Elgan speaks
...and her words thunder across the land

An expensive trip.

Thursday, Jan. 8, 2009
10:14 p.m.
After spending 10 hours or so sitting on my ass on buses between T.O. and Sh’brooke today, I find myself once again sitting at the computer. This time, though, I promise to try to update more regularly. I have been a lazy diarist of late, and this has to change.

The trip out on Monday was long and dull, from the time Hubby waved goodbye to me in Sh’brooke until I arrived at Little Princess’ place 11 hours later. There was one bit of comic relief at the expense of a blind passenger who got off at Scarborough. He sat behind me the whole way and kept consulting his talking watch when he wanted to know what time it was. I hate those things with their tinny, mechanical voices. However, I did not let him know my displeasure and bore the annoyance as best I could.

The driver in Montreal had not put this man’s luggage aside especially and he had also not informed the new driver who took over at Kingston, and so when the blind passenger disembarked, it took about 10 minutes, with the assistance of several passengers, to find and remove the correct suitcase from the underbelly of the bus.

It felt decidedly strange not getting off the subway at the stop near my mother’s house as I used to do, instead going to Little Princess’. I had neglected to warn my daughter earlier than that morning that I was coming, and she had to cancel a planned evening activity in order to accommodate me. I felt rather bad about that. I was absolutely certain I had told her I was coming. Apparently I hadn’t and my email, sent at the last minute just before Hubby drove me to the station, was the only warning she got.

I spent as much time over the next two days with my mother as I could. I ate both lunches and suppers with her, played cards with her, and answered her questions several times about what members of the family were dead and who was still alive. It gets rather depressing, these conversations. She mentioned a number of times that she would like to have a boyfriend, but the few men at the residence aren’t in such great shape, and where is she going to meet suitable prospects? I asked her what she wanted: companionship? sex? She answered that she wants it all! When I told Hubby about this tonight, he thought it was funny that she would still have these yearnings, and I told him that they never disappear. Just because a person is old and losing her memory doesn’t mean that she ever loses the desire to be part of a couple.

I also spent a fair bit of time with my daughter, which was quite nice. I fell in love with a dress in a shop window and went in to try it on. The store was having a 50% off sale and I ended up buying the dress and paying an extra $50 for alterations. It cost a fortune, even at half-price. But it’s stunning, exactly the kind of thing I wanted for the blues concert next month. We also explored Little Princess’ favourite yarn store, and in another boutique I tried on a corset that I might actually have bought if it also wasn’t rather costly and I hadn’t just spent a bundle on the other garment.

Last night my old friend with whom I reconnected thanks to the magic of the internet picked Little Princess and me up from my mother’s after dinner and took us back to her place where we (her BF as well) sat around and chatted. I told Hubby this evening that he has absolutely nothing to worry about, that even though this guy and I may have been lovers at one point (over 30 years ago), I feel absolutely no attraction to him anymore and I am very, very happy about my own choice of mate. He’s still a really nice guy, and my daughter and her BF liked him a great deal. Still. Let’s get serious.

I slept very poorly at my daughter’s. The couch was not all that comfortable and the temperature was way too high. They are on the sixth floor and, even though their own thermostat is set to zero, they get all the heat rising up from below. The wind whistled against the window, waking me, the hot flashes woke me, and this morning at 6:30 an alarm went off in the hallway and wouldn’t stop. For this reason alone I am glad I have earplugs in my purse, as they effectively blocked out the sound and I was able to sleep for another hour.

And so, that was what transpired in my absence from these hallowed pages. I guess I’m all caught up now.

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