Over a week now in Ottawa. Autumn weather – sun, wind,
spitting rain, and “brisk” nigh time temperatures. Plus the usual complaining
bout winter coming. Staying with Jennifer for two weeks means that I get to see
a lot more of her in between long sessions of work. My God, she works hard and
long. No soft life for the translator under a deadline.
I see Rapha every day, usually before he rushes off to work,
and after work before he works out. No sign of Mel this week…I’m not sure if
that’s usual or strange. I just haven’t seen her around.
The other night, Rapha, Diego and Jenifer were out for
dinner and gelato afterwards. Had a long and serious talk about strokes and
their impact, as well as about the Masonic Lodge. Diego is meeting with a Mason
locally to discuss a relationship with the Lodge. Looks lie this afternoon,
I’ll be hooking up with the two of them to go coat shopping for Diego at VV or
Mark’s Work Wearhouse. He needs a warm coat.
Recovery is really good here in Ottawa. BP remains constant
in the 130’s, and even with lots of walking I experience no other trouble. I’ve
put miles on my new shoes, but have eaten red-light stuff in every Cafe. Very
interesting reading about T.E. Lawrence in Arabia around the turn of the 20th
century. The idiocy of British war planners sticks out all over the place. A
quarter million Brits killed at Gallipoli, when a landing further along the
peninsula could have been achieved by maybe 10000 men!
Had an interesting evening yesterday. I had heard (on CBC)
about a folk concert at Southminster Church last night, sponsored by
Babes4Breasts, a breast cancer charity. It caught my attention because one of
the performers – James Keelahan – is a favorite of mine. Bought a ticket
online, and took the bus around to the venue. The Church was huge, and it
filled up totally. Of course, it was a quarter hour late in starting. The music
was terrific, and Keelahan was great, as was Lyndell somebody, who played
guitar and sand, and then played a magic and mean violin. I left at the interval,
because it was already coming up on ten and I had a 45 minute bus ride to get
home. And that’s when the really interesting part of the evening began. At the
bus stop, there was a woman talking to a young fellow in an animated way. When
we got on the bus, she sat with me, and began talking in the same manner;
manic, passionate, but also focused and intelligent. I learned a lot about
her, including that she is a psych outpatient. Certainly of the more
intelligent and articulate kind. I learned about her website (gobatty.ca),
about her political opinions and about her divorce. She offered to give me a
ride home, even though we were on the bus. I declined, and she boarded her bus
and was off.
Just as she left, a young woman presented herself to,
squatted down, buying bus tickets from a fellow. Turns out she was the same 20+
year old with whom I talked at length in the Bridgehead Cafe earlier in then day.
We struck up another conversation, and chatted all the way to my stop. Interesting
kid; 20 something, in a relationship with a Nicaraguan guy. They are buying
property in Nicaragua, (with whose money, I wondered) and plan to move there
and live “the simple life, away from corporate influence.” Terrifically
idealistic youngster, Scottish background “way back,” as well as aboriginal “way
back.” I urged her to chase down those roots (to get a better handle on her own
identity, I thought), but she seemed only vaguely interested in that.
Suddenly, it was my stop, and after a quick hug, I was out
into the night, two blocks from home. I wonder…will I see her at Bridgehead again
this week? Wow, some vacation…
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