More snow today, despite the daffodils in bud and the blue-eyed grass spangling the lawn. The basement is unchanged, if dry, and the realtor is coming to look at it on Thursday morning. Tony the carpenter has read my text messages but failed to reply.

Other preparations continue. Tomorrow’s pool class is a no-go for me because a burglar alarm technician is booked and the company won’t set a time of arrival more specific than “between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm”. So I guess that’s my cue to clean the house.

I have a new iPhone, the result of visiting the cellular service kiosk at the supermarket to update my data plan. The sales guy made a valiant effort to make sense of Bell Canada’s various service offers while his colleague wrestled with the billing woes of a Czech immigrant whose only government-issued identification is a passport with the wrong birth date, thanks to an administrative error in Soviet-ruled Prague. After a group effort to explain the existence and location of the nearest Passport Office, I found myself with three new friends and a complicated gadget that I have yet to master fully.