Happy 4th

This was the view from my bedroom yesterday morning as the smoke/smog hung over the city.  I can normally see 2 buildings and the sun hits me in the eye… not yesterday, though.  This morning was slightly better, as I could see some blue sky.  We did have some thunder yesterday and it was very muggy; today is even more muggy and it’s hotter than it seems, too.  Jerry is still agitated for some reason, and growls at the door.  There’s nothing there, and no reason for it, but he’s very touchy.  Don is suffering from the heat, as am I.  I’m dropping subtle hints that shaving might make his face feel cooler, but so far no change!  I’ve even taken out his clippers to charge so they’re all ready to go… 

Yesterday I had zero energy.  My lay minister, nurse and support worker all were here, and I slept between their arrivals, setting my alarm to be sure that I’d be awake when they arrived.  I went to bed around 8:30pm, and slept until 9:30 this morning — not continuously, but I’d wake up and take a while to fall back asleep — and this morning I was still feeling drained.  The heat doesn’t help, nor the humidity, as it makes it difficult to breathe, which makes me tired, and, well, we’re in a vicious loop.  This leads me to a couple of very uncomfortable situations.  The first, most obvious one, is that trips to the Caribbean will definitely have to be carefully planned.  It gets very hot and humid there, and my room isn’t air conditioned, so I may experience dreadful discomfort.  The second, related one, goes to travelling at all.  If it’s humid, it interferes with my ability to get around and enjoy life.  Exertion causes me to gasp for air if it’s really humid, and today “exertion” translated into “slicing an onion and a tomato.”  

Like many others, I’m amused by apparent contradictions in public statements from governments, advertisers and so on.  There was, for instance, a drug designed for “post-menopausal women” who are asked to advise their doctors “if they are, or plan to be, pregnant.”  There’s a miracle of science for you!  At this time of year, one of my annual favourites is the complaint from the electric company about the drain on the grid from too many air conditioners running simultaneously.  That’s usually followed, in early fall, by a request to increase rates because the levels of use are lower than anticipated.   Or the public transport company that gripes that ridership is too low so the proposed answer is to increase prices… the public signals that the system is unreliable, connections are often late and there are outages at least weekly, so they don’t trust the system, but yeah, let’s raise rates and draw people back!  🙃  Silly people!

I’ve got a minor gripe; sorry, I will try harder not to have these too often!  I’ve noticed a trend in which people say that they’re “just blunt,” or “direct speakers,” when in fact they’re just plain rude.  There’s a vast difference between saying something like, “You must be from that village missing its idiot,” and “I think that you missed a key point in the discussion.”  I’ve seen loads of “Karen” videos, in which some very entitled person oversteps the bounds of civility to get their way.  I’ve also seen those in which the recorder should have put down the camera, apologized and retired quietly.  There was one in which an older woman asked a man (recorder) to please lower the volume on his headphones as she could hear his music from 4 seats away in a train.  He went on at length, ‘How am I disturbing you?  You should ask more politely,” instead of acknowledging that if anyone else could hear his music it was probably too loud!  Such entitlement!  There are also those idiots — usually young people, sadly, as evidenced by cameras — who go around damaging public art installations.  I might not always like the installations (Maman, to me, is just icky, but apparently it’s quite popular) but it costs money, and brings some joy to people.  I don’t get the urge to damage other people’s property.  I realize that I’m turning into a crotchety old woman who will start shaking a stick and yelling “get off’n ma lawn you whippersnappers!” But why is it so hard to recognize that if it’s not yours, leave it alone?

Congratulations to my young cousin on her exam success yesterday; I’m sure that she and her family are celebrating, as it’s a big deal for her.  It’s that time of evening for meds… the puppy is curled up on Don, so I have some temporary breathing room.  Not much, as he’s decided that the only place to sleep is on top of me, or in such a way that I can’t stretch out!  And I, of course, can’t disturb him when he’s asleep.  (silly me!)  Good night!