A Bohemian Christmas

My Solitaire top score so far …

The Christmas of 2025 was in so many ways different than previous Christmases for me. A few weeks prior my job of many years came to a sudden and unexpected end when the company I worked for decided to move to another city. I did not want to move there, to central Canada, and so that was the end of that! At my age it is hard to uproot yourself and start anew. Amidst this turmoil a friend of mine also decided to return home to Tokyo after spending less than a year in Vancouver. She could not find a job that could cover her costs of living.

These two events have in common the fact that it is nearly impossible to live and work in Vancouver, and stay happy. Vancouver is one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in. I can understand why people here are stressed and unhappy!

When I lost my job I had a rainy day fund that covered perhaps two months and then well, it was time to find something new. Then in the midst of this turmoil Christmas drifted into play. Being set upon by sad tidings, as you could imagine it was hard for me to get into the Christmas spirit … I sort of went Bohemian instead. Well actually I am somewhat so to begin with and so I went Uber-Bohemian.

Over the extended and somewhat modest Christmas holidays I realized if ‘I did not go out I could not spend money’ and so I stayed in and emptied out my pantry of canned goods and dried foodstuff. For dinner rice with raisins, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and an ample serving of dill, and a can of chilled sardines with garlic and chives in sunflower oil, would be my indispensable meal. I was introduced to gourmet sardines in middle school by a friend from France who would enjoy sardines on rye bread with fresh mayonnaise and ground mustard … yumm! When things get better I will once again fill my pantry with canned goods and dried foodstuff. Starting with gourmet sardines of course.

A full stomach does lessen one’s Angst.

Whenever I am sadden I try to be creative. This is one of the few ways I know to deal with life’s Angst. Many of my close friends are artists and so we try to be creative together. Some of my artist friends made it tolerable for me by coming to visit and making our gatherings pot luck and a Christmas to remember. In the past I had been there for them. My artist friends will tell you that it is twice as difficult for creative people to live and thrive in Vancouver.

I remember my grandparents telling me how they survived the ‘Great Depression’ this way with pot lucks and kitchen parties … Are we perhaps in the midst of a second ‘Great Depression?’ That was something we discussed and with the list of six signs of what a ‘Great Depression’ was, we ticked off three of the six and so perhaps we are in a ‘Semi-Depression.’

The flip side of the coin is how one battles how one feels in such circumstances … a great depression … I admit in recent weeks there have been a few mornings that I found it hard to even lift my head off my pillow. When you have nothing pressing it is easy to stay snug and warm in your bed and sleep away the morning. But then when you realize you should not let your work define you … other callings come to mind, like being creative for yourself.

Then there are the nightmares … how does one deal with nightmares? It is said they reflect our awake Angst.

One of my artist friends, who has been eyeing a lamp of mine, suggested a barter or trade of Christmas gifts. What could be more Bohemian? An old android tablet I had kicking around had just died from over use. I played Solitaire on it quite often and I was sad to lose it. She suggested we exchange Christmas gifts … she would get my vintage lamp and I would receive a vintage android tablet from her. I thought this a fine trade since the lamp had been sitting unused, gathering dust for many a year.

When I set the tablet back to factory specs to my great surprise I found several useful applications for writing and reading doc and pdf files, as well as watch videos. The vintage version of the android limited the type of films I could watch on the table, but that was fine. Sadly there was no Solitaire on the tablet.

I tried to download a programs using the old browser on the tablet but that didn’t work since the tablet was over a decade old. So I did the next best things, which was to sort out the android version type then side-load a APK version of Solitaire to a computer then transfer it to the vintage tablet.

I should admit something of importance. Solitaire is a sort of therapy for me to relieve stress that … and the occasional Sudoku.

Now it is a New Year … I am somehow managing. With a Bohemian Christmas behind me it is perhaps time for me to find a new job …

By the way, this morning I scored 8,000 in a game of Solitaire … The best that I had ever done before was 6,500.

See if you can top that!