Does it feel like September yet? Yep. I swam outside only once this week. I don't like swimming in the dark and it's still dark outside now at 6 a.m. I also don't like to get cold because then it takes me all day to warm up, even with a spa after the swim. I'm still hoping for a few more outdoor swimming days.

You already know that I consider September to be the beginning of a new year. With that in mind, you will understand why I have begun (another) Whole30 again, and another assault on my late day exercise routine: stationary bicycle plus some stretches and things. I have a new Theraband and will have to look up some good moves with it. So far so good. Yeah, sure, all very well to say on Day One. How about the next 29 days?

We'll see.

This was going to be an easy relaxed blog after a delightful day at Stratford to see The Mad Woman of Chaillot. A friend picked me up and we were in plenty of time for a 2 o'clock matinee performance. But we juddered to a stop on the highway maybe an hour out of Stratford with a flat (possibly vandalised) tire. CAA was on its way but a nice man in a truck stopped and changed the tire. He said, "God told me to stop and help," so he did. I guess the Houston disaster didn't take all God's attention.

So we were too late to get to the theatre after driving the donut tire to a service station to have enough air put into it. So we went back to Toronto and had a late lunch and even though I wasn't doing the driving, I was - am - tired.

Best made plans and all that. I seem to be more aware than I ever was of the moments that can change plans or lives. But I am more acutely aware of our dependence on other people. Remember Blanche Dubois' line (A Streetcar Named Desire): "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." My heart turns over at the sight of the assistance and care strangers are giving the flood victims in Houston - turns over and lightens as my belief in such kindness is proven.

I admire Steven Pinker, Canadian-born, author and Psychology Professor at Harvard University. His book The Better Angels of Our Nature is worth reading and re-reading. It may not seem so but Pinker applies statistics to support his argument. We - human beings - are getting "better",

I hope so.