Pemulis has seen Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Speed 2, Batman & Robin, The Lost World, the Matrix sequels (if they actually existed but we're supposed to pretend that they don't), and though he's never seen Sex & the City or Sex & the City 2, he's sure that they're both terrible and that they found a way to make #2 even worse. Therefore, he knows that sequels are difficult. You should know that too.
Pemulis wakes fully rested after another luxurious 9-hour sleep in his brand new bed. If he felt any itchiness or noticed any strange rash on his side it couldn't be from bed bugs or mites that traveled through the mattress of his bed in his furnished apartment because he has his very own bed, thank you very much, and the mattress is brand new and affords him with luxurious 9-hour sleeps, and thankfully, there is no itchiness and there are no strange rashes so there is no zona, no powerful anti-viral drugs, and there are no pain killers. There's no time to swim so the no-zona thing doesn't affect that, there's no more ping pong tables around, and there are even less baguettes.
A comfortable plane ride with no screaming babies ends in record time and lands without delay between a plane-delaying decade-defining ice storm and an airport-shuttering century-defining polar vortex-induced deep freeze (cf. Le Grand Froid, but for real). Pemulis and Joelle are chauffeured home to a grandiose feast served with wine and the finest organic produce. They are warmly welcomed by the family dog Bow. Someone or something is missing, Pemulis feels, but he can't put his finger on who or what that might be. At first he thinks it might be one of the evil cats but later sees them both scurry by in a most non-evil way. He chalks the feeling up to jet lag.
Speaking of jet lag, Pemulis and Joelle simply retire at an appropriate hour and wake somewhat earlier than average to greet the glorious sunshine and circadian dysrhythmia seems to hold little sway upon their lives. Waking up early, Pemulis sits with Bow and reads about the trials and tribulations in Emma's and Matthew's lives. To hammer home the point that people never seem to learn, the protagonists again visit the high-school Christmas-time get-together but lo and behold, it actually turns out to be a lot of fun. Even LaMont makes an appearance along with Jay-R and good times are experienced by all involved.
Christmas Eve is in London and all the family is there. Presents, Rum & Egg Nog, Christmas Dinner, Bernie Nichols Wine (or was it Mark Messier?), and the World Juniors only two days away. Christmas is at CIA HQ and again all the family is there, Pemulis thinks, but things still feel somewhat awry. Who knows, there's a lot of good food and a lot of booze again so that must be it.
Pemulis makes his second annual bus trip to Toronto but sadly this time there are no young entrepreneur/philosophers to distract and enchant him to help the time go by. LaMont and Pemulis plan again for food in the hipster style but the "Singapore street fare" is a 3 hour wait (just about right to keep up the hipness factor) but that's just a little heavy on the waiting side for this night so kind-of-hip Phó it is.
Pemulis and Joelle remain in remarkable health with help from the Chartreuse monks age-old vitality elixir. It's Avril's 60th birthday and the paparazzi are out in force at Edward's on the Seine. Sporting the newest fashions from Milan and Paris, the family dines on gourmet food and fine wines while surrounded by an adoring public. There is little time for autographs but Facebook lights up that night with posts by Pemulis's fans commemorating the event.
Time goes by and all of a sudden they have a couch and Pemulis has a functioning green Brompton folding bicycle, and soon will have a Pro-Ject Debut Carbon turntable, a Rotel RA-11 amplifier, and Tannoy Mercury V1 speakers. And a bookcase. And then he'll have to move them all to some other city...
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