All is well in the best of all possible worlds! While I won’t suggest that I actually alighted from my virginal bed this morning - far too seraphim-like to be plausible - I can at least report that within minutes after the clock having struck the hour at 6:00 a.m., I was dressed and on my trusty Electra bicycle, happily bouncing on my balloon tires towards the Village of Appleton. The sun was barely breaking on the horizon. The cool air made the morning mists in the gullies and ditches look like winding water courses. The cows were let out already, vapidly chewing the grasses and looking stupidly in my direction as I sailed by.
It did me good to fill my lungs with fresh air, after having been confined indoors almost all weekend as a result of the perpetual rain again this year. The temperature never climbed above 9 degrees Centigrade, causing me to attempt a less than dexterous hands-free zipping of my light jacket. By seven o’clock I was back home and dishing up my homemade gazpacho soup, thinking the raw, crisp ingredients would provide some low-carb nourishment and nicely clean the pipes to the heart.
Once I arrived at the office, it appeared that there wouldn’t be much to occupy me as we lead up to the celebrated Labour Day Weekend when most people are making plans to leave town for one destination or another. However, as so often happens in this and any other small businesses, it didn’t take much to get me into gear and moving along at a bit of a pace. Both matters which prompted me were related to estate administrations, sparked as they frequently are by some missal from Canada Revenue Agency (not always a good thing, but quite welcome in the cause today).
Among the many minor clerical matters I also addressed today was a quiz ("Best Practices Self-Assessment Tool") set up by the Law Society, the evident purpose of which is to encourage practitioners to think about what they ought to be doing in their practice, and likely aren’t. I have to concede that the procedure of answering hundreds of questions succeeded in highlighting areas of the business which are beyond substantive law but nonetheless important, obvious things like being courteous to one’s fellow practitioners and clients, providing plain-language communication, timely reporting, that sort of thing. Because I take the business of my business so seriously, I like to think I scored quite well (though of course nobody is keeping score). All in all, it was worth the effort, if for no other reason than to encourage good habits, and sanctify them. And did I mention the $50 credit on one’s Errors & Omissions policy premium for doing so?
Meanwhile, the maintenance of the property was humming along too. The bee-guy was back this morning for the third time, assuring me this time he’d get them (as he maliciously pointed his extended gun towards the roof overhang). Later in the morning my reliable grounds keeper was meticulously attending to his duties as well, collecting debris, sweeping, snipping and generally tidying up. It all makes for a nice warm feeling at the end of the day.
But the best news of the day was that my capable Assistant is out of the hospital, on her way home, and planning to be here tomorrow morning. She still has a horribly long row to hoe, but the immediate improvement to her health makes it all worthwhile. It has been an incredible ordeal for her, far more than anyone as young as she should be expected to endure, but I am confident it will all turn out for the better. An experience such as this is a life-lesson to us all.
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