Dateline: Kitsilano and Kerrisdale, Vancouver
I rose for part one of the day at 4:00’ish, made tea, prepped a salad for later and was still around to join at 6 a.m. Zoom meeting for which I had submitted a question. Mine waited between #24 when the Ask Me Anything session stopped with 59 waiting in total for the same 90 minutes with Dr. Tim who came late. He was told 9:30 Eastern time.. but 119 of us showed up at the 6 a.m. LA time and waited until the author of the error logged in. It was good that she explained. She took responsibility and then it became very tiresome to her her repeated apologies. People left. Some showed gratitude for all she did and acknowledged that errors happen, and the mom-schedule-struggle was real. I wondered how many times did I find it necessary to apologize thinking I was being gracious and connecting in my duty to do so when it was simply overexplaining and unnecessary. (More on those deep realizations in future posts)
I had a big arugula breakfast salad while off-camera, like everyone else. It’s ingredients were designed to assist my digestion with bulky fibre, to add to my nitric oxide production and other minerals.
After a shower and hair-wash, I caught another hour’s sleep. Up in time to get ready to go out for lunch at the invitation of my downstairs neighbour.
I treated it like a date, although it wasn’t a date, but then I have been on actual dates I didn’t recognize as one. More on the date issues later. It was my neighbour below me taking me out as a thank you for looking in on his plants when he visited his many friends and family outside the city. Plus, he planned a little outing along with lunch. He says he knows I don’t get out very far so he likes for me to see and experience another part of the city, not on my regular errands or bus route!
The original plan was to go over the Lion’s Gate Bridge to West Vancouver. lunch and stroll perhaps at Ambleside Beach.. . but when he called to confirm we changed it to a much shorter, closer, less ambitious outing.
Better. As it was I came home with just enough time to fall into my bed, diagonally for a 94-minute nap. I lay down with all my clothes on including my coat, socks and shoes and only wrangled off my rectangular scarf as it obstructed my airway.
New adventures after being a long-time near shut-in and now keeping odd sleep hours due to meds can be exhausting.
I slept solidly, regrettably without my mouthguard, so had to move both my mouth and body carefully as I rose. 4:44 pm dark out. If you say inside you feel like it is the depths of the dark night, but I pushed myself out the door. It was easy given that I was already fully dressed and so ready to go…
Exercise comes in packages or snacks as healthy promoters now call short bursts, outside the gym. I motored downhill to a street with buses. The traffic lights were out at the intersection. I rolled forward slowly with my Mercedes (walker) and my bulkiness due to warm layers against the cold and wind, and cars, already lined up waiting for the traffic ahead to clear, stopped for me. The other more timid pedestrians also advanced after waiting a long time for a sign from the silent guardians of the temporary defunct red-yellow-green lights.
In advance of the storm, I got provisions in excess. I ventured out to scoop up the microgreens that are delivered fresh on Tuesdays to my nearest Whole Foods.
The incredibly tall, handsome and gallant man in the checkout line who insisted I come out of the neighbouring line and go ahead of him… had only one item. a small block of vacuum-packed white older cheddar… and I laughed.. in the other hand he had a narrow orange cloth bag with enough room for 2 bottles, but only one red wine with its neck poking out …. He said he lived in the Fraser Valley for 10 years and with the advance of terrible storms, they got wine ready, cheese and crackers. Today his bottle would accompany the lasagna he said was heating. He was S. Asian but had another layer of accent.. perhaps British.. He was very dapper and wore a wide-brimmed deep taupe hat with ribbon. So lovely. A tall drink of wine, indeed.
There were bargains on points and prices of produce to be had at Safeway, so that was my next stop. More chats in the checkout line 🙂
The same young in-store plain clothes security person was roaming the aisles with his hand-held basket holding something light, like chips or taco mix, as on my previous days’ shops.
At the checkout Safeway the chocolate-covered peanut butter cups were on sale for $0.99. I touched one and two fell down onto the floor. I had so many layers on underneath my coat that I had to rearrange the walker in the narrow cashier checkout lane so that I could put the brakes on and attempt to bend down and get them where they landed between my wheels. I heard another South Asian gentle male voice say, “Let me get those for you.” I let him. The new me. And so he and I and his very cute little girl with brilliantly white buck teeth and the sweetest smile and disposition had a nice conversation. It was about my choosing to have an Eatmore bar instead as I could freeze it, break off an inch at a time and control myself. The falling orange candy bars were a sign to drop that idea and not bring them home. Then we turned to what they were going to do with the bananas, the meat and the other odd things they had. They were such nice people. The clerk who was also South Asian seemed to welcome me into this new momentary family chat and we all wished each other safety in the face of the unusual storm.
What we were prepping for in British Columbia was a new thing. A Bomb Cyclone.
A brief from the Daily Hive:
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