Hey all - little update from me.
Life has been busy...the sub teacher shortage here means I've been working every weekday, and then still doing my computer work side job on evenings and weekends, so been feeling pretty tired lately, but it's good to be wanted. One of the principals at the most local school to me actually stopped me in the hall and thanked me for the work I do and told me they are always glad to see my name on the list and for the extra I do when I'm in, so that was a really nice thing to have happen 
Still VERY frustrated at the housing situation here....everything is so expensive now, but with so many people moving here this year (mostly from Ontario - no offense intended OppOntarians!), there's not much left in my area, so pretty bummed about that as I really like it here and want to stay. There was a house up the other day that was quite nice, ALL renovated inside, only 30 years old...only thing I've seen up in my price range for a LONG time (was up for $234,000). I got the email while I was teaching at work. By the time I got home from work, it was already pending....it's insane 
Humdrum is still trucking along...we've only had one big snow event so far and I can saw the new Michelin X-Ice winters I picked up on rims for cheap not along ago are really great in the slippery stuff......in bad news though, I've been hearing a rattle coming from the front-left suspension. WAY back (like in 2014 just after I bought it), I'd heard a similar sound and it turned out that some of the strut-top bolts were loose, so I figured it was the same thing this time. Nope...the spring is broken on my front-left strut near the bottom.

Only a very small piece broke off, so essentially it's not quite sitting right in its resting place....so it's not going to fall out or anything and I can still drive on it, but it needs to be replaced (appointment for that booked for next week). Getting just the spring, it turns out, isn't much cheaper than getting a whole replacement strut assembly by the time they disassemble it and put in the new spring (labour costs are insane here)...so they are pricing up a used replacement strut for me (their suggestion), and also pricing up the cost of two new front struts too. I can't imagine that either will be super cheap, but at least struts should be pretty easy to replace on the Accent! On the plus side, I told them to look over all the other suspension and they said the rest all still looks fine....not bad for nearly 200,000kms living in the pothole and rust belt (though with annual undercoatings!) and being all the factory-original stuff - good on Hyundai for building a tough little car! Humdrum does have some creaks and rattles here and there due to the plastic-y interior, but she is a 10-year old bare-bones South Korean economy car, so I can forgive her for and deal with those!
Still no girlfriend which sucks....more because I haven't had much time to actually go out and DO anything towards finding somebody....COVID doesn't help with that either, so I just keep on moving forward there for the time being I guess. Maybe I can work towards this a bit on Christmas Break, but with us heading towards a lockdown here in Nova Scotia again due to a recent huge increase in COVID cases (mostly the new Omicron variant....yay!), I am doubting that's going to happen...
I took my antique Ansonia Andes clock from around 1906 in for a service to have it cleaned and oiled as you're supposed to do every 2-3 years. I had a different guy do it this time and he just called me back tonight to ask me to stop in tomorrow because.....apparently the shop that cleaned and oiled it last time DID clean and oil it, but neglected to mention that a LOT of the pivot points in the brass movement are VERY worn, so I've been running it for 2 years having it basically eat itself alive, not great... The new guy, who seems VERY trustworthy and a genuinely knowledgeable fellow tells me he counts at least 6 pivots that will need to be repaired with brass insert bushes to get it back in tip-top shape again. He hasn't done the work yet but wanted to show me in person before he did it, which I think was very good of him, in order to explain what and where repairs are needed. $120 for the cleaning/oiling and then another (at least) $160 for that....not cheap on top of my car repair, but the clock means a lot to me and I would miss its comfortable rhythmic ticking in the rec room, so needs must...I already keep instantly thinking 'why did the clock stop?' every time I walk into the rec room right now and don't hear the ticking before I remember it's not here...
Overall though....things could be worse! My trusty car is still working and the repairs won't be cheap, but won't be THAT expensive either! I'm getting a lot of work and still have a warm roof over my head and a cat is currently staring at me for snacks.
Hope things are all well for you folks Oppo 