Yes, indeed I have. Today is the first day of the rest of my life, as they say. Some things remain the same. Morning prayers facing East on my prayer rug but now, after I get dressed, not before, walk three blocks to Starbucks. It is a great place and very well run. Only two of the downtown Edmonton Starbucks have survived with Covid etc. so this place is extremely busy but the people here are most efficient and friendly. Yesterday an employee gifted me with egg bites that he had accidentally cooked and did not want them to go to waste. I had them for dinner last night.
At this moment I do not have WiFi in my apartment. It should arrive today, it had best arrive today. It was not the fault of Telus, the provider. The installer came but there was no access to the phone room in the building. But, the gracious Installer said he would try his best to either come himself when MAN could allow access or send someone else. I have confidence in him and the process. Everything in Canada seems to work unlike the UAE – where nothing works unless you are either an Emirati. I am not nor a Royal although everyone called me Sheikha Fatimah.
There is good news from me and from here. Computer Guru Chris sent the following email.
He: Always feisty, Mcbride. I’m transferring the website to a new host so I can’t post for up tp 48 hours and the site may be down briefly. It’s for the best though, we’re running out of space on the old host server and the new host has some newer nerdy features that are good for backend stuff.. I’ll let you know when its all up and running again!
Me: Great!!! Thanks!!! It is down at the right moment sort of AND new nerdy features yeah!!! Your time and attention is daily appreciated by me. Your biggest fan! Alexis
We communicated in the meantime, I looked at alexis.com on my iPhone and made a discovery.
Me: You obliterated the UAE from the heading. It used to say London, USA, UAE and Beyond. Now it says London, USA, Canada and Beyond. It was sheer genius on your part. You read my alleged mind. By the way the Crown Prince of Dubai is earnestly in touch again – probably a scammer but, none the less am playing VERY hard to get. I remember this conversation with a woman, at the San Francisco YMCA aerobics class in 2019.
Me: He can have anyone he wants
She: But nor everyone can have you.
Me: Thank you. I never looked at the situation with that perspective.
I absolutely love my new apartment and life. More on the blog but enjoying the time off. Love to the three of you, even the dog.! I am feeling most magnanimous. Alexis
Synonyms of magnanimous are: charitable, benevolent, beneficent, openhanded, big-hearted, great-hearted, munificent, bountiful, liberal, handsome, princely, altruistic, kind, kindly, philanthropic, chivalrous, noble, selfless, self-sacrificing, ungrudging, unstinting; merciful, lenient, indulgent, clement. Antonyms are mean-spirited and selfish. That, by the way, is hardly ever me. I was being munificent, kindly, lenient and indulgent by sending love to their dog, Beryl. I am not fond of dogs. It is not a problem in a Muslim majority country because dogs are not allowed in the house and are not considered pets. They might be hunting dogs, or racing dogs, or guard dogs but not pets. The Prophet Mohammed actually liked dogs, raised them, but they did not live in his house. I am a font of all sorts of information.
Part of my new orientation is to check into The Economist to see what is going on in the world. This is a WOW and perhaps you are hearing it here first. “ Boris Johnson, Britain’s prime minister, will address MPs on Monday afternoon as he attempts to rally support in a vote of no-confidence that will be held in the evening. At least 54 Conservative MPs submitted secret letters of no-confidence in their leader to trigger the vote. Whether Mr. Johnson-buffeted by revelations that he partied during covid lockdowns, and lagging in the polls-can prevail is uncertain. He needs to win the support of at least 180 MPs to prevail.”
Then this also in the same edition of the Economist, news of my very favorite author, one who I attempted in the past to emulate, Margaret Atwood. “Margaret Atwood, a Canadian writer, was recently filmed trying to torch a copy of her 1985 novel “The Handmaid’sTale”. Brandishing a flame-thrower, she took aim. But this “unburnable” edition, printed on foil paper with nickel wire and stainless-steel binding, survived, It is to be auctioned on Tuesday at Sotheby’s, to draw attention to a wave of book banning in American. “The Handmaid’s Tale”, which depicts a nightmare theocracy is among the world’s most widely forbidden works.”
Some of you might not be aware of this BUT Margaret Atwood is a Canadian writer. Yes, indeed she is. So is Alexis McBride a Canadian writer but I am humbled by her magnificent talent. She is a role model rather like Queen Elizabeth II, not Queen Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen. It is interesting to note that I am a virgin again. As a newly converted Muslim all of my previous relationships were obviated moreover, I have not has sexual intercourse with a man after my conversion to the faith on October 20, 2020. Marriage is my only option if I were to sleep with another man. It does separate the men from the boys, so to speak. Separating the men from the boys is an idiom which distinguishes or separates the experienced, competent, or strong participants from those who are not.
This morning I posted my 1000th Instagram post (apparently). It was the view from apartment window and had this caption: “This is my thousandth post and it could not get any better. The new from my top floor apartment at sunrise. Morning prayers Enable the best photography and the best way to start the day. I am home. All praise to Allah.”
That says it all! It truly does! The other photo attached to this blog is also from the same window, showing the cloud formation from a previous day. This was the caption: “Room with a view. My apartment, look at those magnificent clouds. So good to be home!.”
Those are cumulous clouds. They are clouds forming rounded masses heaped on each other above a flat base at fairly low altitude. In Dubai and Abu Dhabi these clouds were ‘seeded’ – after the serious tourist season ended the clouds were seeded and it would rain cats and dogs. But there were no sewer systems or drains to catch the water so it would just puddle up on the concrete slowing, if not utterly stopping down traffic. The seeding was done to increase the rainfall of the arid region but, to say the very least, it was a failed experiment. Someone made a great deal of money from the seeding operation, whoever set up the program and paid millions for the operation did not know what they were doing. It was most definitely an Emerat. So small natural occurring details in my everyday life of today remind me of the horrors of my UAE yesterdays. But here is the good news – it mades me so thankful to be back in Canada. The forecast is for rain most of this week and the next. No need to seed clouds, the drought conditions in California will not be alleviated by Canadian rains. I was so wise to leave the UAE and the USA. I patiently listened to Allah’s guidance, most people who have known me will not believe that.
They: Alexis – patient, I do not believe that.
Me: I know as I always have said that patience is not one of my virtues but I am slowly changing and it does pay off. I am planning to keep it up. May fall off the horse, but I will get right back on, patiently.
