I haven't seen any sign of fuel shortages around here, but the prices are nuts -- approaching Cdn$1.50 per litre. (No, I don't know how much that is per gallon.) The last time I paid that much for gasoline, I was at Heathrow Airport.

Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, the premier of Ontario has declared a state of emergency over the truck protests, not just the occupation of Ottawa, but also blockades at the international bridges in Windsor and Sarnia. In Stratford, fresh food prices are stratospheric -- $2.49 a pound for apples! -- but I haven't seen any empty shelves, although certain items are inexplicably absent. One day it's lemons, another day it's store-brand laundry detergent.

It's been a hair under freezing and snowing heavily all day, but not for much longer. The forecast low for tonight is -19C and tomorrow's forecast high is only -7C, which means the air pressure is rising and the precipitation will go away. But the colder, drier weather will freeze the wet snow into lumps and bumps all over town, with a lovely slippery apron at the mouth of every scraped-out driveway. I plan to hike downtown tomorrow for a pub lunch with the bubble (BIL, SIL, and their lodger), so I'll need the hiking stick, the wool socks, the lined jeans and Edmund's army-issue fur hat, an outfit that makes me look like the Mad Trapper of Rat River. But I don't care -- no bad weather, only inadequate gear.

My back still hurts, but I'm now at the stage where exercise is the most important treatment. I went to pool class today and gave it my best, noting which parts, and which movements, still hurt the most. If I don't do anything nutty like fall down, walking is probably the best thing I can do for it now.

I actually dusted yesterday, and scrubbed all three toilets. Things are looking up.