So long May

Once more, a shot from the islands, where I am not.  I’d like to be soaking in that at the moment, it would certainly be cooler than the weather in Ottawa today — it’s 32C now.  We didn’t sleep too well last night because of overnight construction right in front of our building, from 9pm to 5am, and they expect it to last all week long.  They are doing sewer repairs using a technique that doesn’t require drilling (thank goodness) but it’s certainly disrupting sleep — although I’m glad I’m not on one of the lower floors!  The noise must have been dreadful there if it was so bad up here!  Jerry was not a fan, and tried to hide under me for most of the night, so that added to not being able to sleep last night.  I made up a couple of hours this afternoon, which helped.  Jerry seems to be happy that his coat is clipped; he was so full of energy all day wanting to play and throwing his toys around (he knows which one he wants, so we have to throw that one and nothing else.)  Don also didn’t sleep, and caught up today; there’s still baseball (those games don’t ever end, do they?) hockey is almost over (short break) and both American and Canadian football are starting, so I continue to lose him to sports.  I should be thankful that he is not a basketball, golf, poker or Euro football fan, or I’d never get to talk to him!

My arm continues to ache, but it’s much improved over last week.  My appetite is still pathetic, but I attribute a lot of that to the heat.  I’ve been drinking more water, but eating is a challenge.  Happily, ice cream slides down easily and meets the “high calorie” requirement!  I had some ice cream this afternoon, just after my nap.  A very summer activity!  The pharmacy called to brief me on how to use naloxone, and said that I should make sure that the people around me are aware of how to use it, as it’s likely that if I need it, I won’t know!  

Isn’t it interesting how we change our opinions when we learn more?  It’s great, it really is, and it shows how we can learn.  Although, in our ignorance we can sometimes be needlessly cruel.  I remember, when I first started working at the Canadian High Commission, there was one day when one of the Canadian officers said that if the temperature rose above 25C schools were likely to be closed.  All of the Trinidadian staff laughed at the idea, and said that in that case, our schools would never be open!  I’m realizing now that the sudden transition from cool spring to the tropical heat can be debilitating.  Very different experience when you grow up in hot weather without air conditioning.  That’s a very simple example, and it’s one that sort of makes the point.  When we’re young and protected, living in a sheltered environment, we look at the different and strange with a mixture of excitement and suspicion.  We want to try new things, in carefully managed doses, but anything that’s too different, that challenges our basic thoughts, becomes terrifying and we push back against it.  An oversimplification, I know.  When I first came here, I’d gone with Don back to the small town where he spent a lot of his childhood.  It’s a farming town of maybe 1,000 people who have mostly lived there for a few generations.  I was immediately and obviously an outsider; they were polite and friendly, but it’s the friendliness that you offer a stranger who is passing through.  They asked if I was one of the “black family who moved [there] in the late 1950s”  I had a good laugh about that.  I’ve spoken before of some dreadful racist experiences that I’ve had, and many of them were from people who were very sheltered in their lives.  A few were from people who should have known better, but who were competitive and jealous.  In talking with others, I’ve realized that jealousy and envy are dreadful motivators, as they lead individuals to want to deprive others of things that they want, don’t have, and think that nobody deserves if they don’t have.  Isn’t that sad?  I’d hope that when we learn better we’ll do better, and be more inclined to want to help or sympathize instead of laughing when we hear that others are doing things differently.

OK, enough rambling, it’s time to eat something so I can take my meds.  The bouncing ball of the puppy is now attacking my slippers and scratching at my arm, so it’s definitely time to change over to my nighttime routine.  Good night!