Guns and Poses - February 3, 2018
Sun and warmth are highly addictive. If you need proof, just look at the before and after pictures of Laur and me.
On Tuesday of this week we were in Green Valley, Arizona, where it is sunny and warm and sandy – we were smiling and healthy and ready to take on the world. Today, Saturday, in St. Catharines – where it is cold and grey and snowy – we look like we are experiencing withdrawal. We have no energy, we are a little sick, and more than a little miserable.
I think if you live in St. Cats or anywhere in Canada – you get SLOWLY weaned from all that is summery. Laur and I were cut off in one day (Wednesday) – we are experiencing cold turkey. (Very cold turkey, I might add.) Add to this some mechanical failures – our phone and my computer - not the plane, thank heavens. And you have a recipe for major crabbiness.
Thursday was the worst – our day one – and, in retrospect, the funniest. I started my day by saying that I would not let things get me down. I laced up my sneakers and went slogging – slow jogging – in less than zero-degree weather (Celsius.) Good heavens above, it was so slippery I had to wear cleats!
And after breakfast, though I hadn’t slept well in a few days, I decided to go to the gym. Only to find out my membership ran out Wednesday – the day before. Group exercise is also addictive – I practically had the shakes. But it was after lunch on Thursday that the screaming really started.
I told Laur when we arrived in Canada that our phone was not working. So, I suggested – while I was seeing the doctor – that he go to the Freedom Mobile phone store in the Freshco mall.
After my appointment, I called, and miracle of miracles – Laur answered the phone. It was working. I asked what the phone techy did and Laur responded, “He simply dialed it. And it rang!” OOPS - on my part. “Where are you?” I asked. “At the Fairview Mall.” “Why are you not at the Freshco Mall?” Laur growled, “Because there is no Freedom store at the Freshco Mall. I drove by twice!”
Second OOPS for me. Our next trip was to the place where we bought my computer, and I asked Laur if we could please drive by the Freshco Mall, so I could see the lack of a Freedom Mobile store for myself. He agreed, with the warning that if there was such a store, he would buy a gun and shoot himself. He was not having a very good day either.
I said to him, “See the place that has the neon lights advertising “Phones! Phones! Phones! That’s it!” Laur complained, “We are not in Arizona. I can’t even buy a gun…” And I offered to whack him with a shovel. But it was a false offer. Not living in Sudbury anymore, we don’t carry a shovel in our van.
Off to the computer store. There was one person ahead of us at the repair desk who – I am not kidding – howled out her litany of complaints for some 15 minutes before taking her business elsewhere. Finally, the lad looked at my computer for a few seconds, said they’d have to send it away, and it could cost about $500 to fix it. And yes, I could buy a new computer for that – but mine was only two years old and I really like it.
*****
And then the day turned. I remembered a store near the apartment we used to live in when we first moved to St. Catharines. We walked into Computer Express and I loved it. There were computer parts everywhere and a chill lad with multicoloured long hair – the business owner and only employee. He looked at my computer and said he could fix it in the shop but might have to order the part from China. He quoted a price – half of what the other shop had quoted. All righty then! I can always get my computer FedExed to AZ.
And then we went to visit our niece and nephew-in-law and our three grands – bearing pop and pizza. Tammy send me a video of the grands enjoying the pizza and saying thank you. Warmed the cockles of my heart.
And then we warmed ourselves even more. Laur and I went to our favourite Vietnamese restaurant to have a large bowl of slurping good soup.
Could I do winter here? For sure I could – and in a few years when our out-of-country insurance gets too expensive – we’ll have to. And to be honest, my life in AZ is parallel to what I do here – exercise in the morning, volunteer in the afternoon, and go to bed early. Repeat.
And I would get Lucy. No, not Lucy the cat. Lucy – the mirror that brings natural light into your home. I kid you not. According to the ad, “Lucy the light-bouncing robot brings sunshine into your home using a software-controlled mirror which tracks the sun.”
If Lucy also leads group exercise classes, I may never have to stray out into the winter weather again.
On Tuesday of this week we were in Green Valley, Arizona, where it is sunny and warm and sandy – we were smiling and healthy and ready to take on the world. Today, Saturday, in St. Catharines – where it is cold and grey and snowy – we look like we are experiencing withdrawal. We have no energy, we are a little sick, and more than a little miserable.
I think if you live in St. Cats or anywhere in Canada – you get SLOWLY weaned from all that is summery. Laur and I were cut off in one day (Wednesday) – we are experiencing cold turkey. (Very cold turkey, I might add.) Add to this some mechanical failures – our phone and my computer - not the plane, thank heavens. And you have a recipe for major crabbiness.
Thursday was the worst – our day one – and, in retrospect, the funniest. I started my day by saying that I would not let things get me down. I laced up my sneakers and went slogging – slow jogging – in less than zero-degree weather (Celsius.) Good heavens above, it was so slippery I had to wear cleats!
And after breakfast, though I hadn’t slept well in a few days, I decided to go to the gym. Only to find out my membership ran out Wednesday – the day before. Group exercise is also addictive – I practically had the shakes. But it was after lunch on Thursday that the screaming really started.
I told Laur when we arrived in Canada that our phone was not working. So, I suggested – while I was seeing the doctor – that he go to the Freedom Mobile phone store in the Freshco mall.
After my appointment, I called, and miracle of miracles – Laur answered the phone. It was working. I asked what the phone techy did and Laur responded, “He simply dialed it. And it rang!” OOPS - on my part. “Where are you?” I asked. “At the Fairview Mall.” “Why are you not at the Freshco Mall?” Laur growled, “Because there is no Freedom store at the Freshco Mall. I drove by twice!”
Second OOPS for me. Our next trip was to the place where we bought my computer, and I asked Laur if we could please drive by the Freshco Mall, so I could see the lack of a Freedom Mobile store for myself. He agreed, with the warning that if there was such a store, he would buy a gun and shoot himself. He was not having a very good day either.
I said to him, “See the place that has the neon lights advertising “Phones! Phones! Phones! That’s it!” Laur complained, “We are not in Arizona. I can’t even buy a gun…” And I offered to whack him with a shovel. But it was a false offer. Not living in Sudbury anymore, we don’t carry a shovel in our van.
Off to the computer store. There was one person ahead of us at the repair desk who – I am not kidding – howled out her litany of complaints for some 15 minutes before taking her business elsewhere. Finally, the lad looked at my computer for a few seconds, said they’d have to send it away, and it could cost about $500 to fix it. And yes, I could buy a new computer for that – but mine was only two years old and I really like it.
*****
And then the day turned. I remembered a store near the apartment we used to live in when we first moved to St. Catharines. We walked into Computer Express and I loved it. There were computer parts everywhere and a chill lad with multicoloured long hair – the business owner and only employee. He looked at my computer and said he could fix it in the shop but might have to order the part from China. He quoted a price – half of what the other shop had quoted. All righty then! I can always get my computer FedExed to AZ.
And then we went to visit our niece and nephew-in-law and our three grands – bearing pop and pizza. Tammy send me a video of the grands enjoying the pizza and saying thank you. Warmed the cockles of my heart.
And then we warmed ourselves even more. Laur and I went to our favourite Vietnamese restaurant to have a large bowl of slurping good soup.
Could I do winter here? For sure I could – and in a few years when our out-of-country insurance gets too expensive – we’ll have to. And to be honest, my life in AZ is parallel to what I do here – exercise in the morning, volunteer in the afternoon, and go to bed early. Repeat.
And I would get Lucy. No, not Lucy the cat. Lucy – the mirror that brings natural light into your home. I kid you not. According to the ad, “Lucy the light-bouncing robot brings sunshine into your home using a software-controlled mirror which tracks the sun.”
If Lucy also leads group exercise classes, I may never have to stray out into the winter weather again.