government, so no having to book the day off. Personally, I always liked to take my birthday off.

Although there was no agreement to do so, the three of us kept in touch by phoning one another on our birthdays. This year, on my birthday, October 30th, I got no call from Gaetan. Elizabeth phoned me today saying that Gaetan’s number was no longer in service. I called and got the same thing. I then checked the Ottawa and Gatineau obituaries, and nothing came up. I also checked Gatineau 411, but no record for Gaetan. I’ll probably call the Gatineau hospital tomorrow to see if they know anything.

I know the street and high rise where Gaetan lives, so if it weren’t for the pandemic, I’d probably make the trip across the river to Gatineau, and ask the apartment management what happened. I could also just call, again maybe tomorrow, but don’t know the apartment’s name or number; Google maps.

Despite our long friendship, Gaetan was a very private person. Although he often voiced his attraction towards women, to the best of my knowledge, he never had a girlfriend. No computer either, and so no email. The last I knew, he had an older brother and sister, with at least a couple of nieces or nephews, but I had never met any of them. By now, he would be in his early 70s, but not in the best of health, with serious lung issues due to a lifetime of smoking. As a result, he did finally quit a few years back.

My abdominal hernia surgery is scheduled for next Thursday. Still waiting to hear from the hospital, when to go in for preliminary bloodwork and preparatory briefing, multiple forms to fill out...again.


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11/12/2020

Posted on 11/12/2020
Copyright © 2024 Chris Sorrenti